The Little Guy

I’ve always loved an underdog.

Trichoptera. They weave silk, build nets, assemble traps, filter streams, decorate cobbles, scrape rocks, indicate clean cold healthy water, feed trout and bolster the souls of fly-fishers young and old.

Call ‘em caddis, sedges, dancers, grannoms, shadflies, peters, makers, millers, micros, travelers or whatever your local dialect has adopted. Just don’t overlook them. Because few critters so little have had such enormous impacts on otherwise unremarkable summer afternoons. As the caddis go, so goes your fishery.

Trout, elk, chukar and other macrofauna get a lot of ink here at STS — not unlike in our societal ecosystems the big dogs are assured their days. It’s high time that we also celebrate the underappreciated rank-and-file that make all the rest of it possible.

Let’s hear it for the little guys!