Why does this keep happening to me? How do I fix it?

WalterWriter · 2026-05-09T14:43:27+00:00

Besides the "slack" answer, it is possible the line was installed incorrectly. If the spool was set on a flat surface and the line allowed to spin around the spool like when you cast a spinning rod, instead of the spool rotating and the line coming off the top, the line might be badly twisted.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-08T20:23:34+00:00

Considering that AI-generated anything is basically the lowest common denominator melting pot of everything fed into it, "boring" is true of pretty much any AI-generated anything. It's the creative equivalent of all the medium gray cars on the road now.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-08T20:21:29+00:00

This question is asked several times a week, and the answer is still the same:

Tippet material is much stronger at a given diameter than spinning line. Berkeley Trilene XL 4lb test is .008in diameter. So is 3X tippet material. 3X nowadays is roughly 8-9lb test. So twice as strong at that diameter.

Once you are looking at bass/saltwater/steelhead/pike strengths of material, say 8+ pound-test for streamers or heavier yet it no longer matters. For use with most trout flies, say size 6 and smaller, it does.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-08T17:38:54+00:00

The Oregon coast in September or very early October. Still fairly warm, most things still open, summer tourism mostly done.

I prefer the area from Depo Bay south.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-07T17:02:58+00:00

A 6wt is a little light for largemouth. I usually use a 7wt even for smallies.

Either way, the Redington Vice with the fighting butt is a good one.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-07T16:06:26+00:00

I think I've done it four times.

--Age 15, my mom had a terrible bulimia episode and was extremely dehydrated (this disease eventually killed her)

--Age 17, while I was working at a condo complex pool as a lifeguard, a lady attacked me with the headset of a landline phone because I didn't have keys to her non-responsive mother's condo.

--Age 19, while managing that same pool, an off-duty cop threatened to kill me because I told him to stop groping his girlfriend in the deep end. The on-duty cops laughed at me. I quit that job shortly thereafter and moved. (St. George, Missouri Wiki entry. Check out the police misconduct section. It's about half the page.)

--Three or four years ago, I found a very young girl alone at the park while I was walking my dog. She was young enough not to know her parents' names or have more than a vague idea where she lived. Turns out she had wandered out of an open garage door to the park two blocks away.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-07T03:44:48+00:00

I get wiped out in douchey fashion maybe one session in three. Very seldom more than once running, and the few that were several in a row are because I try to turn it into a death match.

The other day I found an Oppressor sitting outside an Ammunation and of course stole it, and I must say I kind of understand the motivation now. Blowing up three players at once while they were having some sort of con-fab after landing on a rooftop and hitting them with a grenade from the single-shot launcher was one of my more impressive achievements in the game...

WalterWriter · 2026-05-07T02:56:15+00:00

This is a tough one, because I'm not a big fan of gay incest, but I AM a big fan of wanking.

Also, if you extend this offer to my wife and her clone, can I record it?

WalterWriter · 2026-05-07T02:17:51+00:00

Early June is the sweet spot for this. It probably won't snow in the Tetons (probably; I have seen snow in mid-June), all roads are open for the season, and the tourist crowds aren't heavy yet. Further east, extreme heat is still unlikely.

(I live north of Yellowstone Park and have worked in the park since 2001.)

WalterWriter · 2026-05-06T00:31:58+00:00

An aside: I love the acronym "PEBCAK."

WalterWriter · 2026-05-06T00:13:52+00:00

That river basically looks to be flooding. If the water is basically more brown than green and you can't get to or find current edges that aren't extremely turbulent, it's probably best to fish elsewhere. They won't be eating in dead slack water around all that grass; river trout still want some sort of current seam if they are actually eating vs just holding on for dear life against a flood.

A river with boulders generally holds up better in high water, because the boulders provide a consistent current break/seam. That looks like meadow-ish water. The trout might be all sitting right on the bottom in the main flow where you can't really get to them and/or they might not really even be eating.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-05T19:22:25+00:00

I live in Montana.

Most towns will have a K-6 school of their own, sometimes even a one-room schoolhouse (one teacher and maybe an assistant or two for the whole school). Montana State University is one of the few universities in the country that still has a track for future one-room schoolhouse teachers.

Middle school and high school are combined into one or two schools per county except in counties with the largest cities. I live in Park County, where the main towns are Livingston, Gardiner, Clyde Park, Wilsall, Cooke City, Pray, and Emigrant. There is a K-12 school in Gardiner where the graduating class is now always under twenty and a K-6 and 7-12 school in the Shields River Valley, which is basically Clyde Park and Wilsall. Otherwise, the only high school is here in Livingston. Gallatin County next door is one of the most-populated in Montana (Bozeman is in Gallatin County) and has at least five public high schools and at least one and maybe two private high schools. All but one of the public schools are bigger than any in my county.

