trout fanatic

That is one sweet offer. I only wish I could make it, but alas, work calls and like a dam fool, I show up.

I took a 10 foot 7 wt pro up to ohio last winter on a steelhead trip. It performed well enough that I just bought a 9 ft 5 wt to use around here. I like em

Good job. Hope thos pheeshies cost them lots of money

I think the most frustrated I ever became when I first really started fly fishing. I pulled into the parking lot at Bennett Springs and begain to rig up. As I went to attach my leader to fly line I suddenly forgot how to tie a nail knot. I tried and tried and the dam thing just would not happen. After nearly 30 minutes of cussin ( under my breath of course) a young man pulled in accross from me and asked me if I would show him how to nail knot his leader to his fly line. I fell on the floor laughing like an idiot but darned if I didn't suddenly remember how to tie it. I got us both rigged up in no time and the young fella was grateful for the "expert help"

Sounds like a nice day on the water. I forgot to mention in my earlier post that there was not 1 but 2 family reunions going on while I was there (on a wednesday?). That should be a violation of criminal statutes right there. Zone 1 was a complete nightmare so we headed to zone 2 and fished most of the day there. Still, lots of fun. Hope to meet up with you down there (I won't stare at that caddis pattern too hard-lol)

Maybe a river ran through it

Wish I could meet ya there DD, but gotta work. Me and a friend went down today though. Water as at normal pool and crystal clear. Had a hard time keepin them on the line. Lost 4 or 5 and landed 7 with a 15 incher being the brute of the day. They seem larger than in the past to me, spotted a pig of a brown that I estimate in excess of 10 pounds and a rainbow of 7 or 8 in zone 2. Fortunately (for my 2 # test tippet anyway) they weren't interested in anything I offered. Cracklebacks, caddis larva and zebra midges seemed to work the best for us (midges in black, red and cream colors)

Hmmm. Naught plus naught carry the 1, looks like a little less than 3 pounds by my calculations. That thing is a pig!

My Dad passed away in 1997 and I miss him terribly. I keep his old Cleveland Indians Ball cap in plastic on the head of my bed and everytime I watch a ball game I look at that hat and I swear I can hear him laugh. Way too many memories goin thru my head right now, but threads like this make for a nice stroll down memory lane. Thanks

Sounds interesting but also sounds like I may be sol (dang that's three times). Anyway with the price of foam its no big deal. It was just a interesting problem and a lot of fun (okay, hassle too) to deal with. It still makes some darn nice wings, so I will limit its use for now to that endeavor and use my expensiver foam for the beatles lol. Thanks guys

This has been an interesting experience. Yesterday, before going to work, I hand washed a small 4x4 piece with soapy water to see if it was an industrial type of chemical (possibly scotchguard or similar product). The end result was that it did alter it appreciably to the point where a sharpie would not write on it at all-nor would an ink pen. Paint would adhere and would rub off but it took some vigorous rubbing to get it off but alas, the extra weight caused it to sink. I'm still entertaining different ideas. The paint I used was Testors model paint. I am open for any ideas-I am starting to stumble.

Okay, I have been using this shipping foam to tie flies with as an experiment. This stuff is absolutely wondereful. Tied up some great looking foam wing caddis flys and some super looking beetles. This stuff will float forever and any fly tied with it does not need gink to keep it up top. Well, I have only found it in white and apparently it is treated with some kind of chemical that sheds water (i suspect it is to protect the contents from sustaining water damage) and as a result, liquid dye rolls right off of it. After that experiment I tried a waterproof sharpie and after tying the fly realized I had rubbed all of the color off handling the materiel. Sooooo I painted that sucker, with the same result. Ink-NOPE (rubs right off). Anybody got any ideas??? Thanks in advance

I agree w/Ham. In line spinnerbaits are easy to fish and kids love to cast and cast and cast. It gives them something to do and can be an incredibly effective way to fish.

I wuz gonna say something but started laughing so hard I forgot. Oh yeah, on a little more somber note, I have caught several trout at Bennett Springs with their lips practically ripped off. I have a sneaky suspicion that this has been caused by treble hooks (possibly spinner baits). The injuries seem consistant with those caused by trebles and I have met enough people using treble hooked spinner baits to believe this to be the case despite the fact that it is illegal (at least in the trout parks). In each case, though the fish did seem no worse for the wear other than it was kinda ugly

Okay, all these stats are makin me dizzy but I think I got it figgered out. Driving around with your windows down may have an adverse effect on your fishing success. Did I get that right??

As I understand it, the police department was contacted and stated that they would not pursue it. That does not mean that they won't file a report. Stealing gas is stealing and the police are duty bound to perform their functions. I would get a copy of this report and and the contact the city DA and take it from their. If you still don't get results you could also file civil charges against the offender (although in this case i really think the home office of the stores has to step up to the plate to enforce it-if not the drive-off problems will worsen

I only live 2 miles from work so I put very little mileage on my truck. Having said that I have still cut my recreational mileage way back and only go to the store if I can combine 2 trips together. I am not going to let those fleecing bas-----, drive me into the poor house

Just ordered a TFO (pro) 9 ft 5 wt. Now i gotta wait for it to get here. Been thinkin about putting a courtland endurance reel on it but for now I guess I will put my medalist pro on it and put the money I was gonna spend on the endurance in my gas tank instead so's I can go use my new rod sheesh

Brought a smile to my face. Thanks for posting. Great pics!!

Here's my fix for a tasty white bass supper. Fillet and skin fish, cut out the red meat as alluded to by previous posters and dip in creamy style italian dressing. Dredge in flour and saute in a mixture of butter and olive oil (the olive oil keeps the butter from burning) until browned on both sides. Truly fit for a king

An i thought all them bubbles was from a natural spring

My pin oak is finally starting to re-bud. I was really concerned about the wife's magnolia as they aren't that hardy anyway-but it too is starting new buds so I think we will be all right

I only have 4 reels, one is a 30 year old montgomery wards reel that I use infrequently for pond fishing. For my 4 weight, a pfluegar medalist 1492, no bells or whistles just plods along (kinda like me). I also bought one of the medalist pros when it first came out, and so far like it quite a bit but it hasn't stood the test of time yet. Finally, a Trion in 7/8 weight for steelhead fishing-a very smooth reel with reliable (so far) drag. Don't know how I wound up with so many pfluegars, I guess I must like them

Despite the weather decided to hit Bennett Springs again today. Water was up another 7 inches or so (as it was already higher than normal, this made for some pretty fast not to mention murky water). Only managed 7 in 4 hours of fishing. Usual suspects caught fish, pink glo bugs, black zebra midge (although red took the skunkaroo today) and caddis larva. On another note, thanks to STL Fly, for posting the water gage link on a earlier thread. I learned that Tuesday when I went the river was 2.24 ft above the gage. This morning it was 2.93. I wasn't exactly sure how that would translate to fishability (is that a word) but I do now. Above 2.93, I'll probably stay home, below that and I am outta here. It would be nice if the mods could make that guage link a sticky so that we would always have access to it. Thanks again STL Fly.

I varied the depth from 18 to 24 inches depending on the water I was fishing. This was my first time down there this year and I thought the fishing was pretty good (not near as many dinks as usual) although wading was a different matter. I sometimes found myself without enough room and as a result caught two tree trout. Crowds were way down and I suspect that it being april as well as turkey season resulted in fewer people (there was only one other angler in my view and he seemed pretty content where he was at so I had a big stretch of water to play with. Hope that holds true for thursday as well