reevesr1

He does! For sheez.

Harps, Do curry dinners start at breakfast? Too bad you can't make it.

This morning the wife gave the green light for a Sunday morning breakfast at our house in Chaparral. I'm pretty sure she was still asleep and has no idea what she's agreed to, so we gotta move fast! If anyone is interested, let me know by reply or pm. I'll post details once I gauge interest. Taco says he will slaughter a pig, so yummy Dutch bacon! Let's hope its not like English bacon.

You know what, I'll check with the War department when she comes home and if she's ok with it, I'll make a whack 'o pancakes if someone brings the bacon.....

Geez guys, you have my sympathy. On a brighter note, it's 5 minutes from my house!! Sucks to be the rest of ya!

Al, Do you think it would be worthwhile to make a pinned post specific to the student CO(s)?

Never, on any body of water, anywhere. Somewhat amazing when you think of it.

Hey Jones, No indication that he was anything other than a nice guy. Never in the news for anything other than his movies, sort of avoided the spotlight. Also no indication of prior drug use that I've ever heard of. Sounds like he may have had depression issues. Got some history of that in my immediate family. Can be brutal stuff. He had also said in a recent interview he was having trouble sleeping and was taking ambien (I think). Anyway, comparing him to Brit is a bit of a stretch.

Wow!

Dow dropped a staggering 129 pts (he says tongue firmly in cheek). TSE gained 509!!!!! Guess we still have a bit of our money.

That's really sad. My kids loved A Knight's Tale as well.

Hey Brett, Hope you're not worried about hurting my feelings on this, cuz you ain't! I'm certainly not trying to hurt yours. Like any type of bargain shopping, you have to pay attention to what it is you are buying. My wife bought the kids ski suits at Costco. My 14 yr old tore it to pieces in 3 snow board trips. Piece of crap, great price. I bought socks at Walmart last year. I'm wearing them right now. (that's actually true). So enough of Wal-Mart------ Pick a chinook and get down here. Let's catch some fish.

Exactly. High end stores (and fly shops certainly qualify) typically don't suffer when Walmart comes to town for the reasons you pointed out. I would also say that sporting goods stores in general don't suffer greatly, but in the states that usually means the BIG sporting goods stores. Hey Brett, Not sure I understand the warranty issue. So lets say Black and Decker sells some of their low end stuff to Wal-Mart. Are they selling gear with a shorter warranty than what they sell to say, Home Depot? And if so, who's issue is that? If I'm Black and Decker, aren't I taking a significant risk in lowering my product quality in order to secure volume sales? I would say that is a Black and Decker issue more than a Wal-Mart issue. If I buy a Black and Decker drill and it breaks after 1 month and I discover there is no warranty, I'm mad at Black and Decker, not Wal-Mart. At the end of the day, it's up to the suppliers to decide whether they want to participate. Basically a decision of volume vs. markup. Walmarts sales strategy isn't really much of surprise to any of their suppliers. Oh, and the other way they keep prices down is by not paying their employees much. Anyway, its fun to knock the biggest company in the world. And there is no way to get to be the biggest without pissing a lot of people off with aggressive business practices. But I'm raising 3 kids on one income. Make it cheap and I will come, for some things anyway.

Wait a minute... I could have dressed up like a girl in order to "meet" more girls. Really? First off, I don't think I would have been interested in any girls who would have been interested in me dressed like a girl. Doesn't quite match some things I may or may not have imagined from time to time. Second, I'm going to have to call some old Submarine colleagues of mine. Apparently, they were going about some things all wrong...... DBT, insert googly eyed WTF emoticon here.

Al, No problem. Thanks for getting this up and running. Check is in the mail. Promise. Ok folks, many on this board has said they'd be willing to pay more for their licenses if they knew the money was going right back into the resource. For those of you who fish the Livingstone, here is your chance.

Tim, Agreed. Casting ability isn't the same as fishing ability. But the ability to cast sure do help just like hitting a 300 yd drive in the fairway tends to set you up nicely for the approach shot! The marketers have something else figured out too. It feels GOOD to be long (pun certainly intended). Ego is a powerful emotion to market to!

Brett, I gotta beg to differ with you. If it says Black and Decker model blah blah, it will be EXACTLY the same as a Black and Decker blah blah at a hardware store. Walmart keeps their prices down by having the most amazing distribution system in the history of anything. And by applying severe pressure on their suppliers. I'm not saying they don't have cheap stuff in there, they more than obviously do. But they have no reason to try to trick anyone by making you think the product is anything else. If you buy Cheerios there, its the same Cheerios as Safeway. Oh, I'm not defending Walmart practices. But if I had a big grocery shop in the states, you bet your ass I'm going to a Walmart superstore. If I can save 15-20% on a $300 grocery shop, I'm doing it. It's up to the other grocery stores to compete. Now if I have several hundred dollars of fly gear to buy, I'm going to my local fly shop. And the local fly shops and fishing shops in South Texas (where Walmart totally rules) are doing just fine. The beast of Walmart doesn't always spell doom.

