Gavin

Haven't seen the collection yet. Some good tiers in this one. Was tempted. Might get a gold mine instead of the shaft in this one.

Nice Tie! I liked the little trick you used to keeping the marabou away from your spun deer hair head.

I don't care if they have a golf tournament and use the proceeds to support education, training, and various outdoor programs. L.D. isn't very credible, IMO. His blog provides some value of entertainment occasionally, but I never take him seriously. He's just an unsuccessful outdoor writer that blames the MDC because nobody wants to publish him.

The food is decent but nothing to rave about. Just basic country diner type fair.

Looks like great time! Good for you all! Fish Dinner?

Their locked up in a thicket somewhere. Have not seen the Old Warson CC flock since it got cold, but they were strutting all over the big yards in Ladue & Frontenac when it was warm last week.

High water will make the fish move Around a bit. Slack water refuge spots near your low water spots can be productive. High, cold, and muddy is never a good bet.

See that road headed south on the east bank from Duke, that is 6x.

Hey TJM, what are you poling your canoe with? Would like a nice aluminum Belitz bros style pole.

Tandem canoe=barge. Solo=Ferrari Kayak=Pig with Lipstick

The Vagabond is a good boat, but it takes on allot of water on a drop. Excels on flat water with a light load. Bought my old Vagabond from a 250-300lb guy who could not keep it upright. Fine for me at 5'11 180 with a light load of gear. Easy to overload it though.

No, solo canoes are too narrow to pole. Can pole my 17' tandem upstream a couple miles but not great at it. Could use more practice with that and a better pole. Mine is just a 12' closet rod with some copper plumbing caps & screws on the ends.

Love paddling solo canoes, have owned several. 14-15' is the sweet spot. Would not want one shorter. No problem soloing my 17' tandem, but wind can make that work. Think that Novacraft looks good, Wenonah Wilderness looks good too. Current solo is a Mad River Slipper 14' 10" from the mid 1980's.need to replace the wood gunwhales, and patch some gel coat but it paddles great. Solo's paddle differently than tandems. Learn to brace, and sweep. A long kayak paddle that breaks in half is a plus if heading upstream or if windy but usually use a single blade. Get one a bit longer than you would use with a tandem. The Mitchell open boat WW paddle is my fav. Will make to length for you, chin high should work.

Pete , the Upper Missippi above the Twins or the Menominee can be really good. The rocks up there are granite, so be careful. Could get there in a day's drive. Not sure if they allow jets on the St. Croix in the Scenic section but worth the trip.

It's the habits of the big brown trout. Little dinks try to eat most everything any time like rainbows. Bigger Browns like low light. Morning bite is usually better, but evenings sometimes. Usually takes a day or two to figure out the timing. It is Rare to catch a brown over 20" mid day unless the water is up. Odds go way down for every cast you make, know we're they live and make your first cast count. Be first or stay late. It's a reaction bite mostly. Rainbows are not great streamer fish, curios, but tail nippers mostly. They rarely go for the head.

Yes, some difficult logistics. Easier to find big stupid smallmouth in Canada. But, it really is not about that. Don't remember many trips when all went well, fork ups, and misadventures always retold.

NFOW is mostly nymph fishing with big stuff and lots of shot when it's up and the fish are friendly. Low water NF0W usually involves an hour drive to the 11pt where the fish are dumb and willing.

Have a buddy in Austin, but his drift boat was in Belleville, IL maybe sold, dunno. Could quiz him. Would love to do that trip.

Would try to find Kelly Watson, used to guide it, last time I heard from him he was in Nawlins.

Brown trout love them. Mostly and early or late thing unless the water is up. There are more brown trout between the Falls and Dawt Mill than there are above the Falls. April & May is usually a good time to fish that river before the summer hordes invade. BTW, Sunburst Ranch re-opened up for camping on April 1st!

Clerical errors can create an excrement storm.

Welcome to grab those Grizz. In Webster Groves. 10-15m from Big Barnes. PM when you are in town and will get them to you.

Best not to talk about that online. Think that more than a few date from the 1890's. You can find if you look. SWMO has a few I'd like to prospect, but to much good water in the way from STL. Would love to fish your money water, and you would be welcome to use any of my light line bamboo rods if you wish.

That's really cool! My late father was an pen & ink illustrator in his early years, became a master with photoshop, and melding things into photoshop towards the end of his career. Used to do a bunch of catalogs for employee rewards and industrial parts. It is no oil painting but lots of skill & judgement involved.

Tourney folks love their weigh ins. If you could shift their focus to length or numbers you might see change. Think lots of folks would like to see tourneys banned outright. Will probably see it happen in the next 20yrs unless they change there ways to a better scoring system.