Devan S.

Cutting it close but here is mine. Caught this afternoon.

I believe the US/Mex border is closed to non-essential travel or at least was. Not sure how that will/would play into it. I am also not sure how to technicality of crossing the border on the lake is handled. As others have said the border can be a rough area. Coahuila-where Amistad is located is generally safer than Tamaulipas-where Falcon is located. Although Falcon is a more rural area which is generally safer than say Reynosa or NL. If it were me, I'd probably pick Amistad. Purely based on the safety, location of Del Rio(which has an airport if you care), and the amount of the lake that stays in the US. I've been to Amistad 2 times while travelling for work(I'm in that area 3-4 times per/year). Both times were to explore in some down time and eat at Cripple Creek steakhouse on US-90. I keep saying that in the future I will take a pole and bank fish but I haven't yet. I will say this, If you you go and drive, once you leave San Antonio either South or West have a full tank of gas and be prepared for many miles between functional towns. If you intend to drive this leg after dark be prepared for massive amounts of deer along the road.

I know...I know....I do need the practice though.

I prefer to avoid drifts all together. Only use stuff that you can strip. I want to catch the fish that want to be caught.....not spend half a day trying to coax one fish to half heartedly take a nibble.

Maybe its all the day drinkers floating and peeing in the water that's warming it up too much? Maybe they should close the entire stream from April to Nov. to prevent casual floaters peeing in the water? Maybe MDC should dump semi loads of ICE into the warm water sections to cool it down?

I can tell you there was no sign at Dam Site at Beaver last week and there was a stocked fee box. I just rolled on through.

I should have just looked it up. Thanks for the heads up to both of you. https://www.swl.usace.army.mil/Business-With-Us/Day-Use-Fees-Annual-Day-Use-Pass/ First sentence says it all: "Day Use Fees are once again being collected throughout USACE" I have been awfully darn lucky the last 2-3 months or more then.

Are permits actually required anyways? I know I tried to buy one back in June or July and was told day use was free due to COVID and they thought it would remain that way for the foreseeable future?

MDC stocking trout to feed the AGFC stocked striper. Interesting proposition.

Dang that rainbow looks like its a crossbreed football.

I did not. Did the MR340 and it has for better or worse cured me of about every non-stop paddle trip desire other than the buffalo complete. My goal was to start in late October/early November. COE campgrounds would mostly be closed and camping only by real campers not the weekend warriors. Even in early May you will likely run into a few people and a real high risk of high water/flooding and/or severe weather. All can be worked through with proper planning obviously but I'd rather minimize pain/misery from external sources. Starting at Beaver Dam vs. Beaver is really only about 12-15 miles added and it will likely be the only sections where you have any current(if you time it right with generation). My plan was something along the following: Day 1-Beaver Dam to Eagle Rock COE- 20-25 miles Day 2- Eagle Rock COE to Campbell Point COE-20-25 miles Day 3- Campbell Point COE to Kimberling City Bridge- 15-20 miles Day 4- Kimberling City to the Table Rock Dam- 10-15 miles I had the added benefit of having 2 people in a canoe which means you can take some breaks and move non-stop. We tried to limit it to as short as possible as we wanted to minimize vacation. It was less about seeing and experiencing and more about doing it.

Once upon a time I had actually planned out the exact trip your going to take. Plan was to paddle from the base of Beaver Dam to Table Rock Dam. The COE campgrounds line up nicely for use. However depending on the time of year you do it there may be issues with booking them correctly and the commitment that comes with having to paddle so many set miles in a day.

2 of the best engineers I work with on a day-to-day basis have zero degree. One is an engineering manager and the other is a lead manufacturing engineer. Engineering degree gives you the fundamentals, on the job shows you practical application. Both in this case have worked their way into their positions. The difference is they have both been with our company 30+ years and have a ton of on-the-job training.

I cant think of anyplace this isn't the truth.

But did he learn that in college? Or did he learn that kind of stuff during residency with another trained doctor looking over his shoulder. I've never been but my guess is outside cadavers med school doesn't involve much in the way of surgery. I look at college as a piece of paper that says you have the basics and fundamentals. You got them (suffered in some cases) put in the time and work to get them. Now your first employer knows your committed and can train you to actually do the day to day job stuff.

