Goggle-Eyed

Eyeman, what country are you in? For some reason, I could NOT access the forum's in China or a couple of other restricted countries.... There are a few ways around that allowed me better access but it wasn't perfect when I was in China... Some days it would work some days it would be error 404 forbidden, PM me and I might be able to help. If you are in the USA i am not sure what the problem is and probably can't help!!!! Joe

Hoglaw, what size pump do you have. Unfortunately, I am running a 50/35 which uses the smaller pump and the UHMW are only available for the larger pumps. Do you have insurance on the Boat/Motor? If your deductible is low enough my be worth exploring. I carry a low deductible on all my "toys" and $250 on my truck... Joe

I have only heard good things about the UHMW jet foot. I have heard of a couple of guys that had to add washers to the mounting bolts after they hit "very hard" and pulled the bolt heads through the UHMW.

After Don Passed away John Reagan and his wife Barb took it over. I used to work weekends for both Don and John hauling canoes when I was MUCH Younger! Niangua River Land and Cattle Co. Now owns all the land from the old Ed's camground down passed the actual Spring. There are a couple of other "private" land owners mixed in but not very many. There are no longer any outfitters below Mountain Creek except for the "take out only" at Oldams. I have not caught any Browns near the spring in many many years. I have been catching a ton of Rainbows while throwing a White Jerk Bait the passed two weeks. I am averaging about two per trip and I am mainly only fishing from Blue Spring down to Lead Mine (Upper Access). Today was my first Double and it was an odd double, at least I thought so> It was a 17" rainbow and a 11" smallmouth. They came apart before I could grab a photo but was still my first double ever, after fishing about 36 years. I know some guys that have caught multiples and maybe I will now that I am fishing cranks and jerks alot more. The past 10 years I was hooked on soft plastics. Today was a good day over all. I only fished about 3.5 hours all above Lead Mine and below the Cabins on the East side of the river a couple of miles below Blue Spring. Best bite was on White X-Rap and Square Bill KVD sexy shad. Only 1 fish on a Tube. caught around 20 fish with the biggest smallie being 15". This year has been amazing for size and today was a good numbers day with a couple of nice fish mixed in. Joe Joe

Ya, I used to always set up camp on a small "almost" Island gravel bar within sight of the signs. I then preceded to build a moderate size campfire, I have only had them come down a couple of times and I just suggested they go ahead and call the Sheriffs office and let them decide if I need to move or not!!! I have NOT had any trouble from them in the past two or three years it was only really bad the first couple of years they owned the land. I think they figured out they really can't stop it if someone challenges the legality. I also now have permission from an adjacent landowner to to launch on his easement that I always thought was solely owned. Similar situation to what you mention FW. The land is posted like he owns it all but there is an easement that belongs to a couple of property owners in the area.... Joe

Sorry, Oneshot I was referring to the old Ed's Campground owned by Ed Dampier's family. It is a a couple or so miles above Blue Spring. If you have floated through there it is now the Niangua River Land and Cattle Co. and it is where they have the first big sign that says no trespassing, no stopping, no camping, etc...

I agree, and I really do love fishing soft plastic's and that feeling of "tap tap tap" or Tug tug tug" and the resulting "hook set" and following sore thumb stuck in their mouth's. Not really into the "fight" but love the bite, hookset, Thumb in mouth and release!!!! Preferably in that order!!!!

I had a friend that used to tear them up on Limb lines near the eddie above Dampiers old place. I have caught them as far up as "about 1/2 way between prosperine and Blue Spring. everyone used to call the area "Ziffle Riffle" now it is flat but it used to be very hairy. Edited from Trot Lines to Limb Lines.....

Oneshot, I actually had posted a real response, not just the smart butt one... When I put the emoticon in I must have accidentally deleted the real part of the post... I usually start picking a good mix of fish around the bridge piers, with a consistent catch of Small Mouth and Goggle Eye mixed with a few trout. The catch rate for trout really slows down by the time I get to prosperine. When I am fishing anywhere on the Ninagua, I am usually only targeting Small Mouth or Goggle Eye but still pick up a fair number of trout, especially if I am crank bait or jerk bait fishing. I am sure if a person was targeting the trout from the bridge piers to even a few miles below Prosperine they could have consistent success. But I still say there are no Smallmouth below prosperine so don't waste your time!!! Joe

Of course, there aren't many (if any) Smallmouth below Prosperine so NO ONE should bother fishing that stretch!!!!

About 4 of them were completing an overnight trip and not even fishing. The rest were all just paddling or motoring up from Lead Mine.

