Scientists in New Zealand have found a way to kill didymo, an invasive algae sometimes called rock snot. Didymo has appeared recently in a couple of Virginia trout streams, including the Smith and Jackson river tailwaters.
While growing up in rural Southern Oregon, Mark Taylor developed a passion for the outdoors while he and his younger brother tagged along with their father on fishing, hunting and camping adventures.
Graduating from Northwestern University in 1988, Taylor spent four years as an officer in the U.S. Navy based in Norfolk before moving into journalism.
After five years writing about the military for a Norfolk-based publishing company, he became the outdoors editor at The Roanoke Times in 1998. He lives in Roanoke with his wife and twin daughters.
I saw it on a recent trip to the Pound River a couple weeks ago... Was a pain in the butt to fish around and the fish were quite skinny. Also had to bleach my gear before I fished again.
Comment by Jason — January 11, 2007 @ 11:08 am
Thanks for the report, Jason. And thanks for doing the right thing and bleaching your stuff after fishing in a didymo-infected stream. It's a pain, but the stuff is spreading because others haven't been as conscientious.
So, did you catch anything?
Comment by Mark Taylor — January 11, 2007 @ 7:48 pm
It was on Christmas morning that I fished there... I managed to sneak away for a couple hours before everyone else woke up, so I didn't get to fish there for very long. That said, I caught two nice browns, both on a copper john. Here are links to a couple pictures I took.
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a181/jawill11/2006-12-23/IMGP1814.jpg
http://i11.photobucket.com/albums/a181/jawill11/2006-12-23/IMGP1817.jpg
Comment by Jason — January 16, 2007 @ 11:42 am
Mark,
The heading for this page has a link for "kill didymo", but the link is no longer active.
Can you give me the link?
My recent trips to the Smith have left me in despair due to the extent of the infestation. Is the Virginia Wildlife Dept. aware of this? Thanks.
Keith
Comment by Keith — June 18, 2007 @ 12:25 pm
Keith,
Sorry, but the original story is gone. Google "didymo" and you can spend a day (or more) reading up on the latest.
It's frustrating that it's in Virginia rivers. And, yes, officials are aware of it.
In fact, I've got kind of a funny story about that that I may have to post as a regular blog entry.
Thanks for checking out the blog.
mt
Comment by Mark Taylor — June 21, 2007 @ 8:29 pm
Mark, any new word on the success of New Zealand's attempt to eradicate didymo? I saw it two years on the Smith and was broken hearted. When I found out it's nickname I thought it might have come from the old Viet Vet's term used to get the locals out of an area they weren't suppose to be in. I think didymo was the GI bastardization of a Vietnamese word for "get out of here" or "vamoose"
thanks bl
Comment by Bobby — January 15, 2008 @ 9:01 am
Bobby,
Thanks for the comment. I haven't done any serious digging recently on didymo. I haven't heard about any success with dealing with it, and I'm pretty sure I would have because it would be such important news. I'll do some looking into it one of these days and see what I can find out.
Thanks for checking out the blog.
mt
Comment by Mark Taylor — January 15, 2008 @ 9:32 am