Greasy B

I think that’s a great boat. Some observations; Vacuuming up gravel will wear your impeller out, leaves and weeds will rob you of power and burn up your power head, always be aware of what is under your jet’s intake especially when starting and when accelerating from idle to plow. When your boat plows it will draft much more than it does on plane, so it’s best to either idle or be on plane anytime the water is thin. I don’t think the fiberglass boats weight and its longer hull will side slip when turning quite as much as a typical aluminum hull, what has happen to me is when leaning the boat into a tight turn the jet will briefly suck air, no water in the pump means no control. How you run your boat through a shoal depends on how much water you have and what the bottom is composed of. Going over loose gravel you’ll need to be on plane to not suck gravel. Rock gardens and ledge rock shoals are a crap shoot, if you not certain about depth it’s probably best to idle through. This was the case last month on Eleven Point, I think it was just above Bliss Shoal, the water was fill with boulders the size of small appliances, never having run this in such low water I had to idle down, I was lucky just glancing a few rocks. As mentioned on a previous reply the trip up was much easier and I was able to do it on plane. The ledge rock shoals on white river are an animal of their own, this is where your river jon will shine. Even with the water pretty low it’s amazing how you can get up through the ledges of places like Wildcat Shoals and Buffalo by gently putting the front of the boat on a ledge then power up to slide over, then of course as Ham said “the downstream stuff is a white knuckle one shot deal”. That brings up the last point I wanted to make, I wouldn’t be too concerned with damaging your boat but I would be very afraid of getting thrown out, Al’s got it right “USE THE KILL SWITCH!”

About 20 years ago I discovered Bluegill fishing on the strip mine pits in south central Illinois. The water is crystal clear; the sight fishing opportunities are fantastic. During the spawns the typical day starts by standing on the front of the boat scouting the water for beds. When active fish are spotted the idea is to set the boat to drift with the wind past the bed without spooking the fish. On the first pass you want to throw your bugs on the edges, well beyond the main beds, often aggressive male Bluegill will stage around the limited shallows waiting their turn to move in. On the second pass you move in a little closer. I’ve seen beds that stretch for a hundred yards full of countless fish, other times just a few fish are on select spots. When you lay your fly over an undisturbed fish the take is almost always instant and violent, the fish will immediately swim straight for the deep water under the boat, if you don’t set up on them instantly and strip like a crazy you’ll lose most. After you’ve taken a few fish off a bed the rest of the fish wise up so a person needs to work another area then come back. A big bull Bluegill bending my fly rod double is every bit as exciting as any trout fishing I’ve done.

Good lord, how am I going to spend the weekend in a tree stand when the bass are biting?

Cool pictures, It’s interesting to see the spring world from the opposite view point.

Great responses all, thanks. Everything from “I have paradise right down the road, why should I drive half way across the country” to “Paradise is half way across the country and I’m going to do what I have to do to get there”. One thing’s for sure, youth and zeal make it a lot easier to burn up the road. As it turns out this trip was well worth it. We did spend about nine hours on the road and about twelve hours on the water but if you include a great evening camping on a gravel bar enjoying cold beverages and juicy rib eyes, eight glorious hours of deep sleep followed by a leisurely morning drinking coffee and yet another great meal we probably had thirty hours of quality time, I’d do it again and again. Oh yea I kind of forgot about the $80.00 plus spent on gas, I can’t do again and again.

On the drive out, time flies whether two hours or twenty hours, the sense of adventure and the anticipation is enough. On the drive back exhaustion, boredom and back pain take their toll.

For as long as I have been fishing Ozark streams the drive to the river has been part of the price to pay both in time and gas money. Over the years some general rules have evolved as far as how much distance/time and gas money I’m willing to spend. I try to spend at least twice as much time on the water as time in the truck. From my home base in Charley Town a two hour drive will allow me to do a single day trip most anywhere in the Meramec basin, four hours total time on the road equals 8 hours on the river. If I’m going to reach out to the Big Piney or Gasconade I need a day and a half on the water. That usual involves overnight camping on a gravel bar. Typically trips to Jacks fork, Eleven Point or North Fork of the White require two nights and two and a half day on the water. For big trips out west one week will allow me to reach northern New Mexico, most of Colorado and southeast Wyoming, Two week will get me to the Yellowstone area and most of Montana. This weekend I’m violating my rule and packing for a balls to the walls single night trip to Eleven Point River. It will be about nine hour’s total drive time for about twelve hours on the water. I’m wonder how other folks look at the drive time vs. time on the water equation? Thanks for any comments,

Born and raised at Grandpa Pidgeons, I can still smell anise coming from the jelly worms. More stuff doesn’t equal a better outdoor experience. I’m basically fed up with the whole retail marketing circus that has overtaken what was once a pleasant experience. I’m cool with supporting local small stores and will seek them out when I can.

Yep I couldn’t agree more. BPS is the Wal-Mart of fishing, help is nonexistent, knowledge is nowhere to be found and I haven’t set foot in the place for years. Cabalas are a little better, you can find knowledgeable help but the mass in your face marketing is off putting. In recent years I have seen the light; I try to avoid all retail outlets trying to sell me crap I don’t want. I’d rather spend my money on gas and my time on the river even if my equipment suffers a bit.

Yep, I agree better regulations would help. It’s too bad there’s no way to prevent browns from migrating into Bennett Spring Branch where they face certain harvest.

