gonefishin

I don't hunt snakes to kill them but, if they decide to take up residence in my territory they move right to the top of the endangered list. There are some who say wasps should not be killed either but, I keep a can of wasp killer around for when they take up residence above my doorway.

Nice ones. When you need someone to go with you let me know. I have heard the Bella Vista lakes have some good gills and crackers. I really need to come down and check them out.

Don: I will admit that when it was under $1.00 gas was a good buy. And as an estimate I would think that adjusted for inflation it should probably be around $1.50 $1.75 There also has to be some adjustment for fuel efficiency. A lot of cars get mileage in the mid 25 to 30 mpg range today. In 1950 I don't know of any cars that averaged more than half of that. I had a 49 dodge that averaged around 10 and a 55 dodge that averaged about 10 and a 58 chevy that averaged about 10 a 65 and 68 dodge that averaged about 12, I had a 73 chevy pickup that averaged 8 MPG and a 72 ford that averaged 10 and in 76 another ford that averaged 12 and in 85 a dodge that averaged 14 then in 89 I bought a fuel inject ford 3/4 ton that averaged 18 and my current pickup averages 25. The point is if every time efficiency is improved gas prices going to raise to offset the improvement, what is the sense in driving cars that get better mileage. We should just stick with the hummers. Also the refiners have improved technology that makes it cheaper for them to produce gasoline. Why shouldn't some of this savings be passed on to consumers. Finally in the late 70s gasoline was way out of line in pricing. Using those prices to justify todays prices is a scam.

I was reading a statement made by a big oil exec. He allowed as to how gasoline is a good value because it currently takes 105 minutes for the average worker to buy enough gas to drive 100 miles. He said people just had it easy during the 1990s when it only took 52 minutes work to buy enough gas to drive 100 miles. He backed this statement up by saying in 1950 it took the average worker 105 minutes to earn enough money to drive 100 miles which is the same as it costs today. I find some really large holes in his argument. The spending power of a dollar isn't as great today as it was in 1950; he didn't adjust for inflation. Most modern cars get more than double the gas mileage than cars of that vintage; so he didn't adjust for technology advances. Finally driving in that era was more of a luxury. Back then most people didn't depend on stores for their food. They were still home canning so if they couldn't go to the store more than once every month or two it didn't matter; in short they didn't depend on gasoline as we do today. I am not the only person that believes most Americans depend on gasoline. Here is a quote from an interview done by Money: "Most everyone has to use gas, and taxing it would hit the poor the hardest." - Denny Ellerman, a professor at Massachusetts Institute of Technology's Sloan School of Management. What do you think?

Depends on if you are fishing with artificial or live bait. If using live bait small pieces of night crawlers are hard to beat. If using artificial then I have my best luck using the small tube jigs. I havent fished on TR this year but I would start at about 3-4 feet then move deeper until I find fish. Small slip bobbers are a must especially for kids.

I have used flouro for a long time and have never had problems with it breaking down like Mono does. I did notice some knot breakage when using clinch knots; switched to palomar (sp) and had no more problems.

I have skipped several fishing trips this over the last 2 or 3 summers because I cant justify the cost and I drive a car that gets 40 mpg. Right now it costs about $30.00 for a fill up. I used to budget $50 per month for gas but I have been forced to stretch it to $60. With gas prices where they are right now I buy two tanks per month. IF there is gas left over after my normal driving I go fishing. When gas is under 2.00 per gallon I can go fairly regular now that it is close to 3.00 I have to stay home. I learned my lesson during the late 1970s gas crisis and have driven fuel efficient vehicles ever since. Funny thing tho is that I am being now I am being penalized just like those who have driven gas guzzlers. A lot of people don't think the impact of carpooling one day a week would make much of a difference but think of all the millions of people who drive every day. Just car pooling on one day would have a huge impact on gasoline reserves. Of course conserving energy is not limited to gasoline. Saving electricity and water both help conserve fossil fuel consumption. Conserving enough energy to make a difference doesnt have to be all the difficult. Switching to fluorescent lights, drying some clothes on the line, washing and drying a full load every time, using the water from the washer to help water the lawn/garden, cutting the amount of time spent in the shower and turning off your computer monitor at night can all have huge impacts on the amount of fossil fuel consumed.

