jdmidwest

Where did the red Oak Leaf and Buttercrunch come from? Did it cross with some Ruby?

They ship snakes in bags? How do they survive a trip?

That run looks like one below Irondale, there is a private camp on the North side with a high bank and a grass weedbed that always gives up a few bass. But the river would have to be up some to have that much water.

So the river is open for business and all of the access to it?

Who is there to collect Federal Taxes now?? Did they shut them down and declare a Federal Tax Holiday since there is nothing to spend it on? Not spending money won't hurt them. The shutdown did not phase Wall Street today. The only ones that hurt when you stop spending money is private business. Government just raises the tax rate to increase their income if they don't have enough to spend. Or they print more of it. That is why we are here today, no Fiscal Responsibility. Some are trying to make the Government become Fiscally Responsible and they are being made out as the bad guys.

State owned facilities should remain open, they are funded by different taxes. But the Federal Government, aka Corps of Engineers, control the riverways. I would think our State Government should step in and seize control until they get the Federal mess straightened out.

Try finding any info on anything fun on the web now. Ozark Scenic Riverways sites, USGS.gov, NOAA, all have big postings stating the following. Due to the Federal government shutdown, usgs.gov and most associated web sites are unavailable. Only web sites necessary to protect lives and property will be maintained. What a crock. We really need a major overhaul of our Government. I want a tax refund for failure to provide.

Hard to tell, they shut down the websites too. http://www.nps.gov/shutdown/index.html

Droid.

Most pics of snake handling in the Ozarks usually involve alcohol. That was an extremely large one and looks like she needed to shed. They are really colored nicely when they are fresh shed.

Ahh, I awoke this morning to the sweet sound of a government shutdown. But nothing really shuts down except the good things we all enjoy. Federal Courthouses, Mail, Military, Police, etc. still in operation. They just close the stuff we enjoy like the parks and monuments. Nothing really changes, they are still spending money like wild pigs in a corn patch today, without a budget again.

Irondale float.

Unless it is an Orvis rod still under warranty, then it only costs you $25. No questions asked warranty. Years ago it used to be a free fix or replacement. They would even upgrade sometimes. But times have changed. I have replaced a high end rod twice, it failed by a nick in the graphite made by a chuck and duck weighted fly in Alaska. They finally upgraded it to an even higher end rod the second time. Another time, the tip was rolled up in a power window of a car. It was repaired like new but an inch shorter.

I am thinking viper too, but the pic is hard to tell. I have only seen them in the zoo laid out and semi concealed in natural veg. But it is rather large for one. The pic seems to show that there may have been some alcohol consumed before the shot.

From the original pic, it really could have been anything. It was a juvenile snake just shedding out. Hard to tell what it was.

Dang ole spread head, a Missouri Cobra. I have not seen one since I was a kid, but I don't remember much color on them.

I really can't say I have ever lost a fish due to a hook failure. I have had some nice fish and never straightened or broke one on a fish trying to land. But the largest fish I target are less than 20 lbs. I have broke hooks and straightened them on snags. I tend to fish only Trilene mono, medium to ultralight action rods, and fish for bass, bream, and trout. As far as fly fishing, again, lighter 4 and 5wt rods and never more than 6 lb test. Even with salmon I use a 7 wt with 6 or 8 lb tippets. If I have a failure it is usually a knot or line issue. I have never really gotten into the flourocarbon or braided lines, that may be an issue since they have less give.

He pretty well knocked it in the head. I have only fished Lower Taum Sauk once since it reopened and it was still silted from the washout. I am sure it will settle back down. Years ago there was some good fishing there. They stocked stripers there for a while back in the 60's, long gone now. Bismark Lake is shallow and has a few fish. Council Bluff has its moments.

Dawn broke this morning with me standing knee deep along the edge of a lake in the St. Francois Mountains in a makeshift willow blind. We had the lake to ourselves and all was calm and peaceful. We had a few woodies buzz us early but they did not dump into the decoys to give us some live motion. 20 minutes after shooting hour, my buddy decided the flappy wings were in the wrong spot and went out to adjust. Then came the sound of a low flying jet and a flock of teal dropped in to say hello, with my buddy out of the blind and out of my sight. His son knew where his dad was and he took a shot, missed. I held back for safety reasons. Back in the blind and sun came up over the hill. Another loud roar, one dumps into the dekes, the rest of the flock lands long in a cove behind us. The son takes the one in the dekes, the flock gets up and circles out into the lake. A few calls brings them back straight at us, out of the sun and fog. We managed to pull one out and sailed another into the densely wooded hillside about 200 yds out. Then it was over. We had a few woodies come and go, a shoveler hen, and 3 grebes. A marsh hawk tried to grab one of them. A bald eagle paid us a visit. We finally left out at 11 and called it a season. Last weekend sucked, Sat. morning brought a few big ducks that had spent the night on the lake passing thru. No teal that day. Sunday morning there was another party of six set up about 100 yds down the bank from us. About 30 minutes BEFORE sunrise, they blasted off 4 rounds and we watched 2 woodies fly out. There had been 4 woodies using that cove the day before. They must have been shooting at snipe or rails and flushed out the woodies, since Teal does not start till sunrise. Nothing else that day.

Better to be busting ice in Alaska than busting skeeters and snakes down here.

I spray mine with flat enamel and it holds pretty well. I usually start with a black paddle and make tan stripes on it. Krylon makes a special camo paint that I use on all of my stuff. One of my paddles was leaking last duck season, running down the shaft and leaking out of the center joint into the crotch of my pants. I drilled out the rivets for the blades and filled the blade and handle with some expanding foam. Pop riveted back together and it is dry as a bone now.

Nice skunk. Pretty strong front just went thru last night. Might had something to do with it.

I turkey hunted with a friend years back in Perry County. New country to me, full of sinkholes and caves. We split and I was told to stay along the log road and I would be fine. I fumbled along in the dark and sit up by a tree to wait for daylight listening to the gobbling. When it came daylight, there was a 40' wide sink across the road from me and I was staring at the tops of some pretty good trees that had roots at the bottom of the sink. There was another hole at the bottom about 5' across that led to who knows where. I sit up on a gobbler later on that morning in a holler, but I could not get him to come in. He was hung up about 50yds out for an hour and never came in. I walked out to a ledge that was about a 15' drop running down the holler. It was part of an old cave system that had collapsed years ago. The old bird was not going to fly up and look for me. Interesting countryside in the Perry county area, lots of Karst, Caves, and Springs. Sinkholes abound and many steep hollers formed where cave systems have collapsed.

It does not look like a copperhead pattern or coloration. There is just something about the scale design on the snake that keeps me leaning toward a rattler. Copperheads are a smooth scale snake, this one is rougher and more defined.

Young snakes have different colors than adults. Temps don't really bother rattlesnakes, they will move any time they have too. Like you said, he was hiding under a spot you created and decided to move when he sensed your presence. That copper in the pattern looks like maybe a pygmy rattler. Not many around and that one would be about full grown.