zander

heheh, that is pretty funny Dutch. That was down when I used to live in Louisiana and there wasn't a whole lot that we wouldn't eat. Tasted like dove or blackbird to me.

It was a little cut into the the side of Twin Bridges Road that we had to be on the lookout for. An old skidder trail past the rusting shells of water heaters and a stray car door or two was the trail we were looking for. We didn't always find it on the first pass, but if we got as far as the first national forest sign we'd just turn back around and try again. That is how secretive this spot was, even those who knew about it already may not find it very easily. Pulling the S-10 onto the trail and away from the road, we got out of the truck and took in the thick air of the forest. Maybe we'd have a dog with us, or maybe we would not have wanted to mess with dogs that day. We could find them without their help most times, but the dog could let you know what might happen a few seconds in advance at times. As we headed down into the bottom from the road, the earth became softer with each step. The ground was a mattress of pine needles and beech leaves. The air was a tangle of ironwood and black gum branches, each one somehow aiming for your face or a place to snag on my hunting jacket. Like the game we were after we didn't move in straight lines; we simply couldn't since no two things can occupy the same space at the same time. A heavy step in the right place might reveal a seep surrounded by ferns with a shimmering iridescence of an oil film from who knew where. This meant we were getting into the zone. In the bottom sound doesn't move very far. If you hear something you are close to something. If you see something you are even closer. There was no doubt when you flushed the first woodcock. Chaos, feathered, whistle, fast. These four words sum up what the experience consists of. The synergy of these four things made it addictive. There was no telling where the escape artist was going to fly, he might fly towards you or away. He might fly at ten feet off the ground or at 4 feet. From any point there are 360 degrees of direction, the woodcock in flight can choose any of these in both planes. Woodcocks seem to have mastered the physics of space-time. If you missed your chance, start walking in the general direction and try to have him jump again. One fall we headed down Twin Bridges Road looking for the old skidder trail with rust spotted enameled appliance skins poking through the underbrush. We found instead a new subdivision of 4 bedroom houses complete with basketball goals in the driveways. We knew that we had been lucky to find that woodcock filled bottom and we had two seasons with it. But like the flight of the woodcock, we had our whistle, our chaos, our feathers, and it was only all too fast for us.

Thanks to Jeff Hearn of Harrison, AR for sending me some drop dead gorgeous streamers yesterday. He sent: 1) Murdich Minnow 2) Mallard Booger 3) Peacock Peach 4) Denning Spring Sculpin 5) Little Mean Mouth Spread the word, send them in, and I'll post them up here.... Phillip

I have not gotten any flies in the mail yet so if you did send some more than a few days ago, please let me know. I also just made my website (I am no web designer mind you) so if you want to check that out you can. There is a "generation outlook" section where you can learn about a couple different projects that I am working on at the moment. I never heard back from Bob Story at Feather Craft so if anyone knows him, I would appreciate it if you could direct him to this thread. Thanks again. http://www.tailwatertaylorstudio.com

When I was in high school in Louisiana my dog would occasionally get out of the yard and make a bee line to this old sharecropper's place to chase his turkeys and chickens. He never killed any of them, he just enjoyed all the ruckus. The old sharecropper used to hollar at us through his dentured mouth that he was going to shoot the dog with rock salt the next time. Of course I was such a juvenile deliquent at the time, I would have killed all his turkeys and chickens and hogs if he would have done that. Glad none of that ever happened. I am also glad that I didn't live next to some of the people talked about on this thread. At least with rock salt the dog would have learned his lesson and lived another day. My friend lived out on Bayou Rapides and he did shoot plenty of "loose" dogs. He always claimed that they were attacking him. As an amazing coincidence, a bobcat, several coons, and three otters were also "about to attack him" while duck, squirrel and deer hunting at different times. We all realized he just liked shooting stuff. Maybe there are guys like that everywhere. I've been bit several times by loose dogs when a teenager. Usually while waiting for the school bus. I always used to run away but the dogs were always faster. Finally my dad explained what man's advantage over dogs really is, and how I was naturally gifted with my size 13 feet. Ever since then a good kick well timed is all I have needed. I guess the point of my ramble is to kick the dogs- it will make you feel better and takes less time than dealing with the law and courts and if you absolutely MUST shoot a dog, use rock salt like good old sharecroppers did.

