DonAndersen

headscan, Thought about that but then you loose 50% of the capacity. Wouldn't it be a lot simpler to just build the things right the first time. Talked to the Sci-Ang rep about issue - he told me that the boxes were designed by a Texan. Go figure!! Here I thought they were designed by the "little people". Mind you, heard a rumor that Gates is now looking for breeding stock with little tiny fingers. That way, the crap that is built will be useful to someone. Looked around and found some little people. Don

The same knot heads that designed the Blackberry/cell phones/ Ipods. How in god's Green Earth does some of these knot heads think that we have fingers 1/8" round. I picked up 2 fly boxes that are pictured on the Fly Tying section. Yes, they hold flies - lots of flies but if the stupid designers would realize that you have to design considering that our fingers, you'd make the number of slots about 30% fewer. Then we could get to them w/o using tweezers. Looked over the fly boxes @ the Expo - yup - every outfit employees the same knot heads. End of rant!!! See what February does to me!!! Don

maxwell, Ya - enjoyed seeing you as well and casting some plastic poles. As far as chironomids - I fish them naked a lot of the time. Use bobbers when I have to. Been using bobbers for nymphing for 35 years or so. I haven't much use for a spey rod. I can't cast much over 50' with a decent tail wind. catch ya' Don

Guys/Gals, Health Question and Answer Session Another way of looking at life, food and diet and everything nice. Q: I've heard that cardiovascular exercise can prolong life; is this true? A: Your heart is only good for so many beats, and that's it. Don't waste them on exercise. Everything wears out eventually. Speeding up your heart will not make you live longer; that's like saying you can extend the life of your car by driving it faster. Want to live longer? Take a nap. Q: Should I cut down on meat and eat more fruits and vegetables? A: You must grasp logistical efficiencies. What does a cow eat? Hay and corn, and what are these? Vegetables. So a steak is nothing more than an efficient mechanism of delivering vegetables to your system. Need grain? Eat chicken. Beef is also a good source of field grass (green leafy vegetable). And a pork chop can give you 100 percent of your recommended daily allowance of vegetable products. Q: Should I reduce my alcohol intake? A: No, not at all. Wine is made from fruit. Brandy is distilled wine. That means they take the water out of the fruity bit so you get even more of the goodness that way. Beer is also made out of grain. Bottoms up! Q: How can I calculate my body/fat ratio? A: Well, if you have a body and you have fat, your ratio is one to one. If you have two bodies, your ratio is two to one, etc. Q: What are some of the advantages of participating in a regular exercise program? A: Can't think of a single one, sorry. My philosophy is: No Pain...Good! Q: Aren't fried foods bad for you? A: YOU'RE NOT LISTENING!!! Foods are fried these days in vegetable oil. In fact, they're permeated in it. How could getting more vegetables be bad for you? Q: Will sit-ups help prevent me from getting a little soft around the middle? A: Definitely not! When you exercise a muscle, it gets bigger. You should only be doing sit-ups if you want a bigger stomach. Q: Is chocolate bad for me? A: Are you crazy? HELLO ...... Cocoa beans! Another vegetable!!! It's the best feel good food around! Q: Is swimming good for your figure? A: If swimming is good for your figure, explain whales to me. Q: Is getting in-shape important for my lifestyle? A: Hey! 'Round' is a shape! Well, I hope this has cleared up any misconceptions you may have had about food and diets. And for Beer!!! A herd of buffalo can only move as fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members. In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the slowest brain cells. Excessive intake of alcohol, as we know, kills brain cells. But naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making the brain a faster and more efficient machine. That's why you always feel smarter after a few beers." WARNING: The consumption of alcohol may make you think you are whispering when you are not. As for Wine!!! Water and Wine Education It has been scientifically proven that if we drink 1 litre of water each day, at the end of the year we would have absorbed more than 1 kilo of Escherichia coli (E. coli) bacteria found in faeces. In other words, we are consuming 1 kilo of Poo. However, we do not run that risk when drinking wine (or rum, whiskey, beer or other liquors) because alcohol has to go through a distillation process of boiling, filtering and fermenting. WATER = Poo WINE = HEALTH Free yourself of Poo, drink WINE!!! It is better to drink wine and talk sh!t than to drink water and be full of sh!t. There is no need to thank me for this valuable information, I am doing it as a public service.

Rob, Haven't tried many clear beads. Usually use white - mostly plastic or glass. Metal beads fall too fast for the way I like to fish the fly. The gray body c/w black rib either with a vinyl or Hard as Nails over-coat seems to work best of the bunch although each of them shown have had their days. catch ya' Don

Monger, The TMC 2488H looks like the Mustad Have some of the C67S hooks and have used them. Not sure that the hooking rate is all that good. catch ya' Don

