Paddling To Bluff Holes

[mic]

Hey don't bust the ugly sticks... they aren't all that bad.

Gotta tell you Mic, my older brother was a huge Mopar guy and in the early eighties thought it was his civic duty to drag race every Chevelle in North County. He had a Duster and a Barracuda that were all souped up, so we accumulated our fair share of tickets.

Old Plug, get rid of those Ugly sticks! Heck you can get a better rod at Walmart for under $29

[Old plug]

I never had trouble with hot cars. Was in the navy 15 days after I turned 17. Came home and never got a ticket in my life. My whole problem was hot women.

[Al Agnew]

Guess it was a good thing Dudley Doright wasn't around yesterday...I was just pulling out from the boat ramp to head upstream when I realized I didn't have a life jacket with me. I always keep one stored in the boat in case I forget to grab one of my good ones, but it had gotten wet fishing in the rain the last time and I'd left it out to dry...and forgot to grab one of my good ones.

The ramp was fine. It's just slightly upstream from the I-44 bridges now (south side of I-44). It's long and a little narrow, but it was clear of mud and sloped off into the water at a good angle to make it easy to launch. Nice big parking lot, too.

Worst thing is leaving there at 4 PM on a weekday. I'd driven up 55 and across 141, but knew that trying to come back across 141 and down 55 would put me in crazy rush hour traffic. Mary and I had been on 141 a week or so ago at 4:30 PM and the traffic was so nuts that we gave it up when we got to Gravois and went to the movie theater there...fortunately, "Thor" was starting just as we went in, so we watched it. Mary didn't think she'd like it, but she said the guy playing Thor is one of the prettiest men she's ever seen, and it was especially nice that near the start of the movie he was bare-chested and getting dressed. She said it was a stroke of genius and kept all the women whose men had dragged them in interested the rest of the movie.

Anyway, instead I went back on the back roads from Eureka over to Barnhart. Still a little crowded, and 55 was still bad south of Barnhart.

It seems a little weird to worry about rush hour traffic on a fishing trip.

[ColdWaterFshr]

Funny stuff this thread has become. Souped up Chevelle speeding tickets in North County, Dudley Do-Rights and Ugly Sticks, pregnant wives pulling boat trailers while their husbands get taken to jail, wives getting turned on by Thor. You never know what you'll find on Ozarkanglers. Great variety and interesting diversions.

[Mitch f]

Funny stuff this thread has become. Souped up Chevelle speeding tickets in North County, Dudley Do-Rights and Ugly Sticks, pregnant wives pulling boat trailers while their husbands get taken to jail, wives getting turned on by Thor. You never know what you'll find on Ozarkanglers. Great variety and interesting diversions.

Sometimes the truth is funnier than fishing.....I mean fiction. Paul Dallas would be proud!

[Haris122]

I fished the lower Meramec yesterday, going even farther down than I had before, looking for stained water. It's still air clear above the mouth of Big River, just slightly stained below. Big River was coming in with about 4 feet of visibility, the Meramec above it had ten feet of visibility, maybe 7 feet below. Now would be the time to go exploring looking for water to fish, because you sure don't need a depth finder to find deep water, rocks, logs, etc.

How far down the lower Meramec did you go Al. Was it down to Route 66 or even further down.

[Al Agnew]

Just down to Route 66. Didn't feel like running the rocky riffle underneath the 44 bridges with the water as low as it is.

[Old plug]

I am not about to get rid of several of the ugly stics . They prove the test of time. I just wonder if the new one will. Truthfully i do not think it will. But I got to get into lighter weight rod and reel. I still do not think I will be using it for my most serious worming.

[Mitch f]

Old Plug I understand your point about Ugly Sticks passing the test of time, they are virtually indestructible. I'm referring to the old fiberglass models of course, maybe the new ones use graphite, don't know. But, like all fiberglass rods, they have no feel. I can't imagine trying to set the hook on a jig fish and trying to drive the hook home on a fiberglass Ugly Stick.

I think it's Berkley that makes a Cherrywood line of rods that's like $25 at Walmart that aren't bad for the money.

[Old plug]

IMITCH I have about decided on a 7 ft garcia rod and garcia reel , the nano winch I think. I will use it mostly with lite line about 10 lb test for pitching and flipping smaller or unweighted lures. I just hope it will be light enough.

Ugly stic models need to change. They were always been composite fiber glass / graphite. But even the 6 1/2 ft ultra lights models will tear down my shoulder pretty fast. last week when I was down at PBS they had a couple 7 ft ugly stics there. One was a new line and it was white color. But they were both so bulky I could feel it in my shoulder just lifting them. They need to do some redesign on the lower end of the rod, the grip and do some work on the double wrap technology. I think they could reduce a lot of weight and still have a very tuff rod.