eric1978

My 119 felt pretty squirrelly at first, too, but I had raised the seat considerably right off the bat. I got used to it very quickly, though, and now I'm perfectly comfortable in most situations. I'm in the process of building a new seat, and it's going to be slightly lower than before, but not as low as the factory seat, which makes you feel like you might as well be in a kayak it sits so low. I have to say that I'm not wild about the factory molded plastic seat even though I tried to make it work at first. I'm putting a sitbacker in. I don't know if the extra weight would make it feel more stable or not. If anything I would think it would be a detriment to secondary stability.

Wheat's the pony-tailed hippie Charlie Manson lookin' dude.

I hope to and plan to, as long as I don't have to share a canoe with Wheat.

The balance of nature was mucked with when we harvested them to extinction in Missouri, not when we reintroduced them. You have it backwards.

That smallmouth Dylan caught was a beauty, and the bluegill you caught, Wheat, was a green sunfish. Another good day for you fellas in SWMO. I'm jealous.

I get your point...where do we draw the line, right? I'll admit that if we had man-eating otters crawling up out of the woods and snatching babies out of backyards in my neighborhood, I wouldn't defend their reintroduction and establishment so readily. But we don't, and it's my opinion that losing a percentage of fish on my favorite streams, while hard to swallow, is a sacrifice I'm willing to make if it's the way nature intended. Oh, and I've seen both coyotes and skunks in St. Peters...they were flat as pancakes, but they're here. What's not right is eradicating a species because we like to wear their skin on our heads. As a property owner, you have the legal right to shoot or trap otters on your property any time of the year. You are not allowed to shoot or trap otters on streams that run through your property except during the trapping season. Your two brothers' kids can kill those otters anytime they please. I, for one, would love it. It would be an inconvenience to have to portage around them ocassionally, but the fact that there's not another soul on the river would make up for it ten-fold. Bring it on. We have those, too (well, I've never seen a rattlesnake in St. Charles County, but I guarantee you there's ONE here). What would you trade me for it if I found him?

My opinion is purely non-expert, but I would say that yes, the mill dam would help tremendously. Also you mentioned the brook trout were native to that stream, so there may be some adaptation factor going on. That of course wouldn't apply to the browns and rainbows unless they were multi-generational at least. I've heard stories about trout surviving the summers in some of the ponds at Busch. I'm sure that water easily reaches 80 degrees, possibly somewhat cooler in the depths, but there is no additional oxygenation happening there.

You're not. That's a very interesting point, and I wonder how much of it is applicable to smallmouth in our streams. Obviously, a bunch of hungry otters on a small creek could do a lot of damage to the fish population, but on some bigger streams, I wonder if they might actually have a net gain effect over the course of several generations by plucking the smaller, weaker fish for meals...a kind of slot limit of sorts. Large male otters can reach up to 30 pounds, but I wonder how many 18" plus smallmouth they get their paws on. I suppose it depends on their vulnerability, as Al mentioned earlier.

They've done it before, haven't they? Otters and fish have lived in equilibrium in the Ozarks for thousands of years before we got involved, no? It bothers me far more to see a meat angler eating a smallmouth, who could have gotten dinner in a hundred other places, than an otter doing what an otter does. Who are we to say he can't eat the food for which evolution gave him the skills to hunt? Are you really so naive to think that ANY species of animal could adapt fast enough to evade the ferocity of human exploitation? If we deem an animal valuable for consumption, or dangerous, or worst of all, if we discover a part of an animal is profitable, and we go about harvesting said animal unchecked, we will invariably, in our greedy and unrestrained nature, deplete that species' populations to endangerment or extinction. We've done it time and time again. I suppose the American Bison couldn't hack it either, eh? Or the wolves, or the Cougar or the Jaguar or Brown Bear or Bighorn Sheep. How about the Bald Eagle and the California Condor? They just didn't adapt fast enough to evade DDT, right?...They couldn't hack it. Ah forget it. I realize that your ideal vision of the natural world is one which conforms to man's convenience, instead of one in which we live harmoniously and symbiotically. For being a religious man, you sure don't have a problem playing God. Just for the record, I do agree that since we eliminated the otter's natural predators, there is a need for us to control their populations. Maybe we are failing at that task, but that's what happens when we tinker with nature. Oh, and I do think they're cute, but that's moot. It's a matter of right and wrong, regardless of what they look like.

Looks like you guys tore 'em up! That water had some color to it...is that normal for that stream?

I thought it was fun when I got Mark Twain because he's one of my favorite American authors, but it's a huge pile of BS, plain and simple. It might be able to analyze the structure of your writing, i.e. length of paragraphs or sentences, how you punctuate, etc. But it can't analyze the content, and that's really the important part.

This thread will be reFutiated in no time now.

Couldn't hack it...LOL! They were hunted and trapped to local extinction...by man. They "deserve" to be here as much as you do. We just don't like them because they eat some of our fish. Sucks for us. Get over it. They've been here longer than you and your family.

Oh man, I'm sorry to hear that. That's a beautiful kayak. Hope you get it back and the thief goes to jail for the rest of his life.

Zuma is a killer album that hardly anyone knows. It's great all the way through, but I especially like Cortez, Pardon My Heart and Through My Sails...CSN sing beautiful harmony on the last one. Thanks for bringing it up, Q...I'm gonna give that album a spin later.

You should have called the Sheriff. I don't care what they own, they don't have the right to fire off rounds at you. Those lunatics belong in prison.

He's still around and he ocassionally tours...when he's not busy playing with his car that runs on compressed air or some other random interest of the week. I've seen him a number of times, including a solo act at the Fox when I was 20...3 straight hours of Neil and guitar or piano...best show I've ever seen in my life. I've seen the CSNY shows so many times now that I can take it or leave it, and I'm sure the majority of the "Branson Crowd" would leave it, given CSNY's political views and their lack of fear of letting them be known. They lost a lot of fans during their last tour, but since they're all gazillionaires, I'm pretty sure they don't really care...nor should they. Most of their "fans" couldn't name 5 of their songs. All they want to hear is Woodstock and Teach Your Children and Suite: Judy Blue Eyes because all they know is what's on the radio.

I've heard a theory that they are trying to throw parasites such as lampreys off of themselves. Who knows if it's true.

It is not debatable, as MDC RE-introduced them. They are native to Missouri and the Ozark streams. What is debatable is whether or not they are very bad for fish populations, and how to control the number of otters on a given stream. I like seeing them on the rivers because I think they're entertaining little creatures, but that quickly fades as I realize they are eating some of the fish I want to catch. They DO deserve to be here, but their populations definitely need to be controlled. Too bad fur hats aren't in style anymore.

Marshall Tucker Band was fantastic in their prime...incredible instrumentalists and quality lyrics to boot. For you, Don.

Your most accurate assessment thus far. It's a great line, though...I'll give you credit for that.

Those will be a barge to paddle upstream or through slack water, and the 12 footer is 77 pounds...pretty heavy. Otherwise they look okay. I'll stick with a traditional canoe.

I love this guy. Blue oval boy LOL

Fishing for free...priceless.

No, my apologies, techo. I misunderstood and when I thought about it later, I realized what you meant.