3wt

I think we can all take a deep breath and relax. MDC isn't trying to hide the truth. They work with proof, not anecdote. They know how unreliable these accounts can be, and they want to get proof before making positve id. Things that aren't proof:-my uncle saw one and he knows his stuff -deer camera picture printed from the internet -i heard them mating -i see them regularly. I just don't bother taking pictures They may very well be here, breeding and in bigger numbers than we think. If you can prove it MDC will be happy to accept it. Until then it's can't be considered proven even if it is true. It's not a conspiracy. Take of your tinfoil hats.

You can get away with click and pawl drag reels, but I wouldn't want to. While a nice drag isn't a necessity for a 5wt for trout it is awfully nice to have when you learn how to use it. Look into the lamson konic, ross cla, ross worldwide line (cast reels, but so is the konic), or even the cabelas rls. I'd try to stick in the $100-$150 range. I'd invest in something that will last and will satisfy you as long as the rod does. I have an old SA system that I wish I had not bought. It's heavy , loud noisy, get's bent out of shape and won't turn, and the spring pawl drag sucks. I could have been $60 or $70 closer to a reel that I didn't hate if I hadn't settled for that thing.

Go to Montauk. It'll ruin you for the other parks. Good variety of water. Very wadeable. Despite the feel you may get around these forums, the big tailwater thing is a bit atypical of trout fishing around here. Big water, little structure. It's tough on experienced guys just because you can't always get to the fish and your casts need to be longer. Not real forgiving for learning fly fishing if you ask me. And it's just a very different trout experience. I'd find your way to montauk. Big plus - you can graduate to blue ribbon trout fishing by just wading downstream.

Waders are pretty critical. You need to get in the stream to fly fish, and spring water in winter is not real pleasent on your legs.

I've never given much credit to BPS branded gear.

I think I get the idea from the video that was posted. Let us know how they work. My biggest complaint with dropper rigs has been fixed tippet length. Just one thought, I've heard that putting a twist in the loop when you rig a thingamabobber helps unintentional slipping. May help if that is a problem, but the mono might not have the same problem that thicker plastic of the thingamabobber has.

Thanks for the clip. It all makes sense now. This really may be the coolest idea for an indicator I've come across yet. And if you don't fish a double rig very often, you'll be suprised how many fish come up for a big dry you're using for an indicator (I usually call it the chicken fly because of it's size). Back to the original question, I think it all depends on what you're hanging off the thing. With small shallow nymphs you might get away with the flies we already talked about, but for bigger or multiple nymphs I'd say this PMX is pretty impressive for a hopper/cicada/chicken that might get some attention. Or a stimulator or big stone of some type. Even if it's just there for an indicator and the fish don't pay attention it should still be way better than the bobber indicators.

Sounds like something I've been looking for for a while. I'd say you're on the right track on the styles of flies. For summer/fall add hopper patterns, and mabye Elk hair caddis in a few styles. Any thing that floats well and you can see well should work. Do you have a link to pictures of how to tie one up?

Exactly. Regardless of why there is uncertainty or who you want to vote for, uncertainty of what's happening causes you to protect what you have. Not some partisan conspiracy. But hey, since somebody else could call you gutless I guess you should stop being so afraid to invest because the economy's really fine...

Whoa Tim. Didn't mean to get ya all riled up. Holding onto capital is no way of making money. It's a protectionist measure that you don't do unless you are worried about the future. You have to understand the distinction between capital and overhead expense - overhead you spend because you have to (paying the bills, employees, etc.) capital you spend because it pays you back (in general). Now if there was money to be made, and no real chance that the economy could get significantly worse, even the worst of the worst righty rich guys would be putting out capital. The reality is that even if Company A's taxes won't go up or may even go down, the chance of a tax hike and the market and economy reacts. Traders start selling on group think and things shut down. Now company A's capital investment won't make money because people are loosing their jobs and not buying the product that the investment supported; they go out of business even though they didn't pay more in taxes. So they HOLD ONTO MONEY. Doesn't matter what you or I think of it, they will hold it until they feel safe in spending it. Doesn't matter what color the president is, but the consensus seems to be that the current presidents policies are hostile to small businesses...so maybe it does have to do whith his ideals, but not his skin. I like spending on conservation. I don't think there are too many viable private options for it. But we're talking about balancing a budget when there's not much to go around. Nothing in budgets is permanent. We get a new bill on this discretionary spending every year. I am concerned that this thing will last long enough see permanent damage if we cut conservation too far. But if we don't cut it will definitely last even longer. It's a bad situation but spending and taxing our way out of it just won't work.

