tjm

Be careful about that, flyrod bass can be addictive; I'd guess it's been 15-20 years since I bothered fishing with spinning tackle. Although I do keep some around.

Looks like it'd be perfect bass fly water.

Common Carp are minnows and often get pretty big. But I guess pikeminnows would be the native fish to target- "Pikeminnows are the largest native North American minnow species, reaching six feet in length with a maximum recorded weight of about 40 pounds. The biggest minnow species at up to 10 feet long and almost 140 pounds is the Giant Barb Catlocarpio siamensis, found in southeast Asia."

I tie and fish lots of "Palmer" flies (an old (1700s) British pattern, most common as the "Red Palmer"/"Soldier Palmer") in several body colors and several hackle colors, but, I've never called one of them a "Crackleback" and only if it has red tag do I call it a "Woolly Worm". Palmers do produce both as dries and as wets. I did tie few Cracklebacks with the herl stripe and long ago I used a lot of the very similar 0.56%ers; but I agree with those above that say the stripe whether herl or yarn isn't really needed. If the fish gets past the palmered hackle, it's likely hooked.

What is "SMA"? Yes there is and has been high water and flooding in southwest Mo. and northwest Ar. and it's still rain in the forecasts. Hard to fathom being 8 hours from a good stream and per this USGS map smallmouth are nearly everywhere these days (gold is native areas and maroon is expansion areas from stocking, etc.)

Snakeheads do survive Mo. winters (at least in few counties) and commonly reach 10-12#, can be 20#, might make a great tournament fish. Since they can breath air, they wouldn't be harmed by long times in the live well. And they can't hybridize with our endemic or native fish.

True but as far as I know trout don't hybridize with or typically displace our endemic/native species. They are certainly a problem in some other countries though. And for the record I'm not advocating for trout to be introduced in any water they haven't already contaminated. I would not object to requiring all stocked fish of any species to sterile.

We sure need more invasive species don't we? spotted bass, fl bass, Asian carp, snakeheads; why aren't we stocking snakeheads?

Japanese version, again with the L shaped barbless hooks- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MFWLPjXyCyQ

Well the problem is that they do reproduce. in my opinion it's one of the worst things that can happen. Endemic species are often endangered by introduction of species that can hybridize, like the stories of Alabama bass destroying Bertram's bass by interbreeding where the Alabamas were illegally introduced.

Didn't they eat cake?

and was it as good as you had hoped?

It probably would be cheaper just buy bar soap, and it actually has better taste, butt then you'd have to grate it, I don't know might be toss-up as to time. I've never understood lettuce, it's like eating water, but isn't it a cool weather crop?

No, not so good for chopping tools. It's best worked with a mule and a double-shovel, each piece of chert becoming a cultivator, but, it's surprising how well things like beans, tomatoes and squash like it. Strawberries love it too. I work the small garden with a fork rather than a hoe. I suspect that without the chert/sand the clay dirt would be too too tight. It doesn't crop well in drought years.

Ca. has many laws that other states don't have, you can do stuff to boats that would be restricted there. Fishing gear causes cancer there but no where else. And state lines are not drawn according top the fertility of the dirt. I guess being half Russian and half Mexican prior to USA acquiring it has left a residual effect on Ca. that other states don't understand. Anyhow 'regional' may include multiple states or only a part of a state, fe Midwest region or lake of the Ozarks region. I'm sure that 'top soil' is not Ozarks compatible, because it contains no chert and topsoil obviously does -

yes and I bet your friend needs to know the exact place on the interstate too. Mile marker, exit number, not just somewhere between NYC and LA.

Actually it says that it regionally formulated from a list of materials, then it says that if it is formulated in California the ingredients is precisly those listed. If the regional facility is in Mo or Tx, the formulation can include things not listed in Ca. Like rice hulls, native soils, food waste etc that can't be used in Ca.

