Greasy B

I was with a buddy when he caught the hybrid of a life time out of ha ha tonka spring in December. I never been up the river from there but I have heard stories.....

Great trip, amazing river. My best brown in several years came from the same area last month.

After the holiday season pretty well drained my finances I told myself no big ticket items this year, but. Like most everyone I'll be shopping for new wader boots, I sure need to replace my old and slow 7wt, I absolutely must have a Winston 3wt, I have two spinning reels that are just pumb worn out and a new short med action bait caster is a must. You know even if I get everything on my list tackle won't be my biggest angling expense of the year, gas is. 300 mile round trips most every weekend in a gas guzzling truck takes top prize.

My goals for 2012 are pretty much the same as last year: Spend as much time as possible on the water. Do as many overnight gavel bar camping trips as I can. Don’t concern myself with the latest lures, flies and techniques. Do concern myself with reading and learning the water as well as improving my angling skills Seek out beautiful stretches of rivers and creeks not infested with people. Don’t concern myself with catching the most or biggest fish, just fish that live in beautiful places. Spend as much time sharing the rivers with quality people who appreciate the place and experience. Finish the year with at least five out of state fishing licenses in my wallet. One two week trip to fish the great wild trout streams out west. Learn at least one new quality Bluegill destination.

I would defiantly follow the keep it simple route. I have boxes and boxes of lures that never see day light. Depending on the season I typically rely on the same two or three bait to find and catch smallmouth, one deep one mid column and one top.

I would be Happy to make a financial contribution as well. I would also be there with everyone for "make a statement" float. I wonder how we could get other river/conservation interest involved? The float industry played a huge role in the Meramec dam referendum, that kind of support might carry this to a positive outcome. The main objective should be to not let Missouri stream access laws become like Colorado or Wyomings. Chief, thanks for your attitude and actions as well as for keeping us informed.

Yea I do the same. I do have a big issue with the barbless enough inforcement on white river after a friend received a very expensive ticket when his fly did not pass the cotton cloth test at rim shoals. After this experience he has never been back to Arkansas and Rim Shoals Resort lost a bunch of good customers.

Welcome, wonderful contribution to all things great about this forum.

Years ago I heard stories about good waleye being caught in the deep hole just above Glenco. This is a couple of miles down from Times Beach. There used to be an informal access off Old State Road, not sure if it's still there or not. This was also a great catfish spot too. Back when this part of the river had smallmouth the river from 44 bridge to the big shoal at Glenco was pime water, lots of ledge rock that would hold big bass in the hot weather.

Great year, indeed. Probably my most memorable trip was when my nephew Art and I floated overnight on our own marginally floatable no name creek. Art had been on only a few canoe floats, always with me on the paddle. This trip Art and I went solo, Art’s first time paddling his own canoe. Typically mid July had this water barely passable, dragging, walking required. The day before our float the area had a soaking rain. When we got to our put in you could see that the water had risen just a bit and was still clear as ever. We went ahead up the creek to the next slab. The water was perfect, clear, cool and up about 8”-10”. I was a little concerned; this is pretty tricky water, lots of blind corners and down trees. I was ahead of Art most of the weekend, whenever I went through I tight spot I would turn back to see Art drawing, drawing and prying his paddle, ducking, dodging limbs. As it turned out Art is as good at handle a canoe solo as he is at catching stream smallmouth, he’s way good. The first day we shared the river with three people and a big dog in tubes and a canoe, they were having a blast, swimming, throwing sticks to the dog and carrying on. Usually this would bug the crap out of me but on this day they stayed way ahead of us, mostly all we heard was laughter in the distance, the fish seemed unaffected. When we finally caught up we introduced ourselves, they noticed we had overnight gear and invited us to stay on their property. How rare is that? Great folks. We camped just downstream from the recommended spot on a gravel bar that did not have any footprints or fire rings. What a great evening we had, cooked up some big steaks, gazed at the stars and enjoyed the peace and quiet, paradise. The second day was just about perfect. We enjoyed the creek with no one but us fishing. It was one of those days where everywhere there should have been a bass there was a bass. Whenever Art would catch up with me he had a Spit eating grin from the fine smallmouth he was catching along with white knuckles from the canoe ride. Art had experience Ozark float fishing at its finest and I caught my best smallmouth and largemouth of the year, a memorable trip indeed

Having a boat is the way to go. I'm comfortable fishing anything up to 14,000 cfs, and can find wadable water up to 10,000. This makes the river Accessable during all but the most extreme generation. In this day and age there is no excuse for the phone report in place, heck I'd bet there are teenagers with enough tech savvy to write a program that would give real time cfs levels at multiple point on the river in a recording that is both clear and concise.

