tjm

What he said^^^^, squeal could be a belt slipping too, it's easy to spray the belt and see if the noise goes a way. If not, get a 2-3' piece of garden hose or pipe and with one end against your ear stick the other end against/near various parts that might be making noise, the pipe will act like a stethoscope and when you find the noise you will know. Anything that rotates is a suspect, including idler pulleys and water pumps.

Davy Wotton? of the "Davy Knot"? That's a "drag free drift". Set the fly down and pick it back up before it has time to "drag". Works in fast broken water, or anyplace where the fish is used to making quick decisions, not so effective maybe in a quiet flow where the fish is used to tracking a fly before taking it. Long time ago I read about "creating a hatch" using a similar trick with mayfly patterns. Later I read about an old way of flitting the fly on and off the water, I think it was called "Dapping" a hundred years ago or possibly even as far back as when the Brits taught the Japanese how to use flies. A long light weight rod is handy for keeping the line off the water.

I imagine that every "trout stream" in Mo. was once a great smallmouth stream. In the past I've taken smallmouth from the same spots in most months of the year on a C&R basis, and every year I see nonresidents taking them to eat during the closed season (March-April-May) at low-water crossings. Which makes me think of why the season is closed in those months, isn't mid-March when bass start returning to the spawning areas? So, then, about when do they leave the spring branch, or the other trout river?

Fish coming from above in fall makes sense to me. The studies would indicate that some smallmouth go downstream in fall looking for deeper or warmer water, while others stay put if the stream doesn't freeze. That spring branch must stay about the same temperature year round, so that fish moving downstream would find it warm enough to overwinter there. Fall travel in one study ranged from 3.1-20.8 km with the mean at 6.5km (~4miles). If that is true there the overwintering bass could be from as far as 14 miles upstream. Any upstream migrations apparently are in spring for spawning.

I think he just told me that he didn't want to wear studs in his boat is why he got the overshoes from Korker. When I asked why not have the studs permanent, I had not considered wearing wading shoes in a boat, but his reasoning make perfect sense when I consider that. I don't boat much.

@Terriermanwhy didn't you just use the stud screws that Simms sells for their boots?

https://mdc.mo.gov/fishing/trophies-certificates/smallmouth-slam

Are you going with the G3 or the economy line?

I have seen photos of mule pack trains carrying cream cans full of fingerlings into Idaho and I think Wyoming mountains back around 1900 when the Feds were still the fish stockers. The alpine lake stocking that I think I witnessed about '64-'65 was with one of those small airplanes that dump water? on forest fires; it swooped in, dumped and left. It could have been done that way in any beaver pond as big as a foot ball field, maybe even smaller, I don't know how accurate the dumps are. Here is a picture from the web (not the one I was thinking of) captioned "Mule train carrying trout fingerlings for stocking in Idaho circa 1944 (cardcow.com)" If memory serves me, only one drainage in Idaho could have had rainbows prior to stocking. And of course the brookies were only near the east coast. And what we called "German Trout" back in the 20th century had to come from Europe with the Carp. But the Feds were stocking every stream in the world back in the 1880-1920 time period, whether it was a good idea or not, with trout and carp.

Rod flex and line slack I follow, but any stretch of leader or line must only take place long after the hook has moved that 1/4 inch and been embedded? Surely the water resistance isn't enough to stretch even the limpest line? Won't the boat move before the line stretches? It's a problem I've never considered, never knew existed really. I've always liked a fly line that stretched a little, because stretching removes all the reel memory quickly, especially important in winter. The few less stretchy mono core lines that I've used, I hated because they always looked like a slinky on the water. I have read about "conventional" anglers that thought line stretch was important, but I never figured out how, what force could be exerted against water that would or could possibly be strong enough to even stretch a rubber band? I mean lay a line of any kind out on a table top or the floor and pull one end only, will it stretch? lay a bungee on the table top and pull one end only, will it stretch? And after the hook is set, wouldn't stretch be a good thing in that it is the only thing that prevents breaking? isn't that why conventional rods have flex?

How do you measure stretch in a fly line and when does it matter?

2017 was kinda precovid and when Brian bumped it last January the thread had been dead five years, I'm gonna guess that people have other things going on at NYs. When I opened the thread I didn't realize it was a Lazarus; I was thinking how I could make it over there, drive time ect. and trying to find a time plan, but all I really see is the empty picnic tables. It kinda takes the together out of a 'get together' if you are the only one there.

The Simms waders I looked at on Amazon were sold there by Simms and part of the description was the warranty.

Just before BPS took over the Cabelas i was looking for a new vest, C's had Simm's Guide that suited me, except for price. So, I made a trip to the bait shop that carries some fly tackle and found the "Northern Guide" vest by Caddis and it had all the same things as the "guide" same material, same pockets, with the only difference I could see being the color, logos and the zipper pull strings. ~$75 on special. I bought it and went right back to Cabelas to compare, the two vests had to have been made in the same factory.

