Thom

Your best bet is to contact a ford dealer and ask about the transmission limitations. The motor is not necessarily the problem. I had anv awd saturn vue with a v-6 but the transmission was not recommended for hauling much of a load over distance. Not covered by waranntee. The Ford people can tell you what size boat you can pull. The problem is you may think you are doing all right and even pull the load but if the tranny is not big enough it will end up doing damage to the gears without warning.

I'll be in for one next week. If this weather continues it may be the highlight of my trip.

Another way to resize pictures is to get them developed onto a disk and download them into your computer. Email them to yourself by using the windows sidebar. select all and then click email photos. It will then ask if you want to resize the pics. Click the box to resize and then email to yourself. It will give you a 800/600 resolution. This will print out a decent photo. 35 MM cameras are about equivalent to an 8 megapictle digital camera. I would seriously consider to purchasing a 3.2 megapictle camera. I will give good enough pics for most anything up to 8x10. My digital will take 6 meg pics but I usually set for only 3.2. Plenty for most everything. You can buy a decent 3.2 camera for about 100 dollars and even less.

Right on L0010

Who is that masked man. Is that a Rainbow on the table?

Polock is not the only one that posts like a moron. I often do. As do others. By looking at polock's avatar he looks to be only about 1 year old....I thought he was very intelligent for his age. Rainbow you will learn that this forum is like a family. We accept folks for who they are and learn from each other. Sometimes it is hard to figure what a poster is trying to say. If you treat the forum like a cafeteria and take what you like and leave the rest on the table you will get a lot more out of the postings. You will also have less indigestion. "a wise man keeps quiet and lets folks think he is a moron, a fool uses his keyboard and removes all doubt" Mark Twain Paraphrased BTW I am a moron with three Bachelors of science, a masters of art in computer resourse management and 6 hours short of a doctorate in management. What some call an educated idiot (moron) Retired and Love to fish though.

I found that most of the locals shops and docks in Branson are very competitive in prices for most items. Bass Pro and Cabelas have gotten pricey on most fly tying materials and hooks. The cheaper ones that they sell will break very easily. I just broke off an white river scud in my vise last night tying a zebra midge. I ran out of Tiemco 2487's and bass pro was out of #18 hooks in St. Charles so I bought bass pro's brand wr whatever hooks. Nothing like spending 15 minutes perfecting a small three or 4 stage fly and then removing it from the vise and find that the hook point is broken. Worse yet keep missing strikes and check the hook and find the point is broken off. If I have to order I go to feathercraft. They will send a catalog or you can go online.

Congratulations OAF and thanks Phil and administrators for making this a great forum. I read many of the posts every day sometimes several times a day. It is not a good as fishing but keep me informed for my next trips. I really enjoy the way the members offer suggestions and share their experiences in using different methods both for angling and tying flies. The bantor and humor back and forth makes it entertaining as well as informative.

I didn't know that this was anything new on Taney. I have seen it used for many years if I understand what the float N fly is. Fishing a jig under a float? Usually if I am taking someone with me on a trip that isn't used to fishing with a fly rod I will rig them with a spinning rod using that method. I usually always fish with a fly rod using smaller flies and rigs now but when they are running lots of fast water on taney sometimes I will get behind the Island at lookout or at fall creek and use that method. Anchored off in the still water behing the island and throwing upstream a far as possible just off the seam of the current and then taking up the slack as the float goes down stream and then letting off line as it goes downstream and keeping the slack out of the line to set the hook. 1/32 oz black / yellow jig is a killer for this technique. Using a jig with an egg fly tied under it also works well fishing the same as described above. I have even caught two fish at the same time with this dropper. The first on the jig and the second chasing the struggling fish and seeing the egg fly eratically following the action.

another site with info on Zuddler http://www.globalflyfisher.com/patterns/zuddler/index.php

All you need to do is wait to get the free issue or first issue and then write them back saying you want to cancel. Their literature says you can cancel if you are not satisfied. Keep a copy of the letter you mail. Who knows you might like the magazine. Just don't expect any of the good stuff they promise.

