fishinwrench

So what TF's brother DIDN'T see was the massive herd of elk that crossed the road right before the cat did ? Ok, now THAT'S worth calling MDC about

I'm sorry man, go ahead and drop the dime on the puss if yu feel that compelled to. Of course you're not wasting my time, I was just trying to help you avoid wasting yours...or your brother his. No "bad experiences" with MDC other than a realization of what they truly are. I was just being my cynical self, feel free to tell me to STFU at any time.

Yeah well, you're a clean cut ultra-polite little guy that drives a politically correct vehicle. Some of these other neanderthals pulling up in their dirty, dented old 4X4's with dual glass pac's might elicit a different response

I understand where you're coming from I suppose, but MDC isn't going to launch a "capture and relocate" campaign, or put up flyers in the area, or do a public service message over the local radio and newspaper. So I don't get the point of sitting on hold for 20 minutes waiting to "report" it, just for them to say..."oh really, wow, well thank you for your call". Besides, if that cat finds out you narc'd on him he might come after your pomeranian or whatever. LOL

Carry some Carb cleaner to fend off the unwanteds. It's cheap and shoots about 20 feet with the spray tube on it. I've yet to find any critter that can take a direct shot of it. Wasp and hornet spray would probably do the trick too, that stuff shoots 40 feet.

Why's that ?

Nice work man. Good hit.

LoL Yep, the point of that makes me ponder why I check THIS site, and a couple others, as religiously as I do. But I'll pass it off as "just keeping tabs on my fishing brothers", and trying to stay informed of any new developments or "news" that I may have missed.

I guess I'm the only Southern rockr Skynyrd, Blackfoot, Rossington Collins, 38Special, CDB, that's my choice for pre-fish jams. (No ZZtop though,they suck) Neil Young is great too, I need to download some tracks...thanks for the suggestion. Oh, and the anamosity between NY and Van Zant really wasn't genuine, they were tight. Just look at Ronnie's tee shirt on the Street Survivors cover. Heart, ARS, Head East, Journey, or whatever is playing on the radio usually works for the ride home.

What do you reckon he was packing that Ruger mark1 for ? Shear pins in the tackle box (an UMCO) .... Don't that take ya back a few years ?

And didymo is much worse than any other type of algae, because.... ? This is beginning to sound familiar. Someone earlier mentioned Bird flu, didn't they ?

Really good read, Al..... But "Hollows" ? Who says that ?

Craig Fuller is the man with the info on the Niangua, Cricket. I had that stuff copied to a file but lost it when my computer crashed. I thought I copied you on it. If anyone that I sent it to still has it... would you forward it back to me ?

So have any of the studies yet determined what type of habitat does or doesn't tend to be conducive to didymo ? I'd look it up myself, but I am bias, so I'm sure I wouldn't find that info. I'm trying (at the request of others) to spend less time worrying about things that haven't happened yet. A person could eat himself up from the inside out worrying about things that could happen, but probably won't.

Listen to THIS guy ! He lives on the NFOW and he's jealous of a carp fisherman. Who'da ever thunk it ?

Nice work Man ! I've been stalking them some on the sly, but bombing out miserably. Sounds like your carp hole is a little "baited" though so I'll deduct 3 points , but you're still ahead of me by a long shot. Spooky bastages they drive me crazy ! Is that a Triumph or a Reign, and how do you like it ?

Fine, in that case then, YOU are allowed to travel the globe and wade in far away streams in the same set of boots....the rest of us with our felt soles will fish predominantly in our own region, and IF we travel to fish in another time zone we'll buy a pair of non-felts to wear while we are there. The point is not whether or not felt is capable of hosting organisms, but that the BANNING of it is unpractical.

Awesome ! I'd love to hear him connect the dots for the 2 weeks prior to the Florida flight.

