P_L

If there is a set of falls on the big the next question I would ask is how many pixels are on a phone cam and are there enough to photoshop with? After that I would ask where would such a fish be caught Legitimately and how hard would it be to get it to the big? Either way it is a very nice fish and put my biggest sm to shame haha. this is the reason why I hold my rod next to the fish in my pics. In life you gotta have perspective

never fished the big river but it looks like a waterfall behind the guy, are there any waterfalls on the big? kinda looks like a feeder creek but im ignorant. The average human head is 9 inches tall. If you turn his head on its side and factor in his arms being a few inches outstreched but not totally stretched its still well over 20 inches without pinching the tail. I hope his doctor has diagnosed his health problems or else he is a dead man walking. his fingers are clubbed so it is something serious, might want to let him know.

yes, I concede without walmart those 2.1 million people would have to work somewhere else. It doesnt take much deductive reasoning to say if a company with 2.1 million american employees magically disappeared 2.1 million people would have to find work elsewhere. thats should be pretty much unstated common sense.

walmart has increased market share in retail and grocery expanding jobs/stores while their competitor's have been taking losses, It is hard to argue with results over the past 10 years. target/kmart/dierbergs/etc didnt open up a bunch of factories here in america to only sell american made products either. walmart sells more american made products and produce than any other retailer plus employs 1% of america. ALL of them sell cheaply made foreign product AND american made products. yes they are make-work jobs but some people need those kinds of jobs(it takes all kinds) this country has many undereducated people living here. between this and the complaining about the much needed tourism money for swmo you guys sorta cut off your nose to spite your face. I shop at walmart and not to brag but I know I am closer to retirement than a few of you(at 30) and it is smart money period. I have no kids yet but we all know it stretches the family dollar farther so many of the members here can have a few extra bucks to go fishing. please dont shame those people for using an american born company to save a few bucks. lastly, there are 3 billion shares of walmart stock(wmt) on the market, if you have any sort of roth/index retirement plan you own some of this company already. I say that with all due respect and I really do honestly respect you guys as outdoorsman but nobody here can offer a better business plan to employ 2 million americans or else they already would have a long time ago. The auto industry is another story entirely because of the high legacy costs involving people working 25 years and getting a full retirement(back in the day), its not the same sorta things plus ford DID take a bailout. they just used a private bank/the bond market to do it instead of the tax payers. the fact that they pretty much invented the car/assembly lines gave them credit other auto companies didnt have. Ford also records a bigger profit than gm year after year so that also gave them a barging chip the others didnt have. Sorry to rant on your thread versatile futurian, I meant you no disrespect sir! disclaimer: I own shares of F and WMT but im a chevy man with a very rare stock 01 Camaro 6 speed interceptor, you have gotta keep things diversified I dont work for walmart or know anyone personally who does but I do flirt with the checkers and take them out from time to time! I havnt met a woman yet I wasnt in love with non union walmart scab or not!

did you just say SCREW2.1 MILLION AMERICAN JOBS?

Welcome and sorry to hear about your dad

Sorry I didnt post the name of the river, I didnt think it would matter much but it is the Meramec. I own a couple acres kinda near the section we are going to float camp. Both of us have fished there plenty of times during the day just never much past dusk. I often wonder what the "night life" on the river is like so to speak. It will be nice to see what animals are out and what fish are biting at 2am. I will bring the screen tent and a weather radio now thanks to you folks. I hope we dont need a gun on the river but rick enjoys carrying and to each his own. I would rather he didnt but im not going to make an issue out of it if he does. I also think less is more when camping and think we will be good with one smaller bag to share for clothes and a larger pack for food/tent/sleeping bags.

