Gavin

It's been years since I thought of the Butler Lakes. Thirty years ago it was a dump site for construction debris, tires, and old appliances. Have they cleaned it up? Used to have a bunch of carp, buffalo & gar.

Glad you had fun! It's a great place to visit. The cost isn't so bad if you limit the time you fish. Makes a great day trip if your staying on Lake Norfork or the NFoW.

It doesn't really matter how good of a fly tier or fly fisherman he was. I wasn't going there. His contribution to the sport and to the enjoyment of many is huge. I've learned a ton from his legacy, and from many, many others.

Here’s a few tied by Chuck. Nice guy, but not much of a fly tier

That's lake water/slow flow down by Tecumseh, but you can still drown in it. I'm sorry those folks lost their lives. That is a fun river to float, but it does try to get you wet when you don't want too. I've lost count of the times I've floated my hat when wading down there. The last nasty wipeout I had was on the NFoW around one of the islands between Myron's and Blair. I was floating solo in the kayak and tried to run a chute that looked like guaranteed tragedy in a canoe, but a short wild ride in a kayak. I ended up rolling the boat on the face of a 3'' standing wave. Lost a rod, hat, and a pair of sunglasses. Had my PFD on for a change, and was glad I did.

Sorry you took a dunk! That happens occasionally. If you don't retrieve that stuff immediately it gets beat up pretty bad, but no gear is worth risking life & limb, or hypothermia for. Better luck next time.

I won one of these once.

Do you like cows and the smell of manure?

Son! You might just have a future in politics! The suckers will eat it up!

That’s a tall tale if I ever heard one.

Congrats Pete! Those scummy eddy spots can produce when the water is rolling.

Etrailer....there up in Wentzville if you want to pick it up and save shipping. Good folks.

I went halibut fishing once. I'd do it again because the fish you get is fantastic, and you get allot of it. It does not sound like spoonbill are worth the effort.

Breathe in for 4, hold for 1, out for 5....it works. Serenity NOW!

There is a trick to spinning deer hair. Its in the book "Practical Flies and Their Construction" by Lacey Gee (founder of Wapsi) and the Wapsi beginner fly tying manual. Its tough to explain without an illustration, but easy to do with a small amount of practice and a darning needle. Its a commercial tying method, and it works ALLOT better than the spin it around the hook and hope method.

My light line stuff rarely gets used, but that's not the point. Someday, I'll go to where I will use those rods again. Until then, they will bring back memories. If I had no memories attached, I would have no trouble selling them.

I have a 17' Landau PJ...It works really well with a 55lb thrust TM. It will hold 3 to fish, 2 for an overnight with gear. It's really stable, but it doesn't hold any more than a 17' canoe IMO because the seats take up a ton of cargo space. Two small kids and two adults would be max...and only on day trip. It does make 20 miles into an easy overnight down river trip, plus its nice to be able to motor back up and fish a good run. Good luck with it.

Try Montauk, stay in loop 2 or 3 near the disabled access pier.

Great stuff! It’s great with duck, goose, or chicken livers.

The Mill dam has been breached for quite some time. Stripers can move in & out at will. You could drop a jet in at Blair and run to the Falls, over the Falls to McKee Bridge at high water. Friends have done it, and folks would use jets to gig when it was still allowed above Patrick. The main obstacles to boat traffic are the low bridges at Dawt, Patrick, the Falls (2’ rock ledge across the river), and McKee Bridge. Guys with drift boats have trouble getting under McKee sometimes, and Patrick always. Brian Bade @ Sunburst Ranch could show you where they stay. Justin Spencer still lives on the river and he could too.

Great project! I'm looking forward to pictures of your progress.

Ham's little striper was from the long slow pool below McKee bridge...The springs are about a mile up from there. They are not just there and gone in the spring time. They seem to like it as thermal refuge in the summer months and an abundant crawfish populations keeps them fed. The hard part is access on that river...There are lots of private river houses near wear the stripers hang and you don't want to be "that guy" setting up camp on someone's gravel bar. Your pretty much limited to down river float fishing unless you have private access. Makes it hard to target the big brown trout as well.

They run up the North Fork of the White trout water, all the way to Rainbow Spring. Hooked a real monster right below Kelly Ford a couple years ago. It towed me around in Kayak for what seemed to be an eternity. There in there...big pods of them. But they only eat, when they want to eat.

Boring game, but we had fun in the kitchen frying corn dogs and chicken wings. My daughters thought MJB looked like a past her prime hooker, and Eminem appeared to be lip syncing. It was over at 9 so that was a plus, we should thank the referee's for putting a quick end to that suffering.

Bet Evan, Ryan, and the Gateway TU folks have it.. I haven't talked with any of those folks in quite awhile. Think MSA has a meet in Eureka tonight, but I have other plans.