eric1978

I have a brand new pair of Smith Optics Riptide polarized sunglasses for sale. I bought them online without trying them on, and of course they don't fit my melon-head right. Tortoise frames Polarized GLASS lenses in the photochromic copper tint Lens size: 59 mm They retail for $160, I paid $95, and I'd like to get $80 for them, and I'll include shipping in that price. Glasses are brand new and flawless. They come with a Smith leather case and the original box with price tag. They're beautiful glasses, wish they fit me. I had to use a stock photo because I'm having trouble with my memory stick port, but I'll get actual pictures if you really want them. Glasses are identical to the ones pictured.

In the words of the Tan-Man, "So be it." Let them eat carrots!

If you're looking for a wade-only trip, I'd be a little leary about putting all my eggs in the NFoW basket. That's a pretty tough-to-wade river during normal flows...I'd hate to attempt it when it's rolling good. Of course I'm no NFoW guru, that's just my experience. Spencer and Wise and the others would know better. But I'd at least take a canoe if it were me.

I don't know where any heron rookeries are, but I can get you some control samples if you need them. Interesting experiment...let us know what you come up with.

A gorgeous female. What a beautiful fish! You should be really proud of that one. Can't believe the fish that are coming out of Crane last few weeks...guess I was worrying for nothing.

The only reason I can think of to bring it to the floor for a vote is to vote it down. Considering what an infinitesimal amount the tax is, and what considerable good it does for our state and anyone who enjoys nature here, it would be ludicrous to cut it. There are plenty of other ways to balance a budget...how about fines for government representatives who are in cahoots with lobbyists? That should bring in some serious revenue.

Depends on how fast your rod is and your casting skills. On a slower rod I'd probably stick with a matched line, but on a faster rod you may want to go a half or whole weight bigger. Some line manufacturers do make lines a half weight heavier. I believe SA GPX comes that way. Best thing would be to spool it up with some of your old lines and find what works best, that is if you have the right size line laying around. Or take your rod to a fly shop or a big box and see if they'll let you try different lines out. Usually they'll have some spooled up reels laying around with different lines on them. A lot of it comes down to preference. I'm a pretty mediocre caster, so I prefer a slightly heavier line...just seems to work better for me.

One more reason why elections matter... Just sayin'.

I'll make any of the river shindigs that I can. My first vote would be for the Bourbeuse for a few reasons...it needs as many spot roundups as it can get, it's a river without liveries so it's tough to float without private shuttles set up, which means I don't get to float it that often (which also means it won't be as crowded on a weekend), and it's close to me! But I'll travel as far as BP or Gasconade for a one day deal. BTW, love the new signature JD. Now we're on the same page. Of course he did blow his own brains out...

Mine says 22. How far back is it supposed to go?

Running the water over the top of the dam more than likely would not make the tailwaters hospitable for smallmouth...it would be too warm and turbid. Probably okay for spots and largemouth, though. The river's never coming back, unfortunately. We have what we have...we may as well embrace it and get the most out of it, which I think we probably do.

Yours was a male, your buddy's was a female. Those are great fish out of Crane. Well done.

Those are sweet. What's hanging out of the Bass Cracker's butt? I'm not gonna say what I think it looks like.

Grrrrr!!! I meant to go to that but forgot all about it. You know if they're supposed to be there all week or just this weekend?

As long as they're handing out tickets instead of drinking coffee and eating donuts all day, I'm okay with it. If they fined everyone in violation, they could more than pay for themselves.

For those of you who rave about the Rebel Craw...hate to burst your bubble, but it has nothing to do with the shape of the lure. It's just the erratic action that gets them biting it. You could throw a glob of dog poo and it would basically get the same results if it had the same action. The shape of the lure is for the fishermen, not the fish...the fish can't even see it that well. Any wide-wobbling crank will do the same thing, and probably better, Wiggle Wart case in point.

One is about twice the cost of the other. If you're looking to tie huge streamers or saltwater flies, the Traveler probably won't be what you want. But for anything a trout or even a bass eats, it's a great vise. It's got nearly infinitely adjustable jaws, so it holds hooks of most sizes very well.

The poachers are the guys who keep 8,12,16,20 fish in a single day. I've seen 'em do it. They get their four, take them to the car, put them in a cooler, have a sandwich, head back for the next round of four...over and over. Just sayin'.

The only part out of my butt is that even if they were stocked before the flood, they're not gonna get washed into the river anyway...the rest is true and came out of other parts of me. Just sayin'. Ya jack-sandwich.

Al stated that he caught those hybrids in the 70s, which logically follows the timeline of any of the three scenarios he proposed. He never said there weren't any spots in the Meramec watershed at that time, he said there were very few as it was the beginning of their migration.

Yeah I don't care if they keep them either, but my point was if they wash into the river, they'll be harvested at a much slower rate than if they were up in the park for the barrell shooting...plus it's always more fun catching fish from the river than catching fish from the park. Just sayin'.

Just sayin'.

Actually I'm hoping for just the opposite...that could make the Niangua fish great this year if they're all washed down into the river from the spring branch instead of thrown into the skillet.

I rarely fish for smallmouth in the winter, but if I do I'll take along little jigs, grubs, tubes and always a suspending jerkbait like an LC SP78. If we have a really unusually big and long-lasting warmup around this time of year or early March, I might try a Wiggle Wart a bit. When things start to warm up more around April, I'll add a Wart more consistently, and try a spinnerbait on the right days, but still tend to have more confidence in the slower stuff and the jerkbait. I'll also start throwing a Senko around this time. By the end of May my rods are pretty much always rigged with a spinnerbait, a Sammy or Pop-Max, and I'll always have a 4" fluke tied on one spinning rod...things will stay this way for the rest of the summer, unless conditions call for slowing down my presentation, and I'll reluctantly go back to the earlier-season stuff. I hate fishing slow when I can fish fast. I catch about 75% of my smallmouth on a 1/4 or 3/8 oz tandem willow, chartreuse/white spinnerbait, with or without a trailer...never seems to matter. You generally catch fewer fish, but more quality fish with the spinnerbait, and that's fine with me. That's the bait I have the most confidence in, and I have the most fun fishing...that is unless they're killing the Sammy on top, of course. Nothing beats a good Sammy bite. When late September and early October roll around, the early and mid-spring baits come back out, and by late November and December I'm usually done for the year and starting to fish solely for trout. If I do attempt to catch smallmouth in the winter, I'll usually just stick with small jigs and tubes, and I'll always have minimal success. I need some schoolin' on winter smallies. This year one of my goals is to buy a 7wt, tie up a bunch of big, juicy streamers, and catch some good smallies on the fly...that is if I can keep my hands off that spinnerbait rod. It's always calling to me.

They're not all that sporty at 6 or 7 inches, which is mostly what you catch out here. I guess they could be fun on a 3wt, but who's bass fishing with a 3wt? Those fat chunks you see in the TRL reports are non-existant in the Meramec and Gasconade watersheds. We just have tons of the little guys that come out and grab your lure before the big smallie has a chance to.