Yea, they turn night into day. I have often wondered how well giggers can distinguish game fish from non game fish. If they are experienced and ethical it can probably be done, I doubt the average person with a gig in hand can do it.

Lunker class, I don’t know, but a couple of pretty nice fish from this spring. Brown one has a stoneroller and sculpin sticking out of his mouth. Pretty cool, this fish was so aggressive it had more than it could swallow in its mouth and still attacked my bugger. That fish also had twin vertical scars on each side. Maybe gig marks? My nephew Art is holding Brown two. I guess these fish have held over for a couple of years, probably against great odds. My apologies, I think I may have had one of these pictures in a previous post.

Yea, remember crouching low behind tall grass on the railroad ranch section of the Henrys Fork and slinging a big bugger, I caught one fish that day, more than I seen anyone else catch. I’m much less self conscious these days and would proudly sling buggers just about anywhere I can find enough room to cast between the omnipresent emerger drifters. Throwing hardware for stream smallmouth has an awful lot in common with fly fishing for trout. You’re basically doing the same thing, presenting an imitation in a manner that will stimulate the trout or bass to eat it. When a person tosses a baby brush hog into a likely run or undercut bank they need to read the current to determine the best holding water and how to get the bait into it, they need to figure out whether they’re going to animate the bait or not, then they need to either have visual or physical contact with the bait to detect a strike. If you don’t see or feel the bait you have to look for a tell tale signs like a twitch of the line or a flash, bulge or blink in the water, or you just rely on gut instinct to know when your bait is in the sweet spot and set the hook. That pretty much describes short line nymphing for trout. The same skills come into play, it just a matter of choosing your tool of favor.

Yesterday I spent yet another wonderful day on the middle Meramec with trophy habitat galore catching plenty of fish but nothing over 12”, what a lost opportunity. I know I’m preaching to the choir but something needs to be done, this is sad.

Yep it’s time to abandon the rivers, Armor All the canoe and drag/walk/ paddle down some creek.

Quality Bluegill: • Lake with reputation for good bluegill. • Shallow spawning areas. • Polarized sunglasses. • Fly rod. • Barbless bluegill popper. • The first three days following the full moon each month during spring and summer. • Corn meal & hot oil.

Hi Sam, Welcome, your right we are very fortunate to live in and near an area as beautiful as the Ozarks. I might add that joining this forum was a good move too. There are so many generous people that are so willing to help out with tips and advice. If this forum would have been around thirty years ago my learning curve would have been a whole lot shorter. I’m looking forward to your post.

Great report, thanks. Pulaski County Public Beach Number One is the most heavily used 10’ wide slab of concrete I’ve ever seen.

I clicked on View New Content this morning and only found 17 new entries? Looking at a screen is a pathetic way to spend a weekend. What the hell is the matter with me, I had better log off, finish loading the truck and get out on the river like any sensible person.

Hey Oneshot, it’s cool that your life is so influenced by a river that it bookmarks the beginning and the end. Being a relative new comer to Niangua I was amazed at the contrast between the hideous congloberation of campgrounds and kitsch on 64 hwy and the peaceful river downstream. I had to ask myself is it because of good zoning laws or responsible land stewardship, no, I guess it’s just because no one has gotten around to developing it. I’ll bet that after couple of years of heavy use the gently sloping vegetated bank will be replaced with a muddy cut bank. All the trees on that side are bound to erode and fall into the water. Over the last few years I’ve nicknamed the stretch from the spring confluence to the boat ramp the Miracle Mile because if you can’t catch a fish there you’ll need more than miracle. I hate to see it spoiled. As far as the knuckle dragging morons who open their stupid mouths then pound the daylights out of fellow river travelers, I’ve ran into my share of those types. The only hope is for local law enforcement to step up and thoroughly investigate these instances, then prosecutors/judges stepping up to thrown the book at them. I’m all for carrying but the chance that it would do more good than harm is slim.

It may be due to the geology of Dry Fork Creek which is more akin to Bourbeuse River than to the main stem Meramec, more suspended solids. The underlying bedrock contains huge voids that store water and I would suspect mud also, it could be that some of this mud breaks loose every now and then, dissolving slowly and staining the water. Hey didn’t this thread start out being about stream confluences? Whenever I pass a tributary coming into a larger stream it always seems to me the junction should be more impressive. When I see Piney coming into the Gasconade it’s hard for me to imagine there are eighty something miles of navigable river above.

All that nasty rotten bait is hard to deal with. When I was about 12 years old an old woman at Spanish Lake in north St Louis County taught me how to fish with a hamburger/ Limburger cheese mix. Boy it worked great but if fell from your hook on every cast. When I go cat fishing next month I’ll probably use shrimp and night crawlers just so I don’t stink so much.

Yea, more likely than not the shoal at 28 hwy won’t be passable in a couple of weeks. The larger boats will be limited to the water below Piney. From there up to Hazelgreen (44 bridge) is just about as quite place as you’ll ever find on an Ozark river. Mostly guy’s and wives, the occasional serious fisherman and every now and then an old timer in a river john with a straw hat and a cane pole.

Holy cow, the river around Vienna /Paydown is fantastic bass water. The only problem is recreational boat traffic. It may make any fishing impossible except in the morning hours. Typically smallmouth bass get more active as the water warms up in the afternoon but with constant high speed boat traffic fishing and sanity is often a struggle.

yep, i used to have to deal with the 4 wheel yahoos back in the day on M fork. you never knew what the creek was like, muddy or clear until you got on it.