Terry Beeson

OK... I'm on my way... better nate than lever...

OK... I confess... I did not tie that one... Those that know my tying abilities will attest to the fact that any attempts at tying Nemo would result in a Titanic disaster!... This is just a taste of what kind of tying you might find at the Sowbug Roundup, Conclave, or other tying events.

Who's going tomorrow? I'm planning to drag my butt out of bed and make my way down there if I don't get lost...

Yeah... and wait until you go to Conclave or Sowbug and watch the little kids tie flies that make you drool with envy...

To add... What I have learned: 1. You get strange looks from women at WalMart when you are trying to decide between Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails, Advanced Hard As Nails, and Hard As Nails. 2. The number of bedrooms a family needs can be calculated by multiplying the number of people in the family times 2.3. For example, a man, his wife, and their 11 year old daughter need 7 bedrooms. 1 for the man and wife to sleep in. 1 for the child to sleep in. 1 for all the fish, cats, guinea pigs, and killer yorkies to sleep in. 1 for all the junk, clothes, gadgets, and other paraphernalia. 1 for all the wife's hobbies and crafts and 2 for the man to store his fly fishing equipment - one for tying, one for equipment (add hunting stuff in there as well.) 3. You should buy two coffee grinders and mark them well. Possum dubbing does not taste good in Millstone Caffe Midnight. 4. Deer hair spinning and eating taco soup do not mix well. 5. My beard hair trimmings make a nice dubbing ingredient for spikey looking flies. However, what use to make nice ginger spikey flies now are very white. 6. Wives do not generally appreciate you stopping in the middle of traffic to secure fly tying material - aka: road kill. 7. Always divide the actual cost of fly tying material by 20 unless you can afford a boat load of diamonds and shoes. 8. NEVER describe a trip to any fly tying event as such. ALWAYS approach the decision maker with the idea of a very romantic weekend with her able to sleep ALL DAY while you leave her alone in the room. 9. Fly shops would make a lot more money if they also sold flowers and diamond jewelry. 10. Fly tying forums are great places to pick up fly tying tips and even a little marriage councelling. You're doing good, Mikey and Mrs Ducky. Paraphrasing Dano's comments, you can tie to please everyone else, or you can tie to please the fish. Now, here is your next challenge......

And if Phil's dock is busy and the old pharts won't let your little girl have room to fish, just let me know... And I'll have Duckydoty come down and beat them up!!

Yep... some pretty impressive tiers on that forum for sure. I wish Will would set up a prize for the ugliest fly. I'd win that one every year!...

You may be on the right track, Slip, but just ask LMW... It may give you some good alone time... I agree with the Branson Landing idea.

