Gavin

Helps if you learn to use one in clear water so you can see what the bait does. Pay attention to how it the bait sits in the water,...slow float, slow sink, nose up, tail down, level....You may have to add a bit of weight to the nose or tail get it to do what you want...Then pay attention to how it reacts to different rod actions, jerks, sweeps, pulls, twitches, and how it works on a steady retrieve. I usually play around with a new bait in my swimming pool before I fish it. Jerk it down and pause, The fish will let you know how long...sometimes they want it fast, sometimes painfully slow.... Make sure you feed a little slack back after your jerk, sweep, or twitch the bait...and watch your line like Cricket said. Have fun!

LOL!

Your build looks fantastic!....ever think about a wood & canvas canoe?.

Looked into building a boat, but no time for it these days...some good info hear if you hunt around a bit. Good Luck! http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/06/projects/stripper/index.htm http://www.duckworksmagazine.com/04/s/designs/pullon/index.cfm

Sounds like allot of fun! It's not something I've done in awhile, but its always fun to get a chance to work a few drifts over a big selective fish and get them to move to take your fly. Land them or not.

There is a good list on the main Ozark Anglers page...

Its pretty hard to screw up fried fish if you pay attention to your oil...to cold and you get mush, to hot and it tastes burnt...and dont overcook the fish...I usually go with a 50/50 mix of Andy's Red & Regular and Peanut oil on the river. Cheers.

Everyone has their favorites, but I base my lure choice on the habits of the trout I'm fishing for. Rainbows are generally passive daylight feeders and that hold were they can eat small stuff drifting in the current. If they are in the mood to chase its usually something small. Brown trout are predators. The small ones will feed like rainbows, but the better ones prefer low light, structure, and fish dinners. Study your quarry and the food base at your destination then choose accourdingly. Cheers.

Akers Ferry Canoe charged $54 to pick up our vehicle at Cedargrove and drive it back to Akers last summer.

Ditto on Jadwin...but shuttles are expensive down there...best bet is to bring two vehicles and run your own shuttle if you dont need a rental boat. Have Fun.

There is a ton of citric acid in Mtn Dew...It should act as a pretty good tenderizer.

What a way to start the year! Double Duece brown trout all over the place!

The bozo's in the legislature always have to take their annual poke at Commission. I wouldnt get too concerned about it. It's never gone anywhere before. Guess Mudslinger is the new farm bureau bought & paid for Greishaber.

Nice! Thursday was a good day!

Bad Phone Vid, 22" AM Brown Great Float this weekend. I had my best day ever on Thursday. I didn’t catch my biggest Current River brown, or wack a ton of fish on Thursday but the day’s events topped the charts on many levels. The day started with a zero dark thirty dawn patrol on the upper river with Coldwater. The big fish were in the mood to play! We caught several nice ones; 22" brown and a 19" brown for me, a low 20” range brown and a really big brown that got away for Coldwater. Met our buddy Hoff at Baptist at 9:30am and run our shuttle down to Welch Spring. We were loaded and floating by 10:30am. We took our time floating. Hoff arrived Wednesday and we waited around and had some coffee while he broke camp about a mile below Baptist. It was a warm, bright, clear afternoon and some caddis started to hatch. Coldwater had fun picking off risers with the fly rod, but I wanted to catch some smallmouth. It took me awhile, but I eventually did find the smallmouth. They were still biting consistantly when I called it quits at ten. I tried to recreate the smallmouth pattern downstream in a couple spots. Didn’t catch anymore smallmouth, but I was rewarded with my biggest brown of the trip! Fat as a football, and Coldwater was kind enough to paddle down to get a picture of it! We were still a good way above Parker Hollow at 3pm and thoughts turned to a camp spot. We had planned to camp in the Blue Ribbon, and then meet a bunch of friends down below Cedargrove on Saturday, but we decided to paddle down and meet them on Thursday instead of Friday. We made it to the Cedargrove bridge around 4:30pm, were we met Barry & Mike. We finished dragging our stuff over the bridge by 5:15pm or so, and had a great float down to camp in the dark. The moon was almost full and high in the sky. It backlit the trees and bluff faces beautifully. The need for artificial light was minimal and all made it safely to camp by 7:00pm. Friday & Saturday’s fishing was good too! Guess they stocked down below Cedargrove recently, because the fishing was downright silly for stocker sized bows. There were 12 guys in camp for the fish fry on Saturday. We fried trout & hush puppies until we were all ready to burst on Saturday afternoon, and those who fished went home with a bunch more on Sunday. Great Eagle viewing to boot…we saw several on the upper river, and there was an adult pair and a juvenile hanging out between Medlock & Welch Spring all weekend. Seemed kind of tame, because we got within 75-100’ of them on several occasions. Bad phone vid by me, pictures by ColdwaterFshr.

Thanks! Will pass it along!

No Chief...dont know how to make hush puppy's...A bud of mine was over to borrow a canoe this afternoon and he asked me if I had a hush puppy recipe for his gravel bar dinner responsibility next Weekend...Too much prep for me, but I'll let him do it.....Some great suggestions..Will forward. Thanks!

Looking for a good hush puppy recipe with some jalepeno's in it...gravel bar friendly, dutch oven fryable preferred.

Great tutorial FW!...have a couple Popovich's silicones in the box. Always effective, and virtually indestructable... That airhead looks like a more refined version......will have to wind a few. Thanks!

Thinking that Dallas would rather drink his supper.. Bass eat OK...not as good as crappie or walleye, IMO...but I'll take some spots, largemouth, and some panfish from time to time. Just depends on the management strategy...If I think its OK, I'll take some from time to time...if it seems to need more harvest, I keep..Needs more releasing, I release.

A toon works really well on the NFoW...if you can get a drifter down it...its definetly toonable.

Reel arrived today...Thanks Brian!

Chris's advice is spot on...the only thing I'd add to the list is a 6 or 7wt & lots of split shot (BB's, AA's & SSG's). Start with two AA's and adjust from there. Adjust your weight often. Justin has a pontoon, and some kayaks if you arent good in a canoe. Have fun!

Big Blockhead Poppers....there is nothing better than a bass busting a bug!

The Jolly Mill folks get the $5 fee, not MDC...MDC just provides the trout for folks to catch. Consider yourselves lucky to have a trout stream to fish. The James Foundation charges to park at Meramec Springs too. Havent been down in awhile but there is a $3-5 day fee and an annual pass is available for more money...plus the cost of a day tag in catch & keep season.