MTM

Read in Outdoor LIfe some years ago were some guy's soaked Corn in Wiskey and threw it out on the ice and walked out and picked up all the drunk ducks and just wrung there neck's. Seems that game warderns didn't think to much of it as they had over 200 in there freezers. Cost tham a lot of money in fines LOL. Wonder if you could do the same with Fish???? You know get them drunk then feed them to the Heron's??? ;0 Ron

Read this in the local paper there and thought you folks might like to read it. Might be a good time to start complaining to the right people. Ron http://www.baxterbulletin.com/apps/pbcs.dl.../608120338/1002

Just a small heads up on these new rods. I was able to cast a few of them this spring and really liked the feel of the rods. I decided to order one and fish it to see how I liked it. I must say for the money it is a top notch rod. I bought the EHCO 2 rod in a 9' 4wgt. One of the thing's I liked so much about the rod besides it's casting ability was that it comes with 2 tips. Each giving the rod a different action. Either medium action or fast action. They are 4 piece rods and also come with a case and a good warranty. The cost is $269.00. I feel for the price it is a heck of a deal in a rod. These rods are being made by the Rajeff boy's and they own just about all of the casting records there are. I know Steve and I know that these rods are made to there spec's. They also have a ECHO rod that is a single tip for about $169.00 or so. Just thought I would let you folks know about these new rods. I get nothing for this just giving y'll a heads up on a good rod. They have a web-site if you would like to look at them. Ron PS: I should add that I liked my 9' 4wgt so much that I also got a 7'8" 3wgt 4 piece. It to is a nice casting rod. I have had a few medical problems in the last bit and have yet to fish it but I have cast it and it is sweet feeling. I wanted it for the spring creeks here. Believe it or not I wore out my last 4wgt and sold a 3wgt I never should have sold. (Client offered me to much money) LOL. Anyway Keep an eye out and try these rods. I think you will be pleased as a peach by the rod and it's price.

OK I will give up a small secret here LOL. I have a friend that makes plug cutters so you can make your own bass bugs and such. I have a set of them that he gave me. I buy block foam in any color I like. I cut a plug the size I like take a hot needle and run it through the center of the plug, cut it to length and you have a great indicator. You can make them about any size you like if you have a set of the cutter's. One other trick I have used if you have fish taking real light. Take a small thin rubber band and put it around the indicators outside then put it on your leader were ever you need it. IT will hang to the side of the leader. By having the indicator setting to the side of your leader you will see the slightest take. I got the idea from the Brits using those fine bobbers for carp and seeing how they set in the water. Give it a try you might like it. Ron

I find it amazing how builders and the government can do things to areas like that. People want to move there becasue of the fishing and the beauty of the area and end up killing what they loved to start with. And the state let's the builders get away with it. Just as an example look at the Letort in PA. Heck they let them build a huge Wal-Mart right on it's banks and now it gets all of the run off from all the parking lot's and all the gas and oil left from the cars and trucks. Dang shame if you ask me. I think they sould be made do build at least a mile from such places. Heck the Yellwostone River just out of Yellwostone Park is on the top 10 indangered list now do to all the building going on along the river. Funny how people will kill what they love just to say "Look were I live". But what do I know. Ron

Kayser- There feathers are tops for Spay Flies Ron

Rob- Sounds like the weather man's job to me. You can be wrong all the time and still keep your job. Ron

Thanks Folks for the help. My wife and I are looking into moving to that area when she retire's. She is the county health nurse here and has a few years left. We want to move were it is a mite cheaper to live and a mite warmer in the winter time. Can't decide if it will be Missiuri or Arkansas? Just have to see about the taxes and were the best VA center is and so on. But even if I move to Arkansas I will be close to Missouri as that is the area I would like to live in. I guided with Dale Fulton when we both worked for Bud Lilley's here in West Yellowstone. Yes the trout fishing is great here but it is getting real crowded fast and with real rich people. I bought my house for less than 50 grand and it is now worth over 250 thousand and it is paid for. Just getting to expensive to live here. Can't even have a garden that will grow anything. Heck our tomato's are still green and about the size of a Golf ball. Mainly the heating bills here. I can take the heat but not the heating bills. Besides my family is from North central Arkansas. so that area is in truth home. Ron PS: To tell the truth after having guided here for about 37 years for trout it will be nice to catch something else with a fly rod or spinning rod. Be nice to have crappie to eat to. LOL Closest place to catch them here is almost 5 hour's drive. Ron

I use to go for a large fly fishing Company some years ago. I hate large city's and hated to go to that show just because of that. No fun to me. Country boy at heart I guess LOL Ron

Just wondering what the cost of a nonres fishing license is in Missouri? I went to the state site and you can't get that information unless you go through all the trouble of filling out for the license? At least I couldn't find the cost? HELP! Ron

