Gavin

I carry others, but these are the ones I use most often, but I'll tie on anything that is sharp, available, and cheap in that order. First number is Dai-Riki second is Tiemco, n/a means that I dont use that brand for that style of fly. Standard Dry Fly 300 100 Scud/Z-midge 125 2488 Std. Nymph 60 3671 York Bend 270 200R Emerger 310 101 Bugger Hooks 700 & 710 n/a Bass & Clousers 810 8089 Heavy Duty Glo Ball n/a 105 Bucktails n/a 300 Soft Hackle n/a 102Y Scud hooks..I dont like the conventional down eye hooks in 16 and smaller..the Dai Riki 125 and the TMC 2488 or 2499's hook fish a lot better. Cheers.

Its all good...you can access the upper end a the 63 bridge, Lane Spring, and Vida Slab bridge...access below at Mill Dam Hollow, and by the Forest Service fire ring..mostly trout in that section..and you will find them everywhere there is good habitat..though its often a long way between pockets of good habitat..Access the lower LB at the high brigde in Newburg, just down the road at the Grotto Bridge or under the Bridge at I-44...mostly smallmouth in that section. Mill Creek, Spring Creek, the Roubidoux, Current, Big Piney, and Gasconade arent far away either and all are worth fishing. Have Fun!

You really cant carry everything that someone might want unless your a big catalog operation. I do most of my shopping at Tom Hargrove's place in St. Louis...If Tom & Craig dont have an item on hand, they always ask if I'd like to have them order it for me. If I say yes..they call me to come pick it up when it arrives. Maybe a similar policy would work for you. Cheers.

All the anti-freeze we drank certainly helped...BTW, I found a source for Tito's in the half gallon size. January cant come soon enough!

There are some decent camp spots around Baptist. There is a really rough road on the right as you come down the hill toward the upper lot. You can drop your stuff there and carry it down towards the logjam hole..there are a couple nice gravel bar campspots in that area. You will see fisherman, but no partiers. Or your can take the trail headed upstream out of the upper parking lot 50-75 yards or so and camp in the woods there... You can always leave your tent there, hop in your car and run to Cedar if you want to.. If your thinking about Parker...take the road that heads downstream from the access toward Shaeffer Sping branch..nice gravel bar for camping there, but your likely to have some unwanted company. Another option would be to cross the river at Parker and hump up the Horse trail till you find a nice campspot..Again..youll probably have unwanted company, especially if you camp on that gravel bar that the 4x4 folks like to drive down to.. Cedar...forgetaboutit...to many people and the CG is pretty ripped up. If your planning to keep any of the fish that you might catch below Cedar, you really shouldnt bring them back to a gravel bar campsite in the blue ribbon area because you will probably be in violation of the limit in the blue ribbon area. Some other options if you want to keep some......Camp at Welch...youll have to cross the river with your gear and hike up about 100 yards or so..there is a nice gravel bar there between the river access and the spring. You can park at the access, but you cant camp there. Camp at Eagles Park across from Tan Vat..you can bring your fish back to camp w/o violating any game laws and Dave will keep an eye on your stuff. Have a great trip!

It was in the new lawsuits filed section. No article.

My three favorite Italian places are off the Hill... Stellina Pasta on Watson is my favorite, Trattoria Marcella is just down the street from Stellina, and Frank Papa's in Brentwood is great too. Downtown..Mosaic is pretty good, so is An American Place. Not much to recommend on the Landing other than Morgan Street. If your up for a more urban experiance...you might try South Grand or the Delmar Loop in U.City. South Grand isnt a great neighborhood, but I like the thai food at the Pho Grand, and the Sushi at Seki Sushi. The Delmar Loop attracts a lot of college kids from Wash U. and lots of folks with tats and body piercings..The burgers at Blueberry Hill are outstanding, Riddles and Momo's offer more substantial fare and there are a bunch of other places to choose from If your looking for more info, heres a good place to look. Have a great trip. http://www.saucemagazine.com/

The bank has moved to forclose. It was in the St. Louis Business Journal a couple weeks ago.

