tjm

Actually, after thinking about this the only SA lines I have now are Wulff TTs that I bought not long after Lee died. All my DTs are Cortlands that I bought in the mid 90s; one box is (Peach) marked $24.95. These lines have lasted longer than I thought. I do recall the 70-80s when I used "line dressing" and "line cleaner" from the manufacturers and three years was about the limit. part of that is due to me only fishing 40-50 days a year as I mature.

Cool creek water does alleviate the sting, but they may be more potent on bare skin, to me they burn. Worst thing is they can grow in huge patches that are hard to find a way around.

Fly lines get dawn and warm water and dry paper towels, then do it again. They don't seem to get dirty so bad if I don't put conditioners on them, but done my way they only last about 17 years.

https://nature.mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/wood-nettle-stinging-nettle

When I lived on the east coast I fished Narragansett Bay several times (1970-1985) a year with my same fly rod and reel that I used every day and with a medium 6' spinning rig. The only thing different was to soak every thing in the bath tub for an hour or two (dilutes the salt) and then rinse it really well with fresh water. I still have the rods and reels and they still work, although I havn't used them in years. In fly rod I'd recommend a 9'6'' 7-8wt and intermediate line based on what I did up north. I'm guessing that what ever you use for 3# bass would likely work there as long as you are willing to wash it every day and thoroughly clean and lube when you get back. You will never go very wrong doing what the locals do.

Pyrodex is smokeless. Mixed with sawdust or kapok or monkey hair, I think, to give it measurable bulk. If it ain't "black powder" or "gun powder" it almost has to be smokeless powder, not much else makes a piece go bang. DHS is why powder is hard to find, they call it explosive and make you a terrorist if you keep more than a horn full.

You'll still get more capacity and lower transport weight with a canoe. Someday I'll weigh 195 again, we hope, when I was looking I was ~260 and as I recall Jackson and Perception were the front runners.

This is what I found when I researched kayaks, a yak big enough to support my fat self and fishing gear weighed about 6# more than my old tandem 17'er, so we never got the kayaks.

oh. modern smokeless powder stuff, I ain't qualified- if I shoot smokeless it's usually silvertip or corelokt. I forget that muzzle loader and black powder no longer mean the same thing.

I like my .54 riffle, but have given some thought to a .62 smooth bore that could double as a fowler. The .44 is a great revolver ball, but even pistols were usually larger caliber.

It's easier (and much quicker) just squat and be done with it than to smear it all over a log, and at 70 the legs still work for that but there ain't always time to piddle around looking for the ideal tree or to scratch a hole either. When it's time to go, it's time to go.

I used soft scrub a time or two.

But you know that all your buddies and all the passerbys will have to try it and you won't want to put it back in the yak dirty or drippy.

Now you have to scrub and disinfect that bucket 5 or 9 times every day, that should be fun. And you still have to dig the hole and cover it.

Well, you can come on down, but I don't travel that far just to fish. By the time I stopped to try every stream on the way there, it would take 4-6 weeks travel time. We're at I49 & the Ar. state line.

Longear are common over most of Mo, but they shouldn't very far north of a line straight west from where you are. I think they are the most aggressive fish we have, they will hit a fly almost as long as they are sometimes, I've caught 2 1/2" LE on bass flies. In my creek it's just the opposite for me, I catch lots of small mouth and the large mouth ignore my flies

A trip to Norfolk-White area from here is likely to be a three day deal, after driving that far it'll be time for a room not the river, and after time on the river I'd need a room before starting back. The drive hurts worse than it did a while ago. You better make those long runs to fish way before you reach retirement age. I do hit RRSP during the week. are all available in Mtn Home, jobs might be more available in NWA.

You guys could have field day in my yard, it's full of those things, about every other rock has some sort of fossil print and there are about three times more rocks than dirt. The fan shapes are more common in the soft red rocks I think, but it's all limestone structure bearing chert and clay rocks along with slate. One grandson found a perfect geode a few years ago and when I told him what it was he couldn't wait to smash it. A peculiarity here is that a mile away there is a dolomite upheaval.

How far and what you consider good fishing or what you consider river fishing, the problem with most of those you named is no real access. Elk and Illinois probably qualify as rivers with fair fishing except for : Elk almost has to be boated because there are only three public accesses, I used to fish Qsage but don't call that a river by any measure and have no idea where to access it now, same is true of Spavinaw. Since Spring Creek is tributary of the small Osage it is more of a branch than a creek. The two Sugar Creeks are kinda my home waters and they have one actual access between the two in what is likely a hundred miles of wadeable water, boatable only in highish conditions. You didn't mention Indian Creek and it is another small trib of the Elk that has a couple public access points. I guess it's been 50 years since I fished the Illinois but it was by boat and access back then was limited. I've never fished the White above Beaver Lake or War Eagle Creek but in passing by them they impressed me as smallish streams. I don't believe there are any perch in this area. So there is some pretty good small creek warm water fishing within easy driving distance of Bentonville, but the same is true of almost any town in most states. Access and trespass is a problem even on these small creeks as well as the hordes of people trying to use many of them, I've not counted but estimate at least 100 kayakers per day during some weeks on each of the nearby creeks that normally flow about 50-100CFS, put in mostly at pay accesses. Being a wading fly angler and having lived in this area off and on since ~1950, if I were relocating in north Ar. with wade fishing water as a criteria it might be to the Harrison-Yellville area, with the idea that it is kinda within driving distance to the White and Buffalo and not too far from the Little Red and likely has some small creek fishing similar to here. However if the major thing is just to live in Bentonville for some other reason and you think you might fish, then it is a fairly nice metropolis. You must realize that for practical purposes the cities of Bella Vista-Bentonville-Rogers-Springdale-Fayetteville and any smaller towns nearby are all one place, look up NWA. Population about 545,000 and increasing by 25-30 people per day since the 2010 census, it's a busy place.

Sounds like you know some well off folks wrench.

If there is any good river fishing around Bentonville or Rogers metro some one tell me where, please.

Umh, I meant to say I think you put it in exactly the right place, if I was looking for any fly fishing posts this is the sub forum I would expect to find it in, the other places I mentioned as possible places hide a fly post. Of course I don't know much about navigating sites either and if I miss a post because it's hidden in a sub basement, it doesn't matter a bit; so I probably should have not posted at all.

For my part subforums are wasted space, a search looks for words not forum headings. My reading is generally confined to "Unread Content" which catches new posts from all the subsubsubforums. Good thing too because I'd never look in some of those. I'd count how many posts we have on fly fishing in general as barely enough to support interest in a general subforum, less than a dozen this year I believe. Of course most/all/some of those fly fishing threads could end up in the stream or lake sub forum rather than the fly sub forum. Or under one of the "Species Talk" headings. I do like the fish pictures. Them being caught on fly makes it even better.

when have you (DHS) ever been needed? How would your work group prevent an attack on Bennett Springs by foreign terrorists?

In the end testing won't do anything except spend money, because in the end everybody will have it in some form or the other.