fishinwrench

Guys, Up until the time the trigger was squeezed there was no document, or ruling indicating that it wasn't his property. If he says that it was his property and free of easement then the burden of proof is on the state. So I guess his property survey is gonna determine the degree of his crime ?

Owning property does not give you the right to blow someones face off for walking across your lawn. If so there'd be a serious shortage of Jehovah witnesses and paper boys.

Not really, F&F. All the defense has to point out and make understood is that river-front landowners as a whole DO INDEED BELIEVE that they own the gravel bars, and that no official document of any kind has ever indicated differently. See where I'm going here? This may very well be a test of the castle law, but all it does is secure and further complicate the elimination of the gray area regarding river rights.

Bo, "that's irrelevant", is going to be the official answer to that. But just to satisfy I'll offer up a few possibilitys : He was dodging a herd of swimming buffalo. He was swatting at a horsefly. He was verifying the depth contour reading of a map he had looked at once upon a time. Pick one and get past that trivial factoid, because you'll never prove that he was trying to scare you and took it upon himself to teach you a lesson.

Crocker's defense, that he "believed" he was defending his property (whether he was or not) is valid per the gray area that has been allowed to exist. And now someone has lost their life because of the "gray area". The way I see it the gray area can never be decided upon and a concrete ruling made concerning river rights going forward. Using this incident to sway the decision either way is not right, but NOW..... that has become impossible to avoid. Am I wrong?

Yeah that has to be subject to proof that you KNEW another vessel was there. They (another vessel) may be fishing within 50' of the bank nearby too, therefore No Lights/No Noise/No Knowledge of another vessel. Whaddaya know....yet another Gray Area

Oh I know how they get from Oklahoma to Warsaw. They are crawling into bingo bags.

Joe, Are you implying that you are the only one that doesn't know which creeks "those creek" are ? Knife branch, Spoon creek, and Salad fork.

Plenty of folks not using flouro, but I'm not one of them. Does it make a difference ? I've become rather fond of flouro's abrasion resistance. However, I don't buy into the whole invisible theory, nor the fast sinking claims either. Specialty "tippet material" is a bit more refined (slightly more consistent in diameter throughout the spool, and is wrapped onto the spools in a way that avoids twists, minuscule kinks, and anal crap like that) and I do use it on 5x and thinner stuff. But for anything 4x and heavier I do fine with Trilene 100% flouro, or P-line Flouro and buy it in 250-300 yard spools. The greatest thing about REAL "tippet material" is the handy little spools.....So much handier than carrying a 250 yard bulk spool around. So I buy and use just enough Rio Flouroflex Plus @ 15.00 per 30 yards so that I have handy little pocket sized spools to refill with "other stuff".

Trying to fish with a light in your face is a drag, I don't night fish anymore but when I did the lights we're off, and I didn't worry about it because the areas where I did my fishing was not an area where anyone cruised around. If I was gonna sit out on a mainlake point or somewhere like that then I'd not only have ny lights on I'd have a maglite on the dash to flash anyone that I felt didn't notice me.

Oh c'mon, Easy now! There ARE other objects afloat that do not/will not have lights on them. Some are anchored (no wake buoys), others are adrift (logs, hoists, boats, and Complete Docks with hoists and boats still attached that have come unbuttoned), so a boater should NOT expect to be able to run at max legal speed through the darkness expecting that anything else out there is going to be lit up like a runway. Common sense (and/or the lack of it) works both ways.

Teddy, you might consider joining one of the bass clubs as a non-boater, you'll likely learn a lot and make a bunch of friends.

Running lights if you are underway, Anchor light if not. Right?

I hate to see blown foam in a boat, especially in spots where it's impossible to take it out and replace (or eliminate) it. The crap does nothing but absorb all the nastiness below the floors and in the bilge, and retains moisture forever, shortening the life of everything else around it. It's 2013 for crying out loud.....QUIT USING FOAM IN BOAT CONSTRUCTION ! Incorporate sealed air bladders for extra flotation and noise reduction.

Every Winter is brutal IMO. Some are less so than others but they all suck. I wish I could fly South and avoid cold weather entirely.

Y'all crack me up. "How do I get the fishy taste out of these darn fish?" It ain't gonna taste like hamburger no matter what you do

You're putting out some quality stuff there. Are you throwing them on fly gear or light spinning gear?

The motor is a '58 Evinrude big twin 35hp. And yeah I'm looking forward to a test run.

Have at 'em ! Maybe this storm will stir them up a bit. It sure can't make the bite any tougher that's for sure.

Here's a blast from.the past. 1957 Lone Star Daytona

Was that before or after you realized you were too drunk to fish?

Deep V's are specialty boats. If your preferred fishing method is pitchin' shallow cover then the only time you'll appreciate the qualities of a deep V boat is when your crossing open water between fishing spots. The rest of the time it will be a hindrance. They truly excell when trolling and/or fishing offshore mainlake structure, drift fishing, or for just riding around sightseeing.

Efficiency as far as size and numbers of fish brought to hand is not where the payoff of flyfishing lies. If you are looking for "efficiency" then live bait and 20# line would be the way to go. Just as rifle hunters turn to bowhunting and compound bowhunters turn to recurve/longbows....Sportsmen eventually, after a certain amount of success will look for ways increasingly more gratifying to feed their egos. In this day and age we aren't fishing to stockpile food, and most of us aren't even trying to fill a bag with 5 of the heaviest fish in the lake. I went back to flyfishing after I realized that cranking down on multiple 4-7lbers with heavy tackle and swinging them over the gunnels like a 9" crappie didn't excite me anymore, and also realizing that after a day of doing well I really didn't feel a sense of accomplishment. Even if I placed well in a tournament and took some money home it was still less than I could have made by rebuilding someones outboard. I'd much rather take your money by working on your boat/motor than to TRY to beat you at fishing on any random day. I'm way more confident in my engine repairing skills than I am my fishing prowess. I get remembered everytime someone turns a key to start their motor. They either think kindly of me when it fires right up....or cuss me when it doesn't. But the guys whose money I've taken by getting bigger bites than they did once upon a time....they probably forgot my name before they even got home. So flyfishing is about Me feeling good about what I'm doing. The construction of the flies and leaders, the placement of the cast, the manipulation of the flies, ect. It is just so much more involved and harder to do, so when I succeed it makes me happier than catching the same (or more) fish using conventional gear. You can't deny the elitist aspect of flyfishing because it truly is a graduation of technique and mindset that is advanced compared to other forms of sportfishing. What other form of fishing requires as much preparation, practice, skill, stamina, and problem solving in order to be successful, regardless of the species you are targeting? It's all about the personal payoff. But even at that it isn't enough for me to just be "fishing with a flyrod" since drifting midges under a indicator with a flyrod takes less skill than huckin' a roostertail all day. Some forms of "flyfishing" can be pretty lame in the payoff category.

"Rented crankbaits". Yeah right. Pffft! I think that legendary tale was carried over from the old ads in F&S. I have my doubts about the reality of it.

Drifting down in the jon boat, or canoeing? I haven't been on it since the flood. Have a good trip.