Gavin

Forgetabout flouro on a spin gear...I go with some fine hi vis (yellow or orange) braid and add a 7-10' flouro leader I'm worried about visability in clear water...but braid is only good if the temps are above freezing...if its below freezing I go with mono.

I had a ball. Drove down to Sunburst Ranch on Wednesday. Justin & Steve were out canoeing the Bryant when I arrived, so I elected to wade the Islands above Patrick Bridge...Water was low & clear, sky cloudy...It was a good choice because and had non stop action for 2 hours. I caught lots of small rainbows and some in the 12-14" range. Got back to camp and Justin was skinning a lamb out for our dinner on Thursday. Watched a bit of that, then tossed my stuff in the River Cabin, and heated up some ribs & beans to go with our tater salad. They remodeled the River Cabin last fall and its looking good! Fun time chatting with Justin & Steve around the new wood burning stove that evening. We had breakfast with Amy at Roy's store before she dropped us up at Kelly for a float back down to Sunburst on Thursday. It was the second voyage in Justin's new to him Hyde drift boat. We got into fish right off the bat, but we got shut down between McKee Bridge & Cave Riffle....mossiest stretch on the river these days. Wonder if Myron's septic leaks? Started picking up some fish at the island below the Elephant Rocks. Steve and I almost had a nice double below the Rock Garden...I buttoned up with a nice 16-17" bow, and Steve hooked a nice brown in the 15-16" range. It would have made a great pic, but my bow gave us a nice aerial display, then left me. Steve landed his for a picture though. Got back to Sunburst, and Amy had a wonderful leg of lamb cooked & waiting for us. Justin had some Halloween festivities to attend in Dora on Friday, so Steve and I were on our own. Tom from Westover dropped by on his way to pick up some trout eggs in Ava, so we had breakfast with him at Roy's. Then we headed back to Sunburst, rigged the some pontoon boats and floated to James. I'd never oared a toon before, but I had a ball with it. Steve got first blood with a 13-14" brown right below Sunburst. I got my first below 2nd Island (13-14" bow). We had fair fishing for the rest of the trip. Mostly small rainbows & 10" browns...but we each got a rainbow or two in the 15" class, and a brown in the 13"-14" range. We had pretty darn good fishing for low water. The usual suspects produced the best........eggs, rubber leg hares ear, pat's rubber legs, mohair leach...no action on streamers. Many thanks to Justin & Amy for their fine hospitality. Will post up some pics later this week.

Hargrove heats his shop with a wood burning stove, so thats probably what your smelling...the lads smoke outside for the most part...cept for Wooly Bugger Eddy while he's tying on Saturday.

Dunno....seems to me that Didymo & other invasives will spread regardless of what we do...I'm all in favor of cleaning your stuff, but there are just too many vectors involved to be certain it wont spread felt, no felt, or not. If there is good habitat for it, it will find a way...I'll give up felt if I must, but I've yet to see a good alternative. My main concern is fishers coming back from the White, Norfork, & Taney and fishing in Missouri...I dont fish those didy infested tailwaters...but those who do need to take precautions, might work, but its mostly a feel goodism, IMO.

Chief is correct...its a sight game all the way..let your hook sit till a sucker swims over it....No excuse for hitting a game fish Bass Pro sells Sucker Pluckers if you want to give it a go. http://www.basspro.com/Bass-Pro-Shops®-Sucker-Hooks/product/80126/-1225916

Its hard to make money on a property like that...especially if you have a significant amount of debt to service..Think the former owner owed the bank $6.5M on the place. I really dont think that the property is worth half...but the real estate boom was what it was.... It might work if you could pay cash for the place...Get it to the point were it produces a positive cash flow after taxes and expenses....and hope to sell it to someone else down the road.

I'm not concerned.... the spots were folks grab usually arent the best trout habitat (frog water). I've been on many fall trips where I've seen folks snagging and it hasnt interfered with my fishing at all. Snaggers dont move around much...they just need one or two good holes with some suckers in it. Most flyfishers seem to want the whole darn river.

Not sure what they took...but that sounds about right....I'm sure they got to cherry pick and negotiate some others...I hear that Premier looks small, but its got a whale for an owner..... Will wait to hear word from Tom & Lisa.

