slack line

Yes we camped on the river. There are several spots in the Blue Ribbon to camp for a group of 4 or less. No we did not see many people. Saw a few serious fisherman each day and only one or two groups of floaters beyond that. Now is a perfect time to get down there.

We were a group of several men all riding solo in our canoes and I commented to you how jealous I was of your cleints in the drift boat. And I am guessing that this rubber legged bugger I used was in fact a Pats Rubber Legs and next time I am at Hargrove's i will check.

Have read this forum many times and its been a great help to me. So here is my reprot to give something back: Fished Greer to Whitten over 4 days. Brought the spinning rod but only used it about 10 minutes - spent all of my time with the fly rod. Read the forum and stopped by T. Hargrove in St. Louis for some advise before the trip. Had the usual stone flys, wooly buggers, dons crawdad. I like a fly there called the Dave Whitlock Special which is a beadhead crawdad, and picked up some bead head squirrel nymph and some rubber legged black and gold wolly buggers, on there always excellent advise. On the first day i fished the right side of the first island for several hours. Caught several fish and 3 nice ones -all in the 16 inch range and one was FAT. All of that was with the squirel nymph and an egg dropper. The egg dropper had a bunch of action but all of the big ones took the nymph. The next day I am thinking I am on fire with the squirrel nymph - but it was not to be. fished a few hours and only one or two fish one so i switched to the the rubber legged bugger and was rewarded. Caught a nice 15 and 14 in the rapid before the bend to mary decker. I know there are some nice fish in that deep water before Mary Decker but not sure how to attack it with the fly rod? In the water before Mary Decker I had no luck but one of my companions did very well with a small brown treble hooked fly on his spinning rod. Right before dark I fished Mary Decker and the conditions were perfect. Caught a few nice ones but lost a very large fish. I was standing on the right tossing the rubber legged bugger to the far fast water - but I was standing in an almost unmovable situation. Caught that big dog and worked him all the way across the fast water, where I was sure he would break me off, for about 6 or 7 minutes. Finally got him across the last powerful flow into the water behind the rocks, and I was thinking I had made it through the danger, but the beast had one more run and broke me off. Great fight for the big one that got away. The next day caught several in the large rapid before turners - one of my favorites because of the ability to wade fish - those where on the Dave Whitlock. But then I was cold for some time "oh for turners" until I caught 2 in the evening the downed tree area before horse bend campsite. The next day I did well again in the rapid above the horsebedn campsite, which is also one of my favortie spots, and that was with the Dons Crawdad - no dropper but lots of weight. Stopped at another nice rapid, before the "whitten rock" where everyone day trips, and had tons of action, again all with the Don Crawdad, but my skills were lame and netted not a one. Saw both Brian and Tito on the River. Saw Tito use some nice technique for fishing deep. Saw one of Brian's cleints catch a nice one in a spot where you could have just bet a fish would be. I try to watach all of the fly fishers and learn something if I can. So i great trip and I hope this helps someone. Fishing the 11 point is not easy. It takes some work and you need to be heavy and deep - simple rule - you better lose tackle or its not deep enough.