Gavin

My short 5'6" bass rods are wrapped on Northfork Composites blanks...It's about $65 for a bare blank plus shipping. You'll have a hundo in one by the time your done.

Not bad for a first fly...Save it, and look at it from time to time. The "Wapsi Fly Tying Handbook" and the "Complete Book of Fly Tying" by Eric Leiser are really good references for fly tying techniques...You can probably pick them up used for less than $10 each.

State and Federal Legislators propose stupid stuff ALL THE TIME. Most of it is stuff that has no chance, but its done to satisfy donors, and its used to raise funds by the opposition. I did what you asked, send me another check...Did you see what the evil DumoRemnocraps want to do? Send me a check. Meh..

What makes the Yeti type coolers better is the insulated lid. Some spray foam in a cheap cooler will fix them right up. Your ice can’t be sloshing in melt water if you want it to last. Let your coolers drain.

Kid's are on Cloud 9, very cool!

They grow to a decent size and fight pretty well too. Caught several on the Sacramento River near Redding, CA.

You never know if your really "catching" or if your just flossing/snagging fish in the mouth with methods like that.

Don't set that kind of precedent or you'll end up boatless. It's a slippery slope. Soon you will find yourself fishing while sitting on a 5 gallon bucket, followed by jails, institutions, and death.

Think the Collins World Record Fish was a stocked Triploid. Wild fish just don’t have that growth potential, so I see no issue with eating some if the biologists recommend it.

If it were mine...I'd pull it down and post it for $1,500 on Facebook marketplace in March.

https://youtu.be/JmeoLzVGkYU

Rockbridge is nice. It’s about $95 a rod per day for catch & release so it’s cheaper to keep them. We usually fish for an hour then turn our fish in to get cleaned & bagged while we have dinner.

Crane is a wasting stream...meaning a good bit of its flow goes underground, and pops back up a long distance downstream.

I'll post up some of Chuck's this weekend...Lots of old killers in that style...Dick Ryan's CR Gold, Chuck Kraft's CK nymph, Larry Nixon's .56 er. Ratty ties that work.

Roberts Yellow Drake Jerry Regan's Hex Here's some of the flies they use for the Hex hatch on the AuSable & Manistee. I've used them for 25 years, and they are very effective...use the Roberts Drake when they hatch, and the Regan's for the spinner fall. Put your fake next to a struggling live one and they usually take both. They work great warm water lakes as well....A cream mohair leach works really well for the big nymphs. Another great one is Earl Madsen's Barber Pole. Cant find a good picture of it online but its in the MI TU guide books to the AuSable & Manistee.

Genetic testing should provide some insight on that, one way or the other. The premises is that an unaltered/very lightly altered legacy population of trout would be very different (genetically) from a population of trout raised in a hatchery where man can select for traits/rush evolution.

I think there is some truth to the story. Spence Turner compiled all the old stocking records from the U.S. Fish Commission when he was one of the trout biologists for MDC. There are records out there, maybe a report, and Chuck Tryon used it for most of the information contained in his Missouri Trout book. I'm sure someone has access to those records in some format. It is cited often, but I've never seen it. There is another book out now about Missouri trout history or something to that effect. Hargrove tried to stuff one in my hand at the shop a couple months ago, but I declined. I really don't give a crap where a trout came from anymore. It's a trout...OK, stop talking, that's enough. Speaking of Chuck T, I did find a box full of BUB Flies that I got from him years ago when packing for the winter float. Gosh he was a horrible tier!

Think the Gateway TU folks are gonna do some genetic testing. The truth is out there.

Wouldn't your tourney be better at a trout park? Put more than two or three out on a creek that size and nobody has a good day.

Poof! And just like that....Fishing went down hill.

Lucky I have more than one, LOL! If the waters low I’d probably fish a moderate action 8-9’ 5wt. If fishing with generation, 10’ 5wt for nymphs and the spinning rod would come out. Fishing giant streamers on a 7-10 wt is just not my kinda fun. You just wear yourself out and catch few fish. Might fish a 2/3/4wt for giggles. Big trout aren’t very hard to land on wide featureless gravel flats.

First for me today. Found my late Aunt’s recipe for cheesecake. Turned out well. Still as good as it was 40 years ago.

Caught a couple brown trout last weekend and the fishing was pretty darn good for those who went after them. Several over 22" caught & released. Best Ice show in awhile.

Great fish and photo! Congrats

If you find some holler. I prefer glass lenses...and they are not cheap. I've had some pairs for years until lost or destoyed. .