Gavin

Caught a small one (bought 12") a couple weeks ago in the trout stretch of the Current, but they dont seem to be very numerous. There seems to be a healthy population of good sized pickeral on the Eleven Point, we usually get a couple on every trip and we arent usually fishing for them. I've also heard that you can find them on the St. Francis, the Spring (flowing through Hardy, AR), and on the White. Cheers.

If your only going to have one canoe, I'd go with a royalex tandem canoe in the 15'-17' range. (You can always paddle it solo). If your primary use will be river canoeing, get one without a keel. No experience with the Mohawks, but the Old Town Camper, Penobscot, and Tripper's are all fine Royalex boats. If those are too expensive, I'd look at the Old Town Discovery's. The Disco's arent made of royalex so they are a lot heavier, but they are good all around workhorse canoes. Cheers.

"Traver on Fishing" is a great read, I'm sure that you will enjoy it. Cheers.

If your going to replace the grip you will need to strip the guides off to ensure a good fit between the blank, first cork ring, and winding check (if you use one). If you have access to a suitable wood or metal lathe, I'd recommend making your own grip out of cork rings instead of using a preformed grip. You usually get much better results Cheers.

What did you use to attach the reel seat? If its 5 minute epoxy or hot melt glue it should let go with some heat. Might try to boil it off if you want to save the reel seat, but you may need to use the propane torch. After you pop the seat off, it may be possible to re-glue the grip, but if not, chunk the cork grip off the blank with the aid of a pair of vice grips. Cheers.

Sorry to hear that the Branson TU Chapter faded. If your starting up a club let me know if we can help. I serve on the board of the Ozark Fly Fishers in St. Louis and weve discuss TU/FFF stuff in the past. Ozark Fly Fishers www.ozarkflyfishers.org is an FFF affiliate with about 300 members. The our members pay the club $25 in annual membership dues, and then the club pays about $300 a year to be listed as FFF affiliate. Members are encouraged to join the FFF, FFF membership is not required to be a member of our club. I've heard that the TU club structure is different. TU national collects the dues then national disperses $4-5 bucks a head to the local club to support its activites. Accordingly, TU has a lot more clout at the national level, but it seams that FFF clubs have a lot more money to provide membership benefits at the local level (out of town speakers, educational programs, newsletter, outings, banquet, support for conservation activities, etc.) Just something to think about if you want to get the ball rolling. Cheers.

I've floated the 11pt a bit. Its a pretty good sized river and fairly easy to paddle. A raft should be fine below Greer Spring, but your gonna do some paddling in some of the long slow holes. The only tricky spots that I'd warn you about are the following (facing down stream). Between Greer & Turner: First Island below Greer: Its pretty twisty on the right and there is a lot of wood in the water. The left channel is a lot easier. Mary Decker Shoal: It looks like a line of big rocks sticking out of the water. Run it down the right channel Between Turner & Whitten: Big Sycamore Tree leaning in from the left bank near the half way mark. Set it up right or the current will push you into it. Its an absolutely beautiful river. Big bluffs, giant stands of river cane, etc. Well worth the trip. Cheers.

1-Conehead Wooly Bugger 2-Bucktail Streamer 3-Hornberg 4-Crease Fly 5-Ugly White Rubber Leg Thingy 6-Half Back Nymph 7-Crane Fly/Fish Gut Imitation 8-Quill Body Mayfly-Catskill Style (Red Quill or Mosquito) 9-BWO Emerger

Gone fishing's definitions are out of date. MDC revised them last year, and a current copy is available at the following: http://www.sos.mo.gov/adrules/csr/current/3csr/3c10-20.pdf There seems to be a lot of confusion among fly fishers about soft plastics. I tend to think of "soft plastics" as plastic worms, curly tail grubs, tubes, and all the other goofy molded creations that you can buy at Bass Pro or Wally World. I also think that the intent of MDC's regulation was to ban the use of those types of lures in the Blue Ribbon trout areas. That wormy looking lure isnt made of the same stuff that they make plastic worms out of so I'd think that its perfectly legal. Cheers.

