Gavin

Great project! I'm looking forward to pictures of your progress.

Ham's little striper was from the long slow pool below McKee bridge...The springs are about a mile up from there. They are not just there and gone in the spring time. They seem to like it as thermal refuge in the summer months and an abundant crawfish populations keeps them fed. The hard part is access on that river...There are lots of private river houses near wear the stripers hang and you don't want to be "that guy" setting up camp on someone's gravel bar. Your pretty much limited to down river float fishing unless you have private access. Makes it hard to target the big brown trout as well.

They run up the North Fork of the White trout water, all the way to Rainbow Spring. Hooked a real monster right below Kelly Ford a couple years ago. It towed me around in Kayak for what seemed to be an eternity. There in there...big pods of them. But they only eat, when they want to eat.

Boring game, but we had fun in the kitchen frying corn dogs and chicken wings. My daughters thought MJB looked like a past her prime hooker, and Eminem appeared to be lip syncing. It was over at 9 so that was a plus, we should thank the referee's for putting a quick end to that suffering.

Bet Evan, Ryan, and the Gateway TU folks have it.. I haven't talked with any of those folks in quite awhile. Think MSA has a meet in Eureka tonight, but I have other plans.

Ted C might want it....Maybe call him.

Is that a Leonard or a Kusse? I hand planed a 6' 3wt one piece bamboo rod years ago...It was great fun until it had catastrophic glue failure. Guess your not supposed to distance cast with it...Still have the tooling and and some cane if the urge strikes...It likely wont.

The dog only helps against strangers. The folks most likely to kill you in your sleep....probably live with you.

Buy whatever length you want.. https://northforkcomposites.com/bass2/

I wrap them myself but if you want one done up nice, Tom Hargrove is the guy you want.

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.