Absolute nonsense. Nobody in business is so idealistic that they refuse to make money. The economy makes people unsure, uncertainty about taxes IN this economy makes them unsure. The situation is different than the 90's, when money was to be made regardless of how much tax there was. And after that period, when taxes went down revenue went up. Just doing nothing (since all entitlements seem to be sacred, conservation spending seems to be sacred, healthcare won't be paying for itself ever but it's sacred) and upping taxes won't ever get things moving. But you cannot be serious that there's a conspiracy to hold off on business growth until theres a whitey in office. You could barely be more offensive if you tried. And the auto industry and auto unions buried themselves. Outside bend, your comparing the DEBT to the DEFICIT. Not the same thing. The $15T is a running total of debt. Making $600M in cuts affects the budget deficit. It's a very common "mistake" politicians make, but it's not a legit comparison. It's like saying that you are $50G in debt, but this year you can only cut $500 out of your budget - but at least you're not spending more than your making. It seems small in comparison to the total debt, but the bleeding is beginning to stop. I also agree that the elephants are the real problem, but I don't think anything is going to be

Oh come on. Don't fool yourself into thinking that bigger taxes = more tax revenue. There won't be anything to go around eventually, you can have 90% taxes and we'd still be broke if the economy doesn't turn around. Tax hikes will not let that happen. And then what happens to conservation, when we're really in a depression do you think conservation will be high on the list? Cuts have to be made. I don't like seeing all of this myself, but we either bite the bullet for a while and try to get out of it, or we keep spending all we want and get all of our favorite programs funded right up until the coffers run dry.

THIS!!! You should also not be allowed to collectively bargain with your government employer. Lets see, you get to vote in the boss, and then (wink wink) you get to go into negotiations with your new boss about better salaries or benefits (at the cost of your fellow citizens). And then your negotiations get taken into consideration and what do ya know, you get what you wanted from your elected buddy. It's a conflict of interest that even LBJ recognized (you know, that champion of conservatism...)

Tighten the belt kids. It's not "punishing" anybody, it's just life. Pretty well known fact that gov't workers of all types get a great deal on benefits and retirement. Also a pretty well accepted fact that gov't workers aren't exactly setting any records for working fast or efficiently. But hey, you can't get fired unless you do something really appalling, and you get promoted as long as you don't get fired for long enough. So I'll restate it this way: I'd rather stop punishing the general public, and run the county like any other legitimate (non gov't) entity that exsists. Find the money through savings in the budget that is already big enough to do what we really need to be doing, including parks.

What Gavin said. It's a different place when nobody's down there. Plus nicer actual sites and fire rings and pads for a trailer (if you have one) plus electricity so you can bring a heater.

Look nice. Maybe if I can use japenese beetles to catch fish it will offset the fact that they try to destroy my pole beans every year.

How were the crowds? I've noticed that openning C&R weekend can be pretty packed when the weather's nice. I love C&R season, but one of the main points is the small crowds, so I try to avoid weekend #1.

I'd say if you put a coat of laquer on it you'ld probably be good. I think it would be tough to count it as natural bait if you prevent any extractable oils or flavors to come out of it.

I usually weight mine when tied, and try to get as much on as will fit the hook shank. For most of my buggers leeches and sculpins I like them to get down quick. I pretty much cast across, quarter up or even downstream. Be careful downstream mending. You might be suprised how fast you are making your fly move due to the current and the swinging motion. I think over-fast swinging flies look pretty unnatural. I sometimes do a small upstream mend to keep the swing from accelerating the fly too much. In water that's moving fairly briskly I don't do a whole lot of stripping or retrieve, maybe just some short pulses. I also find that with streamers you can get some fish after you've presented several times, so it can be worth working slowly and changing up presentation. And don't overlook the end of the swing. Let the fly sit "still" at the end when it's directly downstream of you for a few seconds, and even strip a few inches in pulses. You can get big hits when the fly slows down, rises and dances in the current. Just be careful because with tight line like that it's easy to break off.

Yeah, I thought it was an environment thing, not a genetic thing.

Olive and Ginger. Sometimes white. Appearently I need to branch out.

Yeah, I think 8x is too light. I use 6x regularly, almost exclusively and don't have much trouble with small dries.

That could be said about anything. While true, I don't know about it as logic for banning any given activity (if that's what you're getting at.) I could say it about guns, cars, pharmaceuticals, power tools - all great when used properly, but if a crazy guy wants to misuse them to harm somebody, he's probably gonna do it.

For hoofing it to a sand bar pack light, or borrow a canoe or kayak or small raft to help float your gear down river. It's really the back up part that's tougher. I would focus on a small tent, some type of closed cell mat, a good sleeping bag, a small camp stove (ethanol burner or sterno burner) some water purifying equipment or tablets, canned or dried food that doesn't need to be cold (I like some decent canned chili w/cheezits) and your favorite beverages that are okay warm or at stream temperature (non glass though, unless you want to risk trouble with the rangers - but they're all but nonexistant up there as far as I've ever seen.) Some of the fun of it for me is trying to get by with as little as possible - but do take a couple of ways to start a fire this time of year. I've never really done solo overnighers, but I'd take a book or magazine to pass a little time once the sun goes down - I think it might be a little eerie to be in alone in the dark with nothing to keep your mind occupied. Take a cell phone. I think you'll get reception and just in case of emergencies it would be nice to have. Don't leave anything valuable looking in your car.

I think that's a fair assumption. But still an assumption. I think that will be where the research looks next but it kind of sounds fair to say that there is a huge natural CO2 respiration from streams that we didn't account for - and that any change in output from human factors would be a drop in the bucket. Not saying that's the case, just challenging asssumptions. I will admit that I'm pretty ignorant of carbon cycling in aquatic environmnents. It sounds like something that Tim Smith would have some insight on if he's reading...