I believe there is all kinds of manipulation of gas prices from OPEC to our own federal and state governments. Anyone can look around and see that fuel consumption is down in this country yet gas prices continue to raise. There are more and longer trains than I have seen in years, there are very few campers on the roads in comparison to recent years, SUV heavy automobile companies are going broke while fuel efficient car companies are making record sales. Everyone I talk to has made some sort of adjustment(s) to cut their own fuel consumption. Yet fuel inventories continue to fall and gas prices continue to increase. Makes no sense. Our economy is geared around energy. If our economy gets hyper a rise in fuel costs help cool it off and if it is cooling off cheaper fuel will help stimulate it. It is a very powerful economic tool and anyone who thinks our own government would not use that to keep our economy in check needs to take a close look at their hole card.

Just about any day would work for me. I will follow this thread and try to make it this time around.

I still think paranoia is the word. I am not worried about any terrorist plots against TR Dam or Powersite Dam. These would have to be really low priority targets. Looks to me more like dams around major populated areas would be more worth worrying about. Or nuclear power plants; or our food supplies; or major transportation systems ect ect. I think it would do everyone good to relax and quit worrying about TR dam. Maybe going fishing would be a good prescription.

Yep, and if someone don't step in and break it up they are going to continue to rob us just as sure as if they used a gun to do it. Of course this is a crime where no one will go to jail. Really big thieves never go to jail. Or at least not for very long. When they do it is one of those plush jail cells reserved for the rich and famous.

Went fishing at Stockton Lake yesterday. Avoided Mutton Hollow Cove as I did not want to be threatened for fishing on their part of the lake. I think they may be hoarding all the fish over that way because we sure didnt find any in the rest of the lake. We started at about daylight for Walleye on the secondary points. We tried lures and jigs tipped with minnows and night crawlers not one walleye did we catch for our efforts. We then went to the dam and trolled for a couple of hours we finally caught one short crappie. Deciding the walleye just weren't going to bite we hit the brush looking for crappie. We fished brush from the Cedar ridge to Masters area and caught 1 short crappie and two shorter bass. Water is gin clear. There are places I think you can see 20 feet down. Water temp was about 65 degs. Talked to several people who were finding conditions the same as we were. All in all it was a great day for fishing; just not a good day for catching.

I dont know about the rest of the trees but it sure killed an apple and plum tree for me.

The car I drive averages 37 for my normal everyday driving. On the highway it will get into the 40's. I never thought I would see a time that it would cost $35 to fill it up. These gas prices have sure cut into my fishing trips. Actually the prices have cut into all of my trips. I don't drive half as much as I used to simply because of gas prices.

People who think it is the republican party that causes high gas prices should think a little bit. The last gas crisis, media word, was when a demonrat named Jimmy Carter was in office. Republican or Democrat makes no difference when it comes to energy costs. Anyone who thinks Americans are driving as much as they were 2,3 or even 4 years ago need to look around. The roads are not nearly as busy as they were. There are not nearly as many SUV's on the roads. There used to be a constant string of SUV's and or pickups pulling campers where now they are rare enough to cause notice. Toyota's are selling in record numbers while SUV heavy companies like GM and Ford are going broke. It isn't hard to figure that we are NOT burning nearly as much gasoline as we were. We are told that we are still burning record gallons of gas because the reserve keeps shrinking. Using the reserve as a gauge to raise prices is nothing more a convenient way to gouge on prices. Its simple the refineries don't put the gals in and the price goes up. Prices are high enough at this point that the refineries and oil companies don't mind owning some inventory. It is not a hard stretch to realize that our economy is geared towards gasoline consumption. Off the top of my head I think road tax is .36 cents per gallon. How many many millions of gallons per day is consumed in the US? Then one has to figure how many millions in income tax are paid every year by the companies distributing, transporting and selling gasoline. If the government were to lose this revenue what would happen to our economy? How much would other taxes have to go up to offset this? I hear a lot about of people say things like "Well, gas costs $6.00 in Europe we have it cheap here." This may be true but a lot of European countries fund their old age retirement (social security programs), national health care and general funds via gasoline taxes. Those programs are all funded by separate programs here.Most of the Euro countries are smaller than the US thus most people are going to travel less miles than they do here which requires a higher price in gas to cover refining, transportation and distribution costs. Their countries are also more densely packed than our country. Having efficient public transportation systems is much easier and less costly than it would be here. Comparing the cost of gasoline here to there is like comparing grapes to apples. They just aren't the same. The simple fact is there is a lot of price gouging in gas prices. It is no different than western US electricity crisis prices of a few years ago.

