Gavin

There should be 4 straps on each toon...position the frame on top of the toons adjust front to back till the front d-ring is lined up with the front of the frame.....the light bulb should pop on that point. Cheers.

I'm in favor of keeping them open even though I dont see much impact to Missouri's fisheries and I rarely fish tailwaters. Closures and/or significant budget cuts could have a significant impact to Arkansas's trout fisheries and several other tailwater fisheries in the South and that is not a good thing. Cheers.

Still too cold....but you might get some in that timeframe provided that it warms up in the next two weeks...Prime time is usually the first & second week of April in the St. Louis area. A week our two sooner down south. Cheers.

A NOLA shrimp recipe for you...havent tried it but it sounds darn good similar to some of the Shrimp recipes I love from Spain...but with more kick. New Orleans Style BBQ Shrimp-From the Commander's Kitchen.. 2lbs shrimp heads on (dats were the flavor comes from) 2T Creole Seasoning (divided) 1T Olive Oil 1 large head of garlic peeled in minced 2T Chopped fresh rosemary 3T Worchestershire sauce 3T Hot Sauce 1 Large Lemon, juice reserved, & quartered 1/3c beer S&P to taste 1 stick butter(8t) at room temp Season shrimp with 1T Creole season Heat a skillet Add oil and bring it to the smoke point Add Garlic & Rosemary...stir & brown garlic but do not burn Add Shrimp..Stir & Flip Add Worchestershire, Hot Sauce, Lemon Juice, & Lemon Quarters Deglaze pan with beer...cook around 2-3 minutes.. Add 1T Creole season, S&P.. Cook a tad more till shrimp are done and sauce has reduced. Reduce heat, add butter, adjust seasoning, remove lemon quarters1/ Serve with some good french bread & a fresh slice of lemon. Lots of weight in shrimp heads...thinking 1-2 servings tops. My Creole Blend. 1/4c salt 1/4c Powdered Garlic 1/4c black pepper 2T Cayenne 2T Thyme 2T Basil 2T Oregano 1/4c Paprika 3T Onion Powder You may want to cut the cayenne & hot sauce back by half on the first go......Good Luck.

Both Tan Vat & Baptist are posted as no camping...so is Welch...you can camp at Cedargrove for a fee, or Parker for free. No individual camping at Akers. You can always hike a tent up or down from Baptist...a couple good spots there.... Eagle's Park & Ozark Mountain Ranch are cheap in comparisson to Montauk.....less than $10....I'd stay at one of those, or go camp on the river. Cheers.

Some funny stories! I needed a good laugh today, Thanks!

George Roberts makes some great stuff, but its not portable. Should be able to get a few ideas from his website. http://www.flytyingfurniture.com/Catalog.html Or one of those fancy tying bags. http://www.fishpondusa.com/tomahawk-fly-kit.cfm I rarely tie on a trip...but I used an old briefcase when I used to do classes & demo's...fill it with what you need for a pattern or three. Cheers.

Duck Gumbo is great...Thats the beauty of gumbo...toss anything you want it and it turns out good if you spice it well...Did one for a halloween party a couple years ago with deer & wild mushroooms (hen of the woods & oysters mostly, and a few dried morels)..That was darn good.

Thanks, its based on one from the Commander's Palace in NOLA. Will have to try it with some tomatoe paste & old bay next time...The dutch oven is the traditional vessel...but I dont have one big enough for this recipe. Thats the only reason for the transfer to the stock pot.

Thats disappointing. Here's a good gumbo recipe for you. Seafood Gumbo Roux: 3/4c canola oil 3/4c flour Chops: 3 vidalia onions in medium dice 1 bunch celery in medium dice 4 green bell peppers in medium dice 2T chopped fresh garlic 1.5lbs of cubed ham 1lb Andouille sausage in 1/2" thick rounds (Baumann's on Manchester) Spices: 1t Oregano 1t Basil 1t Thyme 1t Cayenne 4 bay leaves S&P to Taste Other: 2Q cold water 2lbs Shrimp peeled & veined (or 1lb shrimp & 1Q shucked oysters in their liquor) Hot Sauce Boiled Rice Green Onions File Powder or 1/4lb of Okra to thicken (one or the other, your choice) Roux: Brown flour in oil in a cast iron skillet over medium high heat, stirring constantly, till the color of milk choclate. Burn the roux, start over... Soup: Transfer the roux to a stock pot, add onions, celery, & bell pepper saute for a couple minutes. Add the garlic,cayenne, oregano, basil, thyme, bay leaves, S&P saute for a couple minutes.. Add 2Q cold water, ham. & andouile...add a bit more water if needed..bring to boil and simmer for 45 minutes. Taste and adjust the spice load...S&P, Garlic, Cayenne Add File powder or Okra and simmer for 15 minutes...(At this point you have a great gumbo base which can be frozen for later use) Finishing touches.. Bring to boil, test the spice load again and adjust if needed... Add Shrimp (or Shrimp & Oysters) turn off the burner and wait 10-15 minutes. Serve over Rice, garnish with green onions...Hot sauce on the side.