Click or copy and paste this link for info on the Zuddler: http://www.globalflyfisher.com/patterns/zu...hp#white_purple

They sent me their magazine for two or three months even thought I didn't request them. I read an article or two and my comment was: Duh? Yes you do throw the line into the water to catch fish. Never saw any articles on mid west or trout fishing and everything was like an article from beginning fishing.

It is a magazine scam. They have enrolled me as a member twice for some reason. Then they sent me notices that they were submitting my account to a collection agency. Fortunately I have legal services available to me and they sent them a letter that solved the problem. I sent them an email and got this reply even though I had never signed up for the club. " Dear Member, Thank you for your email. I am sorry that you received a collection notice for dues. I have contacted the agency and asked that your name to be removed from their list. Please allow 30 days for that to happen. In the meantime if you get another letter from the collection agency, please disregard it. Your credit rating is not nor will it be affected. Your membership is canceled with the club. I have canceled both memberships you have started with us and the latest one was on 01/04/2007 with member number 65432462. Thanks for giving us a try! Bill A total scam.

Here is one way that we prepare trout for a change: Gut and scale the fish and stuff with a dressing made from corn bread stuffing as follows: Saute onion, celery, and green pepper in butter. just before the onion turns waxy add very small salad shrimp or crab meat if you want to splurge Add to the corn bread stuffing with enough chicken broth to moisten the dressing per package instructions. Salt and pepper inside of trout and stuff with dressing. Add a strip or two of bacon on top. Bake in over at 350 degree until flaky. The finished product can be eaten by lifting the skin off of the fish and the meat will pull off the bone easily. We also sometimes just filet the fish and wrap the filet around the stuffing putting the remained of the stuffing around the fish. Bake same as above. Good for being boneless enough for kids to enjoy. Either of these two recipes can be cooked on a grill outside by placing the fish on foil. Hey! I'm getting the urge to go to the freezer for a couple of Taney trout.

Great to see those patriots enjoying what we take for granted! Interesting that when one really enjoys something in life one finds a way to experience it's adventures. Circumstances seldom prohibits us from finding a way to do what we really want to do. Wouldn't it be great if all of those great soldiers could be on American soil soon to wet a line and bend a rod!

The midwest in the World Series playoffs in baseball and the Midwest in the Superbowl. What a catastrophe! What will the New York and California newspapers and television stations talk about? I guess they will have to dig up some Yankee stories and Giant comments from Peyton's brother. Interesting that Good Morning America bearly mentionted the World Series Champion Cardinals the day after they won the series. Kind of dull to see classy coaches not throwing fits about the calls on the fields and talking to their players like gentlemen rather than Idoits. Ain't we spoiled her in the Heartland? Excuse me! I mean aren't we spoiled?

I carry a cell phone to check on my wife who has Alshiemzers but can still answer her phone. Otherwise I wouldn't feel comfortable leaving her. I call every half hour. She anwswers and I give her an update on the fishing and tell her that I love her. I know it sounds mushy but after 47 years she is my most valuable possession next to My Lord. Fishing and all other things come behind those two by a long ways. Last year my foot hit a rock on the leg with the artifical knee and I stumbled. I baptised my phone in the name of the Father, Son and stupid fisherman (Me).

Taneycome is both my favorite and the place I fish the most in a years time.

The exact color that Dano shows in his post is by far my most productive colored jig. I gave a half dozen 1/100 to a friend that fished out of Lilly's last week. He is a novice and he caught tons of fish on them. My second best producer is pink and then black with yellow tied on bottom and then brown. The olive almost always works though.