Guess you could paddle/troll & drag your canoe upstream over the shoals, and possibly portage Mary Decker on the left, but its a lot easier to float from Greer to Turner. Its only 5.5 miles and it makes a great day trip. Cheers. Brian's shuttle rates are reasonable. Cheers.

You can leave a car & even camp at Parker. Its a popular summer-time party spot, but I've never had a problem down there. Cheers.

Talked to a Agent Nichols on the Upper Current last Thursday afternoon and he said there is a very high concentration of otters on the river and that trappers had been working the area. Couldnt tell by me though, camped out on the river for 4 days, saw some orange tags on the banks (possible trap locations?), but didnt notice anyone checking traps. Cheers.

The Granger sounds like its parts from two different rods, but it might be worth something depending on its length, model, and condition. Your best bet is to post some pictures and ask the folks over at the Classic Fly Rod Forum. Read the "Before you ask for an appraisal" post in the appraisal and identification section first. Cheers. http://pub180.ezboard.com/bclarksclassicflyrodforum

1.1 is about as low as it gets, I've floated it 1.1 a few times but be prepared to drag a lot. If you dont want to drag, start at Welch & go downstream. Cheers.

Norman Oklahoma? There was a dude in my squadron from there, his name was Joe Marshall and he got in around 83 or 84.. Spent the first two years going to school, then spent the rest of my tour at El Toro, were I did a Westpac on the USS Ranger with VMA-121 (A-6 Medium Bomber Squadron), and a tour in the first Gulf war with VMFA-314 (FA-18 Squadron). I've never been too the Military.com forums, but I'll have to check them out. Thanks.

Oooray Devil Dog! Guess by your tag line you spent some time in the Corps. Did a stretch from 86-92 myself. Dont know if its any help, but a friend Greg from Illinois was trying to sell one for a buddy of his awhile back. I dont know if its still for sale. His friend built it and it has a trailer. I dont remember what he was asking for it, but it was less than $1000 and that included the trailer. The boat is located in Lincoln, Illinois (2hrs from St. Louis). If you are interested you can contact Greg for pics and info at sparkleminnow@insightbb.com Cheers.

There are lots of good options on the Buffalo, Boxley to Ponca can provide a lot of thrills if there is enough water, Ponca to Kyles can be a makes a good day float or a short overnighter, Ponca to Pruitt makes a long overnighter, or an easy 3 day. I've never been below Pruitt, but I'm sure there is a lot of nice water in the 70 or so miles between Pruitt & Rush. Cheers.

Catman, no doubt that some poaching occurs on the Current, but most of those bait jars probably came out of the park. I participated in a stream team cleanup betweem the Montauk and Baptist Camp a few years ago, and most of the trash we found was between the Park Campground & Tan Vat, we hardly found any trash between Tan Vat & Baptist. Cheers.

There are many productive waters. The Meramec & Gasconade drainages are my favs, but I'm not gonna tell you were my favorite stretches are. Smallies are slow growing (12" fish is usually 5 years old) and they arent stocked like trout. If you find a good stretch of water, especially a wadeable creek, please keep it to yourself. Smallie regs are pretty liberal (6 fish over 12" in most places) and you dont want your favorite stretch ruined by meat hogs. Cheers.

The Current comes up pretty quick then drops off fast. Its been bony low for the last 3-4 months (1-1.2 at Akers). That little bump on the graph could only improve the fishing. I find that the wade fishing is comfortable for me above Ashley Creek if the guage at Akers is below 3.0, but wading below Ashley can be a little chalenging. Highest I ever had good fishing was around 4.25 at Akers. A canoe was essential to get from spot to spot and the fly bite was tough, however, the fish were taking crankbaits consistently. Cheers.