MrsDucky

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070711/sc_nm/australia_squid_dc Did anyone else see the article? Another giant squid has washed up on shore in Australia. Isn't it amazing that things people believed to be fairy tale can suddenly come to life? Although, I guess that isn't strictly accurate...no one has yet seen one of these alive and managed to capture it. I also find it interesting that on the day we have this kind of excitement, there was also a story about the poaching of African elephants still going on. 7 killed this weekend in Kenya, with only 2 of them having their tusks recovered. My son and I just talked this morning about how if we don't take care of our resources, we will all be in trouble, and that's exactly what's happening. Locally, there's the great ethanol debate. Globally, there's animal poaching, lack of potable water, and shortage of workable land. Ah, well...I meant this to be a kind of silly post...and I accidentally backed onto my soap box! Sorry about that! Pass the bottled water, I'm driving around later in my Hummer, and picking out a new ivory picture frame for the living room!

From what is on the web (and quickly looked up) most fungus is white, and not near the eye. Most red patches are bacterial infections, which could be from a hook injury, heron injury, etc. Did you give him a shot?

You know what they say...the couple that strips together...

Personally, I don't feel I'm love 'em or hate 'em. I respect them. That being said, if they leave me alone, I'll leave them alone! I think Mr. Ducky will find a rubber snake around the house...let's call it an exercise starter! He was just proud of me on Saturday. I do have a thing about spiders, crabs, and ticks...they just don't move naturally IMHO. So, when I pulled a daddy long legs out of some one else's hair and didn't freak, and some one pulled one out of my hair and I didn't freak, he said he was proud of me! Of course, he doesn't know I used to be one of those evil children who pulled the legs off of them, and squished the body. OOPS!

I remember from driver's ed that slowing down saves gas. Does it matter how much? Not really...2 miles is enough at these prices! So, you choose...windows up or windows down, it's your two miles...and stop harrassing Greybear about it! Take away your fishing and some of you get cranky!

I nearly forgot! Duckydoty and Mr. Ducky went fishing Friday night. Appearantly the horn sounded, and Mr. Ducky hit the trail! When he knocked on the door, he had his waders around his knees, a scared look in his eye, and simply said, "The horn went off!"

You gentlemen have NO idea how lucky you are! I try to explain to him that when we go fishing, he usually outfishes me because I spend my time helping him and "Possumchild" get set up, and they spend more time with lines in the water than I do! On the other hand, he does clean the fish!

How about that Rocket Launcher, or whatever it's called? Where you pump it up and shoot out the bait in the little ball? I have no idea how it works, but I would imagine it might be easier to handle because you wouldn't have to worry about casting the whole rod. When we took John's mom last summer, casting was her biggest difficulty (she has arthritis pretty severely.) She could use her palm to reel it in, but just couldn't handle the rod to cast out. The wrist band looks like the ones the cancer charities sell. Maybe those would work, too?

Uh, Ronnie? I think Mr. Ducky done started without you! Terry, I like the description of "hybrid exponential balloon payment." Although ex in my case would be former husband, other than that I think it's accurate! I can tell you that my parents took 2 of the grandkids to Branson this weekend, from Republic, and they went to a show, mini golf, and dinner. However, that's what they do about once or twice a summer anyway. So, I can't say how it's affecting them. I can say Dad only leaves the house in Mom's car, or if he has to in his truck.

Well, the weather was perfect on Saturday. A little chilly in the morning, but perfect with a jacket! We only had about a dozen people drop by, but it was fun. Duckydoty, Kneedeep and Old Stumbler, Rolan and Ellen Duffield, Troutchaser, Leonard, and various friends and "lurkers" were there. We had fun fishing, trading fishing stories, and I got some great tips on fly tying from Kneedeep and Duckydoty! Thanks, guys! We all managed to land a few fish in the area. I caught mine on an olive wooly bugger (thanks, Mark!), and John caught some on Duckydoty's "secret" midge, and egg patterns. Lots of hits, nothing super huge! John was amazed that he could have fun fishing away from the outlet. We waded down to Big Hole, and had several bites and landed some, too. Rolan was kind enough to take John and I out on his boat that afternoon. Neither of us had ever fly fished from a boat, and we enjoyed it very much! It was a new feeling, and we missed a LOT of bites, but we all landed at least 2. (That was me...the fellows landed many more!) By the way, thanks to Bill Babler for the advice on the pink...worked like a charm! Rolan hooked us up with pink microjigs that had the fish biting like crazy! We got most of the hits upstream, over the bar, but had hits at many points, including right off of Lilly's dock coming in. Although it many sound a little weird, I can honestly say it was the best anniversary weekend I've had! (It was our first anniversary on Sunday.) Thanks to everyone who helped make Saturday a success!

Toss it and wait? Or do you strip it a little? That would be a blast!

You mean that darn noise and caca is good for something??? Once you kill it, anyway? Some should tell the people at MSU if they are still having trouble with them. They could make some money and get rid of the silly things!

Well, sure it's not easy...And there is a disclaimer at the bottom..."These directions are for planning purposes only." MapQuest seems to be a little off every time I've tried to use it. (BTW, it only gives directions within the US and Canada...I tried to see how to get to Paris, France and couldn't...where is my swimsuit???)

I really am not sure how to reply to that...for one thing I can't stop laughing, for another how desperate do you have to be to CHEAT at FISHING????????? $800 just isn't worth it to me...unless of course the gift card was for the local fly shop...

