kmckiou

Mark, Since it does not seem like you have had any responses, I will tell you what I know. Wading is allowed in any Dupage County Forest Preserve areas. There are some forest preserve areas which are inside the city limits of towns. In those cases you may be limited by city ordinance. I know for sure, within the Naperville city limits wading is not permitted. As for were to go...I don't know. I fished the West Branch north of Naperville pretty heavily last year and didn't have much luck. It is beautiful fishy looking water, but, for what ever reason, I didn't catch much. It may just be my technique since I know they are in there. See the picture on the lower right of my signature. That is one of the dams north of Naperville. Looks great, doesn't it! - Kevin

Thought some folks might be interested in seeing Joseph at the Chicago Great Waters Expo. http://www.greatwatersflyfishingexpo.com/chiprogram.html He tells me he will have a booth near the FFF casting area and he will have lots of TFO rods to cast. - Kevin

Cripes! How else is a small business owner to make a go of it today. You have to promote your business/services either directly or indirectly in related forums. Frankly, as a consumer, I consider it a welcome service. It is gravy that Joseph also shares stories, patterns and other related FF stuff. - Kevin

I've only been hanging around this forum for a few months, but really enjoyed Joseph's posts. Shortly after joining the forum I visited OMC and was very surprised at Joseph's initial comments to me. I won't repeat them, but the implication was that there are still bad feelings over some things that happened in the past and he continues to receive antagonistic private communications from ISA forum members. It sounded like he was really taking it to heart. Maybe he just reached a point where he has had enough of it. Dunno...but I am sad he has chosen to solve what ever problems exist by leaving. - Kevin

Joseph, If instead of the plastic cone you tied on some deer hair (or whatever) in a reverse (forward) cone, would that impart a similar action and be more aesthetic? Actually, it seems to me you would not need a cone, but just two forward "wings" that catch the water and impart a side-to-side action on the fly. - Kevin

Indeed. I linked directly to their image but did not point out the source. I probably should have since it is an interesting blog. Here's another interesting lure: It is brought to you by http://carponthefly.blogspot.com/ This has it's lurid aspects as has been pointed out by http://busterwantstofish.com/ - truly interesting blog. But what I want to know is how can we mix sex and flies. Joseph, take note! It has to be a commercial winner since everyone knows that "sex sells". - Kevin

Umm....your point is...????

Hmmm...I obviously need a lesson in casting terminology. Maybe another thread, though. I would really like to talk about sex and lures - perfect winter fare for fly fishing shut-ins. Goes pretty well with the scotch next to the keyboard. Ummm...I hope this subject is not too racy. I would rate it PG at this point. - Kevin

Joseph, I think you miss my point. The spin-casters have managed to combine sex and lures. It is a crude combination akin to painting on velvet, but they did it. What do the fly tiers have to offer? Maybe it is innovation or just plain fun, but if you could catch fish with Pam A, it would make for some interesting discussion of lures. Heck, I might start fly tying just to get a chuckle about what the fish are biting on. - Kevin BTW, the "gauntlet" bit is all in fun...no disparaging intended on either side of the reel seat. Oh! Maybe you could tie a "Pam A" for Mark K's 'Member's Patterns' thread. I'd love to see that!

OK innovative fly tiers, the gauntlet has been thrown down by the spin casters. Top this!

So, they are sort of stubby 10 and 11 weight rods (?). I would think you could man-handle just about any bass with those - which makes their additional recommendation make sense: "When used outside the bass fishing world, we strongly recommend them for probing the mangroves or throwing huge flies for pike and muskies" - Kevin

Now that is an organized email campaign! - Kevin

I wanted to thank those of you who sent email to the Siskiyou County, CA Board of Supervisors regarding their Natural Resources Plan. Evidently we and others impressed on the BOS that they are not living in a vacuum. Their actions are visible to the world. For now, there will be no vote on the Natural Resources Plan and the language regarding the navigability of rivers has been deleted. More information can be found: Trout Underground - Kevin

OK. Since I'm new to the forum, I'll post two photos of my favorites. Here is the Dupage taken this morning as I waded upstream in the Warrenville Grove. And this is my all-time favorite river picture of the Gardner in Yellowstone taken this fall. Just up around the corner to the left is a big hole with brown trout .

