Not so laid back anymore

We have been sampling our little fish. Yesterday we did three raceways at the hatchery. I, in my waders hop down into the raceway with a big screen that stretches across and slowly move down the concrete canal coraling the all 50,000 fish to one end. Then i take a random scoop with the net. We are looking to sample 100 fish. If my random scoop is over 100, we do them all and if it is under 100 we scoop a few more up. I am pretty good at scooping. My first scoop was 128, but since then i scooped 107, 103, 111, 98, 104, 102. I am a great estimator. We sampled four more raceways today. Tomorrow we sample the two ponds. This we will do with a throw net. I think i am going to be good at this too, because of all the travel i have done through South East Asia, i have seen fishing done like this before. We will sample all the fish once a week until they fatten up to the preferred release size of '15 to the pound' I didn't know what 15 to the pound meant, but it means 15 fish= 1 pound. right now we are at 18 to the pound so they are close. To sample we use a concoction mixed with water to knock out the fish then weight them and take a measurement. We also scan them for a coded-wire tag. a CWT is a teency weency little metal tag that has a code on it that gets implanted into the snout of the fish. This code will tell us from which hatcher it comes from. Later on after the Coho have spawned and died i get to dissect the heads, retrieve the CWT and read the code under a microscope. Sampling isn't so bad, except the water is icy cold and with the wind blowing my hands were numb. I tried to wear a glove, but then i couldn't handle the little fish. The sacrifices i make for these little guys
I feel like i have made the best clay dude yet. I made a little group i call 'Safari-Party' I made it for my friend Aja, who is moving to LA. Once again i have made something that is going to be impossible to ship, I guess it will hang on my wall until i can get it to her Moms house in Modesto.