ColdWaterFshr

Get Tim Holschlag's book, "Smallmouth Flyfishing", and while it's fun and worthwhile, I agree, I can't say I'm sold on the idea. I've caught plenty on the fly, but around here, there are better methods.

pretty adipose fin on that one brown. nice work!

Beautiful picture, and nice bike! What bridge is that? Thats gotta be the Finley river. Which bridge?

Share the road with a bike and be respectful. Its called exercise. I've never been inconvenienced anywhere near like you guys carry on. I have a far bigger problem with the temp tags that are 2 years old, the back-firing muffler packs on a stupid '93 Nissan Sentra, and the motorcycles zipping through traffic at a 50 mph differential where a lane doesn't exist. Left-lane cruise controllers on an interstate who never get over. Also, the increasingly blatant disregard drivers have for pedestrians using a cross-walk. I've nearly been run over several times walking the dog while in a crosswalk.

Fishing was so-so, but the fish we caught were quality sized and very healthy. Water low. Regardless of the fishing, it was 5-star weekend camping 2 nights on a gravel bar on the river with my brothers and nephews and nieces. We suffered no shortage of fun and being off the grid. Campfire with bright stars and ghost stories the first night. Dr Bronners late afternoon swim. Food - Conecuh sausage with eggs for breakfast. Filet mignon with baked potatoes and salad for dinner. Pack of coyotes howling very close to camp at 2 a.m. Eagles galore, including maybe a mating pair that did the death-throes fall from high up while still attached, directly above us. Pack of 5 otters hopping on land. Heavy river fog on Sunday morning w/ good coffee and heron screech. River camping is a lot of work and hassle, but it can't be beat. Lost a dandy smallmouth at Little Hurricane. Heavy fish and a clean cut on my line. Maybe a chain pickerel.

Its absurdity. Whats next? Deer hunters with drones using infrared to track where the deer are and then setting up their stands accordingly, to ambush? This isn't sportsmanship. And it isn't fishing. Its dorks with gear. Sponsors and tournaments should pay attention. What a joke.

I grew up in Springfield first 20 years of my life. Rountree neighborhood. Miss that area, and I go back frequently, but its quite a bit different than 30-40 years ago. Mostly better I think, but I never imagined the outward sprawl toward ozark, nixa, and republic. Heck, I didn't see that coming at Taney. Branson used to be a seasonal town, and semi-blighted back in the early 80s, like Rockaway Beach.

I played hooky and hit the upper Current today, hoping for rain and a bump in the water level. Got neither. But I did get sunburnt, and caught a bunch of leaves on a new streamer pattern that I stuck with for far too long. Ironically, didn't catch one darn trout, but caught a dozen dink smallmouth.

Thats my theory. The spring floods and wild changes in flow, make the spawn a crap shoot even on a good year. Lacks of cold-water springs to keep a somewhat center-normalized flow and temperature that smallmouth need for a consistent spawn. Its either 12 feet high and risin', or..... bathtub warm in need of rain. Usually more of the latter, at least for the upper sections, even in early spring/early summer. Hard to even float it unless you get lucky with the right amount of rain in recent days.

Kids, . . . let this serve as a reminder of where the path of ned-rig fishing from a jet boat may take you. First, you may find yourself overly concerned with bent intake bars on your lower unit. Then, days later, its finding yourself nekkid at dawn on a boat ramp, muttering about your twig and berries. From there, its a slippery slope down to taking a shift at the Command Center with Oneshot, or maybe sitting half-slumped in a vinyl lawn chair at Simpson Lake, carp fishing on valium.

Glad you got out. Great weekend weather-wise. Catch these on top, or is that bite winding down?

Whoa, simmer down Reinhold. I'm not sure if I'm up for such challenges . . the mighty rugged mountains of Wisconsin can be very daunting! You're not referring to the actual Devils Doorway 2 mile loop with a whopping 300 feet elevation gain at sea level, are you?? If you can do that, there isn't a boat ramp in the world that you can't conquer. 🤣

Come hike with anytime me lazy jet boat-boy. I'm sure you're winded just coming up the boat ramp.🤣

Depressing, right? Suppose we give our many miles of hiking trails open access to ATV's/4-wheelers and horses? Even just mountain bikes. Which I enjoy doing. But there is a place for it. I have no problem with lakes and lower sections of wide open river, but the encroachment keeps going further and further upstream.

Floated the Buffalo multiple times. It is, without peer, the best the Midwest has to offer. Good video and lots of cool shots but much seems to be drone footage, which I thought were illegal in NPS? Hike Angel's Landing in Zion NP if you really want to test the shrink factor on your tackle.

But a bent grate that allows a quite-a-bit bigger rock, that ain't good, is it? Makes me happy.

Love it! Those warped gaps let more big rocks get through to where they need to get! And the side benefit . . . more business for Wrench!

I love seeing these jet boat problems and constant complaining. I truly HOPE your intakes are clogged beyond repair. Bent intake bars, oh the whining, oh my! what do I do??🤣 I consider you all lazy sonsabicches. Pick up a paddle and float the thing. Screw your excuses for lack of time and "need to get there fast". We would all appreciate less noise, and exhaust. And, lets face it. You're not cool. You can't catch fish, except in those favorite "pet secret spots", miles from a boat ramp, where you've gone to dozens of times and pitch the same ned rig crap with lots of specialized skill involved, and then jet up to the next spot, whacking the same fish you've caught a dozen times over this year, posting pictures as if you're a genius. 🤣 Yeah, I'm talking to you. But whatever you do, don't dare reveal too much in your pictures of your whereabouts . . . .😂😂

No, thats pretty stupid. But just like a DJT criminal defense, your story doesn't add up. If you didn't tie it to the line, how did it go overboard?🤣

Beautiful work of art. Well done!

Highly recommend. Not as much about fly-fishing as you might think, but then again, neither was "A River Runs Through it", . . . which probably had 10 times the budget as this film even 30 years ago. I would rate this movie much higher though, for the strong message about our war vets that still carry their burden. Never made it to theaters unfortunately, but Prime Video has it.

L to R: Kip, Kip Sr., Ness, Hoffmeyer, Liv, Gavin, yours truly, and Brooke.

No, in fact, I don't think I've brewed a batch in over 5 years. Too much work, or I'm just too lazy. And all-grain brewing is a whole nother level of work and equipment investment.

15 years ago . . . thats hard to believe. Fun trip.

It was probably this one . . . my dry-hopped APA.