I suppose I have to comment here... especially to correct you, Mrs Ducky... You are NOT the biggest offender. I am sure I am in the crosshairs for that award. Your comments and concerns are well taken. I've had the same feelings in the past, however: While I am certainly not opposed to the "chat room" idea, there is a problem with that in that to be effective, everyone has to be in the chat room at the same time. With the forum, I can post a reply, rant and rave, make a joke, or ask a question anytime. I have been and am a member of several forums. And I am pretty much the same on all of them. Out of those, two of them I no loger belong to and will not return to one of those. The other one I merely check once in a while because it is about some "local news" that I am interested in. The one I will not return to is probably familiar to several on this forum since it is related to fly fishing. The administrator is very strict and it's "his way or the hiway" as far as posting. To me it is very dry and uninteresting and you really don't learn a lot. The website it is attached to is VERY informative and I visit it often. Go figure. But the very word "forum" itself suggests, at least to me, an "open discussion" among people interested in the subject. The American Heritage Dictionary defines it as: "A public meeting place for open discussion. A medium for open discussion or voicing of ideas, such as a newspaper, a radio or television program, or a website. A public meeting or presentation involving a discussion usually among experts and often including audience participation." But it ALSO includes the definition, "A court of law; a tribunal." Anyway... I feel that Phil has been quite patient with several of us on this issue. "Light bantor" is a part of many threads. Some are ONLY light bantor and "kidding" with other forum members. My "silly" comments are usually directed at guys like Leonard, russ, Dano and a few others. I feel a certain "bond" with many of you guys, even those I have not fished with and some I've not even met. I've had emails, personal conversations, and some people from the forum who have signed my guestbook on my website all stating they enjoy my posts and humor. I've not felt the need to stop. My opinion, there are many threads and postings on this forum that I am not interested in and those I simply skip. Anyone who does not want to muddle through my stuff can just skip over those posts. Maybe it is similar to something I heard about this morning. A lady was driving past a theater in Florida which was advertising their latest show - "The Vagina Dialogues." This lady's niece was in the car with her and asked what a vagina was. This upset the lady enough to complain to the theater and resulted in them changing the name on the billboard to prevent any controversy. This play has been all over the country for several years and the name has always been the same. It is a very accepted medical term for something that half the population of the world has. But it offended one lady who complained and now there is going to be a big controversy over this. Good publicity for the play, but, to me anyway, quite silly on the lady's part. (After reviewing this, I want to say this is in no way directed as a comparison to you and your original post, Mrs. Ducky.) I do not plan to change. This is my personality and just the way I am. Very serious on one part, very light on the other part. I do not mean to be and never plan to be personally demeaning to any member of this forum. If anyone has taken one of those as such, my sincere apologies. Some posts, such as the "Slow Stripping Mink" are directed to people I feel I know well enough to impart those kind of remarks. I expect to receive those types to be directed back at me by guys like Leonard. By the way... Michael Kyle and I along with a couple other members of this forum had a few laughs at the expense of the "Winston Rod giveaway" postings in person at a club meeting last night. So, it bleeds over from cyberspace to "reality" as well... However, I am not the administrator or "king" of this forum. While I will not change, I will abide by the rules set forth by Phil. If that means I am not able to post as I have in the past, then I will "move on" as I have from those afore mentioned forums. Personally, I enjoy this forum as much as any of which I have been a member. One of the main reasons is that there is a very eclectic mix of people, subject matter, and personalities on this forum. If you notice, many of my posts are quite serious while many are quite silly. Then there are those that are in between. I think that is one of the big reasons I find this forum worthwhile. You get serious information AND a bit of "entertainment." There is no offensive language and very little "bashing" here. It's just a bunch of people who love fishing sitting around telling stories, swapping lies, swapping techniques, and just doing what a bunch of people who love to fish would do if gathered together in a big room... If you do not agree with me, that's fine. And I will stand beside you and fight for your right to disagree with me and state so on this or any other forum. OH... and anyone who does not like my bantor, posts, or other "junk" can email me personally and tell me so. My email is tbeeson(at)hotmai(dot)com The above is merely my opinions...

The list of "Imapaired waters" seems to be growing every day. And why is that? Easy... We, as in mankind, have allowed our greed and desire for instant gratification get the best of our world. We are so very much a wasteful society that it is now affecting our water supply at dangerously high levels. What causes the high levels of pollutants in these streams? Allow me to give you a partial list: 1. Unregulated and even allowable land development practices. 2. Unchecked agricultural practices. 3. Golf courses and other such landscaping. 4. Massive amounts of waste products with no place to store them properly. 5. Industrial practices. So, with that, are we willing to pay more for land and housing? Do we want to pay $10 for a gallon of milk or a pound of chicken? Do you think "cow pasture" type golf courses, parks, and other similar places will draw people to them? Are you willing to reduce your weekly trash pick-up to a five-gallon container? Shower every third or fourth day with restrictions on the amount of water used for this? Use soap that will only leave your clothes "half-clean" and not so nice smelling? The problem is not that you or I are willing to make sacrafices. The problem is that our society in general is not willing to make sacrafices. We want our cake and eat it too... However, one key is education on the VALUE of the loss of such streams. Not just the value to fishermen, but the value to the public in general. Statistics on the economic value of a stream from, say, fishing could be calculated. This can be presented to local businesses that benefit from the fishing - tackle shops, restaurants, lodging facilities, gas stations, and other retail stores. These, in turn, deal with local banks and have a tax base. So, if the stream dies and there are no fish, how much impact would that have on the local economy? You... and they... might be very surprised... Telling them you want clean water to drink and fish in is one thing. Telling them dirty water might cost them hundreds, thousands, even millions of dollars hits home a lot more... OK... soap box is vacant... next!

