EP038: Sudeep Chandra - What LCT and Taimen have in Common and What Happens When a Lake Turns Over
Release Date: 12/11/2017
EP058: Travis Hawks - 2020 State of The Truckee River
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
Welcome to season 6 of the Reno Fly Shop Podcast. We felt it fitting to start it off with the 2020 State of the Truckee River with Travis Hawks from the Nevada Department of Wildlife. This is our 6th State of the Truckee episode presenting the results of the NDOW annual sampling of the Truckee River fishery. We started these recordings (2016) in the middle of a multi year drought and as you will hear in this recording the Truckee River has made a miraculous recovery. Fish populations and composition in many locations are as good or better than ever sampled. As Travis presents, Mother Nature...
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EP057: Rob Ramsay - Fly Fishing Christmas Island - History and Perspective from a Superhost
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
Christmas (Kiritimati) Island has been considered one of the best flats fishing locations since it was first explored in the 1970s. It has allowed countless anglers to cut their teeth fly fishing for bonefish, trevally and triggerfish. The chance to visit this destination once is on every anglers bucket list. Imagine having the chance to fish Christmas Island, not only once, but every year for the last 20 years. And not just for a week but the entire month of January. Sound impossible? Let me introduce you to one of the nicest guys to walk the flats of Christmas Island, Rob Ramsay. Rob began...
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EP056: Helen Neville and Mary Peacock - LCT Recovery - Challenges and Opportunities
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
Dr. Helen Neville, Senior Scientist with Trout Unlimited, and Dr. Mary Peacock, professor of Biology at the University of Nevada, Reno, have been instrumental in the efforts to protect and recover the Lahontan Cutthroat Trout to its historic range. While both specialize in the genetic sequencing of LCT, Helen’s and Mary’s research have differed in that their recent focus has been on the stream form and lake form, respectively. Much of our conversation focuses on the Truckee River watershed and the complex issues that must be considered in the recovery of the LCT in a significantly...
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EP055: John Bartlett - johnmontanacarp Shares the 4 rules for Carp on the Fly, demystifying where to find them and how to catch them
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
"The biggest surprise for the new carp angler is that carp don't always live in ugly places." - John Bartlett, @johnmontanacarp 16 years ago, John Bartlett started to chase carp on the fly… As a lifelong trout angler, John grew up using light rods and fine tippet around Montana and the Pacific Northwest but as things began to evolve in his life he had to adapt if he was going to get to fly fish. He began to explore and establish an option for fly fishing closer to home to allow spending time with his growing family. Today, he still chases the occasional trout and goes on annual...
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EP054: Brad Befus - The Anatomy of a Fly Line and Why They Matter
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
Today’s podcast episode is one that I have thought about doing for a while. It finally came down to the 1,000th time I heard shop staff stress to a customer how important a fly line is to overall casting performance that I went ahead and recorded this episode with Brad Befus, the president of Scientific Anglers. If you have spent any time here in the shop you will undoubtedly heard us stress the importance of considering the line when purchasing a new rod/reel setup. It is the component part that most likely is the least expensive in the whole rig and/but will have the greatest...
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EP053: Travis Hawks - 2019 State of Truckee River
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
"It is amazing how the Truckee River has responded since 2015 in its recovery from damaging drought. Now in 2019 we are at or near top conditions ever recorded." -Travis Hawks, Senior Fishery Biologist, NDOW Five years ago Travis Hawks and I got together to catch up and discuss how the Truckee River was faring in the middle of one of the worst droughts ever witnessed. Travis and I have known each other for years and as a result we could be candid and open about what Travis observed during NDOW’s annual Fall biological sampling. In 2015 Travis’ data...
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EP052: Gilbert Rowley: Creating Good Content and Being Responsible When Doing It
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
"When creating GOOD content you can not plan too much” -Gilbert Rowley Hey everyone, welcome to the Reno Fly Shop Podcast. I am excited to bring you these episodes to keep you informed on what is happening in the fly fishing world and to introduce you to the people that are creating positive impacts and steering it forward. While fly fishing is romantically interative and experiential. Most of our world is digital from this audio podcast to email to YouTube and much of the information we get about fly fishing when we aren’t on the water is from this digital world. We have the...
