Carp E Diem

Does anyone keep any of the fish that they catch in Lake Springfield? I think they said it is ok to now, but that was only about a year ago, I think, so I'm kinda wary. Just fished there for the first time, caught a few smallies on rooster tails, and some ok-sized bluegill on worms. Are there decent crappie in there at all? I know a lot of people go catfishing there.

I don't believe in any gods, nor do I believe in any type of spirituality. My morals come from the same place that yours do, collectively from society. You may think your morals come from the Bible, but the majority of them do not. The Bible is based on Bronze Age morals, society has come a long way since then, we now understand that all people have basic human liberties, including the right not to be enslaved, the people of the Bronze Age thought slavery was perfectly acceptable, thus the Bible condones slavery, even gives rules on how they should be treated, how much you should pay for them, who you can enslave, how hard you can beat them, and how long you can enslave them. Thank goodness you don't actually follow the "morality" of the Bible. The reason people aren't backing down anymore, is because we can't take the abuse any longer. If religious people kept their beliefs to themselves, I would be fine with it, but for too long has religion had its foot in politics, imposing their beliefs on others. This country was NOT founded upon Christianity! Contrary to popular Christian beliefs. "As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion." quote Thomas Jefferson Most of the founding fathers were not Christians, they were Freemasons, and deists. The only reason you are offended by the Darwinian scale, is because you have probably never bothered to study evolution. Evolution, change over time, is a FACT! It is not "just a theory". Science does not use the word theory the way you think it does, it does not mean hypothesis. Gravity is a theory, heliocentricity is a theory. All branches of science unanimously agree with the Theory of Evolution. Common ignorant misconception: we are decended from monkeys, not true, we have a common ancestor. Christians love stories about death bed confessions, the vast majority of them are just not true. Even if they were all true, they are absolutely irrelevant, completely meaningless, and have no bearing on whether or not the theory of Evolution is true. A very large number of Christians accept the fact of Evolution, Christianity and Evolution are not mutually exclusive in everyones eyes.

Maybe you can't explain it, but science has a pretty good idea, not a perfect one, and some questions are still unanswered, but that doesn't mean "god did it". Every time new questions arise that science can't explain right away, "god did it", until science figures it out, the "god of the gaps" theory grows weaker with every advance in science. If everything needs a beginning, where did your god come from? Why can't the matter in the universe be eternal? Discussions like this ARE healthy whether you change someone's mind or not. It gets people to start thinking for themselves, not just accepting what they have been told.

First off, that's not my weenie. And I have no desire to eat a dog, not yet, the economy isn't quite that bad yet. I have seen pictures of seal clubbing, but not video, you're right, not pretty. Seals are used for both their hides and their meat. Are you a vegetarian? If not, what animal do you eat that you think that it would be fun to watch being slaughtered? Bullet in the head of a cow? Are cows not intelligent? Cutting the heads off chickens? I've seen that, not pretty. But that's how nature works, animals kill and eat other animals, many while they are still alive. We are fortunate enough to be able to knowingly lessen the suffering of the animals that we eat, and most people strive to do this in the most humane way.

Ok, I can't hold my tongue anymore. If your God is all-knowing and all-powerful, then it can't be a good God. It can be a good God, but then it is either not omniscient or not omnipresent. It's called the "Problem of Evil". And if you dive into the Old Testament just a little, I'm sure you will come to the conclusion that your own morals are far better than those of the god of the Bible. Unless you think that slavery, genocide, rape, murder, incest, blood sacrifice and many other horrific atrocities, are in any way moral. What about this god is good????

Ha ha, I think I'm actually FOR the clubbing of seals. I hadn't ever really looked into the subject before. It's actually much more humane than shooting a deer with an arrow, letting it bleed out, and tracking it down (which I have no problem with). The only reason it has garnered so much support is because of how cute the babies are, and it just sounds appalling and barbaric. More info at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seal_hunting

I love how you start it with a dig against atheism (off topic), then have to get in the last word before deciding we should get back on topic. But, i agree, religion shouldn't have been brought up in the first place, this is a fishing forum.

I hope you understand that without the Old Testament, there would be no New Testament. I love how the OT is the ugly step child that Christians just ignore and pretend isn't there because they can't rationalize the imorality of it. Matthew 5:17-20. According to Jesus, the OT law still applies.

What does atheism have to do with it!? BTW, most atheists know the Bible much better than most Christians (fact), and that's why they are atheists.

Lakewood is a subdivision by the lake, it's still considered part of the city of Devils Lake even though it is almost 5 miles away. I'm shocked about the saltiness stat, never heard that. The lake was pretty high in the early 1900's, but nothing like it is now, went through a long dry spell and people moved in too close to the lake. Ha ha, I remember being pissed off at Kit Bond when I lived there, he was lobbying against allowing an outlet to be put into the lake that would eventually flow into the Missouri river. It has either naturally outleted now, or is really close to it, but the outlet could have saved millions in property damage and lost land. Gilly, the Devils Nest doesn't ring a bell at all for me, are you talking about the right Devils Lake, in ND?

I'm not sure which marina you are talking about, when the lake started rising in 1994ish, the marina by my house was the first to go, Creel Bay marina, then one across the bay, Woodland Resort, went under much later, but they rebuilt it further up, then the Spirit Lake casino was building a big resort just as I moved, and I'm pretty sure that is all in tact. The lake is monstrous, and I really only know the eastern half well, and I don't know the new sections created at all.

No more home left to miss, I think the lake has risen 30 feet since I was a kid, never thought it would reach the house, but the parents sent me a pic this year of the old house in ruins. Went from a decent fishery to a spectacular one. Ha ha, I've never even heard of Howard's Bay, i'm guessing it is a new bay created from all the flooding. I think the lake has quadrupled in area, 30 feet of water goes a long way in the flat country. I didn't really get into fishing hardcore til I graduated and moved down here to MO, so I can't give you too much info on the hotspots, and the lake has changed drastically since I last lived there 10 years ago, but I do remember that Six Mile Bay was always a good producer of walleye, especially for ice fishing, you'll catch some really nice yellow perch in the winter too, and they are almost as tasty as the walleye. I wish that I would have done more walleye fishing while I lived there, I didn't know what I had til I was gone.

Hey! I grew up on Devils Lake, just a few blocks from Creel Bay in Lakewood, well it used to be a few blocks away, it's underwater now. Awesome walleye fishing!

Here is a link for rigging up the slow death, looks pretty good, will have to add it to my arsenal. http://www.mustad.no/slowdeath/