Done it. Not with Vibram but with Chota's latest/greatest gummy stuff, and with a boot that had marine carpeting glued to the soles. I don't need to test Vibram (side-by-side) because I already know the deal with it. I have a pair of Vibram soled boat shoes that will go right out from under you on a wet concrete boat ramp, dock, or wet trailer tongue. I wrote Irish Setter about it because they just RAVED about the wet traction capability of these shoes in their catalog, what a friggin' joke ! Premium marine carpeting (made from recycled tires) is possibly the second best thing to felt, but it has a tendency to fray from the edges inward so it doesn't last very long. One way to get people to "care more" about our trout streams would be to manage them better AS TROUT STREAMS, I guarantee if a few of them fished a little better then more people would be dead set on protecting them more diligently. Simply dumping a few trout in one from time to time, or nailing a Blue Ribbon sign to a tree does not always a "trout stream" make.

Yes it has, you suffered a near cuncussion not that long ago on the Niangua and have now forgotten. Remember, you slipped on some powerbait and tried to split a log with your melon...and it almost resulted in a divorce. Felt could have saved you all that unnecessary grief.

When it first showed up below Bull Shoals the Arkansas guys were all up in arms about it....now I seldom hear them mention it. Did it turn out to be "not such a big deal", or have they just learned to accept it and deal with it ? I don't get down there very often so I wonder, Has it noticably effected the scud / sowbug population there ?

Myself I only wear waders/felt sole boots on 4 Missouri streams, I only make it to Arkansas about once a year on average and I've pretty much quit fishing Taney completely (not that I don't like it, I do, but it's a haul for me and if I'm driving that far I'd just as soon go somewhere that horns don't blow and run me off the stream as soon as I get there. I'm self employed and live a pretty simple life, I don't go traveling all over the darn country...unless it's a special occasion I fish fairly close to home, so I'm not gonna go out and buy new boots that are a hindrance and risk a fall just because some of you nation-wide travelers might bring something home from one of your spendy cross country jaunts. Hell I can't afford health insurance and don't have much of a nest egg built up, so if I break a wrist, or worse, because of a bad step in a place where I'm used to being able to navigate without too much caution, it could put me in the poor house. I don't know how financially secure everyone else here is, but loosing 4-6 weeks worth of work could have me wearing those Vibram boots to bed at night in a van down by the river eating hotdogs and instant potatoes.

I don't "do" herons, so I think I'm safe there.

Really, so when didymo shows up why do they immediately insist that it was brought there on fishermens boots ? I'll tell ya why, because it's convenient and another window for manipulation. They know the majority will buy into it if they keep repeating it long enough. Have any of the hotshot biologists even taken an aquarium and a boot and TRIED to transfer it ? I'll bet it isn't as easy IRL as it looks on paper. Absolutely ! And is the proposed ban aimed at banning the SALE of felt soled boots, or banning the USE of them ? How would they monitor that...."Ah that guy over there hasn't busted his butt yet, maybe we oughta do a boot check on him". If the NFOW (or any other Missouri stream) is ever going to get diddy it will get it regardless. None of the bans or requests to disinfect gear are going to make a difference because the majority of people aren't going to do it. Look at all the money and effort spent in an attempt to stop the spread of Zebra mussels "through education".....it ain't working, and now that we have them here I'm not so sure that they are a bad thing. Zebras might actually help save this pond that I live on.

You buying into all that "felt is bad" propaganda, chief ? Let's take a look at who benefits with a banning of felt. Emergency rooms, boot manufacturers, MDC and local LE (just one more nit-picky thing to issue a summons for), ect, ect. but there are NO benefits to anglers or the environment in the banning of Felt soles. Are they also going to ban boot laces and the padding in the ankles of boots ? Will wading in jeans, or wet wading with socks on be outlawed now ? What about silk flylines, landing nets...and all the other spore harbouring materials fishermen use ? Nothing keeps your butt from bleeding all over the rocks like felt. And Vibram (who's ever bright idea that was) has got to be among the worst compounds in the universe to have between your feet and wet rocks. Arkansas has had Didymo for 10 years or so, and it was probably that little Welshman that brought it over with him If guys wading boots are what is spreading it around all over the place then we should already have it 7 years ago, no ? Waterfowl will spread it quicker than boots will.