My wife is Croatian and they speak pretty much the same language as in Bosnia. Things to say "the next time" spelled phonetically" 1) Sahmo chetree reebah (only four fish) 2) Naymawsh yosh pastrvah (you can't have more trout) 3) Tee see zlow-chistah (you are naughty-my son hears that one a lot) 4) Pohlahko moleem, howchem reebah ishtoe (slow please, I want some fish too) Of course the first Croatian I learned was my wife cursing at me in Croatian but that wouldn't go over well on this board. Sorry to hear about the time you had. But I agree that Operation Gamethief number in the phone is the way to go. Phillip Taylor

So last weekend my friend from junior high through college came up his with little girl and his parents for the weekend. His parents had a week at a timeshare near Branson. For the last year or so he has been living in Dallas, TX after living in Denver for several years. In Colorado he fell in love with fly-fishing, a love that his father had discovered years before. Living in Dallas he is several hours drive to the closest trout fishing and he knew how much I love fly-fishing so they all came well prepared. I only got to fish with him for a few hours, since my wife was baby-sitting my son with Jim's parents whom she never had met before. The next day though Jim brought his father where he and I fished the day before and Jim sent me a couple of pictures after he got back to Dallas. When I saw one of them I knew I had to paint it or at least the spirit of it. I will keep adding pics as I work on it. Shouldn't take more than a couple weeks, but then again I am terrible at guess-timating finishing times. It will be done when its done. Day One. Day Two. Phillip Taylor

the link: http://www.news-leader.com/article/20081023/LIFE06/810230303

I emailed Bob Story this morning about the project and asked him to donate one of his father's cracklebacks or if he didn't have any, I thought he should tie one in honor of his father. Thanks again for the interest in this, and Greg I hope you'll be sending me some flies too. I have a long list of flies that I think should be included but I don't want to bias the contributions so my lips are sealed If anyone knows Mike Kruse please forward this onto him and anyone else that you can think of. Phillip Taylor

I know a lot of people have viewed this thread so I hope I'll be getting lots of flies, and thanks Tim and Phil for your support. If anyone does have a Ed Story tied crackleback that would be wonderful. I never met the man but have heard plenty about him just on here. Thanks again and please feel free to post this on that other forum down in Arkansas (John Wilson's site?) for whoever is a member of it, Terry or Dano I guess. Phillip Taylor

Youtube really is not the be all end all of computer video clarity I have discovered, but anyway as promised here is another update:

I am seeking your favorite Ozark trout flies for a new project called, "The Trout Flies of the Ozarks". I will be doing a painting of around 80 different flies submitted by Ozark trout anglers. If you have a fly shop, lodge, are a guide, are famous, or none of the above but enjoy trout fishing these waters (like me) I would like you to send me a fly to be considered for the painting. Each person can submit up to three different flies, and each person who submits will have at least one fly painted along with the fly's name and their name. Also submitters will also get the honor of having one print of the painting when completed donated to the conservation organization of their choice for fund-raising purposes. Of course prints would also be available for sale for individuals and businesses as well. I am hoping Phil, Michael Kyle, Leonard, Dano, Babler, Wooten, Jeremy Hunt, Tim, Brian Sloss, and all of the other local legends will contribute but once again it will be best to have as many different people submit as possible, so please spread the word. Please attach to your fly: 1) fly name 2) your name 3) fly type ie streamer, dry, wet, or nymph and 4) your contact info. Once painted and printed I will contact the submitters to decide which conservation organization to donate a print to and how many prints they want for themselves. Please send flies and the requested information to Phillip Taylor, 5682 S. Ferguson Ave, Springfield, MO 65810. I will keep a running list here of the flies I have receiived and from whom. I look forward to your participation and one again please spread the word to all fly-shops, resorts, and fellow trout anglers, young and old, men and women. Thanks to Bob White for this idea. Phillip Taylor

So I have been working on my latest painting. I have been keeping it pretty secret since it is something totally different. But as my wife and family can tell you I am not good at keeping secrets so I'll let just the people who happen to randomly read my blog in on it. You can see about it here: And if you want to see some of my other paintings done with brushes click here: http://www.farandawayonline.com/Water/Apr0...routhunting.htm Thanks for reading and watching.....updates will follow. Phillip Taylor

Denjac that was a funny story and I can picture it in my mind My wife was telling my mother in law in Europe my story and she said that once my brother in law was making his own dough bait for carp and the police showed up. Evidently the smell left his apartment and entered a neighbor's and they thought it was a decaying corpse. I also can no longer eat shrimp since me and my father have used them so much for catfish bait I can't picture them any other way then hot and putrifying. Phillip T

