Greasy B

I suspect Trumans demise will be much less dramatic than a catastrophic failure. Truman like all reservoirs will slowly fill with silt. Some generation in the far future will wonder why 20th century Americans thought it was a good idea to turn a perfectly good river into a temporary lake.

Yep, I’d say you already know how to catch Smallmouth with a fly rod, at times it’s identical to casting. If you don’t already have one get a 7 or 8 wt. and have at it. The only advice I could offer is learn to cast efficiently, (not like Bill Dance).

Two special places come to mind, a stretch of the middle Gasconade River where we could always count of having the river to ourselves despite the time of year and day of the week. The other is lake 37 at Busch Wildlife, since my first trips in the 70’s all the timber disappeared, and a third of the lake has silted in, I guess I’ve aged right along with it.

Rainbows especially recently stocked fish don’t seem care if a boat goes over their head, browns will do anything to avoid a boat. Several years ago we ran across a brown that was trapped between our boat and an inches deep gravel flat, the fish swam back and forth looking for a place to hide. When it finally passed us by we were astonished at the size, until we got a good look at it we were asking ourselves if was a beaver. Hang around that river enough and you’ll see some amazing things.

That is a cool story, what an awesome river.

"What criteria determines whether something is or isn't a "gamefish"? Not sure but I'd think having the physical qualities of water balloon would a disqualify a Warmouth.

Warmouth are game fish, Redear and Bluegill are not, WTF?

Very nice fish, especially the Rainbow. What kind of boat is that?

Sounds good, let me know when and where. Love Vietnamese,

Gosh, I miss the place too, I have lots of fond memories. I only fished it once since Mc, closed, we boated up on two generators and waited until the water dropped out to wade fish, it was wonderful but certainly fished different with min. flow. I could hardly recognize ace in the hole.

You win! The rest of us will talk about fishing.

I think your in the wrong county, but you are correct that is another very interesting creek.

Yeah most of my dragging was up, down normal rivers, we might lose an inch or two overnight but all it added was a little pucker factor on the way back to the ramp. Your story reminded me of a day on the Salt River, we ran up on big water and enjoyed the river as it fell out, then it really fell out. It was pretty tense trip back the ramp that day, we left a lot of blue pant on the river bottom.

For a couple of decades the brother and I would take our river jon down some pretty small rivers with some skinny flows (200cfs) with full confidence we could bang and drag our way back up to the ramp, we’ve done it may times with overnight gear in the boat. If it was a gravel riffle we’d run as fast as we could until the pump was just about to suck gravel, I’d kill and lift the motor while Dan would jump out to hold the boat as it came to a halt. If the shoal was rocks and cobbles we’d edge up to it slowly and grind our way through it as far as we could, then jump out and drag the rest of the way up. Doing this got us on a lot of water that other boats were afraid to run and many weekends we had the river to ourselves. Any more we’re not so cock sure or as strong, those days may be over.

F.A.R!

I have a buddy who once caught a bass out of 38 that was so big it it scared him to stick his hand in its mouth. Your fish doesn’t sound like it was a bass. Was I time when 38 has some fair Bluegill and nice red ears, not so sure about hybrids.

Don’t skimp on price, we ended up stripping and repainting before we had a durable coating. I don’t recall what brand we use but I came from our local West Marine store, we added sand or some type of abrasive.

Beautiful craftsmanship.

If I had a pole barn......

I can't imagine a use for Power Poles or Talons on the rivers I fish. I would like to have an Ultrex but, I'm hesitant to add more weight to the river jon.

Are you on C R this weekend?

Earlier today I asked Linda what we needed to survive the pending doom. We came up with the essential B's, beer, briquettes, and bird seed, I'll make a run tomorrow, we'll be fine.

Nice boat, lots of room for overnight gear.

It’s no surprise, I’m sure it will get worse and likely never improve. I’m finding it increasingly difficult to be optimistic about the future.