My best friend and I are planning a canoe camping trip for mid/late June. We both have done multiple 10 day trips canoe camping in Canada so we sort of know what to expect but all of our canoe camping has been done on lakes not rivers. It is months away so some of the details are still up in the air but we have time. Are there any tips you guys could offer? -We have a specific section of river in mind and we are both familiar with fishing/floating there just not overnight. We will be self shuttling and using our own canoes -We plan to do 3 or 4 days and limit it to 5ish miles a day so we have plenty of time to fish. (mostly park and wade thanks to Tim Holschlag's books lol), I might rig up an anchor system if yall think it would be worth the extra weight and trouble. -I worry about flash flooding so we will definitely change the dates if it looks like storms or the river is up. We also know where the higher ground is just to be on the safe side. -Not sure if we will tandem or both solo. We wont have much in the way of gear with us and probably wont even have a cooler so weight shouldn't be an issue if we decide to tandem. My biggest questions are: Can we still use an alcohol stove to cook with if there were to be a fire ban? cold/raw meals add tons of weight I don't want to start another legal river access debate but if by chance we camp on a private gravel bar, can we still collect dead fall for a fire/duck into the woods to use the bathroom? The area is a mix of private and public land so it wont be hard to find public land if you think it would be a problem. It will just be 2 of us and we are both pretty quiet/respectful "leave no trace" type campers. We will avoid camping within eye sight of any club houses if it does happen to be private land. We are looking to get away, not listen to a bunch of drunks yelling around a camp fire at least on this trip anyways. Is a therm-a-rest chair pad good enough to sleep on or should we pick up a few cheap yoga mats for extra padding? We don't mind sleeping on the ground but hard river rock isnt soft dirt. Can we use bivys or will the bugs be too bad in June? Rick will likely want to carry his hand held boom stick, any problems or things he needs to consider before bringing it along? He is legal, doesn't drink, carries most of the time and has good judgment so its not him we are worried about really. thanks for the help and if there is anything we are not thinking of please feel free to speak up. paul

Where have I seen that name before? welcome red

Wow, that looks pretty simple and cheap to make. That is just a rebar clothes line with some aluminium guttering for planter boxes. I wonder if he uses dirt or some kind of hydroponic growing medium? That would weigh hundreds of pounds if it was full of wet dirt.

please pray for my brother Charles Buskirk he is only 58 but on his 3rd type of cancer, only has 1 kidney, and had an 8hr sugery last friday to remove part of his intestin due to radation damage. He hasnt gotten much better but hasnt gotten any worse. He is on a ventolator and been in icu all of this week. I have faith he will make it, he is a Marine and frankly a lesser man would have died already. Please pray for him to have strength and comfort for his wife of less than a year. every little bit helps. thank you

You live in Illinois so you might have already been here but Pere Marquette State Park is a great place to hike and eagle watch. They nest along the river road from Alton to Pere Marquette by the hundreds.

The white bass fishing has been pretty good this year but they seem to turn on for 30/40 mins then stop for 30/40 mins. Train trestles #2,3,4, and the rip rap between them is where all the action is. We usually fish the river channel at trestle 1 for cats when the whites arent biting. had the best luck with shad patterned cranks for the whites and shad for the cats. Your a good man for calling on the billfold. The spillway is a very entertaining place, most people dont know they have cameras all over the south end of the lake so there are a TON of people caught fishing illegally or doing shady stuff all the time there.

Sprint/nextel isnt very good so dont use those. You might get signal in one spot one day but not the next day in the very same spot. I know this sounds crazy but from what I have seen tracfone works the best. I have heard they piggy back off of any major cell tower no matter who owns it(sprint,att, t mobile etc) not sure how true that is. I have seen those phones have 3 bars when all the other people in our group with plans have none.

Hate to hear of things like this. Glad you were spared, hope your neighbors are all safe and sound too. I had an insurance man tell me to get a video cam and do a walk through of the house. Might be easier than making a list too.