Paranoia is an interesting word. I, myself refuse to live in fear of anyone. And I especially will not live in fear of a bunch of low lives like al-Queida. There was a famous speech where the speaker said "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself." I may or may-not have agree'd with his politics but I sure agree with that statement. We, Americans, have no reason to live in fear. We have no reason to give up our rights and freedom. We are more than capable of protecting our country against the likes of Bin Laden. The real problem we need to focus on is propaganda. There are some who tell us we are not capable of winning this war against terrorism. Do we believe them? Do we try to run and hide with the terrorists barking at our heels? I think for those who do believe the propagandists, living in fear is a reality and for those of us who refuse to believe we cant win and who refuse to live in fear of terrorism the propaganda just like the terrorists is another issue that has to be dealt with.

I'm a going after some Bluegill. I do my best to keep as many of those pesky gills from eating bass fry as I can.

I understand the restriction of fishing from the docks but I sure don't understand the restriction of fishing from a boat near the docks. Does this mean that every dock on Stockton Lake has a 200' no fishing zone around it??? Does this also include every dock on every public lake in the state? At what point does the 200' rule start? Is it 200' when the dock is at the high water mark or 200' at the low water mark? People who are not willing to go on record in citing the leases are highly suspect of not knowing what they are talking about. Further the leases are on public property and therefore should be available for public inspection. I am with hooked, Mutton Creek will be getting none of my business. Also I will be writing a letter to the corp about this.

I am glad I don't fish for bass. I fish for fun and relaxation. In my opinion bass fishing got way to technical a long time ago. I think a bunch more regs is just what is needed to make it even more complicated. Maybe a new slogan 'Bass, the official fish of the uptight workaholic'. Seriously, someone like a guide or a pro fisherman of some sort can distinguish between the different bass sub-species with just a glance. The average fisherman who only hits the water a few times a year it can become a real task. Fishing is supposed to be about fun, good times and enjoying the out doors. A person should not be afraid of a game warden check just because he/she is not a professional and might have the wrong sub-species of bass in the live well.

Great looking jigs. I especially like the sherbets. They just look like fish catching jigs.

I am not too hung up on name brands. I want a reel that is solid, light weight with a good silent drag system.

I am not a bass fisherman. I prefer to fish for panfish especially large Redear, bluegill and walleye. My only problem with the tournament fishermen is that they tend to have a holier than tho attitude because they "Catch and Release" the tournament fish. The simple fact is they do kill fish. Pro fishermen are on the water a lot and catch a lot of fish. From shear numbers caught in the course of a year I am sure they kill more fish than the average fisherman who hits the water a few times a year and takes home an occasional limit of fish to eat. So why the holy attitude.

Hooked. There is a fine line between hobby and mental illness I think that is why most of us fishermen are the way we are.

Those are some nice 'bills. Whens the fish fry?

I tied a minnow to a hook with red thread and attached 2 hens feathers to enhance the figure of its fins. I figured sure this was a legal fly and would really be a trout killer, but then I noticed.......it was scented....smelled like minnows.