TheOkieAngler.com

I love fishin’ the prime Arkansas trout water as much as the next Okie, but it’s getting hard not to be bitter with our “Natural State” neighbors. Between the recent Didymo invasion on the Lower Mountain Fork River and the longstanding poultry pollution in the Illinois River Watershed, we have our hands full cleaning up their messes.

It looks like we’re a bit closer to diggin’ our way out from under the piles of chicken poop though — the case against the poultry polluters may actually go to trial.  Keep your fingers crossed.

You know things are bad when you have to write songs about chicken poop to get attention:

Chicken Poop by Dennis Tibbits and the Foul Pluckers(definitely worth a listen)

I mean come on… if scientists can manage to turn chicken feathers into carbonized, nano-sized hydrogen receptacles for use in “green” fuel cells , surely we can come up with a way to handle the poultry litter that avoids ruining Oklahoma waterways.

**EDIT**

I realize I can’t really blame the Razorbacks for tainting our Pride and Joy (LMFR) with Didymo, I’m sure it hitch hiked its way in on a boot after someone’s White River vacation (or something of that nature)… but you’re still on the hook for the chicken poop.

Who needs a little extra distraction at work?? Not me… but thanks to the roughfisher, I have yet another one.

Who needs a "to-do" list anyway?

I picked up this book a few weeks ago after reading JP’s interview with Tom Dickson. It’s easy to feel a bit isolated from the fly fishing community out here in Oklahoma and the book sounded like a good enough substitute for getting in some on-the-water time with the rough fishing gurus.

I’ve always been a fan of a little fishing variety and it seems like this book is opening up a few more fly fishing options for me. I definitely haven’t been disappointed with the results thus far. After picking up my first Flathead a couple of weeks ago (admittedly, more luck than a result of reading the book…spend enough time on the water and something cool is bound to happen sooner or later), I pulled in my first bullhead. Check another one off the species life list!

A not-so-black black bullhead

With a little academic motivation from Fishing for Buffalo and having knocked off 2 new species from the life list in as many weeks I thought I should expand on my “Gar Goal” a bit more… I’m always trying to find ways to continually improve and I figure there’s no better way to ensure it happens than to come up with some specific challenges for myself.

SUMMER GOALS:

1. Catch a Gar – Still #1, but I think I am going to take after Trash on the Fly (one of the best posts I’ve read in a while) and just fish for them opportunistically. I’ve burned a lot of time fishing for them recently when I would have probably been better off chasing something else.
2. Develop some all around rough fishin’ skills. The vast majority of the time I’ve spent on the water this  year has been chasing carp in still water, I need to break out of the rut. This one has to be broken up into a few parts:
   1. Fish more moving water.
   2. Find and catch at least one species of Redhorse
   3. Find and catch at least one species of Buffalo
   4. Find and catch a Drum

Having more goals will give me better opportunity for success and I think will really help me to pick up some new skills over the summer. The water is low and the days are hot and long. Gotta take advantage of it while I can.

Tight Lines.