Tim, I agree and have done what I can at this time - sent an email to the board. I am simply following the lead of the guys in Siskiyou county which want to keep this at a public/political level at this time. So, I think the best thing we can do is flood the board with emails expressing our concern. I do know that TU and the Orvis Conservation folks have become involved. I think other organizations as well, but I do feel strongly that we should show our support for the fight to stop or reasonably amend this Natural Resource Plan and send an email. It would be great if the folks on this forum could do the same. If the ISA board would like to express their concern as an organization, that would be even better. Finally, if the national level of The Smallmouth Alliance also wanted to show their support, that would probably be the best we could do. Thanks for your comments! - Kevin

Salty over at BusterWantsToFish.com says: In the ongoing battle with the Siskiyou County Commision in California, where said “commision” has a few board members led by uber harpy Marcia Armstrong that are tryng to usurp Federal and State law and declare the county’s rivers non-navigable, and thereby kick the anglers off and hand over the natural resources to suction dredge mining, clear cutting and overgrazing of cattle on public land. If you’re kicking back right now and saying “I’ll never fish there, why should I get involved”, remember, our legal system is based on English Common Law, so precedent carries a lot of weight. If they can pull it off in Siskiyou County, trust me, your County Board might try this too. Time to issue that collective “F* That” and here’s how we do it and it’ll take you about 2 minutes. Copy and Paste courtesey of TC over at The Trout Underground cause he wrote it better than I could. -------------------------- I find what is going on in Siskiyou County, CA offensive! If you have just a couple minutes send the County Commission an email (see post above) and let them know there are a lot of people watching them. The emails need to be sent before the next board meeting which is Tuesday, 13 Nov. - Kevin

Joseph, Since we're on the subject of website improvements - now trying to be productive/proactive instead of clowning... This is an idea that I would personally benefit from and might draw many more people to your site...especially fly tiers. I don't think it would be too much trouble for you to set up a webcam in your shop and put it on the front page of your website. Based on articles I've read (that you have written) and stuff you have said, it sounds like you and Bob tie a bunch of flies. So, here is what you could do with that webcam: During shop hours - Focus the webcam on your fly-tying vise. I'd love to be able to stop by and watch when I have a few minutes During events/meetings - Focus the webcam on the speaker/meeting and enable an audio bridge on your PC. It would be great if I or others could participate in meetings even when we cannot be there in person. Web clinics - You could hold web clinics on fly tying or other interesting topics at any time. When the shop is closed - You can keep an eye on it. Oh, and to go with the webcam, add a side-bar blog with daily comments and tips. This would really make your site unique and definitely draw visitors on a daily basis. Of course, the business up-side to all this traffic is that you could actually start generating ad-revenue like those other fly fishing bloggers - except that yours would have more and continuous content updates. The other upside is that someone in Boise Idaho might see you tying that crazy minnow thing and want to order some. Before you know it, this could spawn an internet business. The possibilities go on and on. Heck you could even post a schedule of when you plan to tie what fly so I would know when to stop by your site. This, in turn would lead to statistics on which flies are of most interest based on "hits" during tying sessions. This kind of technology is the stuff you can find at Fry's or Best Buy, so it is pretty mature and inexpensive. The web and computer-based communication are a wonderful thing. I'd love for you to be one of the first to incorporate it into your fly fishing business. I'm start to expand the idea, but you get my drift. You could start simple with a webcam and blog so I can visit your shop every day even though I live 20 miles away. - Kevin

