Some News in Brief

This is Helenah and I at the Emmys.

1. My girlfriend won an Emmy. A few nights ago Helenah Swedberg won an Emmy in DC for her cinematography as DP of 'Menhaden, the Most Important Fish in the Bay.' The film aired around the Chesapeake Bay region on PBS and hopefully it will be available elsewhere online soon because this movie will be of major interest to anyone interested in rockfish, striped bass or stripers or whatever you want to call them. Atlantic coast fishermen need to watch this film, because the fish you are chasing probably depend on menhaden for their survival.

2. Radio Interviews. While I was on my swing through NYC last week I had the pleasure of sitting down in the studio for an interview on Heritage Radio Network for an interview on 'Farm Report' that will air on June 26th. The interviewer for this joint appearance with Matthew Weingarten was Erin Fairbanks, who asked some really excellent questions about both my work hunting whitetail deer and my ongoing project to hunt and eat invasive species.

I was also on live on 'Inside the Great Outdoors,' broadcast around Ohio, a few days ago. But I'm not aware of any online stream for that one so you either heard it or you didn't.

3. I'm obsessed with black widows lately. My house is suddenly besieged by these evil sons-of-bitches. All around the perimeter. I am hunting and killing them as quickly as possible and at the same time I've become obsessed with their webs, life cycle, and hunting behavior. I've gotten really good at predicting where they will be and spotting their webs from afar. Is there some sort of article or blog entry waiting to happen on this topic? Probably. This is one that I won't be eating, however.

4. By the way, I'm also obsessed with mosquito fish lately. Oh yes, I'm still fishing for catfish like a man obsessed. But I found some stray mosquito fish in a reservoir many miles west of their official range a few days ago. I captured a few and I have them living in a cooler in my front hall until I find a new aquarium for them. This species has been an invasive problem in many places and I am considering doing a little study with the wild ones that I caught. If I put a bunch of mosquito larvae in the tank with them, and the same number of larvae in with the same number of guppies, and then with a bunch of fathead minnows; will the mosquito fish really eat any more larvae than the other fish will?

My hypothesis is 'no.' But we shall see.