Not only are the messages lame, inaccurate and unreliable they are dangerous.

Yea, annoy them a little for me. I fished a couple of lakes up your way years ago, La belle and Ewing. I had a buddy who told stories of catching huge bass night fishing at La Belle, never did find one myself. Do you know about any good bluegill lakes in that area?

I had a Battenkill reel. It came brand new with no lubricant on the spindle, froze up the first couple of times I used it. Never again Orvis. I have an Abel reel that doesn’t allow me the full range of drag settings. When it’s set in its lightest position it’s about two clicks too tight for fighting a fish and another two clicks from over running. It’s as though the clown who designed it figured he knew more setting drag than me. Never again Able. I have two Lamson reels. These reels are the perfect example of form follows function, flawless.

Hello fellow creek addict. With the partiers swarming over the mid size streams and the recreational powerboats roaring up and down the larger streams it seems like creeks are the only place to find peace and quiet. I’m looking forward to some of your creek reports. Rest assured the only dumb question about fly fishing is the one never asked, ask away.

Something to keep in mind is slightly used oil always frys better than new oil.

A sudden drop is not really a concern on most of the river. it rises very quickly but drops out gradually. Down at buffalo Shoals it might take two days for the water to go from navigable to dead low.

I’ll try to make it. I’ve been a longtime member of the MSA but admittedly have not attended very many meetings. I do recall a few that stand out. One meeting Al gave an explanation on how to use satellite images to locate potential Smallmouth habitats and how to interpret the USGS real time water gages. At the time I had experience using both but after that evening my understanding raised to a higher level. Now hardly a day goes by when I don’t check the river stages, especially during wet and dry spells. And as a part of my angling ritual I always look at Google Earth images of my destination before and after every trip. Technology has gone a long way to aid my understanding of the places I love. I also remember listening to Charley Campbell preach the good word of the dog and how to do the walk. Charley just lit up when he describe his experiences on the middle Gasconade, what a treasure. Then there was the evening Otto Fagen told us the story of the 12” statewide length limit, how he was so sure the powers that be would reject the proposal. If I recall correctly Otto said the 12” limit was approved with so little resistance he wished he would have proposed 14”. Can you imagine what those 2” would have meant to those of us who live to fish for stream bass. I need to really try to make this meeting.

I say test drive or don’t buy. These days most high end rods are probably pretty comparable. Back when I bought my first couple of quality fly rods the Orvis rods were way soft, bending well into the handle. Now that I’ve been casting the newer faster rods I can’t stand the old soft rods.

I was just telling myself that I need to lay low for a few weeks, you know stay at home, take care of a few chores, save some gas money, but after see the pictures of your trip It’s all I can do to keep from hauling my equipment up into the garage and loading up for a Friday run down to Current. It’s been two weeks since I’ve been on a river and I’m jonesing bad.

Hey, Fish are people too.

One thing most great fishing destinations have in common is that they can be dangerous. White River is a prime example. A great deal of respect is required. Get used to looking at the Bull Shoals generation chart. Pay special attention to the volume of water measured in cubic feet per inch or cfs. Cfs is a much better way to judge river conditions than elevation. The depending on the current level and the stream channel the volume of water can double or triple without raising the elevation much at all. I typically look at the chart before I get on the water then check it again at the end of the day. After a while you get a feel for what to expect and how to deal with it. Just today the volume varied from 50 cfs to 18890. 50 cfs is what trickles out if the dam’s idle generators. In some areas it’s enough water to float a kayak or canoe but little more. 18890 cfs is big water. Sometimes river goes from zero generation to the big stuff very quickly, it will scare the crap out of you the first few times you see that happen. Where you go and what you do on any given level can change from hour to hour, that what makes the river so darn interesting. See the link below for the generation chart. My link

Good question, a while ago Ozark Springs Resort would do shuttles but I don’t think that’s the case now. Gasconade Hills Resort may have done it at one time but the logistics are not good, I’m not sure that’s an option. Leaving a vehicle overnight at the access is a little scary. It’s a great stretch of river, well worth the extra effort/risk to float.

Reading Truman is like eating good ice cream, effortless. What an interesting man, the last accessible president. In his retirement he worked at his presidential library, a person could probably have walked right in and passed the time of day with him. I guess I’ll plug my way through the Quanah Parker book. That period in American history fascinates me. A little while back I read The Last Indian War: The Nez Perce Story by Elliott West, I enjoyed that immensely.