Gavin

I dont think so. We have a lot of public land and stream access in Missouri, the hard part is getting to all the places you want to go. You can get away from most pay to play trout farms for less than $100 fish bill unless you are a real glutton. Deer leases are usually pretty cheap....Bought the only thing that there is a real market for is decent guaranteed available waterfowl hunting. Folks are willing to pay a lot to avoid MDC's draw system.

Women's waders are tough to find. Best bet is to let her try on a bunch of them and see what fits best. My wife tried on at least a dozen pair before she found some she liked. The ended up being $400 Patagonia's but thats what she liked. Cