Flysmallie

Thank you.

Does that belong to Wynona? I love beavers. I saw something a week or so ago where a photographer tried to get a beaver coming out of the den to collect food they had stored for the winter. All of this was done under the ice. Took him 3 years to get a shot. I need to go find some to photograph. Not under ice though . Sounds cold.

I agree. Tuesday night was a unexpected photo chase that has been close to 20 years in the making. I ran across that structure close to 20 years ago. I have tried many times to get a decent photo of it. It's only about a mile off a major highway, but the road to it is less than good. I was packed up and ready for the attempt on Monday night. Weather didn't cooperate so I backed out. Tuesday around 4pm we could see the clouds rolling into Wichita. The skies didn't look great but I decided it was good enough for a chance. The house as I call it, is 54 miles east of downtown Wichita, KS. I made a run for it. The further east i traveled the worse the clouds looked behind me. And not in a good way. I was beginning to second guess my decision. Especially since I had been rattled awake by a thunderstorm earlier that morning. It actually shook the hotel I was in. I grew up in south Oklahoma so i'm definitley not afraid of storms but I know when you have to move. So I arrive and setup on this old gravel road. I wanted to get closer but the bull watching me off in the distance was pretty interested in what I was doing and I didn't want to see which of us was fastest. I sat out there for close to an hour waiting on something to happen. Not enough good lightning to worry about making that a shot. And then this wall cloud started forming off in the distance. Judging from the radar the tail end of that was just going to clip where I was standing. Then things got freaky. The broken up part of that storm that is in the photo was starting to form. And it was rolling as it did that. The front part of it that is pointing to that tree was starting to get lower and lower and there was some rotation. But it was still a ways out and didn't really show up well on camera. Alright fatboy. This is it. You going to stay until that cloud is over the house or are you gonna run. the inflow winds increased. The temp was in the 80's when I left Wichita and now it was 67 on top of that hill with howling winds. I left my camera on the tripod but stayed close to the truck. Engine running and had it pointed in the direction of the highway so I could haul arse out of there and go further east if needed. it was getting intense. And then it all just fell apart. Still a really cool experience and I finally got some decent pics of that house. I like this one too.

If the cats are “wounded” it helps.

Sure they can. Why not?

Apparently my thing lately is storms. At least I have plenty of chances.

From the guy that puss'd out on chasing white bass.

Exactly. I know covering a lot of water can be rewarding, but slowing down and enjoying the journey is rewarding as well. 8 miles is a three day float for me.

Looks like a cool trip.

When you hit perfection you just leave it alone.

Probably an adhesion problem. It's very difficult to get anything to stick to a kayak due to the way they are manufactured. And if it's not the right type of product it won't have the same flexibility as the material of the kayak and that also creates an issue with long time adhesion.

Yep. Best time to go is when you can.

It sounds cooler than what it was. Only a couple of fish were interested. We fished on the sunniest day in weeks, right in the middle of the day. I bet it’s a solid bite early and late. Won a couple of tournaments fishing the same pattern back in the early 90’s.

Spinnerbait. Gold. In the bushes.

We found water as high as 76 on Sunday. Water is high, water color was a bit stained but I'm sure it's getting better. We didn't catch many fish but a spinnerbait up in the bushes should work well.

Good luck on your quest.

Thank you. I appreciate that, from both! I love stoneflies. I use Pat’s Rubberlegs a lot but I have this one and a little black one when I want to feel fancy.

Another one from the ditch.

Nobody seems to mind when it's a trout.

Beavers are more bark than bite. They will F you up if you want to mess with them, but they just charge and tail slap to scare you away. There were lots of beaver ponds where I grew up and I loved to fish them. There were several times, when fishing out of float tubes, where they would charge the tube and vanish underwater about 10 feet away. Cottonmouths would do the same thing. When you’re 9 or 10 years old it’s pretty terrifying.

Mine looks like a stonefly but wants to identify as a grasshopper.

There’s a podcast where the three ladies talked about what happened. It was horrifying. From getting attacked to going for help to getting everyone out. Absolutely crazy.

Looks like the rain is going to miss Table Rock but Springfield is getting hammered. We are pushing all that water down the James so everyone can enjoy! I looked at a spot close to home yesterday and thought I could probably float on Thursday. It was raging about an hour ago. Might take up knitting.

It's going to be the one I took. That makes it special to me, and that's all that matters.