Interesting reading. I wouldn't imagine that speed of a rod (ultra-fast, fast, slow) is all that different than flex in a golf club? The smoother your acceleration pattern for a give shaft speed, the less stiffness on a club you need. Here is something a club maker told me once: Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus both had very similar swing speeds with the driver, like 130 MPH. But Palmer was all top end acceleration and hang on, and hence needed a extra-stiff driver to handle all that acceleration at the top. Nicklaus was accelerating all through the stroke and used a below regular flex on his shaft. Both hit the ball pretty far, especially Nicklaus, but..... From what I understand, all the long driving guys use xstiff shafts, for much the same reason I assume as the long distance casters. Only these shafts (or rods) could handle the massive acceleration these specialists put these shafts (or rods) under without hitting the limp spaghetti state (or disobeying Mr. Hooke by breaking into multiple pieces). But while interesting information, it doesn't make any difference to the majority of us who couldn't generate that much acceleration if our life depended on it.

Al, I was going to PM you, but I figured it would be better to do it here: I'll donate $50.00. Wish it could be more. How do I get it to you? How many members here? 1000? How many fish the Livingstone? Lots, I bet. Pony up boys and girls!!!

My ass needs hiding. I'll take one!

I use beaded almost exclusively. It's been effective for me, but I haven't used unweighted flies enough to really compare. Snakeman, I don't know if that's a troll, but if not, I have to ask who the stubborn one really is? So to be clear, if you don't use a "bobber" and/or worm while nymphing, it's fly fishing. As soon as one or the other is introduced I'm spin fishing? Interesting distinction. Does anyone know where I can find a nymph spin fishing website?

Norman, Thanks for shaming me into organizing my stuff. Took 3 hrs!

Never thought of that. I do park off the road. But it has been with my Saturn (1.8L of screaming offroad power) or my wifes Dodge Minivan. I don't think either one is in any danger of pulling off donuts Maybe BBB and I can have an offroad race!

I organize my stuff several times a year, just like I did when I tackle fished. It only takes me 2 or 3 trips for it to turn back into a mess. I think I had to be more organized when I tackle fished because I almost exclusively wade fished and I couldn't bring several hundred lures like I can with flies.

BrownTrout, I'm bored on a cold snowy Saturday, and so my statement was meant to be provocative. Nice to see it have the desired effect...... Your controlled access idea I find excellent. While I too would like to see ohv's banned, I don't think that is fair to the vast majority of them who treat the places they ride with respect. The lawless members of the ohv community should not force banning of the entire activity any more that fishermen who poach or have poor release practices should cause fishing to be banned. In both cases enforcement is the answer, but certainly not an easy one to implement. As to random campers, I think there should be areas where it is allowed, but only for set periods of time. You should not be able to set up your camp for the summer. 2 weeks maybe? Unfortunately, since the Livingstone parallels the FTR, it will probably always be a place where some random camping will be allowed. The campers have just as much right to the area as I do as a fisherman. I fished the Livingstone and creeks in the area 3 or 4 times this summer, for the first time in my life. Was amazed that people were allowed to set up for the summer and just leave their stuff. That said, in the times I fished I never heard any quads or bikes anywhere near me and most of the camps I saw were pretty clean. That said, if some ohv'ers had passed me while I was fishing, I wouldn't care much. If I really wanted a wilderness experience, I wouldn't expect it on a river that parallels the FTR. I'd do a hike in trip somewhere. Where I come from, there are proposals to create Fishing Exclusion Zones (i think that's the term). Like a wildlife sanctuary, but for fish. The places identified are almost unvaryingly the best fish habitat areas and as such the best places to fish. The groups advocating these zones, Greenpeace, PETA, etc. state that there will still be lots of places to fish. True, but they are advocating shutting down the best spots, and like fresh water, 90% of the fish are in 10% of the water. Many feel these are the opening salvos in an attempt to ban recreational fishing in the states. You may wonder why I bring this up in this post. Well, the people advocating these zones are well intentioned and completely convinced this is the best thing to do to "conserve" the environment. But since they don't fish, it has no impact on the way they enjoy the environment. Whenever I hear of anyone advocating banning any outdoor activity, I think of these exclusion zones. There has to be ways to accommodate all users, not just us fishermen. Sometimes, banning an activity may be necessary, but I caution that we think long and hard before we reach that conclusion.