Gavin

Best too you JD! The treatments and surgery will knock you down for awhile, but fight back! Surgery in St Louis or Chicago I hope.

Beautiful boat! Hope it finds a good home!

You guys are right on...No Black Friday at our house...Heck, we are headed to the river on Thursday...Stuck in town Wednesday or we would leave then.

Good for you guys!

Greer is a Forest Service CG. It's not funded by the NPS or the State Park system. I like my trailer when we take the kids but I'd still rather float camp. Was great camping at McCormack, then down between Little Mary and Mary Decker a couple weeks ago. Weather was nice so the tents got left at the put in.

Joe is right. Al is a stud, 5'8" a buck 60 at best. Benefit of the doubt, probably smaller. Just like he measures his smallmouth, round down 20%;)! Just Jealous;)!

Family on board when I tow the camper so it's got to be safe. Tires were? 8 years old? Dunno? Know now. Have bearing buddies on the camper even though it does not see water. Need to grease those up too.

Don't think that Missouri's population is exploding but State Parks got a good chunk from a State bond issue a couple years ago (20-60M) to spend on capital improvements thinking they intend to spend it all. Think that most of their funds come from 50% of the 1/10th cent parks and soil conservation sales tax. MDC gets 1/8th cent. State Parks gets 1/20th of a cent.

Congrats on your first brown! They get allot bigger down there but not easy to catch.

Hard to manage 3 rods in a Jackson Coosa. Floats great but limited tackle in comparison to my solo canoe. Need to replace the wood gunwales on the solo this winter. Miss floating that boat. Wife can keep the kayak. Works great with her and the dog on the back. I take the kids in my tandem after they get tired of paddling their little sit on tops. Tie their boats on back with a rope and proceed when they are done.

Had one disintegrate on my camper earlier this year. Replaced all 5.

Nice report. My sister lives out there. Have fished it.

Looks like a good time! Have not made it to the NFoW in a couple years, but its been really low...400cfs or so...I've always had better quality & numbers days when the water is up in the 700-1200cfs range. Lots of split shot required at those levels though. Bring some.SSG's (1.6 grams), AAA's (0.8 grams), AB's (0.6 grams) & BB's (0.4 grams)...You might need 2-3 SSG's or more some runs.

30lbs of Brisket to butch & lamb chop dinner today. Separate the point and the flat for best results.

Slack water eddies near or in the wood. Fish small weedless plastics or suspending jerk baits. Wear a blaze orange vest for the next two weekends. PM Hog Wally, he lives on that stretch.

Have seen what appeared to be large cat tracks in the sand not far above Parker on the Current. Never have seen one though.

A friend of mine has one and she likes it allot. I'd prefer one that is a bit longer 14' minimum and I'd want a higher seat.

Wow! Excellent!

Agree totally Al & T man. Fiberglass paddles better. More noise, but better floating boat. Need to get that Mad River back in service. Been floatin a Jackson Coosa since the seat mounts gave way on the Mad River. Coosa is great but it's a day tripper, summer overnight boat at best. No gear capacity. 3 rods max. Not the way I like to roll. Keeper cuz my wife has claimed it. I like the Mad River better.

Have the skills. Time to graduate and fish bigger water. They 11pt is fishing well right know. 12-14" average. Plenty of 15-16". Some bigger. Smallmouth and pickerel too.

Good for you! Nice!

it does not matter. Fish have food preferences. Thinking that Stripers would prefer tender shad and trout over boney bass.

Have a fiberglass solo canoe. Mad River Slipper made in 1985 or so. Similar dimensions to the vagabond but a better paddling boat than the Royalex Vagabond I used to have. Hatethe zzzzzzip when I scrape the gel coat but have not scraped it up enough to worry about the gel coat yet. Wood gunnels finally rotted out. Need to fix this winter.

Dubious success at best if you need to follow the stock truck. Fishing good water is key, then finding the great spots in the good water. Fish whatever looks good regardless. Your fish reading ability will improve overtime, and the outliers will surprise you some time.... Largemouth in heavy current? Toad rainbow sitting under a log in slack water?

Beer after breakfast is not bad, just not an everyday thing. Had to have one while waiting and watching a bunch of over prepared Arky rafters setting up on the boat ramp at Greer on the Eleven Point Saturday AM. Some were there before we tossed our boats and junk down to the water, still there after we ran a 45 minute shuttle, consolidated excess gear, shoved of and went upstream. Still there an hour later so we paddled up again. Finally gone! Fishing was good. Eats were good. Mike did a killer breakfast burritos Saturday & Sunday. Dennis made some great chili for lunch at 4pm. Steaks over the campfire, and some sides were my contribution for dinner on Saturday. Fishing was good! Lots of smallmouth and rainbow trout, nice weather, sleeping under the stars for two nights! Everything tastes better when cooked on a campfire far from home!