I'll be down to pick out the color that makes me look purty-est... Nice lookin' caps! OH... and ditto what Mrs Ducky said about the new skin for the forum... KEWL..

Happy Birthday, guys! Spend part of it fishing...

You know, it's amazing to me that almost everyone will obey a stop sign in the middle of nowhere with no traffic or law in sight. But some of those same people will intentionally take more than their limit of fish. Then again the courts and prisons are full of people who do things that I will never really understand... Yep, Dano... it's a good thing trout don't taste like crappie...

Silk undies under cold gear or compression pants under insulated underwear under sweats under flannel shirt... and I have overalls to go outside of that... then breathable waders. Then I have a hot cup of coffee with some special creamer... And I'm thinking about asking Phil if he will come down and set up a couple of his tarps around me where I'm fishing to keep the wind off me... That worked wonders NYD at the pavillion...

If you enjoy a fine meal of that fish, then you are fine in my book... Now if you didn't get any PICTURES of it and/or don't post them here, then you are on my list... SOUNDS like a nice pheesh...

Growing up on a cattle farm, I found out frayed baling twine would get gar interested and you needed no hook... The toughest fight I've ever had was with a five foot long gar on a light rod, Zebco 33, and 8 lb line... He snapped the line just as I got him on the bank. On a fly rod? WOW!! I'm game!

Now I KNOW I'm taking the Czech Nymphing class at Conclave this year....

To expound a bit on what Ken has said, the White River system trout program has ALWAYS been designed as a "put and take" system. Otherwise, the hatcheries would all go belly up... Those who violate the limit regulations should be banned from the waters, but there is nothing wrong with harvesting trout within those regulations. I am a C&R advocate when it comes to trout and many species. This does not mean I release every fish. I will take home a trout or two when I want to, but am a bit selective on what I take home. I am totally against killing a fish just to hang it on the wall. Pictures, measurements, and a replica are more than sufficient. However, regulations as they stand allow the taking for just that purpose. (If the fish dies in the fight, it would be a different story.) Now when it comes to crappie or bream/bluegill, I will take a limit home.

I'm beginning to hope I DON'T win it or you guys will think it was rigged... John... When I win the rod, I'll let you and Don watch me fish with it... and I'll even let you use it long enough to catch one stocker, damselfly... Hey Michael... a calendar of events of store activities maybe? Might be a good place to get the word out on things like the streamer seminar... and (selfish subliminal suggestion) half-price sales... Even club meetings around the area (MTFA, SWMFF, Mako, TU, etc.)

OK... HOW BIG WAS IT? From Branson to Bull Shoals DAM? What route are you taking? Polock... he's talking about Powersite Dam...Near Forsyth, MO.

Hey, Michael... If I didn't give Don, Dano, or Russ a hard time at least once a day, I'd feel like I got nothing accomplished... The site is looking good. Hope you get a LOT of entries for the rod. And I hope I win it!!...

No he's not...

Funny.... That hasn't stopped me from fly fishing! Hola, Go Fish. Mucho gusto! Como esta usted? Welcome BACK to the forum!

HEY!.... Quit tryin' to muscle in on my new rod, Don! I'll be by to pick it up this afternoon, Michael... (Just noticed your "signature" Don... Mine should be "Hey, Rocky! Watch me pull a rabbit outta this hat!" Geez, to think I use to stay up past midnight to watch reruns of "Rocky and Bullwinkle"... only 7-8 years ago!! )

Some scud dubbing I use will have a bit of "flashy" fibers in it, but other than that, I do not use any kind of flash.