timinmo

Maybe March.

Well Wally when will it be fishable?

How does the rod work? How does the boat work?

Well anything anyone caught was more than I caught sitting on the couch. I had told myself I was going out but it never happened.

Don't let the spline deal worry you. You can figure it out. I have never had help with marking it, just put a piece of tape around it and roll it around until you feel the spline then mark. There are any number of ways to align the guides and after trying several different methods, I do it by eye. Just make sure they are straight before putting on the finish. If they end up not being straight it is not the end of the world you can take off the one that is not and redo it. I find it fun and certainly there has been times when it frustrated me. The good part of the whole deal is you can get just what you "want".

Those are all the things you need to get started. I think it is a great hobby. You might note that Mudhole has a workshop in St. Louis in September of this year. Not sure of the date but check it out on their site. If you have any questions don't hesitated to send me a PM. There are several other builders on the site and maybe they will chime in. One word of warning, it is not a way to save money. Something to think about is that it takes the same amount of time to build on a cheap blank as a good one. Build on a blank you would fish with. That said there are plenty of nice blanks for $50 or less. If you are not happy with the results you can always strip off the components and start over. Lots of video on Youtube, be careful some are not just misleading but totally wrong. Good luck.

Well apparently lack of knowledge does not keep people from having an opinion. And the internet does not keep them from shouting it at the top of their lungs.

Jim those look great. Haven't seen you in a while.

Hey Scott call him back. Tell him more jokes and ask for size 9.

Not directly related to the above stories, but I fished Dale Hollow with a guide several years ago. No, did not catch or see a ten pound fish but the boat dock/tackle store did have a replica of the worlds record. It was obviously huge and dwarfed any smallie I have ever seen. We had a good trip and caught several "good" fish but nothing like that mount.

Hope you are feeling better.

Mitch, you know Al always does a good job. He actually prepares and everyone seems to enjoy it. If you had that upper RI/flu/cold I had it last week. It seems that everyone has been getting it. Hope you get to feeling better.

The MSA meeting with Al giving a talk was very well attended. I think we ran out of seats. Just wondering how many that are regulars, or not so regular, on here were at the meeting? I know I met and talked to several guys but certainly did not get a chance to meet everyone, nor will I remember many names. For anyone that was unable to attend, or some that may want to review. I think we will have a link to a video of the presentation. Will keep everyone up dated about link. Would also like to thank all the people who signed up as members.

OK I get it now. I stupid early or late.

Your math confuses me, but it is early.

Great trip report to warm me on a cold morning. Enjoyed your adventure.

Never painted one but all the white rods and blue ones are all painted. Hey try it what have you got to lose.

Love John Prine?

Sometime after I posted I realized that I kind of "high-jacked" Drew's thread. That was not my intention, I should have started a new thread, sorry Drew.

Drew, I think we would all like to be on either of those rivers this May. Your post brought a question to my mind when you mentioned May being prespawn. My guess is under normal conditions by the middle of May the spawn is winding down on many of our rivers and streams. Maybe I am wrong, I'm hoping that some of the more experienced anglers will chime in and give us what they think is the normal time for the spawn. Either way I hope to be there pre, post or during. Any thing but sitting inside.

It seems to me we have spent way too much unproductive time on whole episode. I know everyone gets testy in the winter but ten pages on something we can not figure where it went wrong. I give up.

Well my hat is off to you invincible guys. My father and B-I-L were both invincible until they started taking off pieces of their hide, specially ears and bridge of nose. They are both now deceased, cancer for both. They were both very enthusiastic fishermen. When I was young I also thought I was invincible and never wore sunscreen, which I still hate. About a year ago my wife noticed something on my head. She thought it was a tick at first, but discovered it was a mole that had never been there. To try to shorten this story I now have a bald spot on the back of my head and a scar on my side where they took the skin for the graft. I tried to talk them into taking it off my behind as it has more hair but they would not buy it. So for all you invincible types carry on. Normal people should wear sunscreen or cover up.

Often, not always, the only difference between the 2500 and 3000 size is the spool with the 3000 holding more line. The body of the reel is often the same. On several of the Shimanos the 3000 has a faster retrieve ratio. For most fishing I see little use in having more than 100 yards of line but the faster gear ratio maybe appealing.

Like most environmental problems there is probably not any one answer. Most likely all the things mentioned above have some effect but maybe no one of them is the complete answer. Any environmental issue is going to have people on both sides and it seems like it always has to reach a critical point before any thing is done. Wally I don't doubt what you are seeing but I certainly am not seeing that on other flows. As an addition, some of the common names are really good, like Spectacle Case and Heel Splitter. I guess if the current trend continues these and others will pass out of usage. We will all be poorer for it.

When I was a child, 50 to 60 years ago, we spent alot of time on the Bourbeuse. We found lots of large mussels. They seem to have all disappeared. On Operation Clean Stream this past summer one of my sons found a large shell, but most of the small ones, about the size of your thumb nail or a little bigger, you see are an invasive Asian mussel. In just the last couple years MDC has started to do some studies but it maybe too little too late.