reevesr1

Nope. They are payed millions for us to watch them play sports. I have never had a drop of a problem with that. Actors get paid for putting asses in the seats. Same as athletes. Not heroes, entertainers. They get paid what the market will bear. Just like me and most of the rest of us. Their market can just bear more.

"I knew right from the beginning That you would end up winning..."

I bought one for my then 15 yr old. 2 months until it was smashed. They are not the most robust phones, so the 13 yr old would need to be more careful than mine are.

I'll let others comment on color and tint. I've always liked bronze. But do not cheap out on goggles. Cheap=bad optics (bad optics actually make me physically ill) and bad design makes them fog up more often. Don't mess with bad goggles!!

I'm thinking of getting one myself, and a reel with a spare spool and a 3 and 4wt lines.

I had a Rushton. It is on the link below, called the brown. 19 1/4" opening, long and flat bottom. Loved it. Rushton Nets

Wait a minute. There are hippies coming to get my fish? Those damn hippies, always up to no good. Quick BBT, get the cake. Hippies always like cake and we can distract them before they get our fish.

I'm sorry Jay, but I must have missed my invite?

Cake lickers occupy the middle ground.

That's just speculation.

Global Warming Truisms: (Or Climate Change Truisms) My side of the argument is truth Your side of the argument is speculation. Doesn't matter which side you are on.

VP, I am terrible about making sure I put the soles in correctly. When I get fish fever, I tend to rush the little things. That said, I've never had mine pop out. Used them since last spring, so 60 or 70 trips? I know it's not 2 yrs, but I fish quite a bit.

Just put on the aquastealth with studs. Waded hard with them on Sunday, and they seemed fine. Loved them going down hill on the icy ground!

My response would be that I don't accept that killing of dolphins for food is acceptable, regardless of economic consequence, or tradition, or whatever. I understand your point fully about "is it our place to say", but for me in this case I think it is our place (or at least my place) to question and protest. I have never boycotted anything in my life that I can remember, nor have I ever protested anything. I would make an exception for this. I know I'm sounding like a broken record, but I don't equate the natives here killing salmon (or bears or whatever) to the killing of dolphin. To continue the broken record theme, I don't know where the "animal intelligence" line is, but where ever it is, dolphins are above it.

Thanks Isosceles. I'll try not to let you down! But I fear that I've exhausted my position on this thread.

ADC, Why be done with the thread? This one is actually moving along without much name calling, at least I think it is. Just differing opinions..... Three stories: When I was 12 yrs old I was running a gill net with my father and little brother (don't lecture me, it was a LONG time ago, and we quit after 2 yrs). A group of dolphins started circling the outside of the net. My dad pulled a trout (saltwater version) out and threw it to one of the dolphins. My brother and I did the same. Within a few fish all 4 or 5 of the dolphins are coming in for fish. Dad could get them to eat from his hand. Not so my brother and I, I think cuz they had to get too close because our arms were shorter. For dad, they would see the fish, swim in very slowly and burst accelerate the last few feet, take it from his hand and blast out. It was so cool. We probably fed them $50.00 worth of fish (1972 by the way). Just a great thing to see. When I was in my early 20s I lived in Orlando. I was fishing with a buddy on a big grass flat in Tampa Bay. The flat was across a channel from a beachfront with several hotels on it. In the channel were several adult dolphins and a couple of young one's. They put on what can only be called a show for the people on the beach. The dolphins started tail walking, jumping, playing and generally splashing about. When it started there was me and my buddy on the flat and a few people on the beach. After a couple of minutes there was a small crowd on the beach. The show went of for maybe 5 minutes and they moved on. Whether or not they knew we were there and were putting on a show is debatable. But there is no doubt in my mind that they were playing for the sake of playing. Not training to fight like many animals do, just flat out playing for play sake. When I was in my early 40s I was fishing a big sand flat in Louisiana with 10 or so others. Fishing was pretty good. We all had donut style stringers to keep the sharks away. But someone noticed a dolphin nosing his donut. (kinda like a big mesh fish basket-we kept fish to eat). We then see a big school of dolphins move into the flat about 75 yds in front of us. Knowing this was bad news for the fishing, we still watched the dolphins. They started to circle and the circle started to constrict. Then they blasted into the center of the circle and trout started to jump out of the water running for their lives! They had made a bait ball, but not of bait, of our intended target! Just an awesome display. We were laughing and I said "they are showing us how it is really done!" I've seen them more times than I can count goofing around. One of my strongest submarine memories are watching them jump across the bow while we were surface transiting between islands in Hawaii. I don't know how smart they really are. I'm sure I tend to assign more intelligence to them than they deserve. I don't care though. They are too valuable to eat. Period. I know that is just my opinion, but it is a cause I would support with my time and effort if the opportunity to do so arises.

Jack, Warning!! Hyperbole alert!! We had a war over that in the states once. One race of unpaid humans drove the economic engine of several southern states. People who didn't live in those states objected to the practice and wanted it stopped. The reaction of the slave states were very similar to your scenario above. They went to war over it and lost (thankfully). I wouldn't care if the dolphin and pilot whale industry contributed 100% of the economy of Taiji. To me, it is wrong. I want it stopped. I sympathize with the people of Taiji in that they may need to find some other source of income. But that does not change my feelings on this one iota.

I totally disagree. Of course we can judge based on IQ. If we didn't, we'd still be eating each other, keeping slaves, etc.Those practices ended as cultures evolved. The more interesting question is where the line is. I don't know that answer, but I know for me there are some species of animals above it. And I can judge if I choose. I can judge when apes are killed for food, or hands, or whatever. I can judge when dolphins are killed. In my mind, it is wrong. And not just wrong, immoral. That's my line in the sand. I can somewhat understand, but not condone, incidental killing of dolphins when fishing for other food sources. But to kill them to eat them should be stopped. You don't agree. Fair enough. But I am judging, and I have no issue with that whatsoever.

I don't know where the line is, but wherever it is, the great apes and dolphins are above it. I know that that is my line, not an Asian countries line, but if I could get it banned world wide I would. I could name a whole lot of practices that we don't do anymore that once were called "culture."

So are we saying that it is ok if a few dolphins, or a few thousand, get killed? Seriously? I've fed them in the wild before. Not at some damn ocean theme park, 100% wild dolphins. So basically it is ok to off the next smartest beings on the planet? So I couldn't give the slightest rats ass (sorry Jack) what the $%#@ the Japanese hunt for food. They fish out water then move on to other peoples water. There are lots of things societies used to do that we don't do any more. Killing dolphins is just flat wrong. Good lord.

I think it's some big oil that's broke! And yeah, I can handle coffee for awhile.

The winners of the raffles are: The Midge Fly Rod: Avalanche Who just happened to be the first person to enter! The Panorama Condo: Smitty My heartfelt thanks to all who participated, to Jack for the donation of the rod, and the moderators and administrators of this board for both their financial support and the use of this forum. I ended up just short of $3500.00, with around $2,000 coming from the members of this board. Thanks again to everyone. I will pm the winners separately. And a special thanks to BBT for the unbelievable donation! I sense a summer fishing trip.......or maybe a ski! Now, all you guys over 40, get yourselves checked out!!

Final bump. Only a few hours left!!!!

thank you Brian, and the Right Rev Loblaw, and Harps!

Jack, I thought we had discussed this. You were supposed to send it to me, but not tell anybody! Actually, I probably will get you to just send it to me since I need to get that tip for the 5 wt for my buddy to reassemble. That way you can ship them together. And thanks again for this. It has been very, very successful.