Gavin

14 miles can be done in a day. But I dont like to go that far in a day...Seems like I always end up paddling through the last half, and taking out in the dark. Two days sounds about perfect for that float. No need to rush, so you should have plenty of time to fish, set up and break camp, cook a good meal, and putz around. I figure that I cover about a mile an hour if I'm fishing, but sometimes its less than that if if the fishing is good and I'm getting out to wade a lot. Cheers.

Its restricted to flies and artificial lures only....Trebles hooked lures like rapalas and inline spinners are perfectly legal. DONT forget to pack some rapalas. Cheers.

Sounds like a great trip....The river really changes below Welch..Not many trout on the upper end when the water is low because they dont stock it, but it sure is pretty. If your wife is a spinner fisher, I wouldnt get her any single hook rooster tails...They have an incredibly bad hook on them...The lure will draw strikes, but the hook is down eye and its absolutely worthless for hooking fish...Use the one with the treble, its legal,and crush the barbs...Or if you want to go single hook, break the barbs of two of the treble points. Works a heck of alot better. Cheers.

I used to use 4/15 powerpro with a 7' 8lb leader on my spin rods, but I recently switched to 6lb suffix braid in yellow and I like it a lot better than power pro. No line twist, very thin, and it casts a mile. Add the leader with a triple surgeons knot. I rarely use mono anymore...the two exceptions...My bait caster, and for spin fishing when the air temperature is below freezing. Cheers.

My canoes sit outside uncovered behind my shed...Its not an ideal situation but it doesnt seem to hurt them much...Remember to hose out the spider webs before you use it. Cheers.

I bleed mine right away. I usually rip a gill out after I put em on the stringer.

I've got no need for an Ignore button... Folks who take themselves, their biz, or their fishing to seriously are in need of a bit of ribbing, IMO. Frankly, who cares if Coldwater gave a couple Rock guides a bit of grief for taking themselves too seriously and driving around in glitterboats with patches all over their shirts? Their big tough competitors...they should be able to deal with it right? I wont go so far as to say that Ray Scott, Forrest Wood, and Johnny Morris are in cahoots with the man down stairs, but I'd have to say that the whole Bass Pro Tournament/Bass Guide scene looks kinda silly from my perspective. Its not my cup o tea, and I've got no issues with anyone who wants to make light of it. I've got no issues with folks who want to give me a bit of grief either. I just come here to waste a bit of time and chat about fishing. Plus I can take a joke. I say heck with those who cant, their absence will not be missed. Cheers.

Dunno...I've been at this fly fishing game for 31 years know...Went through my snob phase, and got over it years ago. These days I dont concern myself with what other folks are doing legally on the river. I just hope they are having fun too. Started fishing with spin tackle again 6-7years ago...and enjoy it alot. Sometimes spin tackle is the way to go...Other times, fly tackle is. Its a pointless debate anyway. Best bet is to head to the river with an open mind and listen to what the fish are telling you. Welcome to the site. Cheers.

Youre right...I remember that pattern from the homewaters book.

http://www.ozarkflyfishers.org/fly/trkytailemg.html

Its available elsewhere....Chuck's health isnt good, and he gave the rights to the book to Missouri Smallmouth Alliance. Its been virtually unavailable for a couple months. Tom Hargrove got some from MSA a week or two a go, and I'm sure that he'd give you a much better price...www.thargrove.com

Havent been there but I'd expect some some good tiny fly activity in the AM this time of year...Trico's, small olives, little gray whispies in the AM..Usually 22's-28's for the....Terrestrials should be going good in the afternoons, possibly some caddis.

They will still be out...A CG owner friend of mine told me that they are busy during the Memorial Day and Labor Day. But the weekends before and after are actually busier...Seems folks think they are going to miss the crowd and create another one....IMO, float traffic doesnt really seam to drop off till much until we get a bit more chill in the air. Late September, early October is usually when I start floating the Current again...Though the Meramec can be unbearable at times in the fall...Lots of jet boat traffic from giggers and deer hunters. Cheers.

FW, I have no way of telling how many they actually stock...but here's what they are supposed to do...I compiled the info from the Missouri Trout Plan that they implemented around 5 years ago... I do know that the survival of stocked trout is a real problem...For example...they are supposed to stock the upper Current with 8,000 brown trout per year in the spring..Thats about 1,000 stockers per mile. By the time they shock it in mid September the population estimate is usually around 400-500 fish per mile, sometimes less in a low water year. From my observation...around 30% of the fish they shock in the fall are holdovers from previous stockings. My guess is that at least 70-80% of the stockers are dead within 6 months, even when they are protected with a Blue Ribbon Reg. It could be worse on a stretch of river like the Niangua that has less favorable trout habitat, more float traffic, bait fishing, and gigging. I think the Niangua gets truck stocked also...Every time I've floated it, I've noticed a pattern...Look for a road coming down to the river, and you hammer fish. Maybe a switch to float stocking would spread the trout out and improve things abit. Dunno...maybe enough complaining will get em to change something, stock more, or more intelligently....;>)! At least the trash situation is improving. Cheers. Missouri Stocking Data Trout Parks Rainbows Browns Total % of Total Lake Taneycomo 750,000 10,000 760,000 40.22% Bennett Springs 300,000 - 300,000 15.88% Montauk 250,000 - 250,000 13.23% Roaring River 250,000 - 250,000 13.23% Maramec Springs 200,000 - 200,000 10.58% 1,750,000 10,000 1,760,000 93.14% TMA's Eleven Point 16,000 - 16,000 0.85% Current River 8,000 - 8,000 0.42% Roubidoux Creek 6,500 - 6,500 0.34% Capps 4,000 1,000 5,000 0.26% Roaring River 4,000 500 4,500 0.24% Stone Mill Spring 3,900 - 3,900 0.21% L. Piney 2,100 - 2,100 0.11% 44,500 1,500 46,000 2.43% STMA's - Niangua 7,500 5,000 12,500 0.66% Current River - 8,000 8,000 0.42% N. Fork of the White - 6,500 6,500 0.34% Meramec River - 5,800 5,800 0.31% Roubidoux - 800 800 0.04% 7,500 26,100 33,600 1.78% Winter Trout St. Louis 38,053 - 38,053 2.01% Kansas City 12,000 - 12,000 0.64% 50,053 - 50,053 2.65% 1,852,053 37,600 1,889,653 100.00%

