Laegreid Outdoors

I've been distracted with things, so this week's post is a photos! The fiance and I camped in the Olympic National Forest this past weekend. It was beautiful, sunny and quiet, and just what we needed. So without further ado, here are some photographic highlights of the trip: This not-so little millipede had some striking yellow spots; I'd not seen one like it before.  These flowers were all over and very pretty. I'm pretty sure they're Trillium, but I could be wrong. If so, feel free to correct me in the comments! The Caddis hatch was on! What's camping without a good fire? The Peninsula was full of spiders sunning themselves, but this little fellow was the only one kind enough to hold still for a photo. See you next time!

Since moving out to Washington from Nebraska, I have had many new fishing experiences, from steelheading in the S rivers to salmon fishing from Puget Sound beaches.  The most unique experience yet, however, is squidding. Squid fishing is far different from the bass fishing in Nebraska, which we did under the sun on warm mornings, stalking along the edges of sand-pits and casting plastic worms to fish we saw cruising along the bank. The season starts to heat up in October, as the first large schools of squid start to make their way south into Puget Sound. Those brave and/or stupid enough (i.e, me) to pursue the wee cephalopods in the cold and damp must wait until after the sun sets to head out.  The anglers go and stand on a dock or a pier that has lights; squid like to hang around the fringes of the light, darting in to grab shrimp and small fish feeding on the plankton drawn to the illuminated water.  The anglers use long, whippy rods to lob their multi-p...

It's not often we get to hear of a massive societal change for the better, especially not when the environment or conservation is involved.   Occasionally, however, we get a win. The short version of the article is that demand for shark-fin soup in China is down due to a large public-awareness campaign (most didn't know what is in the soup and/or how it is harvested) and, more surprisingly, government action forbidding extravagant food, such as shark-fin soup, from being served at its banquets. Demand for the soup is down 50-70%. For those of you that don't know, the main ingredient in shark-fin soup is, you guessed it, shark fins.  The problem with that is, because only the fins of the sharks garner high prices from Asian markets, fishermen catch sharks, hack off their fins, and return the maimed, but still living, animals back to the sea. This is a wickedly cruel thing to do, not to mention a waste of perfectly good shark meat. The steps taken by shark supporters to...