Bill B.

Look at what the MDC says about the three forks of the Salt River that feed into the west end of Mark Twain Lake, about an hour's drive from Columbia: https://fishing.mdc.mo.gov/?f[0]=field_type%3A2&f[1]=field_region%3A555

I took a girlfriend down there one day in about 1975. She asked me why the people standing in the water were wearing tags pinned to their hats and chests. I told her there was a state mental hospital in Lebanon, and that one day every week, the inmates got to ride a bus down to Bennett and go fishing. They had to wear tags so that other people would know who they were. My girlfriend was a newly minted registered nurse, but she didn't have a lot of common sense. She was afraid to get out of the car.

It was way back there, I know that. Bennett was the only park open for it, and you had to buy a special winter permit.

I went to the very first opening day for C&R at Bennett. Must have been in the early '80s. I'm pretty sure it was on a Saturday, not a Friday. If a dozen people showed up that entire day, I'd be surprised. There were a lot of fish in the stream, and they MURDERED a black-and-yellow jig all day long. That's a day I'd like to go back and live over again.

I've got one for you. The Corps opened the floodgates yesterday morning (Wednesday). By Wednesday evening, yearling white bass were easy to catch in the current on jigs. I fished on the generator side. A couple of guys using slab spoons took out several big hybrids. They weighed one at 14 pounds. But they were fishing from well past the keep-out/no fishing sign on the generator side, all the way up at that little point the rock wall makes.

Thanks to all. I've made a list. Do you buy those in multiple sizes, or is there just one size that is your go-to?

Thanks. Where do you buy your flies, or do you tie your own? I just looked up the Griffiths at a discount fly site. I liked the look of the high-vis gnat they are selling -- something that would be easier for me to see.

Just curious -- what are your favorite dry flies for fishing in the Ozarks throughout the year?

Hilarious, but it would work better if Table Rock actually flowed into Norfork.

I looked it up. According to a story in the the April 1968 Missouri Conservationist, the MDC stocked 200 adult NP in Deer Ridge Lake in Lewis County, and in Miller Community Lake in Carter County, in March 1966. The NP weighed from 4 to 18 pounds apiece and came from a hatchery in Iowa. The MDC also stocked Thomas Hill in 1966 and '67, with a few million NP fry and fingerlings. I never got to fish at Deer Ridge or Miller, but I fondly remember catching NP at Thomas Hill when the lake was new, and at Stockton in the early 1970s.

The MDC also stocked them in at least one smaller North Missouri lake when I was a kid in the 1960s--Hunnewell, maybe? I don't remember. After the two big floods in the 1990s, there were several NP caught from washout pits along the Missouri River near Boonville and Columbia. At least one of them weighed 6 or 8 pounds, so I doubt that it was a chain pickerel. You don't have to go far up the Missouri River above the Iowa line to find a fishable population of NP. And you can buy NP at at least one commercial fish hatchery in North Missouri. I know of a couple of ponds in Boone County that have northerns stocked in them. I'm sure that some of those fish ended up in Perche Creek and the Missouri River after flooding, over the years.

Forgive me if these have shown up here before. They were new to me. A Kansas police department set up a wildlife camera while investigating stories of a mountain lion in town. They got some interesting shots. https://www.buzzfeed.com/jasonwells/police-set-up-a-camera-in-kansas-to-find-a-mountain-lion-and?utm_term=.ox6dqQRPKz&ref=mobile_share

Posted twice. Sorry about that.

Sounds as if I'd have a decent chance of recovering it undamaged if I immediately got it out of the water. Thanks.

How waterproof are modern depth finders? If I put a Helix 5 on my kayak, for example, what will happen to it when I roll the yak?

What was his best hybrid tip?

I stopped there on Tuesday afternoon for about half an hour. Generator side, below the concrete slide. There were maybe 12-15 people visible on each side. No current coming through whatsoever. I didn't get a tap on jigs, and I only saw what looked like one small crappie caught. A couple of people up at the cable had stringers in the water, but I couldn't see what they had on them. There was zero activity out in the water, not even gar and spoonbill rolling.

It was milfoil. I loved to fish around Pomme's milfoil, back in the 1970s. Lake of the Ozarks had milfoil, too. Miles of it. Not sure I've ever heard what killed it off in those lakes.

Musky have occasionally been caught in Stockton for years. I'd put my money on overflow stocking from Fellows. High water would easily bring them down the river. Tiger musky and northern pike are other possibilities. Quite a few people stock tiger muskies and/or pike in their own lakes. Both species are available from private fish hatcheries right here in Missouri, as are pure-strain muskies. High water can easily flush them downstream into bigger lakes. Here's a link to a hatchery near Macon that carries musky and pike in the fall: http://www.harrisonfishery.com/speciesEcoSys.htm Just about any kind of fish can turn up in any body of water in the state.

An elevated seat helps a lot. That's one of the reasons I'm interested in the FX--hi/low seat positions. The FX weighs about 55 pounds, which is a bit on the heavy side, so I'm also considering another solo canoe, at least for stream fishing. The Wenonah and Bell fiberglass/Kevlar hybrids look interesting. Al, have you ever paddled the Royalex Bell Wildfire/Yellowstone?

That's why I'm interested in the Ultimate FX. My canoe is murder on my knees. I also have a couple of SOT kayaks, which are easier on the knees, but are kind of awkward to fish out of, I think.

While we're talking about solo watercraft, has anyone here had a chance to fish from an Ultimate FX 12? If so, what did you think?

I have located a used Royalex Vagabond that's described as in "excellent" condition. I'll probably look at it tomorrow. I'm also considering buying a Native Ultimate 12 FX. My wife did a number on my old Vagabond, one fall several years ago. I had it lying next to our gravel driveway and was using it nearly every day. She burned some leaves a few feet away from the canoe. The fire got out of control. When I got home, all that was left was some soot in the shape of a canoe, and a few pieces of hot metal. Not to mention a crying wife. She said the canoe went up in flames -- poof!

With the Royalex version of Wenonah's Vagabond no longer made, how well does the so-called "Tuf-weave Flex-Cor" version of the canoe hold up in the rocky environs of Ozark streams? Anybody have one?

I know. Pity, isn't it? Plus, I think there was a little help from Photoshop. But, I couldn't resist.