DainW

Come on man I never called you racist either. Literally everything I posted was directed at people that are supporting Donald Trump. I've asked that question now like three or four times and nobody can really give me an answer. If you're not supporting Donald Trump then I'm not sure why you felt like I was attacking you personally? I think I made it pretty clear who that post was directed towards. Also not sure why you assume that I'm a democrat that's voting for Hillary, I'm neither of those things.

Come on man I never actually called you a racist. What I said was that I can't understand is that people who supposedly stand for a certain set of principles and have harshly criticized one president for standing for the opposite of those principles while supporting a candidate that's even worse in a lot of respects than the current president on those principles. When I look at the situation from that standpoint, the only reason that I can see for this group of people supporting this candidate is that they are reacting to racial dog-whistles. If you feel like that's an unfair assessment you should tell me why you support him (assuming you're a conservative) when his campaign flies in the face of so many principles that conservatives are supposed to stand for. Seriously though, this is why we probably shouldn't talk politics on a fishing forum. I mean I don't post here a lot, but when I have all of you guys have been very forthcoming with information, Mitch, Smalliebigs, Flysmallie etc. I also read posts on here A LOT and you guys are a treasure trove of information. I don't think politics can really be discussed in an online forum the way it can be over a beer or on a long drive to a fishing trip. What you guys have read is just my opinion. I'm not trying to offend anyone here or insinuate that anyone is a racist. I don't really know any of you personally I'm sure you're all great people and TBH I'm ready for this election to be over already so we can all get back to talking about fishing. I'm just strongly opinionated and I have a hard time not throwing my two cents in on something like this.

I think some of you guys are more offended by the mere mention of the word racism than some of my black friends would be if they actually got called the n word. When did this country become so sensitive?

-The court in colorado ruled that the bakery illegally discriminated against the gay couple because it's illegal to discriminate against people if you own a business in the public sphere. Not sure what your argument is here? -I never said the system was perfect. What I said is that it's unconstitutional to ban a group of people from entering the country based on religious grounds. You've still got a 1 in 20,000,000 chance in dying in a terrorist attack. If you're so worried about your safety that you're willing to impose unconstitutional bans, then you should also be in favor of banning people from driving right? I mean car accidents kill far more people every year than Muslim terrorists. Hell the number 1 killer of US citizens is heart disease. Should we ban cheeseburgers as well? As far as the rest of your post, it's just one big straw man. You're not a racist for not liking Obama. There have been plenty of things that I disagree with him on, denying firearms to people on the no-fly list for example. But when you pledge your undying support to a candidate that embodies everything that you've complained about from the Obama administration for the last 8 years and then some, I mean yeah, it does appear a bit racist. Again, anyone who disagrees with that feel free to explain to me how so many small government loving, fiscally responsible, family values republicans can support a big government fascist who's tax plan would triple the deficit and has been married three times? I've yet to see anyone take a stab at that. I've never accused anyone of being homophobic either. You can support traditional marriage all you want, but suggesting that we deny the same basic rights to gay couples that we afford to straight couples is discriminatory, period. FWIW I heard the word God referenced more at the DNC than the RNC. Xenophobia is defined as an irrational fear of foreigners. Given that American citizens kill more Americans per capita than non-american citizens do every year, I'd say that all the anti-immigrant/refugee hysteria is irrational and by definition, xenophobic.

Can you give us more detail on why you feel that is? I watched both conventions pretty closely and there were a couple of themes that seemed to resonate from both. At the DNC one of the main themes or lines that got repeated a lot was "stronger together." At the RNC i heard this phrase a lot. "put real Americans first." I don't really see how "stronger together" is divisive at all, whereas when you start using phrases like "real Americans," then you're creating an "us" vs. "them" mentality.

-If you own and operate a business in the public sphere, you don't have the right to use that business to discriminate against people. See the civil rights act that was passed in 1963. -We already do that. The current vetting process usually takes about 18-24 months to complete before a refugee is allowed access into the country. Trump is proposing that we actually ban people from entering the country based on their religion, which is a pretty clear violation of amendment number 1. Although to be fair, he did back off of those statements at the RNC.