Tour caves: Meramec caverns(Jessie james hideout) Onondaga cave (onondaga cave state park) Cathedral cave (onondaga cave state park) Fisher cave(meramec state park) Meramec state park has around 40 caves and 5 or 6 springs but only Fisher has a guided tour that I know of. Illinois state caverns is also only about 45mins south east of stl. No tour and you need to bring your own hard hat, change of clothes, and 2 flashlights to get in. Like someone already pointed out, that white nose fungus has kept many of the caves in our area closed for the past couple years. I'd call before I drove out to any of them.

Havnt seen any this year but got a few pics of this guy last year on one of the more quiet sections of the middle mac. I have seen them from far away in QueticoPP but this was the 1st one i had seen fairly up close, and the 1st one i had seen in Missouri so it made for a almost spiritual experience. Solo trip one early june morning I believe.

I cant remember how much but I bought one at Merrimac state park a few months back. It was less than 10 bucks at the visitor center.

Some of the corn fields near my house here in Illinois are already turning brown. We havnt even hit our hot/dry months yet so you can bet the price of corn will go up if it stays like this. I guess the soy beans and horseradish crops wont be very good either.

It happens everyday everywhere. I live across the street from the 2nd or 3rd busiest mall in Illinois and our town is only 10,000 people big at night but during biz hours its about 25,000 people. Most of the accidents, drug busts, thefts and other crimes happen by out of town people. The same thing goes(with drunk americans) for cruise ships, all inclusive resorts, and spring break destinations. the citizens and resort owners say the exact same things you all are saying about all of the vacationers. When americans go on vacation and let their hair down they really dont spend much time thinking about how much respect they are showing to the locals(wherever they are). its not just a Missouri problem it is an American problem. Not picking on you just trying to show a different perspective. I float somewhere between onondaga and merrimac state park at least once a month and the 2 most dangerous things I have ever seen had nothing to do with drinking or drugs. Had 2 dogs swim across the river to the sand bar we were on and start fighting right next to a 3 year old child(they were the land owner's dogs from the other bank not being watched). The other was a middle aged man cussing out a 10 year oldish looking girl who seemed to be his daughter. He was yelling at a 50lb girl because she wasnt doing a good enough job steering from the front. If I see something disrespectful or illegal I say something period I think it is hard to say you care and not to speak up. I have seen all of the same things you guys mentioned and always say something to the people and 99% of the time they apologize and stop. sometimes people just plain dont realize they were born stupid or are screwing up. I think it has to do with the way you say it more than what you say. I'm sorry I didnt expect this to turn into a debate just wanted to remind everyone about your registration, fire extinguishers, and not to let any of your pot head friends screw up a fun weekend. For what it is worth id rather they crack down on drinkers than smokers any day of the week anywhere. I couldnt tell you when someone is high on weed but I wish I had a dollar for every time I have said "This guy is so drunk He is gonna hurt himself or someone else"

Also, this past weekend, I heard from 2 different resort owners that they apparently have use of 2 or 3 highway patrol dogs now too. They float them down the river and search whomever the dog hits on. spread the good word, all of us know someone this might pertain too.

Sorry bad link, I dont know how to hyperlink here yet im still a noob http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-water-patrol-getting-ready-for-drunken-boater-crackdown/article_7276c776-b487-11e1-9dee-0019bb30f31a.html

I don't own a boat or drink very much but I thought I would give everyone a heads up in case this might be relevant to others. (sorry if this is a repost and I missed it) http://www.stltoday.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/missouri-water-patrol-getting-ready-for-drunken-boater-crackdown/article_7276c776-b487-11e1-9dee-0019bb30f31a.html Either way it sounds like they will be out in force so make sure you keep everything legal eagle

Nothing in Illinois yet either. Headed to sullivan next weekend for the 1st camping trip of the year, ill report back if I hear of anyone finding any or find any myself.

Welcome! I have spent a few summers up there, always put in at batch or french. Gotten as far in as Sturgeon/Russel/Keats area. Cache River(swamp lol) has kicked my butt more than once. Id love to trade stories sometime. best quote I have found to describe QPP "For those who haven't been no words can describe it, for those who have been none are necessary."