3 CSR 10-6.515 Crappie PURPOSE: This rule establishes seasons, methods and limits for taking crappie. (1) Daily Limit: Thirty (30) in the aggregate, including white crappie and black crappie, except on the following waters where the daily limit is fifteen (15): Bull Shoals Lake, Lake of the Ozarks, Long Branch Lake, Mark Twain Lake, Montrose Lake, Norfork Lake, Pomme de Terre Lake, Stockton Lake, Table Rock Lake, Thomas Hill Reservoir, and Tru- man Lake. (2) Methods: Pole and line, trotline, throw- line, limb line, bank line, or jug line. (3) Seasons: Throughout the year. (4) Length Limits: No length limits, except: (A) All crappie less than nine inches (9") in total length must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught from Lake of the Ozarks, Pomme de Terre Lake, and Truman Lake. (B) All crappie less than ten inches (10") in total length must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught from Bull Shoals Lake, Norfork Lake, Stock- ton Lake, and Table Rock Lake. (C) On Smithville Lake and Wappapello Lake the daily limit may include not more than fifteen (15) fish more than nine inches (9") in total length.

They were the same until the 70s when they were divided the same way that rainbow trout are now divided from steelhead when they used to be the same species. It seems rather silly to me, but I don't get to name the fish. Dolly Varden go to sea, are anadromous, the resident version of Dolly Varden are Bull Trout. Generally coastal char would be Doly Varden and the inland char would be Bull Trout. I found this - Dolly Varden vs Bull Trout In Id. there once was some in a creek east of Galena summit that tasted like fish, I think they were hatchery fish. My Uncle didn't like them or cutthroat, only wanting to catch the stocked rainbows. I think all the trout that I ever saw in Idaho in the '60s were stocked. They dropped them babies out of aircraft in remote locations. I recall a chain of glacier fed lakes that we packed into 6 hours on horses and me asking the scoutmaster how the trout climbed up the near vertical out flow, his reply was they didn't, that there had been no trout in that drainage until they were stocked. I'd look at cold <58F high altitude remote streams in the Salmon drainage if I was looking for bull trout in Id.

I just looked again at Simms site and their AI recommendation for my measurements is a 35-36" inseam, even though pants with a 30" inseam drag the ground. Even their version of "short inseam" is ~3" longer than is comfortable over clothes. Perfect Wrench those H5s seem to be out of stock most places, maybe discontinued?

Which model?

$100 per year or $600 for 6 years averages about the same, but a good part of the price of premium waders goes to the warranty cost. I haven't owned a set of waders in decades, wade wet or in hip boots, but if I were buying waders, I'd want insulated boot foots. Insulated because winter is the only time I'd use them and boot foot to make it easy on and off. And I'd rather buy new waders every year or two than to mess with patching or shipping, for me the best option might be duck hunting waders. But, the average waders are made for tall skinny guys, so try the things on before you buy regardless of brand. Legs that fold and pucker from being too long will wear at every pucker. Tops should be roomy enough to fit over the heavy coat, because if you aren't wading deep enough to get the coat wet, hippers are all you need. In the reality of today's money the $100 set is priced to be disposable, like the $50 restaurant meal that will get flushed within hours or the $$ gasoline that we turn into pollution. Caddis Wading Systems has some sales on some models.

We braided plastic lace key fobs back in the '60s and in truth that might be the best use of Swannundaze, but I was into cutting edge flies in 1978 and bought into the stuff as the GOAT stone fly. The Swannundaze craze they called it a couple years later. It may be that the Swannundaze was size-defective plastic lace in the first place.

I always think the inside of my shoes is cleaner than that floor. Probably aren't, but, tell that to my feet; if they are going to be naked they want it to be in mud.

I doubt it, the way my mind works it's the total failures that stand out, like the Swannundaze Nymph and the Cardinelle Streamer, when a fly works, it's like "oh that works too". Rosborough's books were under E. H. Rosborough. I still have a package of Ostrich Herl that I don't recall using on any other fly but the Casual Dress.

Polly was a nick name, I have no idea why or how Ernest Herbert Rosborough didn't become an "Ernie" or a "Herbie" but the "Polly" (short for Molly, which is short for Mary) was a Registered Trademark I tied a bunch of Casual Dress back in the'80s and haven't since then, can't recall if they didn't work for me or if they were just displaced by some other pattern. I may tie a few just for grins.

materials matter?

I'd contact the fisheries state departments and ask for their assistance, they are watching those fish pretty close and will know exactly where they are. And where they are legal to target. I think Id. is C&R everywhere, Mt. had an "experimental" season on selected waters a couple years ago. The only place that I heard them talked about when I lived out there was in Malheur lake drainage, but that was ~65 years ago, and lots of dry years since then.