Behold The First-Ever Hybrid Shark

For the first time, scientists have observed a shark hybrid in the wild. The shark was discovered last Tuesday in Australian waters and has both Common and Australian black tip DNA. Scientists say this could be a potential sign that predators are beginning to adapt to cope with climate change and that this unprecedented discovery for the entire shark world.

via Discovery.com

California Chinook Scared Straight – Fear of the Bubble Ravers

The California Department of Water Resources is installing an experimental “bubble barrier” in a side channel of the Sacramento River that has become a graveyard for Chinook salmon migrating down stream to San Francisco Bay. This barrier is a sheet of bubbles with strobe lights and underwater acoustics designed to scare young salmon away from Georgina Slough. The salmon that end up in the slough become dinner for stripped bass and other predators, or get sucked up in to giant irrigation pumps.

via CBS

Once In A Blue Moon

Since I’m going to be a the Spring Fishing & Boat Show today, I thought I should leave you with something awesome and inspiring for the day. We’ve shown the teaser clip for Once In A Blue Moon, but this five minute HD clip is going to blow your mind.

In an unpredictable chain of events a mass flowering of the ancient New Zealand Beech forest leads to an excess of seed production. Mice and rodents take advantage of this abundance and numbers reach plague proportions. Incredible footage follows these rodents as they embark on a strange migration, attempting to swim across the expanse of New Zealand’s rivers and lakes. There they fall prey to the largest predators in the lake – monster Brown trout. Gorging themselves on swimming mice, these fish become extremely aggressive and grow to epic proportions. For a fly fishing Angler, this is the stuff dreams are made of.

I really wish I had the time and a few guys who knew cameras this well the next time Clive and I wen’t on a trip. I’m actually on the look out for some trout and steelhead gear this year, and might even get my line wet as early as monday morning in search of a species I’ve never caught in my life… I will try to post again this evening with photos from the event and maybe even some sweet gear.

DVD available from On The Fly – onthefly.co.nz

Spooky Spookfish Has Mirror Eyes

The aptly named “spookfish” is pretty darn spooky! The species has been known for 120 years, but no live specimen has ever been captured. That is until last year when this little guy was caught off Tonga, and island south east of Fiji, by German scientists. The two black spots you see are actually a pair fo mirrors that focus the light below into it’s and is the first species known to have such biology. The spookfish uses these mirrors to see below itself, mostly for the flashes of bioluminescent species and possible predators.

“In nearly 500 million years of vertebrate evolution, and many thousands of vertebrate species living and dead, this is the only one known to have solved the fundamental optical problem faced by all eyes – how to make an image – using a mirror,”

BBC News

Barbie Rod Versus Muskellunge

I must say, the toughest versus opponent we’ve ever covered has got to be the Barbie fishing rod. Coming in with several high ranking wins, like Black Drum, Catfish, and even Blue Shark!

The catfish posts claims a loss, but I’ve never seen it. As far as I’m concerned the Barbie fishing rod has a flawless 4-0 record and has even defeated one of freshwaters top predators- the muskellunge.

via My Fox Twin Cities.

Beautiful Perch

I stumbled on to this photo in an unrelated image search and had to post it. I’ve never caught such a large and plump perch before, probably because I’m normally fishing water heavy with toothy predators.

Rafa and a superb 0.72kilo(1lb. 11oz.) Perch. Big Perch do that to some people…

via Slainte Fishing League