Thinking of adding a reflector oven...3-4lbs v 20lbs...but heres the link to Byron's Dutch Oven Page...good stuff here. http://papadutch.home.comcast.net/~papadutch/

You cant ask everybody....its just not cost effective.. I do a bit of sampling when I do financial & compliance audits...my software does most of the work in regard to sample sizes and confidence levels.... but you can usually test 25-30 random items and get a pretty good feel for a population (is the data junk or decent? What is it trying to say?) Test 100, and you usually get about the same result particularly if its a non-stratified population. Thats just a start though....sometimes it takes allot more items (200,300,500, more) to satisfy the confidence level.. A couple of years ago the permit vendors were supposed to ask if you fished for smallmouth when they sold you a fishing license...bet they are drawing from that pool for the surveys. I didnt get a survey...Could someone reveal the questions?

Here's the code...look in the restricted section language...p.6 of 12...on the PDF. Gigging is prohibited, snagging is not. http://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/csr/current/3csr/3c10-6.pdf

Gene your link pertains to the limit on Hogsuckers on the lower Current...not the legality of snagging suckers on the Upper Current...its perfectly legal...but gigging is not. Be careful with MDC's new site...its a POS IMO....I'd look to the code on the Secretary of State's site.

An article in today's Post Disgrace said the assets of Premier Bank were already sold to Providence Bank in Columbia so I guess they own it now. Losses to be divided between the FDIC and the purchasing bank accourding to the story. http://www.stltoday.com/business/local/article_4b58b6e8-d8bc-11df-ba06-00127992bc8b.html

Sucker snagging is a popular activity on the upper Current..Nothing unusual about it. The season opens on Sept 15th. You can get your sucker pluckers from Bass Pro for a couple bucks...Its harder than it looks. Cheers.

Do a bit of dutch oven cooking....the one I tote is pretty well seasoned..probably 30-40 years worth of good meals in it. Got it as a gift from my old scout troup leader. It cooks everything well, but we usually use it for pineapple upside down cake...lots o butter, lots o brown sugar on the bottom......pair it with a bit of Irish Whiskey and some coffee on gravel bar and you have the ultimate night camp....Google Byron's Dutch Oven site and you will find some good stuff... DO cooking is pretty much a no brainer after you get a bit of practice. Regulate the heat....more heat on the top...less on the bottom so you dont burn stuff......rotatate the lid and the oven occasionally (1/4 or 1/2 turn for both every know and then). Fire Gloves...Lid lifter....DO case..get em...Cheers.

If its true....Elk might be the only good thing that ever came from Arkansas .

Mitch let me translate..........Keep your candy in the water till something eats it...if your not catching in a reasonable amount of time, fiddle with your rig a bit and/or change your candy. Get it back in the water as soon as possible because your not gonna catch a fish while tying knots. Cheers.

Thats a fun sucker! I hope you find something better than you have now...and soon!

I usually fish a Madame X in #6 or a #8 tied on a TMC 200R or equivalent for the big fall caddis. There usually about an inch long, Wings are dark tan, The body is kind of a rusty brown orange. They emerge at night, but fish will eat them during the day...Fire up a lantern near the river at night and youll find all kinds of bugs that you can imitate. Long tapered leaders are no problem to cast....but I use them to fish far & fine....longer cast with a dry or a nymph w/o an indicator. I use a completely different set up for bobber fishing.

Nymphing is a constant process of change...add or remove weight, adjust the distance between your shot & your fly, adjust your leader lengh longer or shorter, fish with an indi, or without...Every spot on the river is different. Cheers.

Looks like its running around 250 at Steelville. Kinda low for a big guy & lots of gear in a high side boat. Expect to drag a bit...allow ample time or camp. Fear no log...bring a good chainsaw, lots of beer, and some duct tape ;>)!

Trout park stuff will work just fine for those little rainbows....but you might as well fly fish for them. They arent picky. Bring some small mohair leaches, some eggs, and some nymphs....Plan your attack, sneak into position, and make your first cast count.

Rose a few on my October X last weekend...but I didnt notice any on my lantern, so they might have taken it for a hopper. Big bushy dries certainly do work down there. The water is really low and clear....Usually go with a 16' leader tapered to 5x on my 9' 5wt when its this clear...But I go with 12' leader tapered to 6-7x on my short light line rods that I use for micro fly fishing. Half a pinch on indi or a small piece of double sided foam tape works pretty well if you dont want to rig up with an indicator fly. Cheers.

I'd be interested to see one in hand and inspect the drag, spool engagement, and click mechanism...Its also $260....Its light, with plenty o bling,...but its very hard to top a Lamson Konic for half the price.

That should do the trick....There are plenty of little bwo's & trico's mayflies flying around mid morning this time of year...most in size 22-28 or smaller if you like the microfly game.