This summer has been spent donning my daily uniform of waders, pockets full of batteries and tools, and a layer of dirt and sweat. On some days, I’m also equipped with a five-pound sonde for measuring water quality or a six-foot pole for finding temperature loggers. My equipment makes me feel like a true scientist, but it often makes the public think I’m something else: an angler.
At first, when I passed curious river users who asked me what I was fishing for, I felt like I was letting them down by not being able to reply with “rainbows” or “whatever will bite.” But as the weeks went on, I began to grow proud of my response: “We’re hoping to catch some data!”
In the past ten weeks as an aquatic ecology technician with the Henry’s Fork Foundation, I’ve done just that. It’s been an honor to share my “catch” with you all, whether that’s through our live river conditions, swapping stories on the water, or here on the blog. Please enjoy the video below as I share what I’ve spent my summer fishing for one last time.
I know my last blog post left you on the edge of your seat. Today I’m going to answer the question that has doubtlessly been on everyone’s minds: did I catch a fish? Let me tell you, it was getting down to the wire. I’d been out many times with the incredibly patient Claude, to no avail. Not even a bite. Claude’s patience was really commendable as I stubbornly, astoundingly refused to improve.
As my time here at the foundation wraps up, I have been doing a lot of reflection. As such, I have concluded that the amount you can learn in one summer internship is unrivaled. It can range from scientific technical skills to office interpersonal skills, and anywhere in between. Some things are self-explanatory, and some are learned through trial and error. This range is what makes internships so valuable. I’ve compiled a list of the
Putting in the hours. Credit: Estelle Edwards Fish are omnipresent. Whether Claude’s talking about his latest catch, an angler is asking me what fly to use (I don’t know), or I’m taking Utah suckers out of gillnets, I am drowning in fish… but I have never caught one. I have yet to be blessed with a bite on a Parachute Adams, Zebra Midge, or Montreal Whore, but thanks to fishing-adjacent research experiences, I’ve gotten a
I grew up fishing on the North Carolina coast. From flounder and speckled trout (not actually in the trout family) deep in the creeks to Spanish mackerel and bull redfish right off the beach, all the way out to what feels like the middle of the ocean trolling for king mackerel and cobia, I loved the wide variety of fish. One sunny July morning a few summers back, my dad and I headed offshore in
