ColdWaterFshr

Its been a while since I took a swim, but as you point out Glory and also Al -- its totally a complacency thing -- I've had lots of close calls when I wasn't paying attention or underestimated a turn or the current. I've made it a habit to be prepared with a dry bag and change of clothes -- at least when it is cooler weather.

says the guy in the jetboat

I'd recommend trying out a few before buying. I seems to recall some video footage that you're a tall feller, Chief. Some of these solo boats can feel very tippy for us bigger dudes, especially when you're used to 17 feet of solid, battleship plastic stabilized with a low-centered cooler full of ice and about 139 beers. My problem is, my tree-trunk biceps along with a cranium of considerable mass cause a top-heavy effect, and most of the boats I have paddled that are shorter than 15 feet feel quite tippy. If you're over 200 lbs, I would go no shorter than 15 feet and just switching to a royalex boat is a big improvement. Just my $.02 worth.

Brian, I usually see them everywhere above and below LMD and BMD and the fish just were not there, or at least not in their usual #'s. I spent quite a bit of time just looking and observing in shallow tailouts to deep water, to medium depth with and without current. Nothing. Of course there was 2 otters busy at work right in that area, so maybe that could be it. Fish I caught all looked like stockers. Tried fishing deep and deeper, heavy nymph rigs ticking bottom, stones, don's crawfish, prince nymphs, different sizes and depth adjustments.

Cool. Did you pass gas at 1:11?

Oh yeah, late Saturday night it rained pretty hard from about midnight to 6 a.m. only letting up a couple times. Didn't get much sleep. River didn't come up at all though.

Fished it this weekend and it was tough -- caught only 4 or 5. Saw a ton of fish just down from the boat launch at Greer, but few were seen anytime after that. Do they still float stock or have they gotten lazy and reverted to their old ways of dumps from the truck? Great weekend to be out though.

Good one!

funny video. Bills big ole bum

Small water nymphing, like on wild trout creeks around here -- on my 3 wt I just go with about 5 feet of straight 3 or 4x mono tied directly to fly-line loop and then maybe 18 inches of usually 5x, and less often with 6x fluoro tippet. You are right, 7x is a waste of time. I still buy leaders for heavier rig ups. Really need the stiff butt sections to help it turn over if you're going to be doing longer casts like with streamers, or heavier nymph rigs.

Cool. I love little finds like that. Ever make it over to Hawn State Park? or to Taum Sauk to hike down and see the falls? or to Hercules Glades? some great hikes in all those places.

Nice report and great pictures. Sounds like you had a great birthday.

Sad if they are gone. I've worn through several copies over the years. Notes written in the margins with dates, who I was with, what a stretch was like. On-line is okay, but it isn't the same when you're out there paddling looking for that creek, road, or access. MDC shame on you if you are letting this book go out of print!

Killing me, Smalls.

Enjoyed that too. Thanks for the pics and the report.

Elk in RMNP makes sense. Trying to bring them back in Missouri? . . . . sentimental feel-good waste of money, a purely PR mission from the good intending folks at MDC. Good on them for trying, but lets not disguise it as anything less that a terrible waste of taxpayer money. Stay in the Peck you durn Elk. We got radio collars on ya and yull be shot on sight if you wander out of the pen! Chief -- lots of things we destroyed but cannot bring back. Tear down all the dams if we want to get serious about it. I'd like my rivers back.

What a joke politics has become.

Al said it best. The paranoia behind the CCW group just doesn't add up. Especially out on a fishing trip, your personal hazards to your health are such that you are more likely to accidentally drown (yet do you wear lifejackets 100% of the time?), car wreck on the way home from a drunk, or get struck by lightning, or get hypothermia, or any number of things that you can or can't prevent . . . . . but facing harm at the hands of a gun-toting wacko is so far remote, it defies comprehension. Good for you if you want to carry, but you got a screw loose.

Bump. Small reward is involved

I'm no expert on the Norfork, but we found plenty of great habitat this recent trip. Those that I was fishing with knew what it was like before, and what it is like now, and they say it is just different -- not better or worse. Buddy caught a fat 18 inch brook this weekend, well down from the dam. I caught my first slam, too, though I only got the 1 brookie in a day and a half of fishing.

Buddy of mine accidentally left his Albright A-4 fly-rod on the chunk rock shore at McClellan's yesterday. If anyone happens to come across it please PM me. Generation likely got it yesterday afternoon whenever it turned on, but I'm sure its stuck down in those rocks.

Elk

Killing me, smalls.

that was good.

classic Ness post!