Matt Tucker
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What should I expect as to boat traffic on the river on opening weekend.
Boat traffic at the dam will be heavy. IF they are running water, you could easily see 20 boats from the dam to the first bend at the state park running hot laps in the C&R area. It works, you just have to synchronize your drift with the lines everyone else is fishing. Once you get below White Hole, you won’t see many other boats (other than the bait guides…..that normally have light winters). The C&R area does fish well the first couple weekends though (or any other time….).
Looking forward to meeting you at streamerfest.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
Brandon and I will roll into Cotter around midnight Friday, fish hard for 4 days, leave around dark on Tuesday are the plans, taking in Streamer Fest along the way.
Do you plan on fishing any that weekend ?
David:
We aren’t even bringing a rod down this trip. We will roll in to Cotter around 10pm on Friday night and need to start setting up and prepping meat. Give us a shout as you drive by the shop (we will be set up in the parking lot on Friday night). It will be an all day affair, tending to the wood burner smoker with some Sailor Jerry & Sweet Tea mixed in.
There is a large group of us heading down the following weekend (between the guys I fish with and the guys from “Chasing The Dream” in OK, there will be close to 20 of us staying at Copper Johns and the State Park), the crowds are generally lighter and the fishing is generally just as good; so we will get are serious fishing done that second weekend.
It will be a good time for sure.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
Zach:
I have been meaning to reply to this thread since the first day I saw it, but haven’t had a chance until now. You and I have had our sites for quite awhile now, pretty much starting them around the same time if I am remembering correctly. The OzarkChronicles.com went live in 2001 and I remember trading messages with you as you were firing this thing up. Back in the day, the forum was the largest part of my site. At one time, I had over 600 members with too many active members to count. We would plan meet-ups and weekend outings and what not, and it was a tight community of people that actually met each other in real time. I made a ton of lifelong friends that I still fish with today, but that was before all the interweb social media craziness.
As the technology changed, I struggled with my site to keep the forums current (from a technology standpoint) and always looked for a better way to skin a cat. I changed forum software several times in an effort to improve the interface, and each time I lost more and more members. Finally (a few years ago), as I searched for a way to tie facebook to the forum and lost a ton of members in the migration, I decided to remove the forum all together from the site. In this age of instant self-gratification it takes a real effort to run an effective forum (both from the administrator and the active members), and I just gave up; largely because it was a chore to compete with facebook and myspace at the time. Now my site is a collection of my photography and a general blog to share my thoughts on whatever I choose; i update it in spurts and I think of it as more of an online diary of sorts (last year, I read back to fishing reports I posted in 2001….what a total trip).
I do think you are spot on with your thoughts on the control of facebook over the content that is posted, but like technology has changed over the years; this will pass and a new “facebook” platform will appear (I am already seeing more and more people move to google+…..once you can get it figured out) for the very reason above (and a myriad of more). The one thing that won’t change; however, is society’s “now” mentality. The masses (me included) have tasted the milk that is instant fly fishing access on the interwebs; so why create a thread on a forum, when i can share it out on a social media site and have a “conversation” with people I have never met. Unfortunately, in the age of internet fly fishing sites both you and I our dinosaurs. For me, the reason I keep coming back to this site (and a few others) is for the “friends” that I have made over the years and the knowledge that is shared on this site (largely in the photography section for me). So keep on keeping on with this, it is worth it.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
The funny thing is when building a smoker without plans, until you light a fire in the firebox, you never know if it is going to draft properly or if it is going to hold heat. This things does both surprisingly well for a reverse-flow smoker.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
Thanks Zach. It pays to employ guys that weld pretty well. The whole process was pretty fun, as we didn’t use a single drawing. It was built from my head and some online calculators regarding airflow and air volume and the help of an online forum. You can follow the build process at this link (http://smokerbuilder.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=3075) and at some point, i will get this all uploaded to my site in blog format.
It holds a ton of meat. I had a party at my house in October with it, and cooked 4pcs 15lb Pork Shoulders, 49 Chicken Leg Quarters, 4 Racks of St. Louis Style Spare Ribs, 2pcs Antelope Hind Quarters, 5lbs of Bacon, and 49 Twice Baked Potatoes in it all at the same time…..for the streamerfest, I am only looking at doing around 6 Pork Shoulders and 120 leg quarters, and maybe some extra goodies thrown in.
It is definitely going to be a good time, so hopefully some board members will come on out.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
I bought a Lowepro Dryzone Rover off of LorenE from the forum a few years ago. I use it quite a bit when shooting my daughter on dry run creek, but Buzz is right; the zipper is an absolute pain most of the time and it takes way too much time to get the camera out that I don’t zip it most of the time, unless i am making a crossing or something. I like the idea of the hardside case over the backpack for protection. No worries, just figured I would ask what everyone else was doing, seems like we are all on about the same page.