I tie a lot of soft hackles for order's I tie them by the tip of the feather and grade the feathers by hook size. I stroke the hackle fiber's so they are out stright to the stem I them fold the hackle so that it is all to one side of the stem. I tie the hackle in by the tip and then take one and a half wraps. By doing it this way you get the short hackle next to the body and the longer hackles that you want to work in the current to the outside. I do it this way no matter the hackle used. You can also just remove one side of the feather and do the same warps but just use another wrap or two.. Make sure you remove the correct side or the hackle will not be correct. Lot's of ways to do things just decide which is the best for you and how you like a fly to look. Ron

I think it depends on the place being fished. If it is catch and kill for the most part they stock it all the time and the fish can not get spooky and are easy to catch. If it were like some of the Spring Creeks out here you pay a fee to fish them and it is all catch and release it can be some of the toughest fishing you can have. Try catching a fish that has been fished over or caught several times in the past year. Some lakes out here are so easy I do not see how anyone could enjoy catching fish that are as stupped as a clock. You see picture's of large fish on the cover's of magazines like Fly Fisherman and a lot of those fish come from just such places. But it makes people look at the magazine. There is a guy in PA that leases land up and then stocks the streams with huge fish and then feeds them with fish pellet's to keep them in the sections that he leases. People pay one heck of a lot of money to be a part of that club. And believe me you have to be very rich to belong. That to me is not fishing. It is catching and you learn nothing from doing that type of fishing. But you become and instant hero and that is why they pay the big bucks. This operation has been in a lot of magazines In the past year or two. I forget the fee but membership is close to a 100 grand and then you pay a yearly fee on top of that. In my book there is no fish worth that type of money. Not when I can go and catch good fish for nothing and be proud of what I did and maybe lean something at the same time. Just my view point. Ron

rubicon31-I don't think the thread is out of shape at all. They are still talking about Heron's and how to control them. Most of it is Tongue and Cheek. Get it. Ron

Montana

Was in the 90's here today until about 3 in the afternoon then it clouded up and looked like rain. Just sprinkled but it cooled off to 75 and that was sure nice. You know I was listening to a guy on TV the other night and he said that we have gone through at least 16 ice ages and that what is happening now would happen even if we were not here. He stated that we "MAY" have caused the temptures to go up by about a degree to a degree and a half top's. He also said that no matter what we would still see higher temp's or colder temps it is the way of this planet. I believe he is right. I remember as a kid it being hot like this. Use to get up a 5 to deliver papers and it would be 78 or 9 at that time of the morning. When I worked as a carpenter I remember that we could quit working when it reached 114 on the slab. We had to quit 14 days that month and the rest were close. To tell the truth I think it is more hype being an election year. LOL It is hot so more people will believe it Ron

Danoinark- That is correct only it is Bill his son. He moved here with his wife Jenny some years ago. I guided him and his dad a few times. Really great people. Bill is retired now and just fishes and bird hunt's. Gonefishin- Boy are you correct there. They can eat some real big fish for sure. I was guiding the Missouri River around Wolf Creek, Montana some years back and I saw one on the bank dead. So I pulled over and took a look. Seem's someone else didn't like them either as that one had been given a Buckshot Enema. There seems to be more each season. You see them every May here they start showing up. Dang big birds 7 Foot wing span. Ron

You folks have any trouble with the big White Pelicans? We sure do up here. I have seen them dang things dive and take 20 inch trout like they were 8 incher's. Swallow them right down. A friend of mine that lives here now use to run a fish hatchery in Up State New York on the Dupont Estate. It was for Brooktrout and was part of Cornell Uv. He said they use to get a permit to shoot Heron's each year and said they killed quit a few of them. So I guess you can get the permit if you are on The Dupont Estate and are part of Cornell. LOL I bet you can't if you are just a normal Joe. By the way his last name is Flick. I think other fly fishermen may know that name. Ron

Don if fishing upstream try to learn the curve casts. There is a left and right hand curve cast. That will keep your line away from the fish when fishing upstream. But it is still (In My View) Better to fish down to them and be a little sneeky LOL. There are several places on the net were you can get the curve casts. Just do a search. You can also throw a stright line cast up and across to the fish but you will not get much drag free drift. There are sevearl other casts that will help you out. Like the puddle cast. There are several good books on casting that you might find in your local library. But my advise is for you to go to a FF meeting or a TU meeting and get some help from those folks. They normally have a few good casters in each club. It is always better to get someone to help you than it is to try it with a book. Learning with a book can be done , that is how I started. Being a good caster will up your catch rate by many fold. It is also fun to pratice casting at target's on your lawn or even in the local park. At times I use to pratice on the streams when fishing was slow. Not many will do that they think they have to fish all day LOL. But it pay's off big time. Ron

