Chief Grey Bear

Well a canoe of course. That is why I think 7 and 8 foot rods are piss poor choices for river fishing. Nothing over 5'6" for me. And you also make another good point as to why I think a canoe is a better choice. You don't sit at water level. I used to think I wanted a kayak but, the more I studied them the more I couldn't see me using one. I have nothing against those that do. It is just that I think my elbows would always be dragging the water.

Right on!!! I have been doing the same for about the last ten years. Thank goodness for yard sales and auctions. To me there is nothing like catching bass on the same plugs that were the hot item 40-50 years ago. Nothing like floating the same rivers your dad and grandpa did and use the same tackle they did. Even to include the rods of the era. And although some or those plug are still made today, you can't find them in those old classic paint schemes. Plus I like it when who you are fishing with asks what you are catching all those fish on. And then the next question is "What the hell is that"???? Some of my favs are: Tadpolly River Runt Crazy Crawler Spence Scout Midge Oreno Lucky 13

They hit the US about 1850. That I believe was when the first documented armadillo was north of the Rio Grande. And it took them about 125 years or so to get to the SW corner of Missouri. But you are right, they have expanded very rapidly since then. And the warm winters are very condusive to that. They don't have the ability to store fat so they must eat almost daily. And sice insect are the main diet, winter is not very kind to them. It is my and biologist hope that the harsher winters will return and stop and maybe even reverse their progession.

Right on! That is the best one yet. I was doing two things at once. Not something you should try at home. BTW, somebody thow GM a life jacket. He is in way over his head.

Hey, thanks. But I will just mostly watch this one from the side this time. I know what it is like to present facts to only have them, by some accounts, trumped by sound bites and opinions.

I'd say the other was a Beetle Spin.

Not exactly. The 9-banded armadillo has actually been on the move north for a few thousand years. And the Beautiful Armadillo (I didn't name it) used to inhabit North America until about 10,000 years ago.

Or another analogy would be to consider our body as the planet Earth. By looking around we can quickly determine who cares about their planet and who doesn't. We are each responsible for how we treat our own planet. And the more and the longer you abuse your planet, the longer and harder it is to fix. ***Edit**** Sorry about my late post. I was reading page two thinking, I guess, I was on page 3 and was posting to Al's and GM's analogy post. Please continue. And Tim, glad to have you on board and good luck. I am pulling for you!

OK then. Now all that is left to do is to meet somewhere in the middle like, say, ooooh,, I don't know, CAPP'S CREEK. We will swill beer and slap one another on the back over a campfire of sizzling fresh trout, fried taters and some pork-n-beans! I'll bring the cast iron. We'll mark the second saturday of Jan. 2011 as the date. First one to back out is a Ness!

How much do you charge the other 6 days? So then are you going to extend the same to Justin?????

I see just fine. I am not in any way trying to speak for the state as a whole. I can only comment areas that I grew up in and compare them to now.

I forgot to add snakes to my list. When I was a kid, there were at lest a dozen or more, it seemed, on every log jam you came to. They were on every log, rock, stick, or anything they could find to sun themselves on. Now days, I can count on both hands how many I see in a year. And this includes lakes. Now I don't spend the time on lakes I used too but, dad agreed, he doesn't see hardly any. I can remember as a kid, I always carried my BB gun in the boat and also when floating. I have no idea the number of snakes I shot. I sure as hell won't do it now and I won't let Dylan either. Boy, how times have changed.

It sure as hell ain't over! This is just the start of something new and something great. And it will only get better and better every year. Awesome work my brother!

It is also possible that there could be redds even in the White Ribbon streams. I am not telling anyone to stay out, just be on the look out. How cool would that be to have a successful hatch?! If the water stays in the correct range, it is just slightly possible. We all have had the males shoot some love juice while unhooking them around this time of year. I am sure they go through all the motions, so I think it comes down to having the proper water temps. And with the current weather patterns we are experiencing, this could be a productive year. You never know???????? Just something to think about.

I just read the second link you had Gary. Another great read. One small correction though. "The late Dan Saults and Townsend Godsey, who passed away last year, were writers who knew Jim Owen, and they left much information and insight concerning his float fishing business. They gave much of the credit for his success to his boat builder, Charlie Barnes, and guides Albert Cornett, Raymond Winch, Little Horse Jennings, Tom Yocum, and Deacon Hembree." It is Little Hoss Jennings.

I really enjoyed these and thanks for posting. In the first one though I have a little problem with this quote: "What’s even more cool, is the fact that it really hasn’t changed all that much… in many ways the Ozarks is just like it was those 60 years ago, more or less frozen in time. And I hope we can keep it that way, too. " Some of the biggest changes in the White River happened in this time. And what is funny is the story that he posted spoke of these changes.

Actually the Henry Youth Lever Action is what I got Dylan.

Oop's, I didn't mean regulation but the shot clock had run out. But even at that, they came back from being down 18 against a team that couldn't miss. They just had everything against them in this game and they darn near came out on top. Them boy's played some ball no matter what. Except in OT. Now that sucked. But again, it shouldn't have went to OT!

Mizzou did win last night. At the end of regulation, G'town had 3 points more than they should have had. Plus there were some fouls called against the Tigers that should not have been called.

That is probably the best thing to do. Otherwise we will end up taking this in a direction we probably don't wan to go.

We will never reverse what is happening. If you voice concern you are bleeding heart, tree hugging liberal. And for some reason that is a bad name. I don't know why but, it is far more chic to be a capitalist conservative. And what do they want? Less Government. Because that means less regulation. And we all know what happens with less regulation. It is all about me. It is all about the dollar. The dollar is more powerful than Jesus.

You are right, I should have stated that my observance was from this area. But I wouldn't be a bit surprized to hear that it is state wide to some degree. You are right on about parking lots. And developement in general. Every square foot of earth that is covered is one less square foot that can absorb rain/snow melt and enter the aquifer. It is also one less square foot that produces grass that helps to keep the cool. It is one less square foot that provides a natural environment that begins the food chain of life. And one other bit about parking lots and all paved streets. When it rains, all of that water enters the water shed without processing through a treatment facility. Every pollutant deposited onto the pavement such as oil, rubber, heavy metals and just about anything you can think of rushes right into the rivers and stream that we love to fish. Just think for a moment of the hundreds of millions of gallons of water enter after each rain. And each of those gallons has just cleansed all of those paved areas. And just think in the winter of all the salt and other chemicals that are washed into the waterways from the snow melt. I think the Canaries in the mine are trying to tell us something. I just don't see how we can keep doing this to our waterways and not expect them stop producing the enjoyment we so love to enjoy.

I used to walk down the railroad tracks to Spring River in Jan and Feb. Just deathly cold. Or so it seem to a couple of 5th graders. Dad had told us about bass fishing the rivers in the dead of winter. We just had to do it. So we dug out a couple of black hair jigs with a yellow stripe. We used Uncle Josh split tail eel. Fished real slow. We did catch some fish. That was in the late 70's. I think it was about 79 or 80 they had come out with the live rubber jigs. Oh man did I like the looks of them! I used a variety of colors. My favorites were brown/orange, black/blue, and black/yellow. All tipped with either the split tail eel or a curly tail. I think the brown/orange produced the most.

They make lead core fly line don't they??? The Sierra Rod Lead Core series rods sounds more like a fly rod than a rod for trolling the Great Lakes. I would assume that most people would associate Sierra with mountains, thus trout fishing. Not so much so with trolling the Great Lakes. But I could be wrong. And most likely I am.

Well, that is why I asked. Fly rods are not my area of expertise.