You simply can not buy homegrown tomatoes. Not nowhere. They by definition must be grown at home. To think otherwise is obtuse. You might be given tomatoes that were homegrown by a friend or neighbor, but if they are for sale they are commercially grown. $$= commerce. I love tomatoes but I won't the ones from a store, grown in Asia or South America with chemicals that are illegal here, picked green and chemically reddened at the destination before sale, so that they look ripe. Don't usually eat them at restaurants either, the taste is just wrong. That is why they invented "salad dressing"; to cover up the taste of imported veggies.

If that's "closing time", then all the gals would prettier; says so in a song.

I had seen a similar video on a fly fishing forum a couple years ago and the movie reminded me of it. After a web search I also found this one of how they dress the barbless hooks, but I can find nothing on a source of the hooks. They have very little "hook" and appear to weighted something like a jig.

These guys still fish that way, kinda reminds me of opening day in the trout park. I wonder though if they don't use gorge rather then the hooks as we know them?

It's absolutely good business to close the doors and and scrap the inventory when the "customers" are fondling the merchandise rather than buying it. The shop owner can't put all that fondling and casting and bull shooting in the bank or use it to purchase new stock. Personally I always buy something at every trip to the fly shop, honestly the $20-30 purchase probably doesn't net the shop owner enough to have kept the lights on while I browsed. I love to hang out in a fly shop, but I've always thought that the shop owners could have made more money selling anything else. Good fly shops that are successful always seem to be tied to another business; resort, bait shop, guide business, a corner of a drug store, liquor store or gas station. I think it'd be interesting to see what an initial inventory of a fully stocked fly shop would add up to plus the overhead costs and what the projected return is. And after a year how the actual costs and profits compared with the set up plan. Would you stock one each of all the available fly rod brands and models in each weight? In 'glass, carbon and bamboo? Whiting feathers alone must have 500-1000 products if each color and quality is counted? Would you stock all brands and styles and sizes of hooks?

Online sales will eventually kill all the shops that don't have a great online storefront. We as fly fishers are very small niche market for relatively expensive gear and since most of us don't buy new gear every year, but want it avaiable to look at, the inventory can far exceed the annual sales. I have chicken necks and fur bits that I bought 40-50 years ago that I'm still tying with so once the shop sells that prime skin at a modest profit, it may be a long time until they sell me another. Throw in the rest of the factors like rent and upkeep of premises, salaries of employees insurance costs, etc. and I'm kinda surprised that any fly shops not part of a resort are still going. I suspect that any material one wants is available fast and cheap on eBay.

Nice. Tell the truth, I use more knitting yarn than fur these days for nymphs/wets, or a mix of yarn and fur. I guess that I've never fully tanned a hide. I found though that putting the furs up gave a lot better return on the time than selling wet or in the round, and it gave the option of shipping, which almost always got a higher price than the country buyers paid. With the current lack of garment fur market, I'm thinking about prepping some stuff for fly and craft use, just need to explore venues.

Fleshing is always the 2'nd hardest part, I think. Skinning for fur is a bit harder than skinning for meat, and old squirrels, like old ground hogs, are almost as tough as coyotes. Best part about a possum is how easy they are skin and scrape. I don't like salt and alum and haven't used it since the '60s when a furbuyer advised me not to and paid 1/2 price for my 'coons. Salt attracts water from the air on humid days and can, if used alone, actually rot the hide over time. Alum does dry things very well but tends to make the leather very hard and seems to shrink some parts of the leather more than other parts, resulting in a twisted pelt. (or maybe I just didn't use it correctly) For fur market I simply air dry, or rub borax into the hide for fast drying on fur out pelts. Borax also seems to work well for preserving and insect prevention. I've used borax solution to wash whole pelts and also just used the dry powder to dry clean and brighten the fur. To soften the leather on small pelts (like birds) I've used 3 parts water with 1 part glycerin, worked into the flesh side. I watched a fellow from NY at the Mountain Home show demonstrating Whitlock's squirrel hair nymphs with the sheared belly mixed with SLF. He did 6 or 7 variations representing different species of trout food, and yes I believe that 1/2 a hide would last a long time. Whitlock's website says the flies are tied by Rainy's Flies, so I'd guess Rainy might be a potential pelt buyer, but it'd be simpler to just package the tails and sell to Mepps.