brownieman

I have several huge Catalpa trees in my yard...just as you when I was young I used them for bait alot and the trees were covered with them. I have not seen a single worm on any of my trees...mystery to me also. I would also like to know what gives?? I have lived in the same town most of my life so I know we are not too far north here...maybe someone can give a good reason.

I have seen some of Charlie Readings rods...they are nice but pricey. I know a guy that fishes Montauk quite a bit and he had a split bamboo made by reading. He had some feathers from his pet parrot inlayed on the rod and the butt piece looked more like a piece of jewelry than a handle...nice work and it should have been, believe he payed $3500.00 for the rod...I would be about half scared to use the rod but I guess I wouldn't have one built if I had no intention of using it.

A certain amount of moss is beneficial to a stream to a point...having the rearing pools at Montauk though flushes an amazing amount of stuff straight in the river which makes the fertility much higher than it otherwise would be if the pools weren't there. It affects the river for miles downstream...the pools are part of the problem for the algae and moss within the park. If your talking eco-systems the hatchery and the sewage lagoons just below the park are not meant to sit on the headwaters of a stream.

1 anchor...2 if you want to keep straight

Not sure if it's a law but from experience... A good long handled paddle

Went down to parkers about 4 this eve...sever thunderstorm warnings and tornado watches all over. Right when I got there the water looked good...little up and murkey and just sprinkling. By the time I got my gear on I was about half soaked...the rain got harder and harder till it felt like I was fishing in a monsoon. I have good gortex raingear...don't think anyone could hane fished it without grtting half soaked. Caught a couple of small ones and 1 decent brown. By the time I got back to the truck it appeared the water had rose a foot or so, pretty much rolling mud...lots of debris floating downstream. It was late in the day, took a few pics of the water, didn't turn out very good but i'll post them anyway.

Was talking with a buddy the other day that works in fisheries with the Dept. He told me the big new multimillion dollar hatchery built a few years ago at Warsaw has turned out to be a total joke and a flop. They have pumped all their wells dry and all they have at the facility is a few ponds of minnows...I think they have somewhwere in the area of 50 or 60 ponds. What a total waste...can't believe they relyed on well water to start wiith. Strike up another success story for the good old MDC.

Went down to Parkers for a few hours this eve. Water is up pretty good...touph wading, you can't see the bottom in less than waist deep water and much swifter than normal flow. Couple of pics...maybe you can tell the river conditions. Caught several fish. Most would probably consider it almost to murkey...fits my style fine except hard wading. Most fish 13 to 16"...missed a couple of nicer ones... couple of pics of average size.

Health issues have kept me off the water for awhile but not my buddy...he's killin me right now !!! Friday he went on a daylighter at Parkers Ford...we know where there are few big ones in a hole 2 miles or so away from Parkers. He walked straight to it, fished this particular hole and that was it, probably fished 15 min. or so, then walked back to the rig. All I can say it was an amazing morning, the kind you dream about. This hole is deep and swift with lots of debris in it...one heck of a hard hole to land a nice fish in especially if you're by yourself. Wrench, if you remember it's the hole I showed you that I knew there were several nice fish in. The first nice one he caught was a 19 inch brown. Just a few casts after that he hung a 23 inch brown...a few casts after that he hung a big one, said he fought it up to him several times and every time he tried to net it the fish wanted nothing to do with him or that net, lol. After several attempts to net the fish it finally made a run and straightened the hook on his plug and got off. He guessed the fish to be around 30", probably 10 lbs or larger...said it was a football. He and I were both amazed these fish all came from the same hole...I've seen that happen very few times in my life. The fish were biting so well later on the same day he decided to go back down and try it again the weather still looking condusive by our standards. He went to Tan-Vat and the fishermen were thick. Due to all the people he almost turned around and headed back to the house but thought what the heck, I'll sling one for a bit while I'm here. The first hole below the parking lot he landed a 27 inch brown...he said there were 7 fisherman in sight. He was totally surprized to say the least. He had to work this week-end...he works fairly close to Meremac Springs. Monday after he got off work he decided to run down and fish the Meremac for a bit...the weather still looking fishy. He went to cardiac and headed upsteam. He headed for a hole that we have caught several nice ones out of and have seen a big one there. This hole is not too far from where you hit the water after the walk in. On the way upstream he was hitting a few choice looking spots but mainly heading for that particular hole, if you have ever had a grudge match with a fish you know what I'm talkin about. On the way upstream he caught a decent 23 " brown. Needless to say he was on a roll this week-end, lol. When he got to the hole he was headed to on his first cast he thought he saw a nice fish roll his plug pretty deep but didn't get a good look at it. This hole is very swift water, full of boulders and fairly deep. He backed out of the water and switched to a different color plug. On the first cast the fish nailed it...the water being very swift there the fight was on even though we use 15 lb. test. He fought the fish for a fairly long time, when he got it up close to him it was one of those fish that bury their face in the gravel in an attempt to get the plug off their face. He finally landed the fish...said it was one of the prettiest browns he has ever caught, huge spots, beautiful coloring, fins perfect...just an absolutaly beautiful fish. He weighed, measured the fish and released it...a tad over 27" and weighed 7 lbs. 15 ounces...not a monster but a pretty nice fish. He has known to what I refer as 'Sh!t Hookin' on various things in his life. I would say this week-end of fishing was a good example...just doesn't get a whole lot better. Not being a member of this site himself I just had to share his "Sh!t Hookin' week-end. The Current and Meremac are both flowing full, up just a bit and in real good shape right now...mind you the aluminum hatch has begun so daylight or dusk will be your best times. Out of all the nice fish he caught this week-end the only one he kept was the 18 incher from the Current to eat with his father. Everything he caught was on as wrench calls it a 9 pt. streamer. Good luck to all and take care on the water.

