jdmidwest

What's a trout lilley? Dandelions are showing here on the north hillsides, bees will be happy happy. First major source of food for them.

I think the first is a black caddis or grannom, which would be about right for this time of year. Black elk hair caddis would be a pattern to tye for the adult. Kinda hard to tell from the pic. http://www.flyfishingwis.com/html/black_caddis.html http://www.west-fly-fishing.com/entomology/caddis/grannom.shtml

Water temp at a local lake was at 55 degrees this weekend, somehow. It was cold and rainy all day Sat and 29 degrees Sunday morn. Somehow things are warming up. Looking at the forecast and how things are starting to show around here, I may go out this weekend and look for some greys. Even though it seems early, it looks like a warmup is coming. I tend to see mayapples blooming and trilliums around when the mushrooms are peaking around here. I have seen no mayapples yet. But I am getting the itch.

Ground is still pretty cold around here. Leaf litter packed tight this year from the snow and sleet. They should stick out good when they pop up. Grass just started showing some green here this week. Last year it was hard to find them with the leaves all fluffed up and dry. I will give it a week or so. Peak usually is April 17 thru first part of May here. There may be a few grays next week.

I could have pegged Ness as a Mac type. BTW, I hate the new versions of Office also. But in your case, it was probably the reference to the south of the border runs that triggered it. The main point of the matter is, there is really no reason to go out and dump money on new computer just because XP is about to expire under normal circumstances. Most security issues with XP have been patched and locked down. Your main security should come from an advanced modern browser, up to date antivirus and internet security, and keeping key software up to date. That is the key even with Win 8.

There has been alot of hoopla lately since Microsoft dropped an update a few weeks back thru Windows Update urging people to get a new computer. Many have fallen for it and many new computers have been sold because of it. Here are my thoughts on the matter. Windows XP will continue to run and your computer will continue to perform as it does at the present time. The world will not come to an end for those that have XP computers on April 8, despite all of the scare tactics to drum up new sales. It is really only businesses that have to worry about it and the possible security issues that may develop. The Windows updates and patches will cease to exist. The only versions of Internet Explorer that presently run on XP are out of date and should have been replaced with modern browsers like Firefox, Opera, or Chrome for security while browsing. Outlook Express should be upgraded to a modern mail client like Thunderbird or simply use webmail clients like Gmail. Hackers will probably not even worry about trying to hack XP any more than they have over the last 14 years. As long as you have a modern browser installed, modern and up to date antivirus and internet security packages, you should have nothing to worry about. Always keep Adobe Reader, Adobe Flash Player, Adobe Shockwave, and Java software up to date also as many hackers tend to slip viruses and malware in that way also. Linux flavors are an option, most have an interface to make ease of interaction similar to Windows. But the options for software are limited and there is a whole new learning curve to the software that may intimidate many novice users. Windows 7 has been dropped for sale by MS also, but there are still companies out there offering it as a downgrade option on new computers. Since the patch for Windows 8.1 came out, many of the issues have been solved with the interface that was a problem with 8. It would be the route to go on a new computer.

Back then, were you a user or just a mule?

Too deep and too swift. They may even prohibit fishing in the spring branch if I remember right. Why would you want to?

D looks good. But I still have the old one too.

Local shop in Altenburg, MO carries the fish frozen and you can buy them by the box. Bones and als like a fiddler catfish about a 9 inch fish. It is also a big hit at the fair held in that same town in the fall served on a slice of white bread. I was aware of stocking in the St Francois and management in the 11 Pt. But I did not realize they were also stocking Current and Black.

I want some green onions this year, but I have a hard time finding onion seeds. Doesn't anyone grow them anymore? Onion sets and bulbs are not he same. You need to start them from seed to get good, tender green onions. I remember they used to come in rolls of seed tape so they would be evenly spaced.

Did they ever do anything with the Camp Zoe yet?

Lettuce and snow peas under glass in one raised bed is all I have now. Peas are up to about 2" now. Still waiting for main plot to dry out so I can get in and form up my raised beds. Calling for a chance of snow here tonight.