Rollen: Thanks for all of the great tips and advice I have also used spray pain and found it very good. When I am really into tying jigs and wan't a lot of colors and effects I spray them. A good way I have found to set up the spray operation is to take a piece of pine and run my table saw blade up about 1/2 inch. I then saw a piece of soft pine lengthwise the full length of the board. The hooks then will go into the board and leave only the head sticking out. I can put 25 or more hooks depending on how long the board is into the sawn slot and paint them. I just leave them in the slot or if using epoxy I put them into the oven at about 100 degrees for an hour. Sounds like a lot of work but you can make lots of jig heads fast that way and then store them in boxes for later use. Spray paint also comes in bright gold colors that is hard to tell from the real shiny brass. There is also a copper paint that resembles the copper bead that I tie midges on that I use sometimes. I keep these jigs in my travel kit in case I run out of tungsten, gold or copper beads on a trip and am getting low on a particular pattern. Thom

I have the powered jig coating in red and yellow. It is easy to use and makes a good finish. I do several at a time to make it more efficient. It runs about 6 bucks a jar but will do many hooks and doesn't go bad like paint. You need to be careful when heating the lead heads because the smaller one really melt quickly. They just need to be hot and then dip them. They dry almost instantly which is what I like. If it sets around for a while you need to shake the jar to fluff up the powder before dipping the jig head or it will cake when you dip it. By the way I also use Sally Hansens colored nail polish which comes in lots of colors and with tinsel and gold flakes added. It needs to dry 15 minutes or so but really holds up well. If you are using close to the half hitch I usually use the colored nail polish to glue the thread and coat the hook at the same time.

I've been using sally's hard as nail clear glue over a couple of half hitches tied with my fingers for finishing the heads. I ran out of the standard stuff that you buy for fly heads one time at taney and borrowed (proballly more correctly stole) my wifes clear nail polish. I usually have trouble with the regular stuff that I buy at fly shops with the solvent drying up before it is all used up. The nail polish has a better threaded seal and doesn't seem to do that. I also now use the colored sally's nail polish to paint the mini jig heads. I have several bottles in my travel fly box in clear and different shades and colors. Works great. I am sure that the fly you posted will catch fish. Most people usually go too thick instead of too skinny. I found that with midges less is more and the tapered look will create an excellent profile in or on the water to match what I have observed in the real thing. I think that looks for flys is sometimes more admired by the fisherman than the fish. I think that the profile and color is more important. Next summer when the water is warm put your head under water and look up at an object floating or submerged in water. I have been told that fish often see their prey in with light in the background and look up into the sky so profile is most important. Years ago I was fishing a Montauk and was admiring an older gentleman that was consistently hooking fish. I didn't disturb him but watched his technique for a long while. As he was leaving the stream he approached me and struck up a conversation. I asked him what he was using and he showed me a 1/180 ounce jig that had so little maribou on it that I thought it was just beat up. When we ended our conservation he gave me three of the jigs and they all just had that same very sparse amount of maribou on them. I tryed them the next day and after learning how to fish them properly had the same relults as he did. They flys didn't look like much to me but the fish liked them.

Very interesting. I tie my egg patterns with a tapered fountian pen end or soda straw depending on how large it want it. Last trip down I purchased a kit from anglers and archer fly shop with several size tips in it. I can load several colors of mcfly or yarn and stack it in my box. I can usually tie a fly in about 5-7 minutes this way. I am going to try the dubbing loop though just for fun. I have made them and bought them both. both work well but the bought ones usually have some kind of a handle. Egg flys have saved several trips for me when they are running lots of water. Drifted bumping the bottom they are killers. Usually takes longer to get the fish unhooked and back into the water than to get another one on. Most of the egg patterns that I tie are multicolored or at least with a small patch of red mixed into the main color.

Where were you fishing on the lower Illinois? Near what town? I am at the confluence where it flows into the Mississippi. You can't get any lower than that and I never heard of any trout here? Hey snagged wouldn't it be great if we could go to Alton or Grafton and fish for browns and bows. Before anyone tells me how stupid I am I admit I didn't see the OK on the post. I googled lower Illinois river in OK. After reading the rave reviews I've got to do one of these areas this year. I still wish I could truck to Grafton and fish for bows there. Lots of walleye, sauger, crappie, Bass cats of all kinds etc etc though.