jdmidwest

What was the thought process on those, weight distribution?

Thats a big inboard on a small boat.

I wonder how old the 20" ones are that my friend catches at Granada and Sartis?

It really sucked. I stayed in one of the single wides at Genes. It hammered the metal roof all nite. Stayed south of Missouri border in the ice because it was deeper snow north of it. Had a 2wd Chevy Shortbed pickup, heater running on high defrost to keep the windshield open and windows cracked to keep me from overheating. And I was by myself. Got to the farm, snow was so deep it floated the spare tire off from under the truck blasting thru the powder. Got the tractor out and plowed the road out and picked it up. Last 2wd I owned.

I find myself fiddling with reel seats during a day of fishing whether I am using a spin rod or a fly rod. The only ones that I never have move seem to be on bait casters. Its the physics of the line being away from the plane of the winding surface I assume, torquing it somewhat.

I spent several New Years Eve's on the Norfork or the White for a while. The last was a nasty ice storm that took me over a day to get back from. Then I think it was kids, older age, different job. Spending it at home tonite, broke up deer camp at farm today and called that quits. Heading to St Louis in the morning to stock the grandkids tackle box at Bass Pro.

Not on high end cork and lite rod reel setups. I have sliding rings on my 7' 4wt Orvis One Ounce Rod and a Battenkill reel. But, ya need something better on bigger rods. Metal or wood seats with screw locks.

Down around Branson and Mountain Home, they use tinsel bodies, very thin. It's a dry woolly, not the original pattern. I think the original body was a micro chenille, then he started using yellow turkey biots. The hackle and peacock stayed the same.

So which version of the crackle back do you suggest. Story's original pattern or the down south modifications?

Find a friend with a few rods and fish them would be a good suggestion also. Some shops have loner rods or casting areas to try a setup before you buy to make things work best. But Wrench covered it pretty well. You say you that you are going to get back into it. I assume you have been fishing the fly rod in the past.

My wife would not let me play Christmas Music on Christmas Eve. She works at Walmart and has been listening to it since Halloween. Went into Wally yesterday and they had already puked out all of the Valentine crap on the shelves that housed the Christmas stuff on Sunday. Ready, set, GO

Yes we will, in a better place....

Gotta have heat. Nifty setup there. We don't get that fancy down south.

It may be that it was 15 degrees or less and you were sleeping on back porch with windows open. It was the brain cell telling you to wake up, move around, and warm up! It had an idea and you were not paying attention.

Or city squirrels.

I have never seen the Van Buren Gap, or the Eminence Gap on a topo or river map. Why don't they just call it out by river ramp? Weekends are sketchy no matter what part of the river you are running with a jet. Other boats or floaters. I always run out of a put in ramp early on Sunday morning and run upstream on the long run. Drift back slowly until the floaters catch up then stay in front of the mess. Usually get 4 to 5 hours good fishing in and sun is usually getting too high and hot for the fish to bite.

Different type of scenic riverway.

Both links are broken. Looks like it's throttle down on lower stretch. Wonder where boat races will be this year. It had been 60/40 from Big Spring to 2 Rivers, then 25 above. Looks like 2 Rivers and above may go to float only. Wonder if they did anything on 11 pt?

Roll in it?

It's the adult fly going dormate in cold weather. That breaks the seasonal cycle. I tend to toss away any animal that is sick or has a bad infection, just to be safe. I have a hard time eating a deer now seeing them covered in ticks in the spring.

Wolf worms are bot fly larva that get killed off by the cold temps. Aka Warble Worms, big swollen sores on the rabbit. Tularemia is a bacterial infection that shows up as a spotted liver. Can be spread by an open cut. I miss the days of running beagles. It was alot of fun. Coon hunting was better.

I have been fortunate to have a great oral history thru the years. We received a box of photos from a family member on the inlaw side. Many were so old, nobody knows who they were. Funny thing, nobody wrote on them, anything to help. The future will have to decrypt the cell phones in the closets with old photos that were never printed.

My family was a pioneering bunch. Maternal side of family original farm was registered in the same Plat book of 1821 just south of Old Greenville in the St Francois River bottom. They were forced off their land when they dammed lake Wappappello and resettled in another part of Wayne County on a farm we still own. I still fish around the old place. The fields are fully treed out now except the area around the old house place. That side of family moved there late 1700's from eastern Tn originating from Ireland. Paternal side came from KY somewhere best we can tell, but the records were pretty slim. There is Cherokee Indian in maternal side from the result of forefather taking a Cherokee bride in Tn.

Artifacts in back yard, a cabin that was moved up from field to the current house place. We tore down original one and built current one in 1961 on same site. There have been 4 houses on farm. The house that Dad was raised in burned down, it was up the hill to the north and still has original barn by it.

Artifacts on wall are my Granny's tack hammer, a board from a barn we tore down in the 70's with great great Grandpa Hamp and 1883. Dad's school chalkboard and turkey bell he wore around his neck so Granny could keep track of him wandering the hillside.