tjm

I thought the easy key to identifying spotted vs largemouth was in the dorsal fin?

Does IRS still have enough people to carry out an audit?

I wouldn't fish RR at 1590CFS. It depends on when the picture was made, I guess at 8Am this morning it had dropped to 375, then went back up.

I think that we are being set up for the Postal Service to go away. The head donkey at USPS throughout the past few years has been cutting back on sorting equipment and man hours since his first week and was hired on DT's first watch, recently announced that he's leaving, When DT took over this time the VA Rx shipments moved from USPS to FedEx, which means instead of using the mail box, where I can collect it at my pleasure, the huge truck turns around in my yard and I have to be available to sign for it. Cut lots of the VA staff too and tells us that it is to improve the service at already understaffed facilities. The guy said he'd tear down the government and he is. We the people may get what we asked for.

That's added onto already flood conditions. And the karst is pumping out all that has fallen over the past week. L Sugar was at ~70CFS prior to the rain hit ~3200CFS Fri afternoon to Sat noon and dropped to ~2100CFS before this rain runs into it. Given that it has been over 20,000, it's not too bad yet. I am trapped at home by several dry ditches that are carrying a couple hundred CFS each. and that will be the case until a day after the rain stops, so I'm willing to call it off at any time. Elk went from about 225CFS to about 14,200 over the past couple days too

They kinda loose the Dick Tracy/Indiana Jones cockiness over the years, they keep the rain off my hearing aids and glasses. I have few.

How about the old brown fedora, and I'll find a pheasant rump feather or two for the band. Flood made me reschedule the surgery, so it's looking up for this trip, if the water runs down by then.

Not sure that I've ever caught a "big" smallmouth, having read about SMB from 6#-12#, and with the reclassification of the Neosho into a species of it's own, it may well be that I have never ever caught any smallmouth at all. I do recall one non-largemouth, because it was always there when I made the attempt, time after time under the same rock, apparently the same markings, same time of day for several years, the fish grew from ~17"+ to >20", per my quick and crude measuring. (measured marks on the fly rod butt) many times each year, probably caught what I believe was the same bass over a hundred times, and I was there the day another angler put it on a stringer. Typically I don't count the fish beyond "a few" or "several" and may go months without measuring a fish, but it was fun watching that fish grow.

All that was before the last election, two weeks ago Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said during a Cabinet meeting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency would be eliminated. Given that the agency is set for elimination, or at least some serious cuts in funding and function, it's not surprising that they aren't making grants.

I thought FEMA was gone? defunded and dismantled by the African doge, no?

Gosh, I thought all those old hippies had become CEOs and reached retirement age by now. The draft ended in '73 and the Vietnam war in '75 and as best I recall the movement lost it's targets. One dodger even became POTUS. But, I have admit I never kept track of them. Once I was out of uniform they stopped harassing me.

Not absolutely sure I'll be there, cataract surgery on Monday and I don't know what the recovery time is. But since they usually do the second a week later, I think I'll be fine. It's mostly on the 50yo kid, he's driving and it's his thing, if I go I'll just be along for the ride ...

the firearm violation?

I plan to be there Saturday. I probably should attend the Learn to Fish event ...

Click the "watch on you tube" button in the bottom right corner of the embedded video and on you tube at the bottom of the video click the "CC" button to open the close captions, you can read what the actors are saying. I always do this and my hearing aids are excellent.

They are wherever the wind blows. Just thicker in some areas, it's really futile to try controlling them at this point, pretty much a waste of time and money. Same thing as trying to eradicate the Sericea lespedeza that was introduced by the government; gazillions of seeds laying dormant and waiting sprout as soon as you look away.

So far. Think about next year and the next each tree seeding hundreds more. They will replace dogwood and redbud as being the harbinger of spring in the Ozarks.

5 stockings in 12 months means there may be a couple of months or more between stockings. For as close to the park as that is the stocked fish may last a week or ten days and that means there will be a lot of fishless days in a year. They will source fish from private hatcheries to keep the park stocked. But don't you prefer suckers?

If that's outside the park, the stockings should only be 5-6 times a year, I think. That's a "White Ribbon" stream and I was told the "white Ribbon" streams that I fish are budgeted for five stockings per year. (Roaring River, Capps, Hickory ) Right at the confluence, there may be Park fish that have moved downstream that would make it seem like it's stocked more frequently. But if you want heavy stockings, they do the spring branch daily, don't they?

The angle of the line to the shank isn't changed by an appreciable amount by eye position. Try pulling a nail with a three foot crow bar and see if it makes any difference if your hand is above or below the bar, as long as the force is applied at the same length. What does help with hooking is kirbing the hooks. When that hook is flat in the closed mouth the offset point has a much better chance of catching lips, but most fly fishers don't kirb. Anyhow, you answered my question, my curiosity is over.

oh, that, I forgot that bit. Pretty sure that's a myth. IIRC, Dr. Borger disproved that in one of his books. "Designing Trout Flies" perhaps, it's been a while since I read that one. Historically, I believe the up eye was used for underwater and the down eye was used for dries and that was supposedly about orienting the fly with the tippet before the bite, with floating lines and those Turle knots that tighten on the head. I do prefer straight eye for under water presentation because that lets the fly work best with either floating line or sinking line, imo, but I've used all types of hooks including those 10XL TDE hooks that were recommended for the Carrie Stevens streamers. Anecdotally they all worked about the same. Snelled flies were historically tied on blind eye hooks, weren't they? One of these days I'm going to sit down and snell all my <#16 flies and connect them loop to loop with the tippet. But I've been planning that for a few years and have yet to do it.

What is bad about the T.U.E.?

I think she needs a fishing license but not a trout license; but if you buy her a set of scrubs and a stethoscope, you could say she's your caretaker and maybe get away with it? Permits on line you don't even have to get up from your computer

I think you need to ask your Agent. Or buy her Fishing and trout permits together they just cost $25

Might use a hammer against the hide like I do with coyotes. Grandpa's generation wouldn't butcher a hog until it got close to 500#, can't render much lard off them baby pigs. Just thinking about it I tastee them cracklins. They also believed that the meat would cure better with hide on and scraped every hog they butchered. I don't know of anyone that even has a smokehouse these days.