Flysmallie

Or jackass.

Sorry Wrench. I know exactly what you are going through. I had a pinched nerve in my neck in February. I was miserable. The pain went down my back and all the way down my right arm. My hand went numb for about 6 weeks. It wasn't totally numb because if it brushed up against anything it hurt like hell. Went to the doctor, muscle relaxers, pain pills, everything. Nothing worked. Another doctor, x-rays, nerve damage testing, nothing worked. I ate more ibuprofen, naproxen, and anything else I thought would work. Nothing worked. I was miserable. At the end of April I finally got into a physical therapist. I wasn't into that at all but it was the next step before my insurance would do anything else. One 30 minute session and I felt much better than I had in a couple of months. It came back a few hours later but I kept going to PT and it did get better. Still not a 100% and I have some permanent nerve damage, but it's not painful anymore. Now both of my knees are all f'd up but that's been going on since 1985.

Best advice you are going to get. That's not a lake you want to play with in the wind. But if your quarry is bass, it can be the best spinnerbait lake in the world during the fall.

Got mine ordered. Can't wait to read it.

Obviously the only thing wrong with the world is that the people are getting much dumber. And it ain’t the young ones that are the problem.

By the way, I went to 3 different schools and never felt anyone was trying to indoctrinate me. My daughters have been to 5 different schools and while they have had some professors that were right or left leaning, they never felt like anyone was trying to indoctrinate them. Same for a couple of young guys that I know. They key to all of this is that none of these people that I speak of are really that into politics. They are, or were, more focused on their field of study and didn't have time to play games like American politics. If you haven't figured out that it's pointless by now, then you might have been indoctrinated.

Probably. But the cool thing is you can choose to be smarter than all of that!

Just described the mission statement of ALL political parties to a t.

I caught two of those little bastards in a tree out front early yesterday morning while loading kayaks. I have a tree out front that creates some stupid little nut and they sit up there and rip them open and drop the husks and shells down on the driveway and cars and whatever. The husks make a huge mess and stain everything. The only BB gun I have is CO2 pistol and I have zero CO2. Thought about an arrow but those are kind of hard to deal with in a neighborhood if one gets away. So I grabbed the water hose. One was pretty close. I hit him pretty hard and was able to track him out of that tree and down another and completely across the yard. He look liked a drowned rat trying to climb up the neighbors tree. The other one went straight up. I had a shot at him once but got cocky and sent him back up out of reach. It's been 24 hours and they haven't been back.

Someone please take my wife to see this movie! I don’t think I could sit through it.

One of these days you will wake up and all those kids are gone. You will be able to go fishing whenever you want but you will want to go to dance lessons instead. I know you will say "No that will never be me", but it will.

That’s how I do it. I’ve caught a lot of fish like that. Mostly ladyfish, but I’m never worried about what I catch. And there is nothing more fun than a ladyfish on a 5wt. Pull like crazy, fly through the air, and you are definitely going to know when you get a bite. LOL All this commotion attracts sharks so make sure you take a good look around before you reach down and grab anything. I’ve had so many encounters that if I have waded out very far, I will drag them all the way to shore before I land anything.

I think that's where the problem is, everyone saying it leaves a lot open to interpretation. If you have good morals you already know what would be allowed and what wouldn't. If you are shooting for loopholes then you should be a politician not a fisherman.

There’s a ton of water coming from Springfield. Hopefully the Walmart bags and dirty diapers will have got caught up in trees before it hits the lake.

I've always used floating line. Same setup on my 5wt as I use on my 8wt. A strait piece of 15 to 20lb mono about 6ft long attached to a clouser. Carry plenty of these premade leaders in your pocket. Everything there destroys line. I use braid on my spinning gear so it's not an issue with that.

Yep, it doesn't take much. I usually have a tiny box with a few spoons and one topwater in it. If that doesn't do it then I had a nice walk. Same if I'm carrying a flyrod but now it's just a pocket full of clousers and a gurgler or two.

I love fishing the beach in that area. A 5wt will work and is super fun with ladyfish but it's going to get a workout. You don't have to have reels designed for salt but you do want to take time to wash them out thoroughly with fresh water after each use. Anywhere along the beach will have some action as long as you go early and late. And I mean real early. Spoons are what I toss the most because you can cast them a mile. Topwater works too. Don't have to get real technical to catch these fish. Just remember they will be closer to the shore than you think. Just need to find the deep cuts and washouts. An early morning drive out to Fort Morgan would be recommended. Almost all the way to the fort you will find a turn off to the south with some road parking. It's a long walk out to the beach from here but it's well worth it. You see way more fish out here than you will in town.

I’ve always liked stick steer boats.

Okay we can be friends. I love my Mepps. I solved the issue by only using braid.

It was that way long before that, but yeah, afterwards, it's much worse.

I always wondered where you went. Glad to see you are still out there enjoying life. Hopefully I'll run into you sometime.

Those egos must just be a thing around the bigger cities. I rarely see anyone filming anything when I'm out and about. And I never see any of those videos but I don't hang around YT much. Just moved my youngest into the university. Maybe I'll start me one of those YT channels. Won't see me on there freaking out over a 17 inch fish though. I can't catch anything over 14 inches anymore.

20 years ago there was a guy that regularly rain up the James on one with a couple of rods hanging off it. And I see people every year at the beach using them to fish. Not a bad option.

The Hilton St. Louis at the Ballpark is nice and handy. Not sure how the rates are when there is a game in town. I've checked in the past and it has been out of my budget at times.