tjm

Fescue prohibits birds by forming turf. Birds need bare dirt. And fescue wet with heavy dew means the birds are swimming with the chicks drowning.

What's a good source of wild stock? or do you say that tame quail will adapt? We seem to have lost all the quail in this area 20 years or so ago, and the habitat is basically the same as when I had two coveys every year.

MDC has at least two good quail men- https://mdc.mo.gov/magazines/conservationist/2019-08/new-approach-quail

That one does have a purple tint. I'd agree with black on that. If I had pictures, I'd share them, but I have never been a photographer, I can't remember to carry the camera or am too busy with rod and fish to handle the camera. I may have posted one or two pictures since the invention of the internet. It's been a few years since I caught a bluegill any way, since the neighbor stated having cars towed away, When I have to drive far to fish, it's easier to just hit the trout waters with easy walking. It's funny I've never seen that kind of sunfish, I wonder why.

Gotta ask, how you find that out? Did he respond to this forum by PM?

That's certainly much darker than any I've caught. Still to my eye it's more green than black. When I think of "Black" it is more of a very dark purple, most black fabrics and many black paints show purple to me in certain lights

I think the reason tips of fly lines appear to sink is more because they are tapered at the tip and that taper reduces the surface contact that supports the rest of the fly line. I had a recent exchange with SA's line designer asking about the old "Supreme DT" line and if the same line was still available under a different name; his reply was that the current DT lines were slightly larger at the taper making them a bit "more aggressive", to which I said larger and more aggressive seems backwards for a tapered line geared towards presentation and to that he replied that it was done to greatly increase the tip flotation and that the average angler would not notice the difference in turnover. As to treating the backing to float, I used to smear Mucilin on 12-15' long nylon leaders to float them when fishing weighted wets ~6" below the surface in still water. I think it's what is called midge fishing today, but back then the flies we used weren't what is considered a midge pattern. My mentors called it "greased line" but I find that term has a different meaning nowadays, maybe it did then too, we had no internet there. Anyhow the point is that either Mucilin or Albolene would float he barrel knot. Another possible alternative to think about is Loon Biostrike paste, A play dough like material that I've been playing around with for about a month, to add visibility to my leaders as the cataracts grow. I'm surprised at how little is needed and at how well it stays on the leader, and that it is indeed reusable. The drawback that I have found is that even the residue of the bit I used last week will try to float my wet flies the next time out.

From Wikipedia - "The name "White perch" is sometimes applied to the white crappie." I have also seen this and heard it used that way in the past. I wonder if the regulations didn't just use the term to distinguish white and black crappie as a common name at the time; like they included "Black Perch" and "Jack Salmon". The "black perch" thing particularly puzzles me in that MDC and others today use it to mean green sunfish, but, I heard it used to denote rock bass when I was a little kid. I have seen black bluegill and black rock bass but never a black green sunfish.

Oh, I know what it is and I did try that a long time ago (seems more like 40ish years) when it was written up in a magazine or something, but didn't find it worth the effort for me. I did use a "Jaune" fly line to cut the pieces from as that was what I had. "Jaune" stuck in my head because it was yellow to me and American line so why the French color? As a alternative, using that ugly orange backing material (although it won't add flotation) I came across this article a couple years ago and it reminded me of the cut line segments- https://troutbitten.com/2021/10/08/the-backing-barrel-might-be-the-best-sighter-ever/ Didn't someone market those fly line segments already cut and core removed for a short while back when?

I remember '69, the year I was a ranch hand in northern Nevada, dark to dark on horseback and town once or twice a month. Went in the Navy in '70 after the lottery of "69... Had our 50th wedding anniversary last week. I have forgotten more than I know, but can still recall the important things, so I guess I'm not quite old yet, but I'm gettin there a day at a time.

Yeah I have several of those China lines that came on used reels I collected, all pea green, and I was surprised at how well they cast and fish. I just wasn't sure about the core because I've never cut one. They seem to have a smaller diameter per weight than lines I usually use and the mono core would explain that. I imagine all the China brands use the same factory. So, have you thought about Rit dye or would that not be bright enough? and because I'm curious, does the bright yellow work as a sighter?

And I'd never heard of those fly rod jigs until they came up on this forum.

Have you looked at the orange Chinese fly lines,?

@fishinwrench Your memories of the trout parks go back farther than mine. I don't think I even knew about them before 1984-5ish.

SA still sells it, #5-8, it's green now; but what I had in the '70s was green too. In all my years I've never had an orange line. The one I got a couple years ago seems just like it did back then, I prefer level line for anything but trout on the surface. It's ~$20 if you can find it on Amazon or eBay and ~$40 from SA.

Or looked like this.

Well there weren't any bead heads in the '70s. Moser first published about the gold bead in 1985 and Orvis brought them to US around '88-'89, I think. If that was used as a nymph back then it would have been either on a 2X heavy hook or lead wrapped or both. Where I fished it would have had wings and hackle.

Any fly tied with peacock herl is a killer. But, the only fly I recall from the '70s with "Killer" in the name was Sawyer's "Killer Bug" which can never be truly duplicated because the special yarn is no longer made. Other "Killer" flies in my memory date from the '80s, and were many, as flytying/flyfishing magazines were everywhere for a few years. Peacock flies I used back then were the various Coachman versions, soft hackles (of which Morgan gives Starling&Herl but we used grouse or hen), Brown Hackle and Griffiths gnat; that I recall.

My worst blizzard was in '78 and it was worse than the article tells if you were in it, the forecast that morning was something like "a possibility of snow this afternoon with up to 3" overnight" - https://www.onlyinyourstate.com/rhode-island/blizzard-of-1978-ri/

Good for hanging meat, but my circulation ain't up to it as I age.

I've found almost that anything I wear has to tried on.

I'm thinking about new waders, so what wader is the baggiest with the greatest chest size? Everything I see at BPS or the fly shop looks like it was cut for my high-school body.

I haven't even figured out how to get voice mail on my smart phone, I'd have cold feet if I had to depend on the phone,

If I'm wearing waders the coat and fly vest will be inside the waders, other wise the waders are useless, if the coat and vest are out side the waders and not soaked, hip boots are all you need. I do see a lot of pictures of guys in waders in ankle deep water and I have seen quite a few guys wearing waders to bank fish in RRSP, so I understand that others do wear waders that way. I've read about guys that put the waders on in the room and wear them to restaurants too. That seems strange to me though.

Both of the times I dunked and had to swim I had no belt and I wouldn't wear one now, I want to be able to get out of the waders before I stand up. Having been there I have definite notions. I want nothing that ties me in and nothing that buckles me in. If someone else has tried this and has different ideas I have no objection.