–matt tucker
www.ozarkchronicles.com
I have the padded dividers now for the 1450 and it isn’t quite big enough. Looks like I will take a visit to my local camera shop and start playing with their cases a bit. I have been holding off buying another case, hoping for a Studio Cruzer case (http://www.casecruzer.com/studiocruzer/), so maybe the solution is to just keep the AW1 out and about (since it is waterproof).
www.ozarkchronicles.com
The ViewNX2 should have come with your camera or you can download it for free here on Nikon’s site:
https://support.nikonusa.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/18710/session/L2F2LzEvdGltZS8xMzg1NTU3NDI3L3NpZC9mX1FKS29HbA%3D%3Dwww.ozarkchronicles.com
Roy:
I use ViewNX2 much into the same way you are referring. I will “cull” my shots and transfer from the card into my initial file location at the same time renaming and updating the tag info using ViewNX, and then just ADD the photos from their current location into LR. It is the process that works best for me (I have tried using LR to import photos directly from the card and it works, but I like to give the images a quick run through before doing anything else and to me LR is a little bulky to be able to quickly do that).
–Matt Tucker
www.ozarkchronicles.com
I agree David. The camera is has a much more substantial build quality than I thought it would. It is also smaller, overall, than i thought it would be. Unfortunately, they still are not shipping the 10mm lens which is what I really wanted for this camera, but I did play with the 11-27 all weekend. The camera is definitely waterproof, but here is my take on underwater shots. At this point, until someone makes a swivel / tilt LCD screen for an underwater camera you are mainly going to have a point and pray method for underwater shots (if someone has a better method, please let me know). The ability to fire the flash underwater is awesome though, and can’t wait for the additional strobe they are going to be releasing early next year. The controls and functions all seem well laid out and most everything I wanted to do, I was able to do with ease from the moment i picked up the camera. My only issue is that currently Lightroom doesn’t support the AW1 and I have to use a release candidate version (do any of you guys use release candidate versions of lightroom?). More info and sample images to follow.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
I am picking up my Nikon AW1 kit tonight on my way home from work. I will post up some pics and a review after I have messed with it for a bit. None of the stores stock the 2 lens kit, so they have to bring in my 10mm lens after the fact, but at least i will get to play with the 11-27. I am really curious to play with it, as I have been eyeing it up for a month now.
www.ozarkchronicles.com
I always liked the “what’s in your camera bag” threads.
Other than the standard flash, regular tripod, and filters. I generally don’t leave home without the following items in my pelican 1450 or Lowepro DryZone Rover.
Giottos Rocket Air Blaster
Great for blowing off a lens element or on the off chance you need to hit a sensor.Nikon Moist Lens Cleaner Cloths
I came across these when i was looking for something to take some mud off a filter when i took a spill a few years ago and had some in my pack. They are good for giving a quick lick to a smudged lens to cleaning sunglasses.Adorama Bubble Level
I don’t use this nearly as often as I should, but it comes in handy alot. It sits right in the hotshoe and is there, so you often can’t not look at it.Joby Gorillapod SLR – Zoom with BH-1 Ballhead
I probably use this tripod more than i do my regular tripod, it is handier and has no problems holding my D200 or D7100 and a wide angle lens (such as the 11-16 or an 18-70).Pelican 0915 Memory Card Case
On the off-chance that my bag leaks, i want my cards to be somewhat protected. This is probably overkill, judging by how many times i have had a card or two go through the wash.Op/Tech Utility Strap-Sling
Being a big guy, i have always wanted to use a camera strap as a sling…..but the sling revolution still really doesn’t fit us husky guys. Enter Op/Tech and its “accessorizeable” line of camera slings. I now have a camera strap that goes from strap to sling and also has connection points to go into my straps on my lowepro dryzone rover for hands free carrying at times.Nikon Micro Fiber Lens Cleaning Cloth
These little things are handy as well, with the clips and the fact that they tuck away into its own pocket. I put them on several zippers of some of my bags in an effort to always have a clean cloth and avoid a shirt tail wipe.Quarter, or Other Coin
The handiest thing indeed when you need to change a quickmount.Gerber Multi-Tool
About as handy to have as any multi-tool. This reminds me, i need to sharpen it.5 Gallon Zip-Lock Bag
I have this tucked into my lowepro (although I probably need to fold one up and keep it under the pads in my pelican too) and it offers a great rain shield in a pinch.I have kind of been away from the forum for a bit. But thanks to some email prodding from Zach, I hope to post up again from time to time. I have picked up way too much help from everyone on hear not to participate.
–Matt Tucker
www.ozarkchronicles.com