Din, I use Mustad Signature Hooks for nearly all my tying now. I'm fortunate to get to fish some of the big fish water here and there and the Signature Series is about as tough as it gets. For Dries I use the R50 and I hoping to find some R 50X hooks that are made barbless c/w a 30 % longer hook point. For stillwater flies including Boatman, Swimmers, Leeches, Chironomids and Bloodworms I use one of the hook styles below. C 49S - best fish landed on this hook was a 8+ lb. rainbow on a size 16 boatman C53S- I use this one for bloodworms C068 - tougher than snail *hit. Landed a 6+ lb. trip. on a size 18 last summer You want 'em tough -get Mustad. The only hook other than these I'd consider is the Tiemco #2457. catch ya' Don

Just about done chironomids - got only another 500 slots open. Don

And this is the last one for a while - gotta do some rod work. This one's overbody is Stretch Magic 0.5mm Bead and Jewelry Cord in clear [ try your local Craft Shop for a supply - failing that, swallow your distaste and head to Michaels]. The underbody is 4 strands of Bronze colored Flashabou. Gills are Stillwaters Gill Yarn, head is herl. Hook is a Mustad C49S size 10. Don

And some more: This one is a gray thread body c/w black thread rib + 1 coat of Loctite + 4 coats of Hard and Nails. Both have a black thread body c/w red Flashabou Accent c/w 1 coat of Loctite + 5 coats of Hard as Nails. With and w/o bead. The black thread body seems to have more depth. Camera really doesn't show it well. catch ya' Don

Clive, Hard as nails suffers the same fate as brushable Loctite super glue - takes many coats to get any depth. I generally use 3>5 coats of Sally's stuff to get the effect I'm looking for. 'course - your mileage may vary. Brunsie, 1] beat up granny and steal her vinyl 2] got the last piece @ the Coop in Rocky - used for table cloth protector Inconnu, The opaque stuff is cereal box liners. Typically vinyl is clear. catch ya' Don

Golfman09, To get vinyl you have to be old enough to remember Grannie's Doilies and their vinyl coverings. This is the vinyl to use. Cut it into strips using a straight ruler, sheet of glass and sharp knife. I use a Olfa rolling blade knife. catch ya' Don

Here is the last 3 pictures of today's experiment. The over-body in this case was anti-static bag material. Thread body was Danville's 6/0, rib was Monocord 3/0 in black, the head was herl, the gills Arizona Diamond Braid Pearl Blue color. Hooks are Mustad C 49S size 10. Anti-Static Bag gray body yellow body brown body Depending on the look you want, each of the materials is very different. The vinyl shows the colors well, the cereal box liner which is opaque, mutes the colors somewhat where as the anti-static bag virtually buries the colors. Darker colors under the anti-static bag would be >black. Now back to something useful - like building rods. catch ya' Don

Stillwater guys, Here are some 6 shots of the same chironomid. Only the body color is varied. The covering in the first 3 shots is vinyl, the next 3 use cereal box liner. The body is each case was Danville's 6/0, the rib was Monocord 3/0, head is herl, gills are Arizona Diamond Braid Pearl Blue color. Hooks used for the first 3 pictures are cruddy Talon stuff size 12. The next 3 pictures use Mustad C49S size 10. Vinyl Over-body Cereal Box Liner More to come!!! Don

Guys, Wished I could help. I does look somewhat like some of the bobbins Herters sold 30+ years ago. Neat stuff. Don

Guys, Badger talked about Antistatic bags, Wonder Bread bags + some other ideas. Here are some of the things I've tried: 1] Anti-static bags 2] Cereal box liners 3] Plastic bags 4] Vinyl 5] Epoxies 6] Super Glues 7] Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails 8] Floss treated with acetone Each of them seems to work sometimes!!! Any other ideas of what to try? catch ya' Don