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EP051: Capt. Chuck Ragan - Fly Fishing Guide, Zen Punk Rocker and Bass Master
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
I feel the most grounded and at the most peace when I am on the water.” -Capt. Chuck Ragan I am excited to bring you today's guest, Chuck Ragan. It was difficult to find time to sit with Chuck due to his very busy schedule as a fly fishing guide and professional musician. As we tried to put this episode together we traded many phone and text messages. It was always fun to find out where he was at the time and the spots varied from Europe, Asia to all over the U.S as he was touring with his band Hot Water Music. We didn’t give up and when we did get together to record this episode...
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EP050: David and Dillon Renton - Raising a Family on the River and Making Big Water Small on the lower Deschutes River
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
We are excited to introduce you to today’s episode which is the first installment of a new series we are presenting in partnership with Fly Water Travel. We will feature a new destination every few months for the next year. During each episode we will present information and exciting details about fly fishing destinations around the world by chatting with the guides and outfitters that make these trips possible. We will introduce you to world famous destinations in freshwater and saltwater, domestic and international. We hope to pull back the curtain by sitting with the colorful people...
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EP049: Landon Mayer: Master of the Short Game and Hunter of Giant Trout
Reno Fly Shop Podcast
Look before you step. Look before you fish.” – Landon Mayer, Mastering the Short Game Today's guest, Landon Mayer, like many successful people, is many things all at once. He is a guide, an author, fly designer, he is a film maker, and a loving committed husband and parent. And like many successful people this hectic schedule fuels his desire to create than to consume. He doesn’t have to move about the country presenting and instructing at shows and to clubs on fly fishing and fly tying. Nor does he have to travel around the world to create a new instructional video,...
info_outline"As the users of these wild natural systems, we have to be careful not to love them to death"
-Dr. Sudeep Chandra, Univ. of Nevada, Reno
Today's guest is as dynamic, complex and adaptable as the water he researches and enjoys. Dr. Sudeep Chandra has many research interests and academic strengths. And in my opinion, one of his super powers is the ability to breakdown really complex issues and topics so we can understand and appreciate them as much as he does. His ability to explain physical and biological processes and have them relate to the rivers and lakes we fly fish is a treat I hope you all enjoy. Sudeep's research into the Taimen of Mongolia has allowed him to have a even greater appreciation to the unique setting of Pyramid Lake and the LCT that live there.
Sudeep is an Associate Professor of Limnology and Conservation Ecology at the University of Nevada, Reno. He serves as Director of the University’s new initiative the Global Water Center: Solutions for Sustainability. Sudeep also currently serves as the co-director of the Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences which I am a proud alma mater.
We try to demystify some of the questions and topics that come up frequently around the shop, such as, why does Pyramid Lake "turnover" and what happens to it's biology when it does. Also we talk about impacts to Pyramid Lake, the Truckee River and other western Great Basin lakes as a result of prolonged drought and less frequent but more substantial flood events. Finally we touch upon Sudeep's research interests in Mongolia where he studies the world largest trout the Taimen (Hucho Taimen) and their similarity to the LCT of Pyramid Lake.
He has received awards for his efforts including: American Fisheries Society’s CA-NV Award of Excellence, the Tahoe-Baikal Institute Alumni of the Year, University of Nevada’s College of Agriculture, Biotechnology, and Natural Resources Teacher of the Year, and his favorite, the Mad Hatter’s Award from the Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences.
In 2003, he was awarded his 1st international research funding from the Trust for Mutual Understanding and the National Geographic Society to investigate the impacts of mining activities in the Lake Baikal watershed in Russia and Mongolia. As you will hear in this episode this has lead Sudeep and his team to utilize unconventional scientific research techniques in collecting Taimen data in Mongolia and to coordinate with Mongolian tribes to prioritize conservation and habitat protections.
This work led to the development of a project funded by the Global Environment Fund and World Bank to use faith-based initiatives and scientific approaches to conserve the world’s largest trout, the Taimen, in Mongolia.
Sudeep loves to engage laypersons and professionals, students, policy makers, and concerned citizens in the importance of using science based information to protect and restore aquatic resources. He feels like there is much more to give in life, and will continue to work to help his fellow humans and the environment in which they inhabit.
Show Notes:
Links to resources we discussed:
Castle Lake Environmental Research and Education Program
Graduate Program in Hydrologic Sciences
Graduate Program in Ecology Evolution and Conservation Biology
Sudeep's work using drone's with Taimen research.
https://www.unr.edu/nevada-today/news/2017/fly-fishing-mongolia
Sudeep's mini-documentary on Summit Lake and LCT management.