PAFF bug photo file

[wsender]

gfen wrote:

jayL wrote:
I think it would be best to use some kind of free or open source wiki.

Have you done this in the past?

I looked into it like three years ago, and it seemed overly complex. I could use wikipedia to do basic edits, so looked into it to organize departmental knowledge and balked at how freaking confusing it was.

Three years is also a long time, is it intuitive now?

My teachers setup them up for their classes for an 'online companion' all the time, so it mustn't be too hard. The last thing I want to do is make 5 weekly contributions about nathaniel hawthorne....

 

[JackM]

I'm for this. Let me know how I can help.

 

[PaulG]

I think one of the bigest problems for new and even older flyfishermen, is trying to ID the hatches.

I think this would be a great idea!

PaulG

 

[JackM]

I use a hatch chart to find out what might be hatching. Hatch start dates published should be taken with a grain of salt. As often as they are dead-on, they are also often two weeks or so ahead or behind.

Except in the meat of the mayfly season, you should not have to go to the stream armed with info on more than about 6-8 different bug possibilities. If you can distinguish caddis from mayfly from stonefly, from midge and cranefly, you probably only have 2-3 possibilities in each category on any given day of the year. Most or all of what you will see will be within that small range of bugs.

A large BWO or small Quill Gordon will be the same to 98% of the fish you encounter, as would a Blue Quill and a BWO in the same or nearly the same size. For exacting hatch-matchers, however, tying for regional variations in color and size is important, and the Pennsylvania Visual Stream-Specific Hatch Chart under discussion would be helpful to them as well as beginners.

 

[jayL]

I am basing my suggestion on the fact that we have a working wiki here at work. If it was unnecessarily hard, we certainly wouldn't waste the time. We are engineers, after all, so documentation is a distant second on the priority list regardless of how wrong that is.

I haven't had a chance to look, but I'd imagine that there have been major strides in usability and ease of deployment within 3 years.

 

[gfen]

I'd be curious. What I wanted was a WYSIWYG editor ala blogspot, what I got was an html editor circa 1995.

 

[pcray1231]

Jack,

That hatch spreadsheet you posted a while back. Well, I've updated and corrected it somewhat over time (to the best of my ability, using troutnut and other sources). Didn't touch caddis or stones, just the mayfly portion. But I don't know how to post it. Got an e-mail? Thats something that could go on a wiki like this, as an extra resource.

 

[DaveKile]

Sorry for letting this go for a bit, but back on it. I will be talking with Afish and the mods about what we can do here on this topic.

I am interested in building out a conversation about stream entomology. My hatch chart is pretty light. This could be a good base for us to build out a bigger library of information regarding insects.

 

[greenlander]

gfen wrote:

jayL wrote:
I think it would be best to use some kind of free or open source wiki.

Have you done this in the past?

I looked into it like three years ago, and it seemed overly complex. I could use wikipedia to do basic edits, so looked into it to organize departmental knowledge and balked at how freaking confusing it was.

Three years is also a long time, is it intuitive now?

I setup ffwiki.org (not up now) a couple years ago with the hope of getting a fly fishing wiki going. Mediawiki can be a bit daunting, but I do that junk for a living, so I did get it all setup and running.

Anyway, the site didn't take, mostly because I didn't have the time to deal with it.

I'd be happy to open it back up if it was wanted for this use, as it should be completely ready to roll. Not sure if it being off-site would be undesirable, though.

 

[Chaz]

I like the idea.

 

[sandfly]

Part of one chart I use;
I have a xcell program that when printed is 6' x 6' on a wall, i am adding to it all the time.

 

[OldLefty]

BrandonMH:

I use the same lens for my bug photography on my Nikon D1x. The camera is old but it still does everything I need it to do.

Dave R.

 

[sandfly]

I use a fujifilm S700 finepix;

 

[BrandonMH]

OldLefty:

Do you use an alternate flash other than what is on the camera? I have noticed that it catches the top of the lens at certain angles and I get a half moon of the top of the lens. If I go with apature, I get the camera movement without the tripod. Still learning macro photography since I never had one, just the macro on zoom lens from old canon ae1 I used to use. I think I still have film in that....no idea what is on there, probably vacation from years ago.

 

[BrandonMH]

Also, altho I keep forgeting my spare fly cups, (the ones you get when you buy flies, soufle cups I guess) in my truck, I have only really found some caddis cases, like one hatched mayfly and a baetis nypmh I believe. I either keep missing the hatches or they get blown off the rocks I pick up.

 

[OldLefty]

I use two strobes (SB23) mounted on a bracket with arms. I don't know if the bracket is still marketed. It is a Lepp bracket. It allows me to direct light on the subject from both sides.

Dave R.

 

[midnightangler]

A bug wiki is a really great idea. I hope this happens.

 

[greenlander]

Again, I'm all for the idea if there's a good reason to do it ... and I'm happy to provide the wiki, hosting, etc ...

But ... a question ... what would this bug wiki provide that isn't already provided by troutnut.com?

 

[pcray1231]

what would this bug wiki provide that isn't already provided by troutnut.com?

The basic is that it'd be more PA centric. For instance, if you say Drunella Lata, troutnut will have great pictures and a good entemological rundown of the bug.

On this list, I'd imagine the pictures, either user supplied or just a link to troutnut's page on the bug. But it'd also include a list of streams where and when it occurs. For instance, I'd say I know it occurs on Penns Creek in June, morning hatch and dusk spinner fall. Someone else adds Oil Creek, someone adds BFC, and so on. In time you have a list of everywhere you can find the bug and when. You can go further and add local names, historical names, etc. For instance, someone adds that in SC PA they still call them Cornuta, in NC and NW PA they just call them BWO's (due to lacking other types of BWO's), but in central PA they differentiate them from the Baetis varieties by calling them large olives, late olives, or blackish olives, etc.

If you really want to get technical with the links and searches, you could have various lists cross reference each other. For instance, while on troutnut (and presumably our site as well), you can search by scientific or common name. But on ours, you could also search by stream, and get a list of all the bugs on that stream.

In essence, it's troutnut focused on PA, combined and cross referenced with good local, user generated hatch charts. With enough work, wiki participation and editing, it could be an amazing site!

 

[jayL]

It would take a weekend to code something like this up, but it's only as good as the info people put into it. The tool we use, in my opinion, is largely irrelevant to everyone but the person that makes/configures/administers it.

The important part is figuring out how we want to run it. Laissez-faire gets the most participation, but frankly, would have too much garbage.

It's going to have to be actively managed, in my opinion. The question is, who and how?

I am willing to spearhead the effort on a third party site (and would reserve the right to place ads and content as I see fit in an administrator's role), but don't want to usurp the whole thing from Dave and PAFF. If it's desirable, I can try to get on it.