This was shamelessly copied from another site and I can't wait for Orvisonly to pop in with his take. Don Fear, Greed, and Crisis Management: A Neuroscientific Perspective By Andrew W. Lo The alleged fraud perpetrated by Bernard Madoff is a timely and powerful microcosm of the current economic crisis, and it underscores the origin of all financial bubbles and busts: fear and greed. Using techniques such as magnetic resonance imaging, neuroscientists have documented the fact that monetary gain stimulates the same reward circuitry as cocaine — in both cases, dopamine is released into the nucleus accumbens. Similarly, the threat of financial loss activates the same fight-or-flight circuitry as physical attacks, releasing adrenaline and cortisol into the bloodstream, which results in elevated heart rate, blood pressure, and alertness. These reactions are hardwired into human physiology, and while some of us are able to overcome our biology through education, experience, or genetic good luck, the vast majority of the human population is driven by these “animal spirits” that John Maynard Keynes identified over 70 years ago. From this neuroscientific perspective, it is not surprising that there have been 17 banking-related national crises around the globe since 1974, the majority of which were preceded by periods of rising real-estate and stock prices, large capital inflows, and financial liberalization. Extended periods of prosperity act as an anesthetic in the human brain, lulling investors, business leaders, and policymakers into a state of complacency, a drug-induced stupor that causes us to take risks that we know we should avoid. In the case of Madoff, seasoned investors were apparently sucked into the alleged fraud despite their better judgment because they found his returns too tempting to pass up. In the case of subprime mortgages, homeowners who knew they could not afford certain homes proceeded nonetheless, because the prospects of living large and benefiting from home-price appreciation were too tempting to pass up. And investors in mortgage-backed securities, who knew that the AAA ratings were too optimistic given the riskiness of the underlying collateral, purchased these securities anyway because they found the promised yields and past returns too tempting to pass up. If we add to these temptations a period of financial gain that anesthetizes the general population — including C.E.O.’s, chief risk officers, investors, and regulators — it is easy to see how tulip bulbs, internet stocks, gold, real estate, and fraudulent hedge funds could develop into bubbles. Such gains are unsustainable, and once the losses start mounting, our fear circuitry kicks in and panic ensues, a flight-to-safety leading to a market crash. This is where we are today. Like hurricanes, financial crises are a force of nature that cannot be legislated away, but we can greatly reduce the damage they do with proper preparation. Because the most potent form of fear is fear of the unknown, the most effective way to combat the current crisis is with transparency and education. In the short run, one way to achieve transparency is for our president-elect to convene a “crisis summit” once in office, in which all the major stakeholders involved in this crisis, and their most knowledgeable subordinates, are invited to an undisclosed location for an intensive week-long conference. During this meeting, detailed information about exposures to “toxic assets,” concentrations of risky counterparty relationships, and other systemic weaknesses will be provided on a confidential basis to regulators and policymakers, and various courses of action can be proposed and debated in real time. Afterward, a redacted summary of this meeting should be provided to the public by the president, along with a specific plan for addressing the major issues identified during the conference. This process would go a long way toward calming the public’s fears and restoring the trust and confidence that are essential to normal economic activity. In the long run, more transparency into the “shadow banking” system; more education for investors, policymakers, and business leaders; and more behaviorally oriented regulation will allow us to weather any type of financial crisis. Regulation enables us to restrain our behavior during periods when we know we will misbehave; it is most useful during periods of collective fear or greed and should be designed accordingly. Corporate governance should also be revisited from this perspective; if we truly value naysayers during periods of corporate excess, then we should institute management changes to protect and reward their independence. If “crisis is a terrible thing to waste,” as some have argued, then we have a short window of opportunity — before economic recovery begins to weaken our resolve — to reform our regulatory infrastructure for the better. The fact that time heals all wounds may be good for our mental health, but it may not help maintain our economic wealth.

And for another crazy guys see: Must be a European thing. Probably comes from to many people living to close together. Thins some of them out. catch ya' Don

Guys, Here is a step by step from another site. Don http://homepage.ntlworld.com/radbard88/esbuzzer/

SilverDoctor, I probably assembled about 20 fiberglass/graphite blanks from Orvis, Winston, Sage, Loomis & J. Kennedy Fisher till about 1980 or so. Now I make rods. Don

Jeffro, The rancher was removing a dam that he'd constructed to back up the water for his cows. He also related to me that the flat we were standing in had been covered with willows when he was a kid. All but one or two were gone, banks were eroded etc. Typical cow business along streams. What is very important is that he learned and will pass the learning onto his grandkids. I do doubt that DFO or Dept. of Environment or SRD or Coast Guard or any other Govt regulatory group was consulted on either placing of the dam or it's removal. I do realize that good intentions really can screw up a trout stream. Look @ the 3 Rivers Damn as a prime example. catch ya' Don

For a web site on construction - see http://www.rodbuildingforum.com/ It's not all that tough. I assembled my first rod in 1968 using instructions printed on one side of a 8 1/2 *11" page. catch ya' Don

Guys, Doc Seaman's OH Ranch is doing much the same thing as Harps pointed out in Montana. See: http://www.ohranch.com/ranchbackgrounder.html And another story: Some years ago I was looking for a place to do a pontoon boat pick up on the upper Oldman River. Checked my MD maps and headed for the landowner's place. Knocked on the door and a older gal directed me towards the barns and corrals NW of the house. There they were - a old grizzled guy + a shiny rubber tired backhoe backed up to the stream digging away. No surprise for me. Seen it lots of times. The old guy and I hunkered and chewed for a time and he asked me what I was up to. Told him about the access - he says "Go ahead". Just when I turned to go he says " do you think that them little trout can get up through here now to spawn". Boy, did that spark a conversation. He related that cuts had used the stream for all the years his family had owned the property and he was trying to make amends for years of cow abuse. There is hope! catch ya' Don

Smitty, Cows and Fish is alive and doing good work. It is headed by Lorne Fitch a past Regional Biologist from southern Alberta. Lorne is a great guy who cares. They do assessments and help livestock producers all over Alberta do it a different way that was done 30 years ago. As Taco said, watershed groups have sprung up all over Alberta. Some are more effective than others of maintaining or improving stream health. Don

Guys, Many trout streams are closed as a result of the East Slopes Regulation changes. The biologists wanted to protect the fish that were in their overwintering pools from anglers targeting them. Could clean out a river population quite quickly. If the water were open, the Fish Cops would have to check out anglers. So it's two issues - biological and enforcement - angler safety has nothing to do with it. In my area, I lost the opportunity to fish Prairie Creek, Main Ram, Shunda Creek and on and on. I wasn't happy. catch ya' Don