jdmidwest

I usually cut them in half and soak in salt water for a while to get rid of the bugs, Then I flour and season like I am going to cook, then vacuum seal and freeze. I may try the dehydrator this year for soup later on.

Yes, don't you wish Al Gore was president right now? Wonder what he would do about all this global warming. Lots of damage here, clover and other hay crops totaled. Most all of the trees have damage but should recover. Nut crop will be lost this year and the game will suffer. And it needs to warm up for the morels..

Okay, its confirmed, I have a group of 3 coming up. Not going to spend all day there but will be good to see Bob and Ed. Of course, I will have to see Tom at T Hargrove down the street. Planning a full day, lunch at Fast Eddies across the ditch, and of course a look at the new Cabela's. Never been to one so I have to go and see. I hope it is not as disappointing as the BPS in STL. The only one I had been to before that was Springfield. Looking forward to seeing some of you...

If you stay at Mc Cormack lake on the 11 pt, go on out the road that goes past the dam, lock in the hubs and go down to the old river. This is above the trout area and in the good smallmouth/goggle eye part of the river. You can wade this area if the river is not up. Or you can fish the lake. You could also go south at Alton to Thayer, fish the Spring River at Laseters, then cut across to MTN Home. Gee, I wish I could disappear for a week..............

Take the pics in the highest resolution possible for the best quality if you want to make prints. When you download them to the computer, the software that came with your camera should let you resize and edit your photos. 800x600 is fine for email. Save the original file for printing and rename the new file for emailing or posting on the www. If you did not get any software with the camera, go to this site and download Faststone image viewer for free. www.faststone.org Great freeware prog for editing photos.

Went today, friend of mine offered up a good place, old growth timber with lots of ash, sycamore, and some elm. NADA, nothing, zilch. Great area and a given producer in past years but nothing. Did not see any types of fungus. It has been pretty dry around here till last night and we had a good soaking rain. Going back later this week.

Looks like with the rain coming in I may make it a double header, Cabelas opens this weekend also in Florissant. Rivers are going to be goofed up for fishing so I may as well go to town and spend some money.

Maybe I need to take a road trip and take a few lessons on morels, do you know any guides? I have my spots, usually around ash or sycamores, in log roads or cuts, but never in the quantities like you mention.

Poppers tyed with either deer hair, cork, or foam. Clouser style minnows, large nymphs, and streamers. Anything to mimic the natural forage of the bass.

Beeson opened up another issue with the flood waters. Missouri has the law that allows you to hunt or fish up to land on a neighboring state as long as you entered the water on the Missouri side. I personally duck hunt flood waters when streams overflow and have been under the impression that this is safe. As long as I don't enter a refuge, I'm safe. I have even been told by MDC personnel that I can float and hunt a flood control ditch as long as I don't touch foot on the private property or chase a cripple on the private land. I did not test this, but was told this. Mississippi floodwaters and other rivers in SEMO when in flood stage have always been considered fair game. I have always fished and hunted floodwaters in the Wappapello backwaters but they are controlled by the Corps of Eng. Also, the waters of the state rule in the conservation code makes public all waters that the State of Missouri stocks, trout, bass, walleye or pond fish. The landowner controls the public access to their ponds but the fish are subject to a statewide limit. A landowner who owns a state stocked pond can't take more than a state limit of the fish per day and they have to meet the size regs for the species. Who controls access to state stocked streams?

Has anybody found any morels yet? It was dry here during all of the warm weather, we had a little rain, then it turned off cold. Not good for them here. Maybe this system will bring in some better weather. I have heard of a few found in the leadbelt area. I know Lilley pinned an article on this matter but it has turned to witch doctors.

Unfortunately there is no such list that I am aware of. I consider any stream that is called a river to be navigable, of course the upper portions would be shallow. I own a kayak that runs in less than 6" of water which makes most creeks navigable. I have seen farmers fence across major streams like Castor River, Big River, St. Francois River, and many other streams in water deep enough to run a prop jon boat, restricting the navigable stream. I float and wade most streams undetected by anyone most of the time. If approached, I am always friendly, respectful, and cautious. Some people claim to own land that they don't, and some are up to no good out in the woods making meth. I too own several miles of creek banks that people use all of the time. I don't confront anyone on the water unless they are doing something to cause a problem, ie, littering, or shooting around the stock. I have approached hunters on my land and asked them to leave as they were clearly trespassing, crossing a fence to do it, a physical property line. In that case they are creating a safety hazard to myself or my stock. I approached one on opening day of deer season wearing leafy wear camo, no orange, hunting one of our fields with a deer decoy. Dangerous to him, I would not have seen him if the decoy had not been there.

Nobody has mentioned the fact that smallies and other warmwater species are going to be good at that time also. Try Jack's Fork, Upper 11 pt, Warm Fork, Strawberry, Crooked Creek or Spring River to name a few. A man can not live on trout alone! All have wadeable water. Team up with someone on here and share a canoe for a float one day.

