ness

That's a very cool development, and sounds very well thought out. One of the nicer things about a float tube is the ability to use your feet and keep your hands free, but they've got a whole lot of limitations and this addresses many of them. I predict copycats soon and prices well below $1,500.

I've been through Iowa a number of times, and have always thought the eastern half of the state is the prettiest farmland I've ever seen. Last month on my way to Driftless Area I was sooo impressed by the beautiful rolling hills with corn -- and good looking, green corn -- planted on just about every square inch of it. Vast fields of corn stretching to the horizon, and very few pastures or man-made ponds; some beans here and there, but not much. They plant corn right up to the edge of the yard in a lot of cases. And the farms are very well-kept and prosperous looking too. The downside though is that there is drastically less CRP land than there was 20 years ago, and all the goodies that go along with that. The scenery changes pretty abruptly up in the NE corner to larger hills with much more forestation. Sort of like the Ozarks, but again you won't see much pasture land -- and if there aren't trees there will usually be corn. There are dozens of spring creeks all within a relatively small area. Many have self-sustaining populations of brown trout, lots have stocked rainbows and there are even some native brookies up there. There's plenty of public access, the landowners are often accommodating to fishermen, the streams are generally too small to float (so none of those problems), and it's hard to get too, so lightly fished. It's a small stream guys dream. Too bad it's a 7+ hour drive for me.

Here's one, and I'm guessing I speak for hundreds of folks who haven't posted: No big deal. I'll get some new boots if I have to.

I try to avoid generalizations, but since this is a positive one I'll go ahead. I found the area as a whole to be well kept, and the people to be very friendly too. It was interesting to see the references to Vikings, the many country Lutheran churches, and Norwegian (I think) flags in Decorah.

OK -- that's where I draw the line.

Here's a pic I took of the store, and the campground is to the right. Cool spot. We stayed in Decorah, but I'd definitely consider this campground based on how you described it.

Great report and nice photos. That's a beautiful area. I was up there at the beginning of August, and we hit some of the same places (South Bear, Pine). I'd swear I fished right at that rock where your rod is bent! That store in Highlandville is a great store, isn't it? Mine was a whirlwind trip though (only three days including travel), and I left wanting more -- a LOT more. I hope to get back up there soon.

Told ya

Yeah, yeah I know. I think I stated in the Camp Zoe thread some time ago that all laws are imperfect, and law is ever-changing. It'd be nice if it was always rock-solid from the start, but it never is. As an example, look at the good 'ol US Constitution. It got 10 amendments right off the bat, and another 17 since then. My point is it's premature to get 'your panties in a bunch' (as my high school gym teacher loved to say) when it's so preliminary. They decided to ban felt in some places. Details to follow. Oh, and I love you too, man.

Check yer law books to be sure 'fiend, but I think this was all addressed in Coyote v. Roadrunner.

Simmer down boys. There'll be some official rule-making before any of this goes live. Like copfisher said, these are just things they've decided on at their meeting. Stay tuned. And...I too caught the Wire Road purchase. WRCA doesn't all front Crane, but it would be nice if they added to it at the lower end.

The confusion about whether it would be public or private has me thinking their ultimate goal may be to take it private. This way they can keep the cashflow coming in while they work things out. I could see that as a members only place.

Everything Flysmallie said. But, don't just fire away with the hope that one will turn out. Sure, the marginal cost is zero but you won't really learn to take photographs that way. Find time to slow down, put it on manual, look around, pick a shot, set the aperture and shutter speed, see what happens. Use the histogram to understand the exposure and fine tune it. Do this when you can and it will cement in your mind what is going on around you and in your camera, and your photography will be better. BTW -- you're camera is better than any Ansel Adams ever had.

Ooops.

Ya beat me to it, JD. Prolly way more fish scared away before you're even in view. Stealth includes shadows, reflections, vibrations, sound and colors. I'm of the opinion that doing anything that let's the fish know something's out there lessens your chances. Fishing small creeks I try to be aware of the sun, what's behind me (sky or trees), and I stay out of the water as much as possible. I keep my rod low, and I try to keep as low as these freakin' knees will allow. Drab colors fer sure. I was fishing a small creek in the Driftless area a couple weeks ago, and bushwhacked in to a low riffle below a nice pool doing all the things mentioned above. I poked my head out, everything looked good, so I came on out onto the little gravel edge. A nice trout darted through from down below (I wasn't too worried about things down that way) and right into the pool. You know he was yelling "Hide, Hide, HIDE!" the whole way. Screwed that whole section up.

Necks are from the neck (doh!) of the chicken and have hackle ranging from small at the top/head end to medium at the lower end. You can tie a wider variety of fly sizes, including smaller ones, from a neck. Saddles come from the lower portion of the neck and across the back of the rooster. They are much longer allowing you to tie many flies from a single feather, but there is a tighter range of feather sizes. So, you might be able to tie sizes 18 to 10 from a cape, but might be limited to 14 to 12 on a saddle. You probably want the variety of sizes from a neck. Try your local hairdresser -- they have bought most of them up For sizing, you want dry fly hackles to be slightly larger than the hook gap, approximately 1.5x the width. On a dry fly hook, that will equal about 3/4x the length of the hook shank (not including the bend). Here's a pic from the Whiting site. The one on the left is a neck, the saddle is on the right.

I suppose it's a carryover from my days as a sniper in 'Nam, but I typically wear a ghillie suit. Here I am fishing Little Piney Creek:

We took my nephew down to Roaring River a few years back before he shipped out to Afghanistan to be a medic. It was a memorable trip, and he's a great kid. He just made it through Airborne training last month! Just have a great time where ever you go, and let him know we appreciate his service.

You tease

Well, an experienced fisherman offering to equip and/or guide is pretty tough to beat. I would lean toward Bennett for a first-timer otherwise.

Well, I suspected that was the case. It's too freaking bad that people and their trash are such an issue for a small foundation like that. It frankly pi$$es me off. It's a nice little park, and I can tell the locals take pride in it, as they should. Bill -- if you can track down an address, I'd cut those guys a check, just because. I've stopped there many times on my way to Roaring River. It's a beautiful spot, and has been well preserved. It'd be nice to keep it that way.

...but you don't have to have a keel to track well. A well-designed canoe OR kayak will track without a keel. Keels drag, stick and concentrate wear. Sometimes they're a sign of a poorly designed hull -- one that needs the keel for rigidity or to track.

Yep, it's a dry fly. Wasn't sure if you were talking about a wooly bugger-type wet fly or what. To float that you'd want a little stiffer/higher quality hackle. Do you have something, or are you looking to buy something for this fly? All hackle is getting harder to find, especially grizzly. A medium-quality neck should get you some good hackle for Palmering dries without breaking the bank. It would also have some feathers for smaller dries and some longer ones for wooly buggers and stuff.

What you're looking for is the softer, webbier stuff to Palmer -- typically from a saddle. The most expensive capes/necks have stiffer-barbed, smaller feathers and are more for dry flies, but the lower, longer feathers can be used to Palmer or tie larger dry flies. Saddles will be without the dry fly hackles and mostly all suitable for Palmering, but you won't have any dry fly material should you want that.

Sounds like a great time, OTF. Thanks for the report.