Bill B.

Are there any marinas with slip rentals on the Osage between Bagnell and the Missouri River? Mari-Osa-Delta doesn't rent slips, and Osage Campgrounds doesn't even have waterfront access. Is there anything farther upstream?

Likewise. Thanks for the info.

Thomas Hill, 8 pounds 4 ounces, white Wiggle Wart, mid-afternoon, Oct. 30, several years ago.

I wade for whites and hybrids quite a bit on Truman in September and October. Fishing is not as good as it was 20 years ago, of course, but you can still catch some decent fish, especially on cloudy days with a strong southerly wind blowing across the shallow flats.

If there isn't any water running over the dam, you may want to fish below the powerhouse. There's a gate at the top of the hill where the service road runs down to the powerhouse. You park there and walk around the gate (you'll see what I mean when you get there). Follow the road down the hill to the turbines. It's a faster walk going downhill than it is coming back up!

The Missouri is running high and muddy at Boonville, as of 3-13. Over the top of the boat launch at I-70.

Right now, below Truman dam, you can catch plenty of big buffalo on the generator side, right below the keep-out fence. Jigs or spoons either one will work. They stack up right there, whenever there is generation in the winter. Looks like the Corps is running 32,000 cfs today.

This might help: http://www.arkansassportsmanmag.com/fishin...6_02/index.html

In the olden days, people used to catch trout at night, under lights, right out in front of Bull Shoals Dam in May and June. The dam area was famous for it. Someone here might know if that is still popular.

I'll vote for an unusually fat female striper. Either way, it's a beautiful fish. Where did you catch it?

I used a chartreuse twistertail on a 1/4-ounce leadhead. Something fairly heavy that I could sling into the wind. Reeled it straight back in like a crankbait.

Good job. I went on Sunday afternoon, wading between the boat ramp and old Point 15. All I caught were some small Kentuckies. No whites at all. A week earlier, on a day when the wind was strong from the NW, hybrids where hitting where the waves broke on the dam riprap.

It's the cold front coming through next month that has them messed up.

I fished Truman on Friday evening and caught some nice whites while wading on gravel points. There were some small hybrids (12-16 inches) mixed in with the whites. The fish wouldn't touch a Torpedo but were KILLING a white twistertail trailer (on a 1/8-ounce leadhead) running about 18 inches behind the lure. The fish came shallow in the last couple of hours before dark. I love to fish for whites in the shallows on Truman this time of year. The fishing usually peaks in late October and stays good until real cold weather arrives in early to mid-November.

That "Coffey Grinder" could also be called a "single-hook Heddon Torpedo." Interesting.

I'm all for that.

By the way, Murdoc, I agree with you about skinning one cat at a time. I threw out the other stuff to generate a little discussion.

That's true. But that would just be the breaks. Kind of like filling out your deer tag, then spying a Boone & Crockett record standing at the edge of the cornfield. Gotta let it go until next year. Or keep your powder dry until you find the record. I have a friend who has caught a couple of Florida bass that might have threatened the state record, but in the lake where he was fishing, he had to release them immediately. That's just the price he pays for the abundance of PIGS. About kids: The Dry Run Creek area below Norfork is popular with kids under 16, yet they have to release everything they catch. Wouldn't the hatchery area be a lot more interesting for nearly everyone if there were bigger fish to be caught there? About barbless hooks: I'm one of those guys who loves to fish with crankbaits at night for browns. Just from my personal experience, it's a lot easier to remove barbless hooks from a fish in the middle of a dark, foggy night. (It's also a lot easier to remove them from my gloves, coat and fingers...) I'm pretty convinced that, overall, they do less damage to the fish I catch. But that's just anecdotal. As for enforcement, other states -- Arkansas, for example -- have barbless regulations in place on some streams. At the very least, the MDC could talk to biologists and field agents in those states to get real data about the effectiveness and enforceability of those regulations.

That's quite a slippery slope! If we really want a trophy fishery, the kind of fishery that will turn heads all around the world, we'll do what it takes to keep our big fish alive and growing. A check-in system seems to work for deer hunters in Missouri. Why would it be too extreme for trout anglers? I'm just looking for a way to limit the take to one large brown per person per year. If we could do that and enforce it, there would soon be a lot more hellacious cannibals eating stocker rainbows below TR dam.

As long as we're changing regulations, let's make the Trophy Zone barbless hooks only. That should help a bit with mortality. I'm thinking about what the treble hooks on crankbaits can do to a big brown when inhaled. If I could, I'd vote for a one-fish-per-season, 30-inch minimum on browns in Taneycomo. Keep one fish, check it in at an authorized station for record-keeping, and have a box checked off on your license. That would help protect some of the pigs that Taneycomo could grow. Especially if the MDC would put real teeth into enforcement.

Doesn't sound like the ramps are closed. Here's a press release, dated June 16, from the Corps' Web site. It includes a phone number (816-389-3486) to call for the latest information. http://www.nwk.usace.army.mil/Flood2007/june2008/nwk0809.pdf

If you are feeling little thumps on your jig and catching 15-inch white bass, and suddenly you hook a fish that NAILS the jig and just about takes your rod away, and you say to your buddy as you fight it, "This one is a HOG!", yet when you land it, it measures only 15 inches, just like the others--guess what? You've just caught a hybrid.

A friend of mine walked the bank looking for spawning crappie on Saturday. He only caught 4, in areas where he's always done well. Looks like the Corps is dropping the lake at a decent clip, now, so that may have something to do with pulling the fish off the banks. And maybe the spawn is pretty well over already. The Corps says the water temp at the dam is 63 degrees. Fishing below the dam is still pretty good, though, for whites, crappie, hybrids and cats.

I have fished from solo canoes but not from a kayak. Bought a Pack first, then replaced it several years ago with a Wenonah solo per Al's recommendation. I fully agree that the Vagabond is a better canoe. The only complaint I have is that sittiing in it for several hours is MURDER on my old knees. But that's true of larger canoes as well.

Just put in below Truman Dam and motor downstream about 60 miles. You can't miss it.