Drove down to Cane brake first thing this morning. Showed up at 6:20am. Got suited up....left waders in truck and they were frozen. Bailed across the river and headed downstream. Schedule said zero generation today so I figured I was relatively safe. 3 cast later and the horn went off. I was probably 300 yards away from the crossing. Fat boy can run in waders on the gravel. Got across just as I began to notice current. If I would have been 5 minutes later I would have been stuck. Went up directly below the dam where there is a big eddy under generation. Plopped down just downstream of the bait chucker's and proceeded to catch about 20 fish. A handful of over slot rainbows but mostly small stocker sized fish. Caught several browns that were probably dumped recently as they weren't very big. Caught almost all my fish here on a olive jig. After about 2 hours, they cut off the water and I went back down to Cane brake and began working my way upstream along the bank. Caught a couple slot rainbows and one walleye that was about 1/8" shy of being a keeper. All caught on a rainbow jerk bait. Tonight I went back down to parkers and went downstream to my functional wading limit(just about halfway down through the campground). There were 19 cars in the parking lot when I got there. People lined all along the gravel bar downstream and lots and lots of crawlers and bait being soaked. Seen several people manning multiple rods which is illegal(not much catching going on that I saw). Nevertheless waded back up and got to the truck about 6:30 and headed home with only one small rainbow caught. There was a lot of fish rising but nothing taking jerk baits.

I think 2021 is going to be simplified: Catch a single Arkansas Master Angler fish.

What is with the 2 trolling motors?

Arrived about 3pm had one fish on my mind from the other day. Knew I only had an hour so made the most of my time and went straight to where I saw him last. Had several hookups on smaller rainbows with the small jerkbait but they come right off with barbless hooks without ever landing them. Started moving up above the access and caught a nice 17" and a small 8-10" fish. Also caught a decent little rainbow. Hooked up on another 3 or 4 fish that pulled off. I know staying until after dark would probably be a good idea but had things to do.

They had a road closed sign at the start of the park but when I got to the gates after the shack they were shut and locked. No signs of continued work just appears to be closed at this point. Maybe time to let the pavement settle? I saw one swirl on the long runout directly between Indian creek and the dam site campground. I was sitting in about 40ft of water fishing toward the bank and the splash happened on the backside of the boat about 30 yards. I grabbed the a-rig and tossed it but I am sure I was late.

Drove all the way down to Indian Creek only to find the gates locked. Hustled over to Dam site and dropped in. Took off looking for Bass. Fished from 10am until 3:30 without even so much as a sniff. Fished around the island, fished around dam site, fished way back into Indian creek. Fished bluffs, timber, gravel, chunk rock, long runouts, offshore humps, deep trees. Threw A rig, Ned, jerkbait, and 2.8 keitechs. Water temp was 49-51 everywhere I fished. Wind was howling later in the day and it was a long, rough, wet ride from the back of Indian all the way across the open lake to Dam site. Wind was blowing straight down Indian Creek. Guess the striper ate all the bass.

I do and have considered. Have access to some mink boxes too. Biggest problem is that the river has quiet a bit of access to trout fishermen although this spot is private land the river is not. I don't worry so much about the fishermen but I do worry about the ATV traffic. The specific spot is also very close to national forest and have tons and tons of ATV traffic as they come down off national forest into what they still think is a public play ground. between my check yesterday mid-afternoon and this morning early a clan of ATV's have cut tons of donuts about 30 ft from my traps(on the other side of the river on the gravel bar). I'm just afraid anything obviously above water may disappear in this spot.

Kicked off another trip to Parker this morning....took the Yak to try and access Cane brake and Crane bluff areas. Water was scheduled to be shut off at 11 and not be back on until late in the afternoon. I could have simply crossed at Cane Brake but I have this serious fear of getting caught with rising water and not being able to get back across so I setup so I could always float back to my truck. I arrived at Parker to a noticeable current although I could tell it had begun dropping. I was about 45 minutes too early but thought what the heck and put in the yak and headed up stream. Note to Self: Paddling in waders is uncomfortable especially against current. I cleared the shallower area above parker and pulled over and began tossing the jerker almost immediately I had a good follow. Then I had a decent rainbow on that came off. Then it went dead. I know the fish were biting cause the guys fishing around with fly rods were catching but throwing bigger jerk baits I was getting nothing. Water was low and clear and almost no current. I decided to get in the yak and drift down on the deep side when I went over the kind of brown I have been looking for. I pulled over and beat the water to a froth where I saw him to no avail. Even pulled out the jig rod and lost a jig on the first cast so gave up and headed home. Got my butt kicked this time.....still better than work.

Checked this morning and blank on both my traps. This is day 2. Both are pocket sets with a hole into the bank. Both use lure(shellfish oil and mink gland lure). One hole was natural and too deep so I had to build it up to get my trap closer to the water surface. I'm in a really good area. We camp along the river often and see mink almost every time. If I don't have something tomorrow I may have to switch things up. Thinking I may throw some more steel in the ground Wednesday if it doesn't rain a bunch.

Gonna be a hard winter for him.....probably better off being offed.