Alpine Shop in STL has what you need...Dry Bags are great.My wife and I can pack a weeks worth of dry gear in an 80 cube and a 120 cube Sea Lines...good bags..havent started leaking yet and they have been on a couple hundred floats since I bought em...another good addition is a dry box..have one from pelican that clamps to my canoes gunwhales..great box..two clips in and out. great for the camera, but wipe, and other stuff that you like to have handy. Cheers.

The Spring and 11pt would be your best bets because they are furthest east and close together.....Nfow is about another hour west of the 11pt.. Used to run back and forth from Memphis a bit, and its a quick half day trip...any travels to trout water are going to add at least a half day to your travel time. Nothing wrong with taking the long way home.....Id probably go with the 11pt, rent a canoe from Brian at 11pt canoe, float Greer to Turner overnight and have him spot your car at the takeout. Its about 4.5hrs to STL from the 11pt not sure how long it takes to get there from 55. Cheers.

If you can keep the temp down to 225..let is smoke for 6 hours..If your fire is a bit hotter you wont be able to keep it on that long.. Keep it in the smoke for as long as you can without burning it...I'd probably give it a couple hours, then start checking it on regular basis. Remember when you put it on and took it off, and shoot for a combined cook time in the 8-12 hour ranges.

Finishing in a 225 degree oven is no problem. The meat will be braising in its own fat, just like it would if it were wrapped in foil and sitting in the smoker..I'd be worried about burning it on a Weber though. Webers are great grills because they cook HOT..best thing ever for steaks, burgers, and sausages...but not great for smoking because there is nothing to shield the meat from intense direct heat. If I had to do it on a Weber, I'd toss a pan full of water under the meat in an attempt to shield it from direct heat while its on the grill. A disposable aluminum pan from the supermarket and a cookie rack might do the trick. Cheers.

Its floatable year round, but I wouldnt bring the kids down the river in January or February.

Those would be some huge river smallmouth... Our river fish run skinnier than lake fish and northern smallmouth.. I figure an 18" river smallie runs about 3lbs, a 20" fish around 4lbs, and if I ever caught a 22" I'd call it a 5lb fish.... Guess a 23-24" river fish could weigh that much but I've never seen one that big. Cheers.

I've done Hwy F down to 47 bridge a couple times..its about 9-10 miles and it will take all day..usually try to do it in June when the days are at there longest. Other options, 47 down to Mammouth on the Big or paddle upstream on the Big to Washington State Park..or float from 21 bridge through WSP and wade up the MF before you float down to Mammouth. Good Luck.

The Appalachian is a nice boat..its made of royalex so its almost 20lbs lighter than the Disco 169..a bit shorter and a bit narrower with more volume in the ends. Probably less initial stability, but more secondary stability, and it will turn quicker because it has a bit more rocker. It also comes with better seats..Its a definite upgrade over the Disco, but they are both good boats. Half of retail would be a good place to open the bidding. Good luck.

Looks like a Sparkleminnow with lead eyes...Should work great.

Fishing can be good this time of year, but its usually best when the sun is off the water. Bring some trico's (#28-32) and some big rubberleg dry flies. Good luck.

Depends on what you like...Some like sweet and smokey, other folks like it plain, some like sauce & beer...Best bet is to smoke at least two at a time, and try different seasonings a methods till you find the way YOU like it. Lots of good recipes on this thread..I plan to do some experimenting next time I fire up the smoker. FWIW, pork butt is pretty hard to screw up...it just takes a long time to tend the smoker....2 butts, should be plenty for 25-30...I usually toss mine on the smoker around 4-5pm the day before, wrap it in foil and stoke the fire and fill the water pan before I go to bed around 10-11pm, forgettaboutit and pull it off in the AM. Its pulled and ready to go long before my guests arrive. Then I toss it in the oven with some sauce and beer to let it braise a bit before I serve. The leftovers will freeze well too. Cheers.

Has anyone tried circle hooks for crawdads? I never fish bait for smallmouth, but I do for catfish in my uncle's pond..Switched to a 1/0 circle hooks a couple years ago and I havent gut hooked one since I switched. There is a learning curve..I missed a few before I learned to skip the hook set and just start realing.