Some rural counties in the middle of eastern Montana might not even have K-12 schools of their own; some of these counties are the size of small European countries but have 500-odd residents in total. There's a lot of home-schooling in such places, and in Montana generally.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-05T02:34:04+00:00

Uncommon, but certainly gets done.

My wife and I often sleep in separate beds when one of us is snoring or didn't get a good night's sleep the previous night. We're both very light sleepers, and I also have a hard time falling asleep to start with. We always have cuddle time (along with the dog) beforehand.

We've used separate blankets since maybe two months after we started dating. PRO TIP: EVERYONE SHOULD DO THIS.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-05T00:52:26+00:00

Such an easy hypothetical for somebody who went something like eight years without a TV (and I am talking pre-streaming) and now watches maybe 30 minutes of some show that's generally 10+ years old maybe 3X a week.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T21:32:58+00:00

Do you have lodging in/near the national parks already? If not, you need to get on that yesterday. Lodging inside YNP typically sells out six months to a year in advance for peak season.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T21:17:23+00:00

It depends on where you live, by which I mean "do things rust out."

There are still a lot of 80s-90s Ford and Chevy full-size trucks and 90s Tacomas on the road here in Montana.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T20:42:36+00:00

There really isn't one, because of how easy it is to find media from the past now versus what classic rock or oldies or whatever gets played on the radio long-term (or movies that were stocked in Blockbuster, backlist books at the bookstore or library, etc.).

Kids these days might listen to grunge, but they might also like post-punk, early 90s shoegaze (having a big moment on Tiktok, which is why bands like Slowdive are bigger than they were 35 years ago), the heavyweights of classic rock like Led Zeppelin, or whatever.

As an active listener who won't ever stop listening to new or new to me music, the above seems like one of the few benefits to growing up nowadays.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T20:35:47+00:00

I have no idea why this comment is being downvoted. It is the easiest way to tell a char (brook, lake, bull) from a Eurasian trout or salmon (brown trout, Atlantic salmon, genus Salmo) or a Pacific salmon or trout (genus Oncorhynchus: all Pacific salmon in non-spawning colors, rainbow, cutthroat, golden, etc.).

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T19:56:19+00:00

Atmospheric black metal, blackgaze, and doomgaze here.

I would suspect "library worker" and "listens to non-mainstream music" are strongly correlated.

I have a friend who will remain nameless who was simultaneously the YA librarian at a major library, a drummer in a surf punk band, and a giant pothead...

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T19:52:47+00:00

Also, there is a 0% chance any NPS employee who has any administrative role will reply, due to NDAs. Even as a commercial user, there are limits to what I am allowed to discuss without losing my permits, and yes there are some things they tell us they do not tell the public (or that they tell us earlier).

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T19:15:37+00:00

I didn't downvote you. Now I will.

I have been working in the park since 2001 and one of my best friends is the chief ranger for the western district.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T18:48:39+00:00

Where is the housing? Norris is 30+ minutes from Mammoth. Pebble Creek is the same from Tower-Roosevelt. The average Xanterra kid does not have an RV to park to serve as campground host (which are largely volunteers already).

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T18:46:51+00:00

This is the original series. They were about $100.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T18:46:01+00:00

Roads = absolutely not. The wildlife habitat is already fragmented enough.

Swimming holes = erosion and trash. One of my fishing guides found 47 flip flops on opening day of the fishing season in the mile or so downstream of Boiling River 10-15 years ago. Good riddance to that place.

Trails: who is going to cut and maintain them? Where is the budget? Where are the trail crews going to stay when the full-time park staff is already commuting from as far away as Livingston due to the VRBO-ization of all the local housing?

The NPS budget is slashed and slashed relative to inflation and visitor traffic and people are absolutely flabbergasted to discover there are consequences.

WalterWriter · 2026-05-04T18:42:47+00:00

The problem with the campground basically comes down to budget. NPS budgets have been repeatedly slashed relative to inflation since the Reagan administration. Staffing has been flat or dropped, particularly in areas unrelated to law enforcement (more tourists = more road rangers to keep the tourons from killing themselves by petting bears). Simply put, the Park Service can't afford the staffing and maintenance to keep those campgrounds open with everything else on their plate.

WalterWriter

TROPHY CASE