Gavin

He definetly knows how to spot fish and drift a jig with some degree of precission...Its impossilbe to infer more w/o seeing him in action. Multiple 18" plus brown trout days happen down there sometimes...not often...but its very possible. Cheers.

Any good neck, saddle, or strung chicken feather will do...helps if you know how to fold a hackle in half before you wrap it........and your buggers will be indestructable if you tie in your folded hackle at the front...wrap rear, then tie down the hackle with a wire rib before tying off at the head. Cheers.

Lots of stuff works great....usually do the meat ahead...figure brisket goes for about 8-10 hours, pork butt...12-16hours...a simple cole slaw works really well in addition to baked beans..Watermelon Salad...etc... Simple Slaw... Usually do it with green & purple cabbagge, and some grated carrot...basic dressing 1c Mayo 1/4c Sugar 1/4c Rice Vinegar 2t celery seed S&P Adjust Vinegar & S&P to taste... Always a hit... Watermelon Salad... Bought 1/2 a seedless watermelon.... Can of mandarin oranges, drained mostly Bunch of fresh Basil well chopped. Dressing.. Red Wine Vinegar & Olive Oil...50/50 mix splash of juice from the can of mandarin oranges S&P Toss, then top with crumbled goat cheese.

I debarb flies if I remember too...Always on nasty treble hook lures.

Heres a pick of that lazy susan setup.... http://www.headhuntersflyshop.com/wp/archives/2905

There is a stream guage on the upper Pomme De Terre... http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=06921070&PARAmeter_cd=00065,63160,00060 Think its located on the Highway D bridge a couple miles below Hwy 32...says its flowing at 20cfs...thats usually not enough to float a canoe w/o dragging every riffle..I generally lood for at least 100cfs...but individual streams vary...I'd suggest that you wade & scout it before you attempt a float. Cheers.

Think you could get a Danvise for $80 or so..Probably your best option if you dont want to step up to a Renzetti.

Glad your OK...dont think scotch would be a good anisthetic...but I have a veteranarian friend who lives on the banks of the Big near Cedar Hill...I'm sure he could load you up on horse traquilizers and make quick work of that lipoma...might even catch a smallmouth or two...

I'd recommend Sunburst....Hammond to Sunburst, or James would make a good overnighter..James to Dawt is probably the ugliest stretch of that river thanks to all the developement at North Fork Ranch...Fish smallmouth on day one and camp up around the Springs at the head of the trout water....break camp & float down early in the AM before the day floaters get on the water..The Bryant offers more solitude and its very scenic in its own right...small water, big bluffs.... but there are several low water bridges to portage and it gets very low this time of year...There are a few trout on the Bryant as well...a couple miles up above Bell Bridge(95) where Spring Creek comes in. The trout are escapee's from Rockbridge.

3-4x about 95% of the time...sometimes 5x...I rarely find a need to go smaller on the Current, Eleven Point, or NFoW......Tiny air clear spring creeks, high pressure tailwaters & trout parks. 6-7x is the rule. Bring plenty of BB shot, some SSG's and some Thingamabobbers.

If your getting refusals...change something...lighter leader, and change flies...and dont spend to much time in one spot...Small creek fishing is usually a run & gun program...your lucky to get 3-4 casts in before your busted most of the time. Cheers.

Think there are a couple guys with commercial use permits to guide down there...Norm is was one of them last time I checked...Maybe he didnt renew his permit, but I'm sure that he wouldnt guide w/o one. Not sure how much he's guiding these days, but was at it years before Sam started his business. Glad your getting out! Night fishing can be fun down there....Caught my best ever Current River brown at night in the middle of August years ago.

5.25"....usually in glimmer blue or pearl with a chartruese tail...3-4/0 EWG hooks.

Try a buzzbait in current. Run it along willow weed edges, logs & rocks......topwater walk the dog type plugs like a Lucky Craft Sammy or Gunfish in flat water...early and late can be good sometimes, but dont rule out mid-day...Figure that Al, Coldwater, & I took at least 90% of our fish on top last week. Even if they wont hit topwaters, they are good fish finder lures. Followup with a fluke or a plastic if they refuse the topwater offering.

Sam is very good...see him down there allot..Norm Crisp is good too www.streamsideadventures.com

No flukes or topwaters baits?

Akers to Pulltite.....fishing stinks...but its scenic...Current River Canoe has the concession at Pulltite....but they arent cheap....$55 for a car spot, no rental....Think one fellow owns 80-90% of the canoe rentals down there...seems odd that one person can hold the great majority of concession contracts....but it is what it is.. The prices are fixed......If you want one cheaper, you will have to arrange it with an aquaintance...not that hard to do really..plenty of folks wanting an extra $25 or so...

A weekend might be tough for em down at Sunburst...weekday...they would probably do it...another option would be Roy's store up the road a bit, or some of the campers down at Patrick.......strike up a conversation with the locals, offer a bit of $, and they might just help you out.

Call Justin @ Sunburst Ranch....he knows that creek pretty well.

Depends on how much dragging you like to do..Pack light if your gonna do it..

I think that Kevin Turner @ Riverpro boats in Hillsboro has down some boat setups with wheel chair access in mind...might want to give him a call...might want a swivel platform that you can attach the chair to in front or back...so he can turn around easilly without the chair fallng in the water. Cheers.

I've owned & built a fair number of short light line fly rods over the years.....A couple 6' 1pc rods, 6'6" 2pc, 6'9" 2 pc, several 7' 2pc, a 7'3" 2 pc, and several 7.5' rods in 2-3pc configurations...the 6' and 6'6" rods are fun at times...trico time, etc.....but I probably wouldnt go shorter than 6'9" or 7' in the future, probably in 2-3pc configuration, the tubes are short enough as is. Cheers.

Its fair to middling fishing at best....usually do the Blunt's to Butt's, or Butt's to Scotia float. Butt's to Scotia is better scenery..Unfortunately, both of those stretches will be wall to wall people on the weekends...I'd go way upstream and wade fish if you really want a shot at some fish. Cheers.

I'd load your boats on Friday and float down about a half mile from Baptist to the first the big gravel bar on river left. The river makes a 90 degree bend to the right just below were I'm talking about..Good fishing right there, up, and down...Do a short float on Saturday...go another 2.5 miles or so...and camp down at Derry Berry...its the big gravel bar on river right..just past the 3 big bluffs below the powerline crossing. Good fishing up, and down. Use the horse trails to cover some ground down there...Should give you about 4 miles to go on Sunday...but the fishing isnt as good on the lower half anyway. Have a great trip.

Call them and ask is your best bet...they might be willing to work something out in the Monday-Thursday timeframe when they are slow...Forgetabout special arrangements in the Friday-Sunday timeframe. Good luck.