Monday before lunch just a stone's throw upriver from the Grand River bridge at Michigan Street in downtown Grand Rapids, the man at the back of the boat holding a blue landing net on a pole is just about to reach out gently and pull the silvery sided fish from its aquatic world into the realm of the air-breathers.

Since the massive leather treatment and shoe making factory near Rockford is only 10 or 12 miles upriver from this photo location, and since levels of PFOS exceed earlier danger levels (newly reset to even more stringent amounts in recent years), perhaps these fish-catchers do not take as many fish as their ancestors used to do. See,

www.michigan.gov/documents/mdch/MDCH_EAT_SAFE_FISH_GUIDE_...

see also, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steelhead_trout

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Fresh fish on sale in Kapit wet market

Fishermen fishing off the quayside of the river Blyth in the mid 1960s. Seeing the notice on the side of the van, I thought the caption for the photo might be, 'You don't get them much fresher than this!'

Alex and I had our first river spin fishing experience at this beautiful stretch of the River Hodder near Chaigley). Alex hooked a lovely (and big) rainbow trout but lost it because I was faffing about trying to get a picture whilst he was landing it! Later Alex landed a brown trout, which was released as it was only around 10cm in length. We both enjoyed a fantastic couple of hours "in" and beside the river.

Noturus insignis; ; Deer Creek, Susquehanna State Park, Harford Co., MD

As the camera sweeps to the right, the two men in tall waders stand about waist deep in the current to cast their fishing lines into the flow. While the tackle and clothing has changed over the centuries, the course of the river is not too different and neither is the taste of cooked fish much altered from then to now.

The beauty of fishing Mississippi's coastal rivers is that you never really know what you may catch on any given day. On this day we caught both freahwater and saltwater species including: large mouth bass, shellcracker perch, black drum, white trout, redfish, speckled trout, striped bass, and flounder.

Alex and I had our first river spin fishing experience at this beautiful stretch of the River Hodder near Chaigley). Alex hooked a lovely (and big) rainbow trout but lost it because I was faffing about trying to get a picture whilst he was landing it! Later Alex landed a brown trout, which was released as it was only around 10cm in length. We both enjoyed a fantastic couple of hours "in" and beside the river.

www.phodgson.com

Percina bimaculata; Deer Creek, Susquehanna State Park, Harford Co., MD

Alex and I had our first river spin fishing experience at this beautiful stretch of the River Hodder near Chaigley). Alex hooked a lovely (and big) rainbow trout but lost it because I was faffing about trying to get a picture whilst he was landing it! Later Alex landed a brown trout, which was released as it was only around 10cm in length. We both enjoyed a fantastic couple of hours "in" and beside the river.

Alex and I had our first river spin fishing experience at this beautiful stretch of the River Hodder near Chaigley). Alex hooked a lovely (and big) rainbow trout but lost it because I was faffing about trying to get a picture whilst he was landing it! Later Alex landed a brown trout, which was released as it was only around 10cm in length. We both enjoyed a fantastic couple of hours "in" and beside the river.

Lake Malawi

A scene from Rossellini's 'Prima della storia, l'uomo' (1970)

Salmon, riverfish, fresh water, cooking water, cleaning water, natural riverside flood-plane paths, waterbird hunting and raft transport are just some of the reasons that kept paleolithic man close to rivers. Almost everything in a hunted animal found a use somewhere, with leather and fur being perhaps the real hidden expertise of the ice age. (The stone age might better have been described as the leather age). During the paleolithic, river water would often have been very cold running from glacial ice rather than soil warmed rain. Feet will have been kept dry to assure long hours of tanning, favoring natural pools and sloping boulders over sandy riverbanks. With the warm air of the Mesolithic and beyond, the above scene would start to make more sense.

Nocomis micropogon; Deer Creek, Susquehanna State Park, Harford Co., MD

On this overcast Sunday morning in later July an assortment of anglers were testing their luck with luring and capturing fish of ful size and legal limit, according to their fishing licenses. Only a week ago, though, the discovery of the foaming expression of PFAS & PFOS chemicals from decades of leather treatment with water-repellant applications on shoes caused this county to be added to the list of warnings for any fish to be eaten; that is, a half-dozen parts of the state of Michigan have dangerous levels of accumulated chemicals in the sport fish. According to "Friends of Grand Rapids Parks," it is the later part of August when big fish make the upstream journey and can be seen on the ladder. See www.friendsofgrparks.org/parks/find-a-park/fish-ladder-park/

In the distance, upstream near the left of this frame, the blue steel trusses of the Sixth Street bridge can be seen.

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Alex and I had our first river spin fishing experience at this beautiful stretch of the River Hodder near Chaigley). Alex hooked a lovely (and big) rainbow trout but lost it because I was faffing about trying to get a picture whilst he was landing it! Later Alex landed a brown trout, which was released as it was only around 10cm in length. We both enjoyed a fantastic couple of hours "in" and beside the river.

Baryancistrus sp. (L018)

Exoglossum maxillingua; Deer Creek, Susquehanna State Park, Harford Co., MD

Just beyond the treeline on the south side of the river is the I-196 corridor, contributing the sound of roaring engines and humming tires. Hidden among the trees is a series of burial mounds from pre-European colonization times. And in this video clip a modern day fishing boat speeds downstream on the smoothly flowing surface as the river heads west to its outlet at Grand Haven and into big Lake Michigan. Within the space of 10 or 15 minutes there were two or three other boats racing up or down the river, too, in search of fish, judging by the engine size, the shape of the boat, and the cold-weather clothing of those onboard.

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Lepomis auritus; Deer Creek, Susquehanna State Park, Harford Co., MD

Etheostoma olmstedi; Deer Creek, Susquehanna State Park, Harford Co., MD

Sunrise - Fish farming, Xiapu, Fujian Province - China