Sounds like a great trip...think I floated the same creek a few weeks ago and we did well. Plastics in the AM, poppers in the shade lines when the sun finally came out. I've got a subwalk or two, but I've never caught a fish on em...the ones I have dont seem to suspend right and I have a hard time getting em to do what I want in current. Think I need to play in the pool with em a bit.

LC Pointers have always worked better than X-raps in my experience...But others swear by the X-rap.. Cheers.

Dunno...most of the Niangua is under white ribbon regs....and fish disappear quickly under those circumstances... Cant say I know it that well, cuz I've only floated it a half dozen times.....usually in the fall or winter when I've met some folks coming down for C&R Season at Bennett...My friends may fish Bennett, but I go and float. The Niagua aint bad in the fall/winter if you ignore all the beer cans, trash, C- scenery......not much to look at,but weve always boated lots of fish down there. Havent been there in a couple years, but weve always caught lots between Benett and Barclay during the C&R Park season...Nobody out...and weve usually catch 20-30 fish each a day, mostly brown trout, plus a few eagle sightings. I'm guessing it has a pretty good trout population, but not much in the way of size or holdovers due to the white ribbon reg...Same can be said for the Upper Current...think MDC put some tagged fish in between Cedar and Welch during the fall about ten years ago...Dont know how many they put in, a dozen or so friend of mine cleaned 25-30 tagged rainbows the weekend after the stocking.....They dont last long. Maybe two weeks if they are lucky. Cheers.

Install Google Earth... go here... http://mdc.mo.gov/atlas/google_earth/ Download the KMZ file........ There are plenty of public access points on the upper end of the B. Piney. Simmons Ford is right by the Hwy and kinda ugly IMO...But there are a bunch of access points between there and the FS access at Slabtown.. Good luck.

Depends on what you want to do...do you want to do a minimalist trip and camp on the river, or base camp it at a place like ROLF or Sunburst? Sept/Oct smallmouth fishing can be hit or miss on most streams, but trout fishing usually picks up a bit in that time frame, browns staging to spawn and moving up river towards the springs...It can be good but the moss can be a PIA some years.

I'd hit the LP and Mill...Mill dumps into the LP just below Newburg, so you could hit both in an afternoon...Mohair leaches (brown and olive) are my most consistent flies down there...There rainbows, so flashy nymphs, glo balls and SJW's work well too. The Roubidoux...Havent been there in a couple years, but I've always caught more bass than trout. Cheers.

Congrats! The SeaBee's are a first class outfit, one of the best in the Navy, and thats coming from a Marine..Thank your son for his service to our country.

You really have to visit the river to get a feel for the guages....Dont think I'd worry about it being dry...Summertime floating on the BB usually means that you will drag more riffles than you will get to float. sometimes you might drag for a considerable distance, or have obstuctions to portage....Even so there are always plenty of those long deep pools for the fish to use when the riffles get skinny. Cheers.

Great post Al....low and slow works when they are inactive...but my favorite is covering water with a big topwater fly in the summertime...Here's one from last Tuesday...measured it at 17.5"...took out of the tiny little shade pocket in front of the willow weed patch in the top left...not the greatest looking spot, but it payed off. Lots of action from panfish too. Cheers.

An olive or green mohair leach sounds perfect in that situation...FWIW...I had a 16" redhorse hit a F-11 rapala on the Huzzah the other day...that fish must have been confused or something. Cheers.

I'd agree with Ness and Forsythian.....Its been good dog pile....and I've had fun watching some of you put your best foot forward and stumble awkwardly...kinda like me after too much single malt while sitting around the campfire.......but, If you want to run a guide biz.......better to smile sweetly and wear beige if ya get my drift... You dont want to be the guide who takes himself too seriously...hurls insults at complete strangers on the net or on the water, blames things on the actions of other people. You dont want to be the complainer, or the messiah for any cause.... Face it.....You cant control what other people think, or say, or do, so get over it. So what if some zelmo motored up to your spot on a public water? Nothing you can do about it. Accept the things you cannot change and keep moving forward. Cheers.