tjm

y'all should disregard any advice I may have given, cause I've been doing it all wrong. I rarely cast 12 yards, more frequently 5-6 yards, for years I had my fly line marked at 30' just to ensure that I didn't get carried away with casting. I do try to stay at least two rod lengths away from where I suspect the bass to be, just because that makes line handling easier. I've only ever cast 30 yards in ponds and and the Atlantic, and it was rare even in those places.

Synthetic fish, ain't they? 😉 Easy for the kids to learn on though, I gave the oldest son his first flyrod on his fifth birthday and he caught three RBT on our two mile walk down a northeast brook. I don't think you need any fancy articulated streamers, just the standard striped bass and tarpon stuff is perfect for stream bass. The resemblance to baitfish and crawdads should be in the location and style of presentation more than in any particular patterns. Get the large fly into the feeding zone and make it move water with some noise. If you insist on spin/spincasting, which I don't have the patience for in my old age, only three lures I really used (although I tried others) were a #2 marabou jig /16oz, original blue floating Rapala 5" and a rubber worm. Again it's where you present them.

Why change to a less productive method? 3"-5" flies, similar to those used in the salt, like Seaducer or Deceiver, or Gartside Gurgler; floating #6 line; 6'-8' leader to 8#, wade to about knee deep and position such that the presentation is across and down, and less than 20'. Deliver the fly above and beyond the fish with a splash then strip it a time or two as it swings. Turn the fish loose and try again. #6-#2 flies in patterns that represent either baitfish or crawdads, thicker shorter leaders, noise and water disturbance

A vintage fiberglass 7-8wt will fish just about any freshwater situation, I think. Although in reality the line weight should probably be chosen to easily deliver the largest flies that might be used, directly into the wind. Fly rods don't really have a weight rating, simply because there is no way of measuring such a thing and no standard to measure to. Basically the rating is supplied by some caster working for the manufacturer and what they think an "average caster" might be able to use on the rod. But any rod should be able to cast a leader only and any rod should be capable of landing a fairly large fish. On the subject of just how subjective the rod ratings are https://www.sexyloops.com/sparton/rodrating.shtml

Although spoons and spinners are great fish catchers, I have wondered how they fit in "Flyfishing Topics"? Spoons can work with fly gear but don't cast especially well and I've never gotten spinners to work at all with fly rigs.

My uncle used to catch a lot of gar using 6-8" of partially unraveled braided nylon rope, he threw that with spinning gear, but I expect a 9-10wt might work. The key factor, he said was to give the gar something to hook their teeth into and become tangled, he told me that he and his friends had never had much luck with hooks. The wing material you used doesn't appear to have muc "tangle factor" left after the unbraiding?

This current project isn't even supposed to be complete until Jan. '25. Most of the visible work will take place in the final phases, so from Dec on and give it a 90 day extension, we shouldn't expect much until about April, '26. On the upside the stocked trout taste just as bad no matter where they come from. Enjoy it while you can.

I'm not really sure, at least a year or more, I think, for frying and the old yeller toothed ones cook up pretty well in the oven. Dad was the whistle pig hunter and he cooked most of them, so while I helped some I wasn't really paying attention, as teenagers often don't. I do recall that they have those bean sized glands in armpits, back and hip area, about the same as a 'coon, take those out. You can probably judge the cooking method by how they skin, the tough ones likely have have tough skins, those are the hides that Grandpa told me to cut into "wangs", the strips stretched so much that one for boot laces would start out ~1" wide, just cut a spiral 'round and 'round so it's one long strip. I suppose they can live five or six years and get up to 12-15 pounds, and are capable of eating 30 full grown cabbages in one day, but of course that cabbage eater may have been several. I think maybe the biggest that Dad fried might have been 6-8 pounds, but that was a long time ago, he died of heart attack in '68 and my memory may have made the animals either larger or smaller over the years. They really are big squirrels, as the marmots are all ground squirrels.

I haven't eaten (or I should "et" ) groundhog since the '60s, but they can be probably twice that size and still be tasty.

hard to picture that; I've never seen a 5# coffee can. The old 3# cans were about 6 3/16"x 7" and 2# cans were 5 1/8" by 6 1/2", but for decades the cans I see have been reduced to capacities like 2lb 13oz instead of 3lb.; 11oz instead of 1lb.

Some species of hawks eat some species of turtles, and that can depend on location and season. But, yes hawks eat turtles, and some species of hawks eat venomous snakes too.

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.