Greasy B

Oh yea I noticed it. The long gravel bar between Round House and Red Bud has flattened and pushed down stream filling in the pool below. A few years back there was lame attempt to impove habitat in the area. It was an endever that appeared to be designed by a clueless bureaucrat. Needless to say it had no effect.

As an angler I concider myself an optimist, but its hard to be optimistic about thIs. We've quite a few years of good water lately and some much improved fishing because of it, I don't count on it lasting. I'll never forget the horror of swimming in near bath water at Wildcat access back in the 90's.

A month ago I ran across something about another bureaucratic hurdle being overcome with regard to minimum flow implementation. Does anyone know what’s going on?

I recall a book. Fishless Days, Angling Nights by Sparse Grey Hackle. It’s a collection of fish stories set in the Catskill Mountains. If I recall correctly the ole boy in the stories hardly catches a fish through the whole book. Catching fish is not the point; it’s all the people the place that make the experience. A good book and approach to angling.

Yea the white is known for big browns, now. The new length limit helped a bunch but all we need is a couple of dry years, extended periods of low water and the bait fishing will take it's toll. It's hard to be optimistic about the future of the fishery without meaningful science based regulations.

Wrench, I like your suggestion. I used something similar a few years back.

As a person who has looked down the barrel of a loaded gun on a couple of occasions I want to remind everyone that our impression of violence is influenced by mass comunication. The fact is that we live in one of the most stable crime free countries in the world in perhaps the most stable and crime free time in the history of civilization. Just figured I little historic prospective was in order.

I agree with Gavin, I don't drive 5 hours to spend my leasure time in someone's back yard. NFOW is well down my list of destinations for just this reason. We are fortunate to have many stream miles still undeveloped but this won't last. As our stream corridors become more urban/suburban our children won't have the same opportunity to enjoy them as we have. That's a hell of a legacy to leave them.

Sounds like a great adventure. The Missouri from Gavins Point Dam to the shipping canal at Sioux City has haunted me. I would love to float this last section of un-channelized river. I don’t know if this is much help but since Feb 1st the river at Washington, Mo has risen about 5’. On the 1st the stage was 3.5 at this level most all the wing dikes were well above the water. The sand bars behind them were exposed and the channel was relatively narrow and well defined. The river is now at 8.5” the sand bars are mostly gone, some wing dikes are still above water and the channel is a little less defined. My descriptions are from looking longingly at the river twice a day as I cross it near St Charles, MO.

I couldn’t agree more. I have never had a bad encounter with a land owner in 30 years of Ozark gravel bar camping. I am truly grateful to all land owners who have not posted their gravel bars. I try to return their tolerance by leaving no trace. It almost goes without saying that I have had countless encounters with river idiots.

I plan on getting my CC soon. I'll probably carry sometimes but I'll do so with the knowledge that there will almost never be a situation where I'll be justified using it. I spent more than 10 years working in probably the roughest neighborhoods in north St louis. In that time I witnessed crime and violence beyond description. I have never seen a situation where another gun would have helped. Sorry for contributing to this off subject tangent.

Didn't Ted Turner already buy Montana?

Boy Eric, I thought I was a dreamer.

I’m looking for a used canoe for floating and fishing. An Old Town Penobscot 16, Mohawk Nova 16 or similar canoe would be ideal. A Discovery 169 or 158 would also be an option, even a used rental canoe as long as the lines are true and the price is right. I might consider swapping a used Mohawk Solo 14 as part of the deal. If anyone is interested or has any leads please let me know or PM me. Thanks,

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.