Here's a good recipe.. Smoked Boston Butt  5 to 6 pound Pork Butt or Picnic Roast  Rub o 4T Salt o 2T Pepper o 2T Parsley o 2T Colemans Mustard (Dry) o 2T Onion Powder o 2T Garlic Powder o 2T Paprika o 1T Oregano o 1T Rosemary  Grind any coarse spices such as parsley, oregano and rosemary in a coffee grinder until fine  Mix all spices together  One "Big Gulp" cup of hickory chips in water for one hour to overnight  One Bar-BQ Sauce (Sweet Baby Ray's or whatever you like)  One bottle dark beer (Stout or Porter)  1/2 gallon apple juice  Extra Virgin Olive Oil or Mustard (Squirt kind)  Crisscross a couple of three foot long pieces of plastic wrap  Rub extra virgin olive oil OR mustard (squirt kind!) on pig (This is glue for the rub)  Rub the Rub - All of it - Don't worry about it not sticking, leave it lay on the plastic  Fold the plastic wrap around the pig tightly. Repeat with three or more wraps of plastic  Put pig in the fridge for 2 to 5 days turning every 12 hours or so - It will self marinate  Light your smoker: o Put chips on chip pan in the bottom o Put apple juice in water pan and top off with water o Put pig on rack fat side down. o Don't open to look! The pig has not escaped! Smoke for 6 or 8 hours  Now open to look! Take out pig and wrap in heavy foil and put back in smoker  Top off water pan with water and cook for another 6 or 8 hours depending on the outside temperature  Remove pig and let cool slightly in the foil. Open up and "Pull" into fine shreds with two forks  Eat it as is OR serve with sauce OR put in roasting pan with beer and sauce and simmer Note 1: For a presentation pig: Wrap in cheesecloth and douse with olive oil before placing in smoker - Does nothing for taste but looks good for judges Note 2: Put pig on top smoker shelf and beef brisket on bottom to marinate with pig drippings.

Thats a very good video...notice how he wraps the post before he wraps his hackle, and how he binds the hackle to the post not down over the shank of the hook..On little ones it dont really worry about dubbing in front of the post..on bigger ones, I usually tie off the hackle and dub in front. Fine tipped scissors help a lot. Cheers.

Brian, I've only been playing acoustic for a couple years...Dylan is the king of acoustic folk, too many songs to list...Niel Young has some great sounding acoustic stuff and I like it alot better w/o his whiney singing. Redemption song by Bob Marley is kind of folky. Ring of Fire by JC has some good mariachi riffs in it..Brown Eyed Girl by Van Morrison has some neat double stops in it. Roger McGuin and the Byrds did a bunch of stuff on a 12 string, so did the Beatles. One of my favorite albums of all time is Sweetheart of the Rodeo by the Byrds. The Grateful Dead play a lot of folky stuff. Robert Earl Keene has some great stuff too.

Not sure if Asian Carp are good to eat..if not, gill em, and stack them like cord wood for the racoons to eat.

Hank, I've never really dealt with the MDC regulation foks on a face to face basis, but I've sent many letters and talked to many of the biologists about trout and smallmouth. The MDC folks have never said it in so many words, but there seems to be an unspoken imperative to protect the rights of harvest inclined anglers. They want the people of the state to be able to take some fish home and eat them from time to time. Even wonderful gamefish like smallmouth bass. Almost any regulation change that MDC has passed in recent history has involved some type of harvest. There is no use in fighting it. I think that most of those 10-12 inch fish, are going to die off long before they reach 18 inches anyway. I'd willing to take a chance on some temporary regulations that would allow some of those small fish to go bye bye, if it leads to a protected slot for quality fish. I think its worth a shot in some places, maybe not in others. I dont know enough to say what's best for any given stream. I think we need to give the biologists the torch and tell them to grow us some bigger smallmouths. Best bet is to start an online group and let the letters fly. About 15 of us started an online group called the Missouri Trout Fishing Task Force on MDC's Conservation Cafe chat site six or seven years ago...we started an online group on Yahoo, exchanged phone numbers, had a brainstorming session, elected some officers, wrote or platform and whined like heck...Dont know how much buzz we created, but it only took a couple years to get a new "Trout Plan"....No reason that it couldnt happen again.. Gavin