Shoulda been were we were today....Great time at the parade! A buddy rents a private lot along the parade route and we tailgate...many incredible cooks...too much food...crawfish chowder, seafood gumbo, empanadas, jambalaya...and we tossed or shot a pickup truck full of beads to the crowd today. Iffen you want Gumbo...I live less than a mile from the Gumbo Shoppe...if Syd is there its good..if not. not... Have a few good recipes from NOLA or in that style...name it........but your gonna have to wait till to tommorow till I can focus enough to type it out.

I'd be up for a spotted bass fry.

I ordered mine online the other day...Quick & Easy.

I have two favorites....One is a Madame X style fly, and the other is the Jarosik Beetle. Norm's Madame X is good version... http://www.streamsideadventures.com/tips-and-techniques/cast-to-ledges.html Here's the Jarosik Beetle http://www.ozarkflyfishers.org/fly/printfly/crowebeetle.pdf

There was one in the Tryon book, but its not in every edition...and many of those listed arent significant. As for what to tie..Terrestrials (hopper, cricket, beetle, ant's, etc) are my most productive dry flies, bar none...after those Caddis Patterns, and some specific mayflies..have some Hendrickson & Lt. Cahill's in your box early in the season...have some Lt. Cahills & Sulphurs in you box in the May/June timeframe. Some White Flies if your fishing the Meramec in the late summer.....BWO's & Trico's & tiny whispy things in you box Fall & Winter. Stoneflies..used a big bushy hopper pattern for the big ones, or a caddis for the small ones..Cheers.

Heron Rookeries arent hard to find...Usually see them by the river, 75'-100' off the ground in giant sycamore trees. You will need some good climbing gear.

Senator Cauthorn introduces that bill at every session. It never goes anywhere.

Not very interested in a copetive event....but a base camp float is always fun...No Plan Plan...show up someplace, go fishing, share some stories and some good food around a fire at night...

We take our girls camping allot but they havent been floating yet. Might be this year for the oldest though, after her swim refresher. Might have a trip planned in May. Shoot me a PM and we can discuss.

No I.D. problem on the pigtails...thats our oldest...almost 4. Got the reeling in part last year...this year she will learn to cast...the youngest soon to be 2...will probably reel in her first this year.

Jefferson gets fished allot, but I saw a few bobbers in the trees and some bait containers along the canals yesterday...Someone is fishing water other than Jefferson, and I didnt see any no fishing signs. Finding a body while fishing...that would creep me out... but that can be happen anywhere.

Still looking good...Its still below 2' at Akers...I wouldnt get too concerned unless it went higher than 3.5'. Cheers.

Yeah, I'm leaning Muskrat at this point. It still suprised the heck out of us. I'm not too worried about Mountain Lions, but weve seen Coyote's in FP occassionally.

Some good LC colors. Translucent minnow colors. Any of the other ghost colors, and some of the pearl colors will work..Ghost Minnow is the easiest to find, but have several in Ghost Minnow, Aurora Ghost Wakasagi, MJ Japanese Minnow, Pearl Shad and a few others..They are all effective and I dont notice much difference between them. In opaque but not too flashy...Chartruse Shad, Aurora Dace Shad, Pearl Ayu, Misty Shad.. For a Flashy Minnow color..Aurora Black, Aurora Gold, or MS American Shad.. For a dark color..I have a Gunfish & a Sammy in MS Black, and it sounds like Al is tossing one in Archer Bee...Black with yellow spots. Havent tried any of the bluegill colors. As for worms...Mr. Bigs turned me on to the V&M Pork pin last year...I like them better than the Zoom Finesse worms. Cheers.

I spool my daughters trout rig up with 4lb Maxima, and add a 3-4' leader of 6x-7x Seaguar Grand Max Flourocarbon with a surgeons knot. The flouro is less visable, and stronger than any 2lb mono that you might find. Cheers.