Issue link: http://read.uberflip.com/i/733455
Software Bug { B A C K W O O D S } KEVIN CASS PHOTO Anglers of all stripes have a few specifi c no-no's when it comes to enjoying the water. For fl y-fl ippers, one of the more grievous sins is unnecessary phone usage. I'm not talking about a quick text message for the bragging board or the occasional incoming call. No, the real irritation per- colates when "that guy" downstream of you (or even worse, at the stern of your boat) pulls out his smartphone to compose an email, surf a few blogs and/or check his social media page. It's really an amazing combination of distraction and disrespect. But what if that annoying gadget could serve a higher pur- pose? What if you had, for example, a handy iPhone/Android app for all the trout-tasty aquatic insects in the region? It won't make the sunsets any prettier, but it could sure help with your catch rates. Want to identify that moth-like creature clinging to your waders? How about the emergence process of a pale morning dun? Or maybe you just want to know if a certain stonefl y gets attention from trout when it's down deep in its nymphal stage. There's gotta be an app for that kind of stuff, right? So far, my searches have only turned up web links to academ- ic conferences and insect identifi cation around the home. What I'd love to see is some dedicated software that's all about the bugs of our area, geared specifi cally to the goals of fl y fi shing. Do you think it would be cheating? Fair question, but I think it's just a minor shortcut. When I was in my early 20s, long before smartphones or smart-anythings, I had the good fortune to read Bruce Staples' book, "Snake River Country: Flies & Waters." It was packed with details on local rivers, local trout and their myriad of eating hab- its. The night before fi shing the Warm River-to-Ashton stretch of the Henry's Fork, I read an in-depth chapter on that section of the river. Unfortunately, I skipped the part about how to fi sh the caddis hatch and — more importantly — how the trout key in on the insect pupae as they drift up the water column. Thanks to my haste and laziness, I got skunked. Had I been armed with a handy app, who knows? I might have had a 20-fi sh day. Or not. But at the very least, I would have learned a thing or two. Mobile gadgetry has its many drawbacks, and it's no secret that our phones absorb our attention and irritate our friends. Used deliberately, however, a targeted bit of tech can transform an activity into a launchpad for discovery. If you fi nd such a thing for local fl y fi shing, give us a shout. We'd love to put it to the test. (Just don't tell Mr. Staples I closed up his beautiful book just so I could open an app.) BY STEVE SMEDE 38 EAST IDAHO OUTDOORS MAGAZINE — FALL/WINTER 2016