zsmith62

Fishpond came out with a great idea not to long ago... theyre selling these little canisters that hook up to your chest pack or whatever and are made for disposing of trash. On the website they say they're selling them in sets of 4 for $13. Its a heck of an idea, Im not sure its worth $13 but it shows some great initiative. Here's the link: http://fishpondusa.com/piopod-microtrash.cfm

Im sure it doesnt make that big of a difference, but I remember something I saw on tv about how many toxins stay in the filters and how they can effect the environment when littered.

The thing actually looks a lot like the first "fly" I ever tied... Long before I was ever into fly fishing, I got a few jigheads that were just laying around, took some rubber legs off of my bass jigs and found a few random pieces of pipe cleaner and "tied" something that looked oddly familiar. Minus the hackle and they look to be about the same except I not only had rubber legs coming out the back, but I had them coming out of the front too. It absolutely slayed the bluegills on my ultralight... I've actually thought of tying some fly versions but have never got around to it... looks like someone beat me to it.

Wow... I didn't even know we had them here in Missouri! I havent seen or not to mention caught one of those in years... but with growing up and learning to fish in michigan and ohio, I sure caught more than my fair share of them in the past...

I suppose the clouser made the top of the list because of it versatility as well, but as far as the black ghost goes, I have a number of reasons why it made the list: I assume it maybe made the list due to it being an older streamer pattern that possibly influenced a lot of other patterns. It may have also made it because it is so old and still is fairly effective. They don't see much use around here in the tailwaters but I suspect that they see more use in some of the smaller waters where throwing a large streamer would spook more fish than it would entice. Keep in mind that the article only mentioned this particular fly being used for trout. However, when I first started fly fishing I ended up buying several cheap fly kits to build up my fly arsenal. In the streamer kit, there was a black ghost. I never used it for trout, but I managed to hook several bluegills before losing it. As far as the pheasant tail nymph not being put on the list I suspect it was because there were so many other generic nymph patterns that had already made the list. i.e. the Hares Ear, the Copperjohn and the Prince that going ahead and adding the pheasant tail would probably have been overkill.

I've always kinda wondered about the way the fish feed off the carcasses of other fish at bennet, because the first time I ever went there I actually caught several fish off of a dead one with a white jig. However, after thinking about it, I kinda wondered how using one of those flesh or carcass flies they use for salmon fishing would work. I plan to try it one of these days. Here's a few pics of such flies I found on the internet:

Wow... I wish you the best of luck up in montana, I was kinda hopin to get out there someday myself. Thanks again for all that you guys have done.

Can somebody tell me how to tie a john deere or where i can find instructions elsewhere on how to do that... I've always heard about people using them but never tried myself. Thanks.

ANOTHER thank you to all of you guys sending me well wishes, hopefully Ill see you guys out on the water... A&J- I sent you back a PM, thanks.

Once again, thanks to all who replied and offered to help with my particular situation. I really appreciate all of the support and good words. I do hope I can provide an inspiration to those with a similar condition. Besides i don't consider this to be a life sentence, like I said before, with medical research where its at, theyre only 5-10 years from fixing this condition. I repeat - this is not a life sentence, im servin my 5-10 and then Im getting fixed up. Thats one of the things that keeps me goin day to day. Patfish- I think the reason bucknasty never replied was because he is away at school and hasn't really done much fishing since i got hurt, just because him and i usually fish together when hes in town, so he may not be spending much time on the site.

Thanks for all of the support guys, it really means a lot. I will keep all posted on future trips and such. One thing I forgot to mention in the previous post, when I was in the ICU, still unconcious from my concussion, and on a respirator one of the respitory therapists aparently started talking with my parents and eventually fishing came up... it turns out that the guy and one of his buddies did a lot of fishind at taney and actually remembered reading some of my fishing reports before he would go out. Another thing i failed to bring up was how much this site helped me pull through during my stay at the hostpital. Being able to read reports and see how things were goin did a lot for me. Not only do i have to figure out how to access everything i did before, but now i've got to teach my dad how to fly fish...ive kinda got my hands full...

