Norm M

state park area of river full of icy, slushy crap, up in urban area there is open water . the biggest problem is access , not a whole lot of plowing done . gauge still screwed up due to ice, river looked to be up . I didn't bother with water temps . With the sloppy conditions I traveled light, rod/reel, box with Carolina rig stuff and pliers in coat pocket, line clippers on lanyard , no waders, wore the redwing boots . I fished current seams and slack areas with a Carolina rig slightly modified for use in current . Where possible I casted as straight up stream as possible on the seams and quarter cast when not . In the slack areas it was pretty much a straight retrieve allowing for some movement by current . The pickups were very light, just the mushy, not quite right feel .two smallmouth on the seams, two in the slack areas , 1 carp in the slack areas . nice outing for this time of year first outing in a bit due to some health issues with the wife . you have to keep the priorities straight .

If I had just lost the championship game at the highest level I could achieve in my career , I wouldn't want any one in my face asking questions . If I had just won the same game, I wouldn't want any one in my face asking questions . In one case what can you say , in the other , get out the way jack, the party is about to start .

when I fish muddy water with gear , I like stuff that really pushes water . I'd try flies that can do that .

in warmer weather I liked a sparsely tied hair jig tipped with ripple rind to swim just above the bottom . since the guy that used to tie them for me passed on I have not done it. I tend to use swim baits in that role now .

I'll bet it could get really cold if he kept cooking in the basement .

Eric Flint's Ring of Fire series

Vernal Equinox is March 19 . A day for me to celebrate as well as fish . Not that I stop fishing at any point but an extra reason to go never hurts .

they work year round

382 days until I can retire and no longer have multiple alphabet agencies randomly asking for liquid donations .

Nah. legalizing pot is not a top 5 problem . It's just a way to increase tax revenues while decreasing the amount of tax dollars spent on the whole process from arrest to incarceration. Same with the gambling and prostitution . Those two have been going on since who flung the chunk, no one has found a way to stop them yet . If we are willing to give some one 4 years of college education for a set term of military service , then give them 4 years of college for a set term of civilian service that will benefit the country . The electronic books don't need to be free nor do the downloads of the subject matter . It can be done significantly cheaper than printed versions . Just think of the reduction in the wear and tear on our kids bodies without having to lug those heavy backpacks all their formative and young adult years ,that alone makes it worth doing . This coming from a dude who told his kids about how tough he had it because he had to walk uphill both ways in the snow on his school route .

Bring back programs like the CCC and WPA . Rebuild the infrastructure and clean up the environment. turn welfare into work fare for all that are able to work. teach some useable skills, pay decent wages and let them pay taxes instead of living on tax dollars. Legalize marijuana , gambling and prostitution, regulate and tax it. quit tossing folks in jail for that stuff , save a lot of tax dollars . Why do textbooks need to be redone what seems like every semester, there isn't that much new ground being broken on a regular basis. Change a semi colon in the third paragraph of a half dozen pages doesn't justify making new text books necessary. As a matter of fact do away with regular text books altogether, let them use electronic books. That way if there are changes needed , it can be done digitally. Dump no child left behind, a total joke and waste of time and money. Let's teach the kids how to pass standardized tests but not be able to think and reason for themselves . Fix the crushing student loans, there are a couple generations saddled with insane amounts of debt. How are they ever going to be able to afford to buy houses, cars and durable goods. As Al said, do a energy Manhattan project , I agree with the positives he pointed out. Corporations that make billions but pay very little in taxes while the middle class has been taxed pretty much out of existence , nah nothing wrong there . Shoot they ought to pay a very large tax hit for every job they exported out of this country , that can go to retraining and the CCC/WPA stuff . Do not let legislators at any level vote themselves benefits that the constituents do not receive. Give every candidate a limited number of hours of free tv and radio time, a limited predetermined amount of print exposure. Limit what they can talk about to the problems at hand and their solutions. No attacks, mud slinging or other such nonsense. Limit the campaigning to say two months before the election which is held every four years for every position . No need for raising campaign funds either , you say your stuff on the free time allotted and shut up. They spend the rest of the four years actually working on problems that need to be solved . Just think how much less junk in the mail and annoying phone calls as well . Do away with political parties, everyone is an independent . It's about time to start taking care of our service vets they way they deserve. It's a shame the way it is right now. As a society we need to take care of the elderly the infirm who cannot care for themselves and our children. Police, fire, ems, teachers , nurses should be esteemed rather than entertainers in any field, including sports . Make training and paying them a fair wage a .priority . Tolerate the beliefs of others, you don't have to agree, just don't try to restrict others rights to live the way they wish . Just some thoughts from a long haired old hippie that still has some red neck under that hair

That is a man I would have loved to have known .

