Flyfisher for men

I'm thinking about taking a fishing trip with a very spry 90 year old. Am I correct to think Roaring River would be easy for him to bank fish and give him plenty of water? He'll fish with spinning tackle or bait, but does not use a fly rod. As far as mobility, he golfs several times a week and can step down into a creek bank with little hesitation, but I wouldn't want to see him trying to negotiate lots of rocks, rip-rap, steep slopes, etc. I'm looking for grassy slopes or gravel. For comparison purposes, I'm very familiar with Bennett Spring, but pictures and a very old memory of Roaring River suggests it has more bank fishing than Bennet Spring.

Condolences and prayers.

Happy birthday, Laker. Sounds like a wonderful day.

This I've discussed on other boards when Bennet Spring came up, but what's your typical tackle at the park? I use an inexpensive Cabelas 6 wt. and 6X leaders in summer. I often use 7x tippet. Stripping cracklebacks, I use a sink tip and 4lb. Vanish off a short piece of 15-20 lb. monofilament. The Vanish was a suggestion of a Bennett Spring resident a few year ago who was strolling the park with a young grandson and observed me fishing a standard tapered leader. He said never bother with the expense of the leader and go with something like Vanish or Vanish Gold off the monofilament. He knew from observing that it worked just as well and was a lot cheaper. He was right on both counts. (FWIW, I have a strong suspicion I was talking to Oneshot).

Over the years, I've heard this said repeatedly when water is high at Bennett: "People are standing where they should be fishing." I'd definitely work the banks and anywhere the current is reduced.

I often take straight monofilament in three sections: 20lb., 12or 15 lb., 8lb.

I just got done looking at the back footage on the trout cam, and it revealed a fuller picture. There were definitely the usual crowds at the beginning compared to photos from previous years. It definitely thinned out within a few hours. More like a typical summer weekend then.

I glanced at the trout cam earlier and had the same thought. It looked like a normal day of use.

Quite possible. I don't know that I'd do an opener "shoulder to shoulder," but fishing the park under normal conditions wouldn't bother me at all. I did get dissuaded from going to the park last summer. I didn't like the idea of everyone converging on showerhouses, bathrooms, the park store, etc. along with the stops you make to get gas and so on. I saw a needless risk of being in a confined space with the virus.

I was just wondering what it will be like tomorrow. I wonder if it will be the usual crowds and shoulder to shoulder fishing.

Good to hear you are ok.

Surely you'd find some way to misbehave or some other fine way to get into trouble. I'm not from Missouri, but looking at an Old Delormes i can see a couple of wineries, several caves, Meramec State park, Missouri Mines state park . There's bound to be other stuff.

Thanks, Ness. that's very nice of you to say. Good fishing to you!

Mine is what you'd expect. I'm in the priesthood and I love to flyfish. I'll pick up any kind of rod, though, if it gets me out. No avatar. I never bothered.

I've not bought from them, but they've been around at least 15 years. FWIW, they have a Cabelas in Wichita, too, if that interests you.

I know of two deaths where I have a connection: one a cousin who got it at deer camp. They pretty much all got it, some more sick than others. The other was a colleague's mother. Didn't actually know her, though she lived in the local community It's definitely had its effect. Our life expectancy in the country has been reduced by one year courtesy of 500,000 deaths. (that' a little under 20% more than what we had in 2019). In the ministry, some of my fellow pastors occasionally use the term "Covid funeral." They are also doing more funerals than is usual.

Could it be as simple as making your left pocket be the one full of stuff and put the gun in your right pocket? Edit: I wrote that and then realized that your shoulder situation might not go with stuffing car keys, change and so on with your left hand. Here's another thought: If you're wearing bib overalls, what about that front pocket? I knew a guy that carried a NAA .22mag derringer in it and another gun elsewhere on his body.

My family long ago had a problem with them pillaging cherry trees. They planted several trees on the farm, but the first crop was ruined by them. They'd dive bomb the tree and pick 'em off mid-air. A bunch of cats were soon imported, and that solved the problem.

