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The opener had an added
benefit this year. Club member Gene Drake gave an entomology class at Hot
Creek. We had a good turn out and all picked up some new information. I was
impressed; Gene brought all of the equipment. At the waters edge he went
into the water and obtained aquatic samples for us to see. Not only could we
see them but Gene explained what we were looking at. Many of you already
know Gene. Gene is a regular contributor to the news letter. For those of
you that are new to the club, I asked Gene to write an article telling about
himself. With some hesitation, he did. I have titled the article, “Who is
Gene Drake?”
-Carl Ronk
Who is Gene Drake?
At about
age 6 or 7, I found out about insects as fish bait. My father gave me an
eight foot split cane fly rod (Horroks/Ibotson) when I finished the first
grade of elementary school. I have the rod and an interest in aquatic insect
to this day. There is only one other fly fishing writer that I will own up
to using the same brand of fishing rod; he is now dead, but if you do enough
reading about the casting art, you can find his name. BY age 9 I was a wet
fly guru on Sacramento Sun Fish. At age 16, I tried out catch and release on
trout so I could fish longer in the day. The practice worked well; then I
learned to throw a loop in the line to facilitate a long line release. I was
set! My college years were spent with a spinning rod in my hand, partly
because my fishing partner had access to the prototypes coming out of the
Browning plant at Provo, Utah. It was not a good time for the fish that I
encountered. I have been doing penance since, Purgatory will probably be
next. I recently retired from the California Department of Food and
Agriculture after spending 30 years as one of their Detection/Survey
Entomologist. I dealt with exotic fruit fly episodes, Japanese beetle
outbreaks, Gypsy Moth infestations, and Imported Fire Ants over those years;
some battles we won, some we lost; and yes, you have seen my picture on the
boob tube and in the local papers all over Southern California.
Approximately 9 years ago, Steve Zaborsky and friends, cornered me with a
plea to help with Trout in the Classroom. In a lapse of reason I agreed to
help. I will say it has been a lot of fun. I have learned a tremendous lot
about the endemic/native aquatic insect in the local streams. About one
month ago Ken Stewart the Stonefly guru from Denton, Texas climbed into my
truck to go find out if Calileuctra Dobryi an endemic stonefly had survived
the California drought. This stonefly had not been collected in 20 years at
that time, and only 6 or 7 specimens had ever been collected. It could
really and truly be extinct. However, we found the critter in good numbers
in a creek at 1,000 elevation in Orange County. It may only exist in that
stream and may still be a candidate for Federal Rare and Endangered
listing. It had survived; proving that the eggs enter diapauses (sleep) for
years in a dry stream bed waiting for a good Winter and water. Teach someone
about a topic and you learn more than the students!! Try it sometime.
-Gene |
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