I don't know how many of you are aware of what is going on in Siskiyou County, CA, but it seems a belligerent county board is determined to take away access to rivers which are wonderful trout fisheries and turn them over to private land owners to do as they will. In particular, it appears that gold-mining suction dredgers are behind this. You can imagine what that is going to do to the rivers. I've been following this saga for more than a month now on the Trout Underground website (http://troutunderground.com/ ). You can read all about it in the archives. Anyhow, there has been a request made to let other people know about this and send a polite letter of concern to the county board members with a cc to the county clerk and a cc to Tom Chandler who is one of the people trying to stop this locomotive. The whole thing sounds a bit underhanded if not downright illegal with the county board simply ignoring the CA state definitions of navigable waterways, but a lot of damage can be done to the environment if they pass their Natural Resource Plan even if it is eventually challenged and overturned in court. Here are the people to copy on the email: * Michael Kobseff (mkobseff@co.siskiyou.ca.us) * Bill Overman (bandm@nctv.com) * LaVada Erickson (erickson5031@sbcglobal.net) * cc -Colleen Setzer, County Clerk (csetzer@co.siskiyou.ca.us) * cc -Trout Underground (tom.chandler@gmail.com) Here are the major points to make: * The Proposed Natural Resources Plan and Committee damages Siskiyou County’s sustainable, renewable tourist economy. Fishermen won’t come here, even if just the Scott and Shasta Rivers are declared non-navigable (though the plan clearly includes “all” rivers in the county). When half the County’s tourist-related businesses start suffering, what will the Board of Supervisors do? * The Proposed Natural Resources Plan and Committee Ordinance avoids public comment. Modoc County invested eight months writing their plan, and held a half-dozen public meetings. Siskiyou County’s draft policy document shuns public input, and was apparently written by one person — who somehow retains the “right” to accept or decline public comment. How is that good public process? * The Proposed Natural Resources Plan practically guarantees expensive, wasteful legal challenges. Despite one supervisor’s protestations to the contrary, a half hour of research makes it clear the Scott, Shasta, Upper Sacramento and McCloud Rivers qualify as “navigable” under Federal and State definitions. It’s also clear that all rivers not designated non-navigable are to be considered navigable (not vice versa). Why are we essentially asking for lawsuits — which the county will lose? * Any suggestions the navigability of rivers “was frozen at statehood” ignores the Fall River decision (and others), where attempts to impede public access to navigable rivers were thrown back by lawsuits. Finally, here is the letter I sent: Dear County Board Member, I don't live in your county, but I am concerned about it. A prime draw for me and other visitors is access to the county rivers for kayaking and fishing - not to mention the natural beauty of your streams and rivers. As I understand from reading the Natural Resource Plan, it would significantly limit public access to Siskiyou county rivers and streams. This, of course, would cause me and others to search elsewhere for recreational rivers. I have been following the progress of the plan with interest and am concerned about the following issues: - Inadequate consideration of public comment - The legality of the plan and ultimate court challenges - The plan seems to ignore the CA state definitions for a navigable river Finally, I am ultimately alarmed that the plan will result in a major disruption of the environment and freeing of toxins that have been buried in the streambeds since the gold rush days. For example, did you know that during the gold rush days, 75 million pounds of mercury were used in the Sacramento-San Joaquin delta? How much was used in your county and how much environment poisoning is going to happen if miners are allowed to disturb the stream beds? There are a lot of people and organizations across the US and the world that are aware of what you are doing and are concerned. It is time to put away the pioneer mentality and care for our environment and natural resources. There are no more frontiers and we know that only a few will benefit from suction dredging of streams while the vast majority of the county and state population will suffer the consequences. Please do your job and protect the resources for all of us. Respectfully, - Kevin McKiou Naperville, IL If you have a few minutes, drop them an email. - Kevin

Mark, Is this through personal knowledge or is there a source which I might access? BTW, I'm in Naperville (western burb of Chicago). So...where are those spring-fed creeks? - Kevin

Noooo.....that's not it... It looks to me like you are sneaking up on somebody adjusting their gravel guards <ROTFL>

This, by far, is my favorite. What I am wondering is what is just off the left edge of the frame... - Kevin

Maybe you should frame some spectacular saltwater flies and put them on your website for sale. What would it hurt? - Kevin

Does anyone know if there are any spring-fed creeks in Illinois? Or maybe the right question is where is the nearest spring-fed creek? - Kevin

Mike, The last couple times on the stream I tried something when attaching a tippet with a double surgeon's knot. I left the tippet spool in my vest pocket and pulled out the end. I then tied the knot looping the tippet end through the loop while still attached to the spool in my pocket. Of course, I was not able to pull the tippet end through the loop since it was attached to the spool, so I was really wrapping a loop of tippet around the main loop of the knot. So, after looping (a loop of) the tippet material through the loop twice, I simply held the knot in one hand and pulled off the spool how much tippet I wanted and cut it. Now I just grabbed the base of the tippet inside knot loop and pulled it through and tightened the knot. Using this technique, there is no way to drop the tippet material. - Kevin

I came across this site when I was browsing through Jason Borger's blog. SexyLoops.com is an informative site on fly fishing, but the lead story today included this incredible 10 minute video of "Stuntman" Ronan casting to, hooking and eventually landing a huge trout. Several times I thought the fish was going to break off or his rod was going to break. It dragged him down the rapids up, over and around boulders. What luck to catch the whole thing on video. Warning this is a 90 MB file: Man-fishing - Kevin