Thom

What stream and where is Illinois were these picture taken. I am a transplanted Illinois resident from the General Carbondale area. SIU one of my alma maters.

UP around Grafton in Illinois they do that with carp. Cut off the skin and clean out all of the red meat and viens. Fillet the fish and cut long strips across the body of the filet about 3/8 inch wide. Dip in batter and deep fry. The strips roll into a curly morsels when they hit the hot grease and are delicious. They are called Calhoun County Shirmp.

Gavin gave you the best advice you could get. Spending $ on a trip being ruined by a bad experience would bea big bust. If you could afford a guide you would never regret it and it could be a trip to remember for a long time because it was productive as well as educational

Apparently Bigredbirdfan has never read the contracts that you must sign to purchasae a timeshare. Their are waivers after waivers and the meetings each year can change much of the agreement and it is all perfectly legal. Very few people attend the owners meeting which can chage the assments or add to them each year. That is why many states have placed restrictions on what timeshares can do after the fact. Missouri is not one of those states. Buyer beware is the key.

Just posted a report on LOZ for last week bullseye tournament. fishing good first day wind and cold front killed second day mostly

One of my fishing buddies Jake from Edward Jones fished the bull’s-eye bait shop tournament at Lake of the Ozarks and gave me the following report: First day …. Lots of nice fish fishing on secondary points in 20 foot of water holding in 5 to 6 foot of water on secondary points and also did well between docks. Best baits chartreuse or white spinner baits and mega bass jerk baits. Fish also caught on 7” worms with strike king shaky heads. Second day cold winds and front slowed fishing and it was not nearly as good a day. Phil you may remember Jake from O Fallon as one of the anglers that come to Lilley’s resort every winter to fish with buddies there. They rented a pontoon and fished this year in January I think.

Here is the recipe that leonard gave me for the hibernator: clip of some of the longer feathers and the sharp tip of the hook Dip in egg wash and then flour and corn meal cook in fry daddy until golden brown yea I know a little corney

It is my priviledge to read what I chose and have an opinion because I am a proud American clinging to my religion, values, flyrods and my guns. (slightly different priority) An avid outdoorsman for over 50 years don't blame me I voted for the other guy also the one who went to war instead of hiding in Arkansas.

JDMidwest: It is called freedom of choice. To each his own. Don't read the reports if you don't like them. I won't vote to take away your gun if you don't vote to ban My laptop. Troutfearme: We will (probaballly 99% of us) enjoy your reports and the time you take to give us an up to date report. Thank you for the extra effort. The last time I was at Montauk I used my laptop via satellite to send an important message to Oklahoma for an old gentleman staying next door. It gave him great peace of mind while "roughing it" and his family felt better that he was doing good on what might be his last outing with grandchlildren.

Outrage over the report had been brewing for weeks among conservatives who say they're unfairly singled out as possible criminals. On Wednesday morning, that anger spilled into the Capitol when Republican Lt. Gov. Peter Not much fun when the shoe is on the other foot. If you are a democrat conservatives label you a liberal ..... veterns, patriots, charity workers, on and on but now conservatives see that it really can be a bad thing to hold trial on patriotic Americans and find them guilty by association.

Thank you for all of the good info. I wonder if you could post a picture of the fly described.

Anyone try this new fly called the BH TH Eggi Juan Kenobi. Take a San Juan worm, add an egg and a tunghead bead to get it down and you have an irresistible combination for trout and steelhead, particularly in the Great Lakes region, but this pattern will work anywhere. Orvis customers gave the original pattern without the bead five It sure looks like it would work at Taney and be easy to tie.

Redbird: I envy you. A few years back I spent 2 weeks working on a Horse ranch located on the Wind River. Every morning and evening I walked down to the river which was just a few miles down from the reservior and fished. Mostly brookies but I also go to go on the nearby reservation and fish a deeper stretch below some huge rocks and riffles. I really had a ball with mostly Browns. It was on private land and only the owners fished there. The Ranch was just out of Jackson hole about 15 miles and was called "Early Ranch" They have since moved their operation to the panhandle of Florida. There are lots of streams and accesses all around Jackson Hole that are eaily accessed. Beautiful country. Lots of luck and tight lines on your trip. Thom

Bass pro has a very good DVD on beginning fly tying that covers all of the tools, a few simple flies and other good advice. It is onlly $ 10. What I like about it is that you can stop it and rewind or just use it for a refresher occasionly. I do beginning classes for Seniors and newbies occasionaly and It is a good starting point and introduction that just KISS. Keep it simple stupid. works for me.

Good luck Henry. Hope the bign's are out. Let us know how you do.

Zach: Great attitude. I cartainly wish you God Speed in your recovery. My father was the victim of a simular accident but in the coal mines. He was covered up and thought dead. When they dug him out he was paralized from the waist down for life. He had the same attitude as yours and began to do everything he set his mind to. He never missed one of my basketball games or football games. One night there was 14 inches of snow and we had a big conference game. He insisted on going and all of the parents literally carried him over the snow and into the front of the bleachers. He never quit or gave up on any of his goals and that was the inspiration of others of us who saw his example. "Some people say why while others say why not" John Kennedy I just heard another great man write and I quote " I will continue to do everything I did before the accident" Zsmith62 Hang in there. Hope to see you on the stream someday. Thom Harvengt

Same here. Sometimes I can't get the link to load unless I go to search and then to the other pages. Mine has been doing it all winter off and on. Today I did get on better but very slow to load. I have high speed internet and all other links are zip zip zip.