I will have to disagree with others here. I fish down and across stream 95 percent of the time. I learned this while guiding on the Henry's Fork river in Idaho back in the late 60's. The trick is to not walk right on the bank's when going up or down stream but stay back a good 10 yards or so and see what is going on. If you come into the bank above the fish and keep low they will never see you. You may have to fish off your knees That is why I use basketball Knee pads over my waders a lot. Saves the wader's. If rising I cast above and past the fish about two feet. As soon as the fly lands on the water I lift the rod tip stright up in the air and drag the fly into the feeding lane of the fish. Two Point's can be made here. 1) You get the fly over the fish on the firt cast every time when you learn how to do this and 2) you know were your fly is every time even if you are fishing a very small hard to see fly. This is becasue the fly will cause a "V" wake and you know the fly is at the point of that "V". When the "V" comes in line with the feeding lane of the fish just drop your rod's tip and throw a little slack to the fly and you are good to go. If you get no take just let the fly swing below and to the side of the fish before picking it up to cast it again. One point here is that many people cast way to much. You do not need more than one false cast to fish any dry fly made. I normally will pick the fly up and recast it after the first back cast. This way your fly is on the water and not in the air all the time. The only time when I may make more than one back and forward cast is when I am trying to time the fishes rise. Other wise I lay it down on the first go. Never cast over the fish either. Always cast to the side or above the fish as far as possible. Then lay the fly down. If you cast over the fish or to close to it's lie you will of course take a chance on spooking the fish. Or having the spray off your leader and line spook the fish. You can do the same type of thing when Nymph fishing just cast a bit farther upstream. Say 4 feet or so. This will give the nymph time to get down were the fish is. One other point is don't cast all the time. Take time out to watch the fish and if the fish does not take your fly after 3 or 4 tries change flies as you may have the wrong pattern on. If I know what is hatching I will have the flies on my chest patch ready to go. I will have an Emerger or two a Nymph of that fly and a couple of dry fly pattern's of that fly and a spinner. If the fish are working the hatch you expect one of those flies should work. I have taught this to many people while guiding over the years and it does work well. You get the fly over the fish on the first cast and the leader and tippet is also above the fly because when you drag the fly it will swing around down stream of the tippet. Give it a try some time and I think you will find it works very well. Just remember to stay low when moving in on the fish. If wading watch the wake you put off. Make sure it doesn't go over the fish. I bet a guy one time that I could get within my rods length of a rising fish. I did it and he was amazed. Just do not lift your feet when wading Scoot them along the bottom. That way you do not put out a wake and you will be amazed at how close you can get to fish. I was in waste deep water when I did this to. If in shallow water get on your knee's. Now I didn't say you could catch them by wadding so close LOL Ron

Hope no one got hurt in your area. Ron

It is my understanding that the Brit's started fishing for Carp because they could not aford to fish for Trout or Salmon. It just cost to much. I bet it would be the same here if fishing cost as much as it does in England. LOL.. Ron

Nice picture's Phil. I saw some of the Missouri River at Wulf Creek here a few years ago. 1890's Kind of like the one's you are showing here. Had a picture of the Bar in town and you could see the slope behind the town. Very few tree's on it and now it is covered with very large ones. Things change. Ron

The Gull that eat the fish in my story was measured by the warden that is the reason I let it go. I had it on a stringer in the water because it was hooked very deep and I knew it would die and felt bad about it. Din't know just what I should do. He came up and told be to let it go or he would have to fine me. I let it go. He also saw the Sea Gull eat that fish. Get close to a gull some time and you will see they are not a small bird at all. True story. Dang them Ant's. Ron

I caught a striper one time of about 20 1/2 inchs. They had to be 21 to keep them. I let him go even though he had been hooked deep as it was the law. He was on the surface and a Seagull landed picked it up turned it head first and swollowed it and flew off with the tail sticking out of it's mouth. True story. I guess it is just mind over matter?? LOL :-S Ron

Here is one that we use to make while guiding on the Madison River, MT. It is called Trout Madison. You can use a pit dug in the bank with BBQ Bricketts or a normal BBQ'er. Take a Trout about 12 or 13 inches long. One for each person. Clean leaving the heads on. Just gut it. Take a piece of Foil for each fish. Lay the fish on the foil and sprinkle with lemon pepper. Take a piece of cream cheese, a slice of tomato and onion and place into the body cavity of the fish on the foil. Now wrap the fish with a Slice of Bacon. Add a splash of White Wine and close tightly so it will not leak. Cook for about 3 minutes on each side on a hot fire. The Cream cheese and White Wine will form it's own sauce. Also with this we would serve corn on the cob. We would open the husks take the tassel out and wrap with a slice of Bacon and close back up. Throw this on the BBQ First as it will take longer to cook than the fish. Add butter when it is done and with the fish it is a first rate meal - And easy to make. ~ Ron --------------------------------------------------------------------------------