10 pounds seems to be the norm now too. Like you, I have heard stories about bigger ones in Black River, but that all went away in the 80's. And it has been about 10 years since I fished for them on the Black. They are few and far between. With all of the efforts in the St. Francois, I have never heard of any larger than 18". There used to be some nice ones in 11 PT, but the largest I have ever caught there has been about 22". The survey did not even mention another fishery, the Castor River. While I never catch any big ones, there are several there. It is the only MO stream that I actually put in and fish for them solely any more.

I received the MDC walleye survey in the mail regarding management of the SE MO streams of Current, Black, 11 Pt, and St. Francois. A few pages of questions regarding walleye fishing on these areas. Anyone else gotten them? Anyone on here bother to fish for walleye on these streams? Fishing has declined tremendously over the past 20 years. As a kid, we called them Jack Salmon. I have made many a cold trip to troll the Black River for them. I have fished the 11 Pt for them. I even tried the upper St. Francois for them after they started trying to get them going again there. But I never really caught the numbers like I do in TN below Pickwick (sauger). It would be great if they make these streams better fisheries.

Is that the same memorial that some have left mementos the past few years about halfway between the lower campsite parking lot and the wire? I always wondered what the story behind that was.

The net has so many pattern sites now that most books are obsolete. Most have great step by step tying instructions or videos. You should have a good source of saddle hackles in Korea, I think they used to import alot of them many years ago along with China. Decent stuff for streamers, larger dry flies. Thread, hooks, lead wire, dumbell eyes, a few hackle colors, dubbing selection or 2, bead head beads, copper and gold wire, chenille, buck tail, deer and elk hair patch, and gold chain for eyes would all be on my list to make a travel kit. Be careful over there.

Now if this goofy weather will just straighten out.

But some are a little worse for the wear. I have wintered 6 hives of bees with minimal intervention. This time last year, I had one hive and 2 on the way. I was able to build and split and make 6 sucessful colonies to make it thru the winter, a rather cold one at that. I went thru my hives the past 2 days. The 2 at the farm survived the winter on minimal stores of honey and are building up fine for the spring flows. One of the 4 hives at the house lost the queen this spring. She may have just run out of eggs or died of old age. I know she was at least 2 seasons old. It was the original hive that struggled from day one that I started with it. I put a frame of fresh eggs today from another hive and they should start making a new queen soon. They came from a good strong hive, so that one will have the same genetics and traits by a few months from now. 2 of the other hives were in great shape and all I had to do was inspect and do some house keeping. The last hive was a surprise. They clustered this winter in the lower box and have been busy drawing out fresh comb and honey in the top box. I had 2 frames of fresh white capped honey today in that hive. We just had a inch of snow Sunday and not much blooming, everything dead and brown. But they must have worked on the maples and made the honey from them. Hopefully by the end of May I can make more splits and maybe get a little honey to boot. My goal is 12 hives by the end of this year.

It takes alot of snow to make an inch of rain. And it soaked in. Things are actually coming up around here, creeks and rivers are flushed and full. Most of the precip we have gotten in the past few months is thawing out of the ground now and coming down the hillsides as runoff. The Montauk gage was showing below average discharge.

Have you looked at the price of Spam lately? Ounce for ounce, it is almost as expensive as steak. Spam and crackers were a staple in my brown bag lunch when I was a kid. School burned down and lunch was on a shuttle bus trip 15 mile ride one way to the gym for PE class. I picked up a few cans this duck season for something different and was shocked how expensive it was.

Looking at the river gauge, it is lower than a normal avg. year, even with a little push of rain this weekend. We have had some snow this year, but avg rainfall is really down for the winter. It just looks soggy because of the ground being frozen underneath and water standing on top. http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv?site_no=07064440 I would check with a few of the float camps around to arrange a shuttle. Akers or Pulltite may be up and running now for a shuttle.

How do they expect to find one woodpecker? The whole world has been looking for a jet over a week and cant find it.

The mountain lions learned to climb trees, that is what got the last one.

Thats so pretty. Just when I was seeing a hint of green around here. Maples are blooming and Bradfords are about to. Easter flowers were blooming, they popped up and bloomed this week in the warm weather. Bees were bringing in pollen all week. I almost added some more boxes to a couple of hives, but waiting till later in the week. Lettuce is up. Looks like we are going to get an inch here, wind is blowing it away as fast as it hits the ground.