Bug sampling

[Soro]

When it comes to bug sampling I use a small blood vile filled with rubbing alcohol. I do it mostly to see color. I love to see how colors changes from stream to stream. Just wondering is rubbing alcohol the best thing to use to keep bug samples?

[Duck-butt Chucker]

That's fine may-sept but I wouldn't go around tearing up the bottom during Oct-November in rivers with a wild brook/brown trout populations and same story with wild rainbow waters in the spring...might destroy the redds

[steelheadmaster]

[quote author=Soro link=topic=4260.msg37030#msg37030 date=1282789759]
When it comes to bug sampling I use a small blood vile filled with rubbing alcohol. I do it mostly to see color. I love to see how colors changes from stream to stream. Just wondering is rubbing alcohol the best thing to use to keep bug samples?
[/quote]

When I lived in VA one of the entomologists at Virginia Tech gave me a ton of insect viles full of ethanol, he said it works best to preserve the bugs, and it will help slow down the bleeding of the bugs natural colors. He said after a year or so they will be lighter in color than when you originally obtained the insects. I've still got a ton of bugs I collected a year and a half ago, and they still looks the samee as when I caught them.

[orangataun]

If you guys are really interested in where insects appear in streams or want to know more about sampling, try searching the scientific literature first. The first thing a scientist does is check the literature before sampling. Why try to reinvent the wheel? Google scholar is a good way to find papers. The American Fisheries Society is pretty much THE fish group of America. The Transactions of the American Fisheries Society is their publication. There is also a lot of the Entomological groups. Another good route for learning the habitats for different species is many of the good field manuals. Many of the ones we use in fisheries science explain the life cycle, habitat, and ID as best we know of many of the bugs you could be interested in.

Again, no need to reinvent the wheel. If we all go kick enough samples to write the papers already written, there won't be any for the trout! The best part about seining is figuring out whats in the drift because of the recent weather/climate. That is as simple as one quick seine just as a check. The more you read about the bugs, the more you'll know from ambient conditions and water conditions what's going on with the bugs, just like we all know a good bit about what the trout are doing.