TJM corrected me on this--he says it's the oldest still in existence. Aside from what I said earlier about water supply and railroads, I can't really say any more.

Thanks for the correction. I'm swamped with class prep right now, but will look at that other material later. Looks interesting.

Awhile ago, I read an article saying the St. Joe facility was tryin to stock the salmon in the Missouri. I've not heard of a St Louis hatchery. Could you be thinking of the Neosho hatchery? It's founded in 1888 and was the first federal hatchery in the nation.

Tariffs and government land sales were the main sources of revenue. There wasn't much to pay for, either. The Postal Service was about the only contact anyone had with the federal government before the Civil War, and it was self-sustaining. The army had something like 10,000 men. Roads, railroads, bridges, etc. were state projects or privately financed. We really didn't have income tax permanently till the early 20th century, not by coincidence after the land has been settled and there's no more to sell. Along with it, there's been development and it needs some order. For instance, you now you need a railroad commissioner and an agency to regulate them. Hence, we get the income tax in the early 1900s. (Just send our money in and everything is great! 😉) State taxes I'm not as knowledgeable. There were property taxes and so on at the local levels. Also excise taxes.

It is mind-boggling, Wrench. I teach history besides being in the clergy, so I can't explaining more. Transporting fish wouldn't be as hard as you might think. The technology actually existed. For instance, the refrigerated boxcar was already around from the cattle drives (they butcher in Chicago and ship the meat east). Aeration could be accomplished with a hand bellows or a hand pump. I don't know when they developed electrical aerators, but it's not out of the question. Battery power was developed by then. By that time, the country was linked together by railroads so getting access to trout was not an issue. I looked at some old rail maps online and Neosho itself was connected to the entire national network. Get on a train in Neosho and you could go to any state in the lower 48. Wikipedia, FWIW, says the hatchery was established in 1888 because of its railroad links and water supply. It's on the route to St. Louis and that was in place by 1890. It gets you very close to Crane. Here's an 1890 map: http://www.davidrumsey.com/maps1140084-30557.html . Incidentally, my modern Delorme's Atlas has a connection from that line through modern Crane. I don't know when it was built, but I did see an online map from 1900 that shows the connection existing by 1900. This all leads me to a suspicion that the railroad story may have some truth to it, but the fish actually came from the hatchery rather than direct from California, maybe even as part of a planned stocking. In any case, the rail link to St. Louis (basically today's U.S. 44) was long established and that gets you close to Crane Creek. Put a tank on a wagon with a guy to manipulate a hand pump for aeration, and you have the means to get the trout from a train to Crane Creek. I understand when you say it's a little astounding to see the doing this sort of thing so early. If you look at that report, you'll see the appendix lists them trying to put salmon into Missouri in 1878. Needless to say, it didn't work, but give them credit for trying. Few had any sense of the science involved. Here in Kansas, they thought they could change the climate of the Great plains by plowing the soil and releasing ground moisture into the air.

This much can be said: trout were reproducing in Crane Creek in 1893. The following quote cites two sources from 1893 mentioning it. Unfortunately, there is no information on how the fish actually got there. "In 1893, the superintendent of the Neosho Federal Fish Hatchery also reported that rainbow trout were reproducing in Spring River, Meramec River, and Crane Creek (1893 annual report and daily log of the Neosho Federal Fish Hatchery, Neosho, Missouri)." The quote is from a 1979 report of the MDC on the history of wild trout in Missouri. There is an appendix that notes rainbow trout released into Crane Creek in 1890, the listing apparently based on records from the Neosho fish hatchery. Whatever the truth of the railroad story, the Neosho hatchery appears to have planted at least some of the trout, monitored them, and then put it in an official report in 1893. Here's the 1979 report: http://www.mtfa-springfield.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/Life-History-of-Wild-Rainbow-Trout-in-Missouri.pdf

The Cumberland River in Tennessee shows that the trout and stripers together can still make for an excellent fishery. It might be possible for the NFOW.