If you feel that my post is inaccurate, feel free to actually refute it point by point instead of just calling me pathetic. I'm sure there are a lot of racist white people that think talking about racism is pathetic. I don't have a candidate or an agenda that I'm pushing here. I'm just frightened that so many supposedly principled people could support an actual fascist.

I agree. Racism is bull crap. Whenever I go to Mountain Home to fish the white or the norfork, we have to drive through Harrison, Arkansas, and when we do i see billboards that say things like "diversity is a code word for white genocide." That doesn't really seem like bull crap to me.

What garbage? That Donald Trump is a racist? He's absolutely racist. Here's about 3 sources that corroborate my point and I can keep going if you'd like. http://fortune.com/2016/06/07/donald-trump-racism-quotes/ http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/24/opinion/sunday/is-donald-trump-a-racist.html?_r=0 http://www.vox.com/2016/7/25/12270880/donald-trump-racism-history Or the garbage that his followers are motivated by racial dog whistles? I think I've built a pretty compelling argument as to why I feel that's the case. Sorry but racism is an issue in this country today and it is shaping the dynamics of this race, whether you want to believe it or not and it's relevant to the topic at hand. If you want this "garbage" to stop, then give me a compelling reason as to why it should. Don't just tell me to shut up. I would suggest that if people don't want to be accused of being racist, then perhaps they should stop supporting racist candidates? It's not really helping your case.

What I don't understand about the Donald Trump phenomenon is this. Donald Trump came into power by wooing the most vehemently anti-Obama segment of the country, the evangelical right and tea party republicans. Yet all of the things that these groups have been complaining about loudly over the past 8 years, Trump is almost a caricature of. Conservatives traditionally support limited government and fiscal responsibility, and have criticized Obama loudly for all of the debt that has been incurred under his watch. Yet Donald Trump is promising one of the largest tax cuts in American history (primarily to the highest wage earners), while also promising to invest in infrastructure, build a wall that will cost billions, and increase military spending. What do you think this will do to the debt? If you're a conservative that actually supports fiscal responsibility and limited government, how can you support Donald Trump? The right has also loudly criticized Obama for being racially divisive. Yet in Donald Trump, they are supporting a guy who called mexican immigrants rapists and murderers on day one, the spokesperson for the birther movement, and the guy who wants to ban all muslim immigrants from the country. You don't think this rhetoric is divisive? Donald Trump's campaign strategy is divide and conquer. If you're a conservative who wants this country to heal racially, how can you support Donald Trump? I've heard conservatives accuse Obama of being a lawless dictator who ignores the constitution, yet here they've nominated the guy who wants to jail political opponents, "open up the libel laws," thinks there are at least 12 articles in the constitution, and is trying to ban people of a certain religion from entering the country. If you're a constitutional conservative who loves freedom and wants this country to get back to the rule of law, how can you support a fascist like Donald Trump? I've also heard that foreign policy has been a mess the last 8 years and our allies don't respect us anymore, yet here you are supporting the guy that's cozying up to Putin and telling us we should reconsider our membership in NATO? Don't even get me started on the fact that he was pro-choice before he was pro-life, or that he's made a living by bribing public officials, including the Clintons. Look I just don't get it. I'm not saying you should vote for Clinton, she's as corrupt and power hungry as they come sure. But how can the republican party, the party of small government, constitutionalism, and family values prop up a thrice married con man who probably can't even spell the word constitution? I hate to say it guys, but when you look at all of these things together and try to understand why principled conservatives would actually support a guy like this, the only answer I can come up with is that they're responding to racial dog whistles. I hate to say it but Old Plug has a point.

I'd be happy with an 18 or 19! Sounds like I've got at least an idea of where to start. Thanks guys

Yeah I'm aware of the slow growth rates and all of the other factors limiting smallmouth survival that make an 18-20 inch fish in the ozarks such a rare catch. I also get that my preferred method of fishing, wading and with a fly rod, puts me at a disadvantage. This is more of a lifetime goal than something I expect to happen this summer. I plan to pay my dues, but that's the fun part right? Also, thank you to everyone that replied. I think there's some really good advice in there. Maybe the question I asked was wrong. Perhaps I should've asked, if I'm going to pick a particular river basin and explore the tributaries, is there a certain basin that's more capable of producing bigger fish like that? Al mentioned a few, I think those are pretty good places to start.