It looks like it's tied almost like a wooly bugger instead of a true crackleback, but no tail. (I haven't tried tying it yet, just looking at the one I was given for a pattern and what I was told to buy to tie it.) The body is pearl chenille, then use hackle to match it. It has a thread head. After I try tying a few, I'll let you know more. It really doesn't have a "back", but that is what they called it. I was using floating line, the others were using sinking, which was recommended. They stripped it back pretty quickly, in short jerks, just like the posts described it. There were hits when it hit the water, on the strip, letting it drift, you name it. The brighter colors were working the best on Sunday, but it was sunny most of the day. Mr. Ducky said some one told him the blue works great when it's overcast. Both men had them in several colors, just about any you could name! I'm going to try to have John upload a picture of it, but my camera doesn't always do well with small objects.

I'm not as worried about stinking up the kitchen (put a small dish of vinegar next to the stove while cooking...it absorbs the stink!) as I am about stinking up the pan. I guess you could always use baking soda on that...Does the pan stink? Have you ever noticed a lingering taste afterwards?

#1. The Super Crackleback is mentioned under the fly recipes, as replies to Jeremy's directions on the regular Crackleback. It's tied on a size 10, with chenille instead of peacock herl, and in a wide variety of colors. The best are chartruse (sorry, that word is probably misspelled...it always looks wrong anyway! ) and rust, followed by blues and yellow. #2. Yes, Mr. Ducky caught more fish than me. It happens! (Or maybe I just want him to look like the Super Fisherman in front of ya'll. He's beginning to get some sort of complex, I think.) #3. Yes, just above Whistle Bridge, watching people throw nightcrawlers on our side of the bridge. It wasn't too crowded, which was nice. Less crowded than Roaring River has been lately, anyway. #4. Story of the one that got away...I had one break off that had to be 19"...and that's before I add "fisherman measurements" to it! By next weekend, it will be 27"!

Mr. Ducky and I decided to check out BSSP, and had a blast! We met some very nice fisherman (Jay was one man's name, with a troop of Boy Scouts, and we didn't get the other man's name, but he was there with his son) who wised us up to the "Super Crackleback" I guess you'd call it. (We really appreciate both of them allowing us to have a few of theirs, including one for a pattern, and tips on colors.) Wow, the trout do love that! I also caught a couple on a white rabbit streamer, and had several hits on an all-purpose nymph. Mr. Ducky had the better luck, catching his limit. He caught one on a pine squirrel, the rest on the Super Crackleback. We pulled in several that we released, and we had a few that took our flies and gave us stories of one that got away. We were just above the bridge, at the end of Zone 2.

I've been trying to increase Mr. Ducky's vocabulary...this may start an "obscure, useless word" war that keeps us all sounding intelligent...while discussing various bodily functions!

I think we do all agree...using oil is bad...using ethanol is bad...mass transit systems can't be had...so let's all go fishing! I agree that even carpooling would be helpful, but it's hard to find two people who are going the same direction at the same time, and back again at the same time. My sister, mom, and I tried it for awhile. We all worked within about 2 miles of each other, but we all worked slightly different hours. One started at 7:30, two at 8. We got off at 4, 4:30, and 5. The starting wasn't so bad-drop mom off first, then us. However, mom got off first, and couldn't do anything for an hour, depending on who was driving! I know people complain about the smell and nuisance of subways and elevated trains, but it really would be nicer than paying $45 per week just for the luxury of driving myself, with Pepsi and doughnut in hand, around in my little Escort! So, who's up for the fishing? Hey, didn't the flux capacitor at the end of Back to the Future use garbage? Any headway on that invention???

He did now! Thanks, Terry!

So, this whole discussion came about because some one was actually concerned about the safety of the dam and a child? There are people who care in this world! That's good news. The bad news is that there are fewer of those kind of people every day. SW MO could be a target for terrorists, both because of the lax security compared to the huge metropolitan areas like NY, and because of the Fed Med in Springfield. There have been some scary prisoners in there, and if they could distract the guards there by blowing up a little old dam just south, they might. Who knows what evil lurks in the heart of man?

I wish it wasn't 3 hours away!

First off, on a serious note, that fish did not look like a healthy trout to me...it did look chubby, and most trout do not live to be that size, so I really think the old age had more to do with it. If not, and fish are dying around this resort, then maybe they should check where there garbage is dumped, sewage pipes, etc. Maybe there's a leak, or a raccoon rearranging the garbage. (I am NOT blaming the resort! I think it's the age. It's just a secondary theory. Kind of like if there is always a mess around your dog, he probably did something he shouldn't have!) Second, on a less serious note, how close was this to the charity tournament? Maybe it wasn't Mr. Ducky...you know, I understand it was Ronnie with a hole in his waders...if he blew them out, well, imagine what that could do to the poor fishies!

We headed down today with two purposes: #1: to get some "neccessities" from Tim #2 to have some fun fishing! We knew John was going to buy a reel, and I was getting a new vise, but we also found a few more things we couldn't do without. (John told me Happy Mother's Day and Happy Anniversary as we left...does that mean no more presents this month???) We headed down to Zone 2, below the c-n-r area, and had some luck. I lost another PMS fly! Those darn trout love those there! We also lost 3 Griffith's gnats, because they were really hitting the dry flies. Possum Child was having fun, but he didn't realize when he had a bite. We also had some hits on the Son of Sam, zebra midge, and I had some nibbles on an olive wooly bugger, just no solid hits. I think I count as a rainbow trout now, though...when my arms are at my sides, I have these red stripes...In light of another recent thread, does it seem right that they sell sunscreen with anise, advertised to attract fish??? All in all, we got what we "needed" and had fun. A great day!