today we successfully brought in 27 hoop nets that had been soaking at east twin reservoir since sunday. i was a little fearful of this day. first, because the nets weren't marked and i was afraid it would be difficult to find them. i made gps waypoints when we did the sets, but didn't know if they'd actually put us on top of the nets when we came back to retrieve them. fortunately, my gps unit rocks! every time, we were right on target.
i was also fearful of my bait. i was kind of expecting the soy pellets to dissolve as soon as they hit water. instead they just bloated up my bait bags, and apparently the catfish were attracted to the smell (which was unpleasant, but not nearly as unpleasant as waste cheese - the traditional catfish bait). My nets didn't have tons of catfish, but we did surgically remove pectoral spines from about 150 catfish today. so, i think the soy pellets work just fine, much to my relief!
my technicians, nick and dan, did an awesome job today. i have no fears about working with them this summer. and larry, who in this photo is saying with his smile 'you put way to much bait in this bag, lindsey', was so kind to come help me out on my first day of sampling! i must have been obviously nervous at the office this past week.
anyway, today completed my sampling on lake number one. only 53 lakes left on the schedule. come august 2009, i should be done. that seems like an impossibility. but at least i made it through today. with a little help from my friends!
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