FishnDave

I've never used one...but can certainly see the advantages of keeping line up out of rocks, sticks, etc. Just wondering if any of you fly guys use one, either when fishing on foot or on a boat? Thoughts? This one seems to be the least obtrusive: https://www.avidmax.com/ahrex-flexistripper/?sku=939-968635

Paper-cut?

Welcome back, @Al Agnew!

Was that this weekend? 🥶

I wasn't even trying to be quiet, but heard a young couple rushing to put some clothes back on as I waded out of a creek onto a sandbar. Boy did they look GUILTY! 😂 Not much eye contact happening between any of us as I walked right by them to reach the trail back to my car. Silly humans doing the human thing...

I enjoy wet wading. It seems a bit more personal and you can really spend time getting to know a section of water. You can also spend too much time fishing unproductive water if you aren't familiar with the stream. I need to to try floating streams more. You can certainly fish MORE water more quickly, and get to places that aren't pounded by folks on foot. Most of my floating experience is on still waters, and I can vouch for how stealthy floating is...you can sneak up on all sorts of things...fish, turtles, weasels, waterfowl.

I even found one of those "Long Ago" pictures, like Al's! 😁

My biggest Smallmouth measured 20" from a river in north central Illinois. No picture. Had left my camera at home. I considered trying to drive the fish home, get a photograph, then release it...but I didn't like its chances of survival...so I let it go. In Iowa, I caught a few on flies in the 18"-18.5" range.

Thanks! Here's another.

Fished on Saturday for about 5.5 hours. I was thoroughly chilled by the time I left, even though it was supposedly 48 degrees. Maybe the drizzle, breeze and overcast skies prevented me from warming up...Catching was very slow...about 1 fish every 1/2 hour...and the last fish came 2 hours after the previous! Ended up landing 2 Bluegills, 2 White Crapppies, and 12 Rainbow Trout.These were some of the better trout. Some had pretty good kypes ...especially the middle one!

@Smalliebigs Incidentally...what water temps typically set off this activity?

@Smalliebigs Wow, great-looking Whites and Hybrids! I'm pretty sure I might know a guy that would love to have some fun with those on a fly rod! 😁

I've seen the Dr. Gundry advertisements for his special olive oil. Expensive. What are your thoughts on the Olive Oil. Do you feel better?

ESPECIALLY in enclosed spaces! ...as long as you're the "dealer". 😆

Sounds like breaking rods may be ONE of your superpowers?

Get you an Ugly Stick! 😂

Wait...what? Only broke one rod?? 😜

Excellent! Those are beauties!

Maybe not the best name for a product, right? 😂 I think it is a testosterone booster.

Sunday I had the park all to myself for awhile....it eventually got pretty crowded. Caught 6 Rainbows. This gives me 40 so far, of the 400 that were stocked...so I've caught 10%. The rain and wind we had has stirred up the water quite a bit. Most of the duckweed that was covering the surface in large areas disappeared, and so did most of the floating leaves (I think they just sank)....but the leaves are still falling and blowing around.Some kids showed up and spooked an owl out of a tree. The owl flew low towards me and then passed about 20' to my left. Pretty cool.One fish is shown 3 times in the pics below. It had cool markings, measured 14".

Saturday was cloudy, intermittent rain, breezy. Had the pond all to myself. Caught 10 Rainbow Trout, 1 Largemouth Bass, 2 White Crappies.I heard an owl in a big pine tree I was fishing under, but I couldn't spot him.

I'm 52. I try to eat smaller portions. That helped me drop 30 lbs. I hadn't drank much soda for many years, but have recently started drinking a "mini" can or two a day now. I also enjoyed smoking cigars for ~ 25 years, mostly while fishing. Oddly, I wasn't addicted to them. A little over a year ago, I decided to stop....threw out rest of my cigars, lighters, etc....and haven't missed it. I hate taking supplements. But have started taking some. It started after a coworker shared a couple Joe Rogan podcasts on YouTube where he interviewed David Sinclair, who has been studying longevity for many years. I hate taking supplements, but following those podcasts, I started taking Resveratrol, NMN, D3 and K2. And then I added Ashwaganda and Horny Goatweed. I don't exercise, I know I should. Here's 2 of those podcasts:

Those are some big ol' slob blues!

@Johnsfolly Just to clarify....was this at home or at work? ;o)

Blues and Stripers...I haven't caught either of those yet. I'm hoping for a Blue Cat on a fly in 2021. 🐟