Justin Spencer

As the parent of an 8 year old and 10 year old, I have struggled some with common core this year. I guess we have implemented the math portion, not sure about reading. At first it confused the heck out of me and I also thought they were teaching way too many steps for easy problems. At parent teacher conferences we talked in depth about this with the teachers and gained an understanding of what the goals were. I am more than willing to give this system a fair shake, the numbers prove that as a nation something needs to change in how we teach math and sciences. I think the kids that start in common core will have an easier time than those that have been thrown in by 3rd or 4th grade. My kids now seem to be doing well with this system, it just takes a little more work on the parents part to keep up with these new methods of teaching so we can help our kids. Thanks rps for putting this on here, it sounds like you think this will ultimately result in our kids understanding easier and therefore doing better and being more prepared for continued education, am I reading you correct?

Took a nice couple out the other day and had to share this picture that was sent to me. 19" rainbow caught on a 1/4 ounce inline spinner. His wife fly fished while he spin fished, she ended up with 4 on only her second time fly fishing, including a 16 inch brown, he probably caught 7 or 8, tried to get him to fish a zig jig, but he preferred the spinner (looks like he was right).

Thinking of you and your family during a tough time, love the picture.

Nice one!

I'm a bit of a rebel lawbreaker, I don't condone my behavior, but my tailbone does, yesterday I did wear my legal boots since I was taking people out, I'm a closet felt user and only use alone. Does this mean I have a problem?

lots of bedrock here also, I try not to wade in the worst spots, but knowing there are fish there always gets the best of me.

Tell me how my actions endanger the fishery and I'll gladly change my practices, can't spread something if my boots never leave this river, am I correct?

Cyclones

I think MDC has been a little slow to admit there are big predators about, but also for good reason. I have heard of so many black panthers over the years that I have to wonder where the evidence is on them. The fact is most reports are probably false, but now some are undeniable with trail cams and shootings. I don't expect the general public would freak out about wolves or mountain lions, but I do expect alot of farmers would blame livestock loses on these predators and then ask MDC to either eliminate them, or reimburse them. Until we get video or photo evidence of reproduction they will only be passing through according to MDC, but I don't think any of us would be that surprised to see puma cubs in the near future.

I'll let you know, but I have a new 8 wt. that has only caught bonefish, jacks and snappers, it needs a real fish!

It has turned to a streamer/jerkbait river. Nice rise and color, no wading for a few days, but the big boys should be out.

very true, same goes for fly fishing, if you think it will work you will fish it harder and give it a better chance than something you never use.

You need to talk to Matt Tucker, they have a new chapter in St. Louis, he might be able to give some pointers.

try this https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sunburst-Ranch/496246950412392 there also may be a pic on my personal facebook timeline.

Amy may have put one on the Sunburst facebook page, she took a few with her phone, I'm pretty stupid when it comes to posting unless I download from my camera.

I'm trying to figure out how a single gigging attemt coul result in that scarring pattern.

Fished a little the last two days and it has been hot to say the least. 30 minutes in front of the house yeilded a 17 inch bow and a couple smaller ones. Yesterday fished Sunburst to Patrick, caught 10 or so around trout island on pheasant tails and a copper john soft hackle hybrid, lost about as many there. Continued on and met Scott from mountain grove who had been hammering the browns and bows on dry flies for several days (this river is not known for dry fly fishing, but this section this time of year can be pretty consistent when the sun is shining). The next island produced 4 bows in about 10 minutes, lost several and couldn't catch the 5th one I needed to win a bet with my son, that was the only negative on this 2 hour trip. Fish were averaging 14 inches with several to 16, and only 1 dink. They are all jumping high and pulling hard, used a AAA and bb sinker most of the time to keep it on the bottom. Fishing should stay good with all the caddis, but wading may get a little tougher with this rain. I'm ready for the whites and hybrids to start moving up!

I would hit the keys for tarpon, bones, trout, etc or go to bahamas or Ascension bay in Mexico for bones, permit and tarpon. With your budget you can make it the trip of a lifetime and sight fishing crytal clear water on the flats is impossible to beat in my opinion. I just returned from ascension bay and there are some nice all inclusive resorts set up with daily guide service for a week. I think you could do this with plane tickets and still have a little money left over. We only got a guide one day and stayed on the beach for $52 a night, but caught bonefish, jacks, and snappers and had shots at tarpon and permit, and this was a half day trip. The scenery is awesome and if you have never flats fished it is a bucket lister for sure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbU4Cb4A4-o

similar, but not as good as a wild rainbow

I like 'em too.

I've evidently been calling smallmouth suckers all these years, live with it they sure are good fried.

nice, I have tons of pictures of those things, each one seems bigger than the last. Just got my zig jigs in the mail today, excited to try them out, got a few blue and white to try on the white bass as well.

I believe it is a striped shiner, they get quite a bit larger than the common shiner, we catch lots of these in the NFoW, some have to be records!

Check longboat outfitters, Kyle will sevice several rivers and can find you a place to stay.