I ended up going to Lead Mine around 10:30 and getting on the water around 11am. I ran up close to Blue Springs and fished my way most of the way back... It was a Mad House here as well. I saw 6 canoes, 4 Kayaks and 2 jon boats!!! Fishing was tough but "good" and I caught another Trout, on a white jerk bait. Big fish of the day was a little over 15", had two that were almost identical in size. The rest of the Smallies mostly between 12-13" with a couple of "little guys" mixed in. Best bite was on Soft Plastic today. Caught a few on Spinner baits and jerk baits but slow and targeted was the ticket today. A few pics of the last few days. In the double pic that my BIL is holding the "little" fish is almost 13"... PS the Blood on the tape is from me, not the fish, the reason I hate fishing jerk baits!!!! LOL

Wayne, you are correct!!! being home is like being in heaven!!!! Today was just crazy for a Niangua trip... The river was still up but pretty clear. Unfortunately, I got my butt kicked by my BIL. I caught 2 over 16" and my BIL caught four between 17"-18". The size of fish today is better than any trip I have had in the past 7 years. This trip was pretty quick, put in at Lead Mine at 9:45 ran up a couple of shoals above Blue Springs. ALL of my BIL's fish came off of a 1/2 ounce War Eagle spinner bait. Their was no pattern to the fish. A few came from fast water, a few from what we call the "gar hole" because it is almost stagnant looking water.... I managed to hook 3 rainbows, landed 2.... One was caught about 1 mile from Lead Mine (another one that was lost!!!). The rainbow I caught right above Lead Mine hit a 1/2 ounce Chartreuse War Eagle Spinner Bait, that was a first for me!!! Anyway, a great day to be in the USA and a Great day of fishing, even if I got my butt kicked (I even made him run the trolling motor), still kicked my butt. Joe

Well, I can't stand it, headed back to the river today! Checked the gauge this morning and my guess was a little low yesterday. It is actually flowing around 800CFS... Joe

Easy there, there are a few on this forum that would rather just condemn... a few months ago their was a post that condemned a very respected guide in South America because of a mis-conmunication.... Turned out he is "well respected" as a guide but he would have been condemned, (actually was) if it hadn't been for some in depth checking.... It's the internet, I have seen a lot of people trash or get trashed on these types of forums....

I have used/tried it years ago and all we caught were carp.... my BIL has had great success fishing jugs with shrimp this year (better than normal). They caught one about 30lbs and one that was at least 50lbs... 30lb was kept by my nephew and 50+ was released since his dad pointed out "respect" and the fact that they already had a nice mess of "eating" fish!!!! both big fish came in the cove near the "floating house" in Linn Creek cove.... I am not a big trot line or jug fisherman... I like to catch everything on Rod and Reel, I guess if I was hungry or needed to have a fish fry for a ton of people I would trot/jug...

YA, it was a good "short day" on the water... I ended up just taking the Honda over to Marty. I told them not to worry about servicing the 'jet' and I would take care of filing the impeller and such... Larry, wasn't to sure about what needed to be done so I figured I could handle filing it!!! They did have a "change lower unit oil" charge on the bill until Larry noticed it and pointed out that it was a jet!!! No issues getting it removed and I know they don't deal with a lot of jets so they have a "standard" service charge... It was nice that Larry caught it and removed it before I had to "argue"... They cleaned the carbs (almost $300) for all 3... Boat ran perfect and I finally figured out why my father would beat me half silly if I didn't run all the gas out of the old outboards before i put them away... LOL, I knew/know better but was planning to run the boat one more time before I left for China last year, rain prevented that and I didn't think about it again until I got ready to use the boat this spring!!!!

Go back and look at the picture I posted of an extreme pollution day in China ( personally took the picture and can attest to how bad it was/is). do you really think this is not harming or speeding up global warming??? keep in mind out of almost two years in China I only saw "blue" skies aobut 10 times. Even travelling out of the "cities" to remote areas doesn't guarantee a pollution free environment. I am not sure that we can screw up the Ozone enough for it to have a truly negative effect on my Great Grand Kids (I don't even have Grandkids yet) but I am pretty sure that we are screwing it up at an alarming rate and what could have lasted millions more years might only last a few hundred thousand years... If you preach C&R how can you not comprehend conservation????