That is interesting about the high water mark in Ark, did not know that. Does Charlie still have his shooting range sign up by the river? Here in MO. it is the navigable stream rule, but the landowners has rights to the waterline as far as I know in most streams. Some will even challenge you in the water in a canoe. There have been instances in the past where landowners have removed men out of a canoe on a stream running thru their property and held them until the Sheriff arrives. And there has been prosecutions. That is what a law is, something that any judge can screw any way he wants. If they were written exact, they would be called something else and you would not need a judge to decide about them. The best rule of thumb is to be cautious or ask for permission if it is a smaller stream, when in doubt, stay out. Public rivers that have float camps running canoes are usually a safe bet. Same goes for scenic riverways owned by the National Park Service. A new thing going on around here is to "take over" a section of county road for private uses by groups of landowners. The county has no responsibilities for the upkeep and taxpayers have no rights to it, the landowners own the land on both sides with no right of way. The reasons for this was usually the wild parties and blocking of the road by persons attending. Now, nobody can use the area for access without trespassing. Or the county will build a new higher truss bridge to replace a low water crossing and eliminate an access.

I was under the impression that the MDC was going to put more restrictions on the smallmouth waters. They started the surveys and imposed them on rivers like 11PT and 10 Mile then it seems like they just dropped the ball. There could be a statewide limit of 1 fish 15" or higher to help. I have notice fishing improving on these streams somewhat.

Phil, I think the time is off on the forum, but it loads quicker.

I lost all the leaves on some tulip poplars, some damage to bradford pears, redbuds look sick. Had not planted much except for lettuce and peas. Local orchards are calling it a total loss across the river in IL. 20 degrees Sat. morning.

I have always supported the idea that a man should only buy the best equipment he can afford based his skills. The right tool for the job is the most important. A new flyfisher will not cast any better with a $700 rod than he will with a $18.95 one without training. The benefits of the higher end rods are of most importantly the warranty. You might get a Wally World employee to give you the money back on a rod that you smashed in a car door, if you don't you won't feel too bad. If you crack a $400 rod with a bad cast, you will need a warranty. Almost all of my rods carry a 25 year no questions asked warranty. The downside to that is that if you have to use that warranty, they normally replace the rod with a equal or greater value rod instead of fixing it. I have grown fond of a few of my rods and the sentimental value of the rods can't be replaced and are not made any longer. I returned a 9' 8wt one time and it was replaced with a 10' 7 wt of the next higher quality, where they come up with that one I'll never figure out. Turned out to be an advantage on an Alaska trip, that extra foot helped on a big stream. I broke the tip off my favorite 4 wt and fixed it myself knowing if I sent it in for repair it would be gone forever. If you are serious about your sport, quality equipment will make things more enjoyable. It will be a wise investment and may be something that can be passed down to a future generation to enjoy. This goes for anything, rods, boats, guns, boots, lines, waders, knives, etc.

Maybe you can use it to pull the rebar out of the rebar hole. If it were not for this great thing called the internet we would not have see it, and really, we did not miss anything if we didn't.... Did you notice the flyfishing cats?

Without the extra distraction of OAF, I bought too much stuff on EBAY, went to bed early and remembered that I can read books too......

Drew A 7 wt will do, but if you are buying a new rod you might want to go with an 8 wt rod in at least 9'. It all depends on how far you will cast and how big of flies you will use. Make sure you get a weight forward or bass taper line to help you cast the bigger flies. As far as flies go, poppers, streamers, and big nymphs will be what you will us for the most part. Bigger food for bigger fish. Fishing from at boat into the bank or cover will be most productive.

I wonder why there are not many people recommending a handheld GPS unit. I think they are an excellent solution, something portable that can be used in more than one application. I have always steered clear of an "all in one" device. They are usually limited in their functionality. A little sonar, a little thermometer, a little GPS, so on. Not usually ever the best of each. Magellan makes a Explorist 210 series that has a USB connection to a PC that can be uploaded/download to a software program like National Geographic TOPO. You can make custom maps and keep track of your places in the software.

Bill, I assume you are using a camera with the capability of various settings, ie a professional digital slr of some sort. You did not go into detail on it. If so, have you tried shooting in natural light only without the flash on a nice sunny day? Open up the aperature setting so you will get the best exposure and the most depth of field so everything is in focus. You may have to use a tripod and even a bulb type release to prevent shake. A wide angle lens will work too. Try adjusting the white balance or turning it off. To get a true blue lake the polarizer filter or maybe a colored filter could give you the effect. What looks blue to us may not look blue to the camera due to a reflection or a white balance correction. Try metering the exposure with a gray card or different colored cards for an effect too. If all else fails, shoot the room and then shoot the lake in the blue color, crop the lake and put it in the window with Photoshop! The trouble with the new professional series digital slr's out today is the learning curve on figuring out all of the features and settings. Auto setting just does not give you what you want to see. It interprets the data given to it and arranges it how it wants it based on the camera settings. I turn off alot of the features and make manual adjustments to get things to turn out right sometimes. I even turn autofocus off and go to manual focus for most of my shots because you never know really what it is going to focus on.

Lem passed away? He came and helped out on a flycasting course we offered 15 years ago at our Orvis shop. Great guy. I remember the renegade fly he tyed and fished. He worked out of Springview Fly Shop at Bennett. What happened to him, old age or something else?

I see, I read a little closer. Cheap rods with chrome guides do wear out fast. Same goes with spinning rods, chrome sucks, just a thin coat of metal on softer metal. Just another way to cut corners. Not many rod makers use chrome any more.