eric1978

I used to live at Baxter and Country Ridge, and I worked at that vet clinic at Big Bend and Sulphur Springs.

Yeah, really. If I could go back in time I'd try my hardest to become a conservation agent near some Ozark stream. You'd find me most of my time knee deep in river with a rod doing, uh....research.

The study mentioned people dumping pills directly into toilets, which I guess would explain that. But I haven't noticed any more "stiffness" than normal lately.

Maramec Spring is run by MDC, and I would guess there would usually be an agent around. If you called them and said, "I'm at this spot, come get the bad guys," they might be compelled to get off their butts to write a ticket since there is a concerned citizen and angler making the call. Maybe not. I'd keep calling until I saw that truck with the triangle and a uniformed guy writing in a little yellow pad.

What part of Ballwin are you in beef?

Oh man, that's a drag. Sorry to hear that, Joe. At least you weren't hurt, though. Well, we're getting into the winter and at least you won't be missing out on the best fishing. You'll be in a new solo before you know it. Hang tough.

It's too bad cell phone service is so spotty in most areas we're all fishing. I wouldn't hesitate for a second to call a conservation agent if I saw some jerk breaking the laws. In fact, I'd enjoy it. It would be like a fun little special-ops mission.

I'm not so sure that's necessarily true, but I think you've got me outmatched here in the chemistry department zander. I'll take your word for it, but I don't think I'll be losing any sleep over the study. I'm more worried about the crap they shoot up the cows with and the poison they spray on our produce. Unless you live on a farm and organically raise your own food, or you're a millionaire and can afford to buy that ridiculously expensive stuff, you're gonna be eating some stuff that we're not meant to be eating. I'll keep eating it anyway and pretend it's not bad for me. Out of sight, out of mind.

Good story, bm. It's fish like that that make landing a big'un so exciting. If you were never beaten by a fish, you wouldn't have near as much fun when you do succeed at catching a trophy.

You clearly know some stuff about chemistry, so I won't belabor the point, except to say that yes, if someone swallows a piece of plastic, it's gonna come out the same way it went in, but that's not the case with pharmaceuticals. They are designed to be broken down in order to take effect.

Ya had to go and drag this one out of the cellar didn't ya? Smallmouths have been in Ozark streams for thousands of years. Spots have, too, just not in all the streams they're in now. If you wanna catch 'em, just start driving southeast and you'll find them eventually.

That's true, and that's why you see Bear Grylls drinking his own pee on Man vs. Wild. But the body still breaks down whatever it ingests into its elemental origins. Every substance on earth is a composition of certain elements arranged into a particular molecular structure. For example, when you sprinkle salt on your fries, you are eating salt, NaCl, which is a molecule. But what your body passes after digestion is not salt, it is sodium and chlorine, Na and Cl, which are elements. You pass whatever excess you don't use up. When you add baking soda to a batch of cookies you are baking, you are eating sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3, but after digestion you pass sodium, hydrogen, carbon and oxygen. The same goes for other chemical compositions, including anti-depressants. No, you don't use every bit of what you ingest, and that's why we urinate and go #2. But everything that we pass is found naturally occurring on the planet, and therefore is not harmful as long as you don't have huge amounts of an element in places it doesn't belong. That's why we are having the mercury in tuna problem. What people can add to waste that is potentially dangerous is bacteria and viruses that we carry around and spread to others.

That study seems a little "fishy" to me. I'm no scientist, but when a drug is ingested, the body metabolizes and breaks down the molecular arrangement of that drug back into the elements with which it was constructed. If someone popped a Prozac and peed it out an hour later, it wouldn't have any effect on the person, but that's not the case. Drugs are "used up" by the body, and all that's disposed of is the waste. When you drink a beer, you don't pass the alcohol or the calories; it's used up by the metabolism as it's converted to energy. Dumping a pile of pills down a toilet is a different story, but it would still be such a minute trace in parts per million that I just can't see it having an impact. If you pour a hundred grams of any substance into a small aquarium, yeah it's gonna do something to a fish. I'm not saying human byproducts aren't a problem in our waterways, but I'm much more concerned with parasites and industrial waste. I'll just eat more chicken. They're not as fun to catch. (And on that note, any farm-raised fish, meat, poultry and dairy we are eating that isn't raised organically is going to be far more pumped-up with chemicals than the fish you catch out of most any water.)

Yeah, but hundreds of thousands of guys have Stradics, and I'm sure many of them have had the binding problems. Of all those guys, I'm sure many of them tried to return reels. I'm not sure about this, but I would assume that Shimano quickly took the position that they won't be replacing all the reels that are returned. That would cost them millions of dollars and I have the feeling they aren't going for that. Might be worth a try, though. I haven't heard of anyone else who has. Anyone else know?

I thought he was in the latex business...

Cool! That's good to know. I'd say a two week turn-around on your reels is pretty darn fast considering the size of that company. I'd half expect to be without them for a couple months. Maybe I'll try sending one of my Stradics back for the binding problem and see if they'll just send me a new model! They'd sure be opening a can of worms with that move.

We should all climb up on Evan's Knob to discuss it. It's really hard, but there's a money shot at the peak. Oh, man. I just grossed myself out. Phil, stop this please!!!

Occassionally I'll fry up about 10 pounds of catfish and have some buddies and their wives over. The women hardly eat any fish but chow down on the homemade fries, which leaves me with a bunch of fish left over. Catfish is so meaty and chewy that I can eat it straight out of the fridge for a few days and it never gets nasty. Love that stuff.

Oh I know that. Chief and I had a little chat and we're all good. He's just poking me for a little fun.

Boy you sure know how to push a guy's buttons Chief. You tryin' to make me cry? Really, though, I do like the taste of bass. Prefer crappie. I sure like catching smallies more than eating them though.

What? With a name like bigbeefybrown? Sounds like a perfect fit!

Have you been fishing in South America again? I hear you can do pretty good with Texas rigged lettuce down there. Weird.

You want to keep this club exclusive don't you? Naming it butt would ensure very few applicants. Here are some questions that should be asked of prospective members: Why do you love butt? Why do you think you deserve to get into butt? If you're allowed into butt, how long do you plan on staying in butt? Do you ever plan on pulling out of butt? How well do you see yourself fitting in butt? Just a start, but I think they're important questions and need to be asked.

Oops. Yeah, I guess I should clarify...what I meant was, nothing goes better with a Miller Lite than a Bud Select instead and catching an nice fat smallie and letting him go. Smallmouth taste like sewage, spots are delicious. Hey, think I'll make that my personal statement.

iwishibeendoinmorefishin....welcome