The title might be a little confusing for newcomers to the Niangua, but it is basically from "the Niangua River Land & Cattle Co." property down to Lead Mine (A couple of miles above "Blue Spring". The river was UP and Murky, flowing over 700CFS and less than 18" visibility. I got my jet serviced yesterday and decided it needed a test run today!!!! I put in at the Upper Lead Mine access and ran up to Dampier's old place. I started fishing around 9am and it was very slow. I only caught about 4 fish from 9am until 12:30pm. 3 Smallmouth and 1 Rainbow Trout (he was lost!!!!). The trout came on an off brand Crawdad Crankbait. The first three smallies came on everything from a Mepps to a jerk bait. Around 12:30 it was like someone flipped a switch!!! At that point I was fishing a 3" Green Pumpkin Tube (VERY slow). Caught two back to back fish in about 4FOW in the slack water of a long eddy, behind a little sand bar (Thanks Al, for posting about fishing sand bars this time of year) I fished both sides of the eddy (low mud bank on one side and chunk rock and boulders on the current side). I ended up catching a few more on the tube then "running out of time" I accident hung and broke off the tube. I needed to be off the river by 2pm to make a meeting but the fishing was just too good!!! I broke off the tube around 1:30 and had about 9 total fish in the boat at that point... I decided to just fish a "white" X-Rap that I had tied on, since i was in a hurry! I ended up catching several more and lost track of count. Biggest fish in the boat was 14.5" and most were around 11-13". Almost all fish hit when the baits were stopped. On the tube bites I was just letting it sit and "tapping" the line when most hit. On the X-rap I was letting it sit about 5 seconds and just watching the line. It was weird, they wanted it twitched really fast and then would hit it when it was stopped for a long time... No bites if I kept it moving and no bites if I twitched slowly and let it set.... it was more of "jerk, jerk, stop" "twitch, twitch, stop" resulted in "nothing".... I got off the water by 2pm and made my appointment a little late, showed the guy my "sore thumb" and explained how the fish didn't start biting until 12:30!!! He laughed and we closed the deal!!! I was the customer in this case and now have a new truck!!!! Anyway, it is good to be home and good to be fishing again.

Well, I arrived home on last Tuesday and had an interview with a new company on Wednesday. I am now gainfully employed in the USA. I will be back in the Marine Industry and calling on regional builders as well as BPS and Tracker Dealers. I really enjoy international business but the health effects of living full time in China are just to severe. Not to mention I really wanted to get back into the Marine Industry and focused on the Aluminum boat segment (My Favorite). Anyway, I start the new job June 3rd and was hoping to spend a few days this week on the Niangua BUT that doesn't look to promising based on the forecast... My buddy called and said all the Smallmouth from Prosperine to Lead Mine have went into hiding and were shaking with fear when they heard I was back in town. LOL Hope to get an opportunity to actually fish with a few of you guys in the future. Edited to add: Sorry, I just realized I posted this in the wrong forum.... Joe

guess, I am part of the problem not the solution... Well Not the drunk boating stuff but that driving didn't look bad to me... I only watched about 2 minutes but it didn't look bad to me? The lake was wide open and they appeared to be having fun. Anyway, I guess you better never come to Lake of the Ocean on a Weekend, let alone a Holiday Weekend!

I am trying, I am just struggling with naming an old method of fishing after someone... Yes it is effective, did he perfect it "maybe". Does that mean we should no longer call flipping docks with a jig and pig a "jig and pig" and start calling it the "Denny Rig? Obviously Denny Brauer perfected Flipping docks and the details, but I have never heard anyone call it a "Denny Rig"... Just not sure this warranted the "naming", seems like he focused on getting the "rig" named after himself.. edited to add.... Funny thing I posted this same thing on an eastern "USA" based forum and a "western" based forum and 80% of the posts agreed this is a method of fishing that many of us have been doing for 25+ years, Ned just did it better and shared his success... Again, I agree it works and he is probably the best I have ever 'READ" about in fishing it.... Still don't know if a "jig and 1/2 a worm" warrants naming a bait!!!!

Touche', You Win!!!!

Thats a lie, My Great Grandpa invented that!!!! I hearby Christen the Night Crawler, the "pa pa rig" What about a "shaky head" why isn't that named after the guy that started fishing a worm slowly, on a stand up head and just "twitching it"????

I just don't get all the "hype" or naming this a "Ned Rig". It is a crappie jig with a bit of Senko or other rubber worm. I as well as many others have been doing this for years. The fact that some guy (named Ned) wrote an article and added some techniques for fishing it is cool, but I am not sure it warrants naming it after him.... I think it should be called "grandpa's rig" because I am pretty sure that's where it started... You know.... Grandpa was taking a grandkid fishing and didn't want to waste a good bait... So he picked up a crappie jig and a piece of worn out Senko and tied it on the kids "Snoopy" rod... The Grandkid started catching a ton of fish.... So Grandpa started using the same setup.... I am pretty sure that is where the Crappie Jig/Piece of Senko "Ned Rig" started!!!! I do agree it is a great tool, just not sure why something so old (i was doing it in the early 90's) would or should be named after someone. That's like saying a crappie jig tipped with a minnow, or waking a spinnerbait like a topwater instead of fishing it traditionally should be named after a guy that wrote an article on how to do it.. Anyway, it is a great tool in the arsenal, no more of a game changer than than the A-Rig but definitely works well in certain conditions. Not interested in hearing how great it works (I agree it is effective in the right conditions!!!) but would like to hear your thoughts on actually naming something that has been used for so long after someone just because he wrote an article.... Maybe, I am just jealous I don't have a method of fishing named after me!!!!