Okay guys I'm not asking for any secret locations or anything like that, but I just wanted to get everyone's thoughts on the best river in the ozarks to catch an 18-20 inch smallie? For my purposes, it would be hard really fish the bigger rivers like the Meramec and the Current because I like to fly fish, which is harder to do out of a canoe. So out of the rivers that can be waded with relative ease in the area, what do you guys think is my best bet?

I haven't been fishing for smallies all that long, but have never caught one that beat up before.

Look at his gill plate, it looks kind of chewed up to me. Then there's the black spot on his back, just below the dorsal fin...is that not a bruise?

Ok I caught this smallmouth yesterday and it looks like this fish has been in a fight or something. I talked to some other fishermen who said they thought we were still pre-spawn on this particular river. Is the appearance of this fish related to spawning activities? Seems a little late for them to still be pre spawn though, just based on what I've seen talked about for other ozark rivers. Any thoughts on that or does this picture give any clues? Thanks

Ok I floated on Friday with the girlfriend, blunts to bass. We took a raft because I'm still a novice paddler and Kristine hasn't paddled at all really, and was nervous about turning over the canoe, which I think was a wise choice given how we did steering that raft. Only saw two or three other boats out. It was a beautiful day and beautiful float. I had my fly gear with me, but had to break down and rerig every time we stopped due to the size of the rod vs raft. For that reason, I didn't really fish the way I normally would, and spent most of the time trying to catch a buzz and enjoying the weather. I did manage one little smallie though. I also fished the area around our cabin at Bass quite a bit with no luck. I assume that gets hit pretty hard. I did have a question for those that are more knowledgeable on the subject than I am. We did see a few nicer smallmouth on the float. However, when we saw them, they weren't in areas that I would expect to see them. They weren't really relating strongly to cover for example. We'd often see them seemingly out in the middle of the river. There were also times that they were paired up. I'm not familiar with spawning behavior of smallmouth bass. Do they "pair up" like trout do? Or was it just a coincidence that two of them happened to be in the same area? Same deal when I was fishing around the cabin. I focused on areas where I usually have success in the summer time.....areas around cover like trees or root wads, moderate current and depth etc. I spooked out a couple wading but again, they were in weird spots almost in shallow water where you wouldn't expect them to be. So anyone have any thoughts on this? Have they just not gotten into their summer feeding and holding patterns yet? Am I just terrible at reading water and finding fish? Is it a combination of the two?

Ok thanks for the info guys. I'll post a report when I get back. Floating Friday.

Thanks Al. I think the stretch that was suggested to me was a 6 mile float back down to the resort. Is that a decent stretch fishing wise?

Ok so we ended up fishing the upper jack's last weekend. It kind of got sandwiched between trout trips to the current and NFOW, so we didn't devote enough time to it honestly. Fished the Radcliffe ford access and the highway 17 access. Managed a couple small ones and several fat goggle eye. Had the fly rods and didn't really get to cover as much water as I would've liked. What a beautiful River though. Side note, the blue ribbon stretch of the current was on fire if anyone is interested.

I'm staying at Bass River Resort this weekend with the girlfriend and floating one either Huzzah or Courtois. Is it too early to bring the fly rod along? If not would one or the other of these two rivers have better fishing right now, or is it pretty much a toss up?

Thanks for the info that was a good rig. Fished on Sunday and we caught about 15 between my buddy and myself. Most of the best fishing was in the 2 or 3 good riffles before you hit the waterfall and the area below the falls itself. Major takeaway is next time hire a guide with a boat. We missed out on a lot of good water that we weren't able to fish from the canoe.

Ok just booked the canoe to float Kelly to Sunburst on Sunday. Anyone have any fishing reports? What about advice as far as flies, techniques etc? Was planning on mostly nymphing deep with rubber leg stone fly nymph as my point and then I don't know what behind that.

Thanks for the report. Sounds like the fishing has improved somewhat?

WHAT A PIG! Glad to hear that it was released alive and well. That's awesome.