I let the fish decide. I've caught fish on lures in winter in rivers that are so big most wouldn't even use them in summer. I've caught them on small 2-3 inch lures and on normal size tackle . Shoot I've even caught smallmouth on topwaters in the middle of winter in my river. I don't recommend that unless you have a lot of time and patience and are willing to endure very long stretches of not catching . you won't know unless you try .

https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=tom+rosenbauer+books

https://midwestoutdoors.com/river-fishing-bombshell-from-gapen-and-bobber-anne/

there is such a thing as too much booze

Back out today , slushy crap mostly gone otherwise river about the same . It was supposed to be warmer but that damp wind cut right thru me . I guess all those years of heart meds are catching up with me . I started out in a larger cobblestone bottomed slower flow area off the main channel . It also has some of the deeper water thereabouts . I was using square bill cranks designed to run 8-10 ft deep in 3-4 fow . I retrieved as slow as possible , ended up with 3 decent smallmouth . All of them hit when the lure deflected off bigger rocks or humps . I tried a variety of other lures there with no fish to show. I fished some current seams and eddies in a few other places with a variety of lures . No fish , called it a day, got some hot food in me

If you think it would do any good, I'll call him between casts . Do you think he would bite for a paid day off, seeing as how it's mental health related ?

If it's the visibility of the line that is an issue take a permanent marker and make some blotches on the spool of line. It breaks up the outline of the line . I've tried everything from 832, nano, fluro, braid, mono and coploy. I use copoly or mono and don't feel that it effects the catch rate compared to the others.

The shoulder is not 100% and may never be but it felt good enough . A little pain/ache/discomfort in one joint or another is nothing new for this body . What's one more ache . River gauges are not working right due to ice but it looks to be above normal flow. Greenish stain, lot's of slushy/icy crap flowing the further downstream you go . Water temps low 30's . I went up to the more urban part of the river where the slushy/icy stuff is minimal . I just stuck some weighted keeper hooks and a bag of erie darters in the coat pocket along with a pair of pliers . I bank fished, never bothered putting on the waders . First place I tried was a creekmouth, got a nice smallmouth on the 8th or 9th cast . Basically quartercast upstream , let the current do the work. I did not get any more bites there , worked both sides of a point downstream a bit next . Same rig, same tactic, no fish . Next stop was a few shoreline related slack spots , used the same lure, no more fish. I headed downstream to see if the slushy/icy floating stuff had abated, no such luck . I tried at a couple of different places down there but the floating stuff just grabbed the line too quick to fish effectively . Hopefully , I'll be back at it tomorrow , if the shoulder stays at the same level of ache . While taking a break in the action downstream , I was just standing there with my eyes closed , listening to the river flow, smelling the pines on the breeze and feeling the sun warm my body . Moments like that can bring you closer to whatever your personal faith is . Peace be unto you

12 pages and not a single mention of what is the best color tube or mono vs, braid vs fluro ?

The most important piece of gear is between your ears . Back when I was real young a piece of a Crème worm on a size 6 Aberdeen hook with a split shot right ahead of it caught fish in the crick by the house . I used a green Johnson reel on a fiberglass rod . That same set up would still catch fish but I have come to prefer the more expensive gear I use now . The better gear didn't make me a better fisherman, time on the water and continual learning from as many sources as possible have made he biggest contribution to that . Sometimes I get the urge to go dipping crickets in a creek , If I feel nostalgic enough I use the 12 ft one piece bamboo pole , if not the 12 ft collapseable graphite pole. Neither is better at catching fish than the other but one is more convenient to carry in the car .

multispecies in winter is always good . sharing the experience and teaching a newcomer the ropes is even better .

folks in my family said amongst other things when called hillbillys was that hillbillys were lazy enough to do it right the first time. That usually shut the other up long enough to get on with what they were about . So far as I know no one in the family took offense at being a hillbilly just thought it sad that those would not understand how living a good yet simple life style was .

Why does the nfl think that another team in LA won't fail just like all the others have. League has made money hand over fist the last couple decades without a team there. St Louis got screwed .