My wife after being in considerable pain in her rib cage finally said we should go to the urgent care clinic this morning about 11 AM. I didn't want my son who is 4 years old to be stuck with us the whole afternoon there so I gave my father a call. It turns out he was out fishing at Lake Springfield. He said he would meet me at the urgent care clinic to pick up my son until we were done. Eventually my father arrives in his Explorer and I open the door to have my son crawl into the car seat. The smell was something else. My son had his cheeks puffed out like a chipmunk holding his breath as I struggled through the crippling smell of stinkbait working on getting his seat belt secured. I said, "Dad, I can tell you were using stinkbait, kinda strong in here..." My dad responded oh he had forgotten to zip the bags back up. Meanwhile all the windows in the explorer were still rolled up. My son looked like he needed air. I had my dad roll down the windows to blow the stink out. I hadn't taken a test sniff, but I figured it was good enough. I told my boy to take a deep breath of the clean air........he did.........turns out I jumped the gun a bit. He ended up taking a big breath, but itstead of fresh October air it was still the stale stagnant smell that only a catfish could love and an older desensitized nose like my father's could endure. Within a couple of seconds he proceeded to puke all over himself and my dad's truck. Whoops. Stink bait is no longer a friend of mine. By the way both wife and son are doing better now. hope it gave you a smile or a chuckle. Phillip

Kevin, I appreciate you posting on the forum, but the topic is about Taneycomo not Kansas, the intent is to gather measurable public support for a possible increase on the minimum length for browns on Taneycomo. I have no doubt that you have had the experiences you have described. I think we have all seen that from time to time, but I can't remember seeing it on Taney ever. Maybe someone else has, but I think I can speak for most "locals" in saying that the local variety are the common variety of poacher. Now that we know we aren't in Kansas anymore (could resist the chance to use it Kevin), I think that laker67 is right that we are at a crucial point in time again. With the recent exapansion on Taney itself more people will mean more pressure, and more needs to be done to improve the fishery.

I support the bigger limit on browns. And I think that our own homegrown poachers far outweigh the impact of the immigrant poachers you are referring to.

Hello and welcome. Your questions about access have been popular items of discussion on the forum in the past. I would suggest reading this thread: http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=7022

Yes the other thread does seem to be a little more active. Nice jokes though, and here I thought all the Republican comedians were already on the Blue Collar Comedy tour. (Just kidding...all in good fun)

When my cousin was stationed at Ft. Leonard Wood, he used to go get walnut lumber from a little sawmill in Lebanon I think. I don't know if they do custom jobs or not though.

I figured the few of us liberals on here need our own thread as well I personally am excited about 2 things: 1) for this all to be over with and 2) to see Obama get in and see him work to fulfill his promise that I see in him.

the rates are largely dependent on your credit score and debt to income ratio. Usually on these types of loans you can have them 24-48 months but usually on the shorter side of it. Sometimes collateral is needed and sometimes it is not, once again depends on your credit strength. remember that we are in a credit crunch right now and likely for the next two years so the rates maybe a little higher than what you may expect since prime rate is at 5.00% Another option would be to use a life of the loan convenience check from one of your credit cards. Make it out to yourself, put it in your checking account. Wait for the funds to become available and do it that way. If you do use those, I would strongly encourage you to set that account up on automatic payment so that there would be no chance of losing hte promo rate. Often with those checks you can get rates from 2.99 F APR to 5.99 F APR. edit- another advantage of doing this is that it won't cause another inquiry to appear on your credit bureau report

In Shepherd of the Hills, he wrote in Ozark dialect at times, so people would call them catamounts and painters, but mountain lion or cougar or puma are not the traditional terms for them here. But they are one in the same.

Bottom line is that there are lots of great places to fish all over the place, but the thread is on Bill and Phil's trip. I for one would love to go up there but I am like Stephen Colbert, I am scared of the bears. Maybe a few visits to a hypnotherapist can help me with this, that or spend more time with my mother-in-law

Skeeter, I know it is tough to get your stuff stolen, and if you end up shooting someone, you will more than likely not be justified. At that time, you would be in prison and we don't like prison for multiple reasons (just to clean up the original post). There have been lots of great suggestions here for what you can do other than tote a shotgun after dark. People get mad, and people react, but that is something you and others would have to live with for the rest of your lives. I mean someone maybe a thief, but would you rob his mother of her son for that? Someone's father? As William Monney (Clint) said in the movie Unforgiven, "It's a helluva thing killing man, take away all he's ever had, all he is ever gonna have."