Quote: Based on some of the comments I've seen posted, I'm guessing that our management style is not the norm. We are all Christian men and we value God and Family. We view our "valued employees" as assets and I'm happy to say that they are as fiercely loyal to us as we are to them. Our business has been blessed and we are in a growth state during a down economy. I pray that it continues to follow that trend and that we can offer employment and stability to other families. Quote Daddy O You have my utmost respect. We need more businessmen like you and others of the same philopophy. My wife and I owned two businesses and finally gave up on both. We were making less than 5 dollars an hour if we figured all of our time filling out govt regs and meeting govt standards which mostly were senseless. Fortunately the job I worked at for 38 years kept us in good shape. Actually I was an owner of sorts in it. (stock holder) until I retired in 1999 and sold it all a $95 / share .... Due to the poor management of the company it is now worth less than $ 3 a share. I spent near 90 hours a week at the job ... lots of that on our own time .... as did many of my supervisors only to be abandoned by the company at retirement. Golden parachure for them ..... the shaft for the others. Wonder why there are unions?????????????????? DUH The rich get richer and the poor get poorer. While these fat cats are keeping their jobs and getting bailed out without any accountability the loyal employees are losing their jobs or retirement savings without remedy. Most of my friends that have retired have lost as much as 30 to 45% of their retirement savings in less than 6 months

So did I. when Guys like described in JD's tirade failed they just retired them with a golden parachute and brought up another one of their buddies to fail again. They wanted me to lie to the hourly work force about the state of the company while upper level management continued to poorly manage the business. When my employees (hourly or first line supervisors) failed or made a mistake I was asked to discipline them or fire them if possible. While the upper management wrecked the corporation by giving their good ole boys executives buddies a golden parachute retirement of millions for making drastic mistakes and miscalculations. Now they are asking the government to bail them out and restructure ..... EVERYTHING BUT EXECUTIVE BONUSES, RETIREMENTS AND STOCK OPTIONS. Once when I asked why the salaried lower level retirement programs were being underfunded I was asked to never ask that question again in a salaried meeting. The same exec had said at the beginning of the meeting we want to be open and honest with you. I discovered why just recently when the government fined GM for cooking the books with retirement write offs and other unqualified defficets to show higher profits 3 years ago. Most salaried benifits have recently been taken away or drasticallly reduced for retirees. The majority of these were hard working employees that had given loyaly above and beyond for years while being told trust the system. They were told that it would never happen if they just would bite the bullet for a while. During that same period I attended a plant managers meeting in Detroit and was a participant in presentations at a hotel where several banquet rooms were rented serving unlimited food, drinks and services. Business expense ..... they sat around all evening drinking, eating and playing cards. During that time I learned that the merit raises were being reduced for my first line supervisor and of course I needed to explain to them why the business was in such bad shape. DUH I will guaratee you that none of those upper level execs retired less than millionaires ......they were the ones who wrecked the company with terrible decisions. Of course they laid it on the backs of the govt regulation, union, and foriegn manufacturers.

If it is anything like his other books it will be well worth the time to read. I still pull out his references from my library to refresh my mind on locations and tactics even thought I have read them many times.

Quote "Personally, I think the forum covers way too many specific places. I tend to not read stuff on locations where I don't and don't plan to go. I'd rather have a lot fewer locations and see more topic posts. " I don't understand this logic. When I go to the forum I just bypass all of the stuff that I am not interested in. Like a cafeteria. I just open the stuff that is interesting to me and respect the others who have different tastes. It is very simple to go to the particulair place that is interesting to you a the opening menu. Tany, white, Loz, geek etc and pass everthing else up. I never pick black eyed peas up at the cafeteria but the dollars (in this case Hits on the site) earned by the black eyed peas helps pay for the qualilty and variety of all the other offerings If the admin eliminates anything I would hope it is the political hype. We alway know what the opinions of those who post them will be anyway. Very closed minded and with lots of heat and little light. Yea.... I iknow that includes me with the politics which I always tell myself I will ignore but usually can't resist..

I would be interested in any reports or comments on Lake Caryle, Rend Lake both in Illinois. Also Mark Twain and the Missippi and Illinois rivers. Mark Twain has some sites that give fishing reports from guides but nieither Rend Lake or Carlye lake have much fishing report except through the bait shops. There are someof forum subscribers from St louis and Illinois who might contribute at least as much as LOZ gets onthe forum.

That is also a great stretch of water. The spot that I described is just down stream from that stretch rock hole to the dam. I have had great success in both areas. Don't pass us the shallow riffles in the area that Gavin described either.

If you go to the microsoft website you can download a file that will allow you to just read the documents. It will have a let you download but not edit the files that end in .doc there is also one for powerpoint .ppt that can be downloaded.

If I was fishing there I would start at the very end of zone 1 just above the dam across from the rocky area. That is always good and it has great holes all the way up to the rocky waterfall area. If you go upstream a ways you can throw into the holes and tree and branch cover that can't be reached from the other side. Good holes all through there. Stripping cracklebacks, wolly buggers, etc or fishing 1/100 maribou jigs, midges, haresears, egg flies, all below a small float also good. Streamers worked on the bottom also good. If you have a sinking line or tippet use it with the buggers or cracklebacks for some good action.