About 4 months ago, i managed to flip my truck and get myself thrown from the cab. As a result i managed to break my spinal cord just below my ribcage. I am now paralyzed. Despite the new challenges i face, i will still continue to do everything i was doing before the wreck, i just have to approach things differently. Hunting and fishing will be do-able, just more challenging. Fishing will be so releiving, i cant tell you guys how much "therapy" i would have gotten out of just being able to hit the water while i stayed up at the hospital. Anyways, I now have been freed from all of my braces and such so fly casting should be no problem. As far as accessing the old fishing holes, i've figured out a way to still be able to wade in the waters beneath the dam. Me and my physical therapist see no issues in transferring to one of those personal pontoon boats. As long as i watch the generation and dont end up washing down to rockaway beach, I shouldn't have any problems. I think that ill be able to fish just about anywhere I want, i just have to work things out in a trial and error fashion. Hunting will be even less of an issue, I will just install a backrest on one of my buddys atv's with an automatic transmission and transfer straight to it. That way, i can get just about anywhere on the farm without any issues. The bad thing about the timing of my accident was that i managed to miss out on most of deer season. In fact, it is most likely that trying to swerve a deer is what left me in this condition, because the police have said that judging by my skid marks i wasnt speeding or driving recklessly. So come next deer season, i've got a little vendetta to settle. I plan to leave a body count if you know what i mean. (lol) The way I see it, this is just god's way of making things a little more of a challenge because they were just getting too easy before... All kidding aside, my doctor tells me that with medical research, I should be up and walking again in 5-10 years. And with this new bill that Obama signed just recently, Stem Cells should make this a lot more promising. Anyways, I would like to let everyone know that Im back and ready to go, just have to do things differently. I want to say thanks to my buddy Brady (Bucknasty91), All of the crew over at Backcountry Outfitters for all their help and the magazines Michael sent up to the hospital to make my stay more enjoyable. I'd also like to throw out a thanks to all of my family and friends who have helped make my adjustment go more smoothly.

Wow- just about 5 minutes ago I looked up from my laptop screen and saw the banner running the bottom of my screen announcing the election of Barack Obama as the next Commander in Chief of the United States. I can honestly say I've never felt such mixed emotions. On one side, I voted for McCain, and am dissapointed that he didn't win, yet while watching all of the people celebrate the victory, I did gain a sense of hope, and was proud to see as many people participating in the process that makes our country so great. On the other hand, I felt the chill of uncertainty lingering over me as I realized the challenges that will be faced by our new President. I can only hope for the best as our country begins a new chapter. The people of America chose the man they thought would be the best man for the job... We can only pray that we have chosen the right person for the trying times that lie ahead. As a collective population we have given him the highest seat of power we can bestow upon a person. President Obama, you have been chosen, make us proud.

Olive wooly buggers did the trick on friday afternoon, along the lower wire road access.

Same situation at my buddy's farm, I don't go anywhere without my smith & wesson because of the pack that's been running there for the last year and a half. Every now and then you'll hear barking in places where there shouldn't be domestic dogs. They've killed at least one calf and approached us at one point during last years bow season. next time, they won't be so lucky.

After looking at a few different sites about butt litter, they all said that butts can take anywhere from 3-15 years to completely dispose. Lets not forget that the purpose of the butt is to absorb some of the more dangerous chemicals, so throwing them on the ground to eventually wash back into our waters. On keeping film canisters and such to store trash, i saw that fishpond has come out with little canisters that appear to be a little bigger than the film canisters, and they come with a built in clip for attaching to chestpacks and vests. they run for 13 bucks for a set of three, so im not sure if it wouldn't be better to just keep using film canisters and such, but it's nice to see some initiative on the part of tackle manufacturers to keep our streams and lakes healthy

Are you kidding... Have you ever used a glow stick before? They're sealed in a plastic tube... I've hit them off rocks so many times i'm almost a hundred percent positive that you cannot break them accidently by normal fishing activities. Besides, it would probably take thousands of fisherman simultaneously breaking them open and throwing them back into the water to have any kind of negative effect on the lake. These aren't big either, they contain about a few drops of this toxic poison you speak of...

If the smell was near the outlets, it could possibly be from them flushing out the hatchery. From what I can tell, they did this at least once a day during the summer. When this happens the water coming from the outlets turns to an almost tea color, and there are usually some chunks of moss and weeds along with some dead fingerling rainbows. The smell is not pleasant.

I was down on wednesday from about to 12:00 and caught a few, but they all looked a little thin and sickly, and the bass i caught even looked bad, it was so pale I couldn't even see the stripe down it's side. i dont know if it was just that particular fish or if the low DO levels and the inconsistent water temps are hurting the other fish too... although that bluegill didnt look too bad. either way, things are gonna have to get back to normal soon or the effects are gonna make things difficult for a long time.

Ulua- that looks pretty close to what i do, but i can never seem to keep them up, and for me at least, i think theyre kinda awkward to cast accuratley.

They sell them at walmart too. Can anyone explain how they rig up thier glow sticks, I try to rig one up everytime i'm out at night, but they always seem to pull the indicator under, making it hard to tell when I've got a strike.

Put me down for some soda, and I'll bring another cooler as well, so long as my request off for that day goes through....

yeah... i can probably squeeze in an afternoon next week, i'll try and send you a pm on sunday night after i get my work schedule.

I think the road is called grishams ford or something like that. I've actually been wanting to get down there to crane for a while, haven't been for a couple weeks.

Go with a six weight line on the 5/6, it is typically better to go with the heavier of the two weights. It'll make your rod load better.