Hey TL, Here's a pic of the biggest walleye I have had in my hands...right at 17 lbs. This one came from the Black River below Clearwater Dam. The pic is a few years old...doubt that I ever see another one like that.

You got it wrench, lol...slingin that heavy hardware. Unorthidox trout technique, produces alot of fish though...wrench can testify to that.

After about an half an hour I had that bad burning between my shoulder blades today...know where you are coming from, sucks to say the least. I have found no fix for it yet short of quiting fishing...think age has a little something to do with it. Whatever the case, it aint a good thing, lol. My back has been doing it for a few years now...sure makes for touph fishing sometimes. Yeah, don't think the crackers helped the herniated disc in my neck...live and learn.

Got to Parkers about 1:00...geared up, raining pretty hard...headed for water and here came the drunks. Confidence factor fell from about an 8 to a 1, lol...loud screaming drunks, just not my thing. Waited till they cleared out and headed upstream. River is very full and pretty off color, looks great. The browns were tearing it up, drunks or not. Caught probably 20 or so and stung a couple of nice ones. Alot of fish today were nice 13 to 16 inchers...nothing big but pretty good quality fish. The water looks real good right now and fish were on the feed.

Current has always been my favorite stream...the perfect wading river. From the park to Cedar Grove there are only 3 or 4 places you can't stay in the water. The strech below Baptist has alot of very skinny water but holds nice fish. I remember one time years ago we went down and fished the Norfork in my old jon...didn't have a very good trip fish wise. When we got back we decided to run down and hit the Current. Went above Tan Vat and I caught a 25 and a 23" brown...we just thought to ourselves why in the heck did we go to Ark. when we had such good water so close...just a change in scenery I guess and I couldn't run my jon on the upper Current. My old 22 ft. river jon was a great boat...was I sadly say. A few years ago I completely restored the old boat from the ground up, used it twice and a couple of meth heads running from the law crashed into her and well...she's gone. Haven't been able to get my father to fish since then...just took something out of him. We used the old boat for around 30 years. The pic is of the old jon...bent darn near in half.

Nicely done !!

Hey Seth, How far down is MariOsa ? I've hooked some big birds below the dam when their running water but it can be kinda hairy in the boat if you anchor and the swift water makes a real big one hard to land if you know where I'm comin from..I have caught and seen some big ones come outta there though, no doubt there are some monsters in there.

I like to stand on the observation deck behind the dam with a good pair of binocs and look down in the water...when the shad are thick on the wall and around that cement platform down at the water level it's amazing the size fish you can see. A pair of good binocs makes one heck of a difference...if guys are casting up that wall you can watch the fish flash their plugs deep, kinda neat...once in a while some big sob's.

I'm disappointed...nobody said chubs, lol

Most probably didn't reply cause by reading your heading reads like you hit the lotto, lol...most refer to Lake of the Ozarks as LOZ. Maybe everyone was jealous, lol...hope you have a good time, nuthin much funner than pups....enjoy !

Often times these are fungus's that have formed around an injury. Concerning trout this happens on accasion when their protective slime is wiped off...being a skinned fish with very small scales injuries allow fungus to set in...cats are suseptable to such fungi also. Fungi attacks where a fish has been injured...skinned fish are more suseptable than heavily scaled fish, that's one thing I have against handing or netting trout...anything that removes the protective slime encourages fungi to form.

Are you guys strictly fair weather fisherman or what...some of my best trips have been on those more undesirable days. Used to I would fish no matter what the weather was...guess I'm more of a fair weather fisherman than I used to be, lol...may be mistaken but I feel age has a little to do with that. Just not into sleeping on a gravel bar and waking up so bug bit I look like I have the measles, lol. IMO only one exception to that fair weather fishing is trout...nastier the weather the better the bite is...far as trout fishing I won't even bother on those bluebird days unless I have driven to a destination and have no choice, then I have to make the best of it, ya know.

IMO, if the truth be known it may be budget time drawing near...they may be scrambling to spend money in the fear they will not recieve the same monies next year if they don't totally use what's in the budget for this year. It's really hard to know what goes on behing the scenes. Maybe I'm wrong but would not surprise me in the least if the 'Good Ole Boy Network' and the cronies of the big wigs with the ONSR have something up their sleeve concerning the lead ban. Could it be possible that some big cheese's brother, brother in law, whomever has an alternative just waiting in the wings for this ban...don't know about most of you but these type things don't suprise me in the least. I may be totally off base on this just saying could it be a possibility?? JMHO

I used an old wooden canoe my father refurbished many years ago...it's now in a local antique shop. The old boat had been repaired with glass so much it was terribly heavy but was one hell of a true floating quiet canoe. If you get a keeless canoe they respond faster when steering but do not float true in the water...constantly have to a paddle in the water to keep them floating straight and on a windy day you get blown in circles. Keeless canoes tend to be better for white water but for a fishing rig I would take a canoe with a keel. Also a canoe with some weight takes less paddleing to keep them moving. jmo

I tried some yesterday resized to less than 2MB, wouldn't upload. I just tried again...still can't get any size pic to upload...what's up with that phil ??

I uesd to run a 17' lowe paddle john...had a moter jack and a 10 hrs on it. It by no means handled like a canoe. Being a paddle john it didn't do to well with the motor...but end plowed down in the water....wouldn't plane out. When I fished alone in the boat I would sit in the front seat of the boat and paddle it backwards down the river...was more compfortable and seemed to respond better. In all it was a fair fishing rig...much more stable than about any canoe. Later on I got a 22' 36'wide river jon, square stern which weas the best river boat i ever owned. A freak accident totalled this boat and it wasn't even near any water...was about the last of my 'Long Jon Days'...sure miss her, she was indeed a river caddy.