My uncle

My uncles love fishing. I might be influenced by them about fishing, although I have had no chance to go fishing with them. Now I can say that I am a decent angler, but compared to my uncles, I look like a bait fish angler. One of the uncles, who is my favorite, is particularly a die-hard fisherman. Here are two picture that he took in Panama.


Yellow fin tuna. I didn't ask about how the taste was.


Marlin! The dream fish of all anglers. I am so jealous. Someday maybe, or never.

Superfreak Controversy

Steven Levitt and Stephen Dubner's new book, Superfreakonomics is out and igniting some heated discussion. If you are not familiar with this, you can catch up with some blog posts below.

Their key argument is;

'Because reducing carbon emissions is too costly and somewhat not-so-feasible, instead let's try geo-engineering to solve the problem of climate change effectively.'

Their points are well taken. But they are missing one important thing, the big picture. The reason why many insist to reduce carbon emissions, not only because of the climate change, but also because of fossil fuel exhaustion (although it is not near future). These two issues always come together like twins. I wonder what they will respond to the question of running out of fossil fuel on earth.

Final thought. Levitt argues,

"~reducing carbon emissions, which is that it requires worldwide behavioral change, which will be hard to achieve."

You may be right. But isn't it the very topic that economists have to research on, how to cause behavioral changes in market through various incentives or penalties while minimizing adverse effects?



You can explore these blogs for more information.

Climate Progress

Krugman

DeLong

Union of concerned scientists

Marginal Revolution

Freakonomics blog

The Wonk rook

(Thanks to Carlos, who put these together)

Carp fishing

Carp fishing is not so popular in the US. However, it is huge in Asia and Europe. Often my American friends ask me about carp fishing. Here is my Carp fishing101:

1. Tackle
-Hook: treble hook. #6 works fine.
-Line: You can still catch with you 8lb or 12lb lines. But over 20lb braid line is safer.
-Rod: Medium is fine. MH or H is recommended. Reel, which matches with your rod.
-Sinker: Weight depends on where you fish. Bullet type sinker works good.

2. Bait (Matured carp prefers vegetarian diet)
-Bread: believe it or not bread works great.
-Boiled Potato: Make a small bait ball with mashed potato. You may want to add some bread in it.
-Baked and milled cereal: I use this. I add water on it and make small ball with this bait. Traditional Korean bait.
-Boillie: It is a traditional carp bait which is often used in Europe. Its main ingredient is corn meal.
-Carp bait on market: there are some pre-maid baits here in US. I found Uncle Josh carp bait works great.
**Important tip: Be parsimonious about bait! Just barely cover your treble hook with your bait. It is important in order to easily hook carp. If bait ball is too big, there is rare chance to set hook.

3. Rig
Treble hook –(header line: about 1’)-swivel- (main line)- sinker –(main line)- rod – reel
**I usually attach small bell on my rod to detect nibbling. You also may want to loose your drag. Carp can easily pull away your rod and reel. Always, be alert!

4. Bait change
You may want to change your bait in 15 to 30 minutes. It depends on water condition and firmness of your bait.

Here is my carp album that my fishing buddies and I caught this season. My goal for this season is to catch more than 10 carps. So far, I caught 7.

Input-Output Analysis: Foundations and Extensions

Finally, second edition of "THE" input-output analysis text book is out! I received my order from the UK. Since its first edition was published in 1985, it has been almost 25 years. Miller and Blair included many updates in input-output field.



In particular, they include SDA. I was a bit disappointed because the coverage of SDA was not that long (13 pages). Oh, well, long-waited new edition is here anyway, so I am glad. I am sure that this textbook can help many students and researchers in input-output field including myself.

Autopsy at the shore

When I went fishing yesterday morning, I found fish bones spread around at the shore. It was large fish. Nothing much left, but only white bones. My curiosity urged me to start my own autopsy.



Without skull, total length was 50 cm. Including skull, it might be about 60 something fish. Decent size fish. It seems like carp.



After taking the picture, I found its skull nearby, and it confirmed that it was carp. I carefully inspected the skull, but could not figure out cause of death. I expected to find fish hook at its gills. Considering size of the fish, it was tool young to die naturally. Carp's life span is 40 to 50 years. I didn't count rings at its ear bone, but it look like 5 to 7 years old.



What killed the carp?

1. Predator: there is pike in the Hudson river. I am skeptical about pike attack. Because there are plenty of small preys that pike munch on.
2. Pollution or disease: Possible. I have never seen a dead fish at the shore though.
3. Deep hooking: I think it is very possible. All fishermen are very careful not to hurt their catch when they release them. But sometimes, fish swallow hook, and it is fatal. From my experience, lure fishing has rare chance to deep-hook. I can set hook before fish eat the hook. But in case of bait fishing, there is greater chance of deep-hooking. To prevent deep hooking, I often use circle hook for bait fishing. I will write about circle hook in the future. For catch-and-release, we need to be more careful.
   

Lesson learned: drag setting for kayak fishing

Last Saturday, I went kayak-fishing nearby small lake. The lake, which is a famous fishing destination in this region, is always challenge to me: It is hard to catch a decent size fish. I thought clarity might be anissue: the lake is so clear that it is hard to fool fish. Thus, I decided to focus on deep section of lake where clarity is low. I used dark green color tube with 1/8 oz jig head. The result was successful. I could get continuous nibbles.

However, I could not firmly set hook or lost while fighting. It was frustrating. I solved one side of puzzle, but the other side still remains unsolved. Make long story short, the reason was at my drag setting of reel. I set drag as usual for typical lure fishing. But it was mistake. I should have set it firmly or set no drag. What I found was that because I was on freely moving piece of plastic, there was natural drag system. I didn't need to fiddle with my reel at all. Double drag system, my reel and moving kayak, made it harder to set hook and fight.

When I do not anchor my kayak, I will set no drag. It will help me to set hook. By the way, after realizing this, I nailed a largemouth bass. Not a monster, but it pulled my kayak around. It was a fun!

Sorry, no picture.

Weirdest fish ever, sort of...

I have been busy with summer internship, I went fishing regularly though. Mostly near my apartment complex, short trip. BTW, in May I passed candidacy exam, which is a milestone of Ph.D. program.

Yesterday evening, I went out carping at Hudson river. I used pre-made Premium Carp Bait strawberry. I have never caught carp with this bait. But keep trying. As an insurance, I cast catfish bait as well. Oh, boy, catfish are really active nowadays.

Anyway, after one hour of waiting, suddenly there was strong nibbling at carp rig. I did not rush giving enough time for carp to suck up the treble hook. Then, I set hook. To my disappointment, I could not feel the carp at the end of my tackle. But I could clearly tell that I had caught something. Tiny fish maybe?

When the small fish surfaced, I could see yellow color with black dots. It was ugly looking fish. I thought it might be Goby or some kind of invasive species. To my vast surprise, it was foul-hooked fish like swimbait!!! "Are you kidding me? How can I hook a swimbait with carp rig? Not even with other lure. Are there someone at the bottom of the river and meesing with me?" I could not stop questioning. Here is a picture of my catch.


You can see the treble hook is set on the belly of the swimbait. Foul hook!


Close shot. Black dots look like fungi. Kinda gross.


I have been fishing at the same spot with swimbaits. So, at first I suspected that it might be mine, but it turned out to be not. Considering the condition of the swimbait, it might be under water at least for one year. It has been de-colorlized, and hooks are rusty. But it still seems to be usable. :) What a productive catch! Just kidding, I will not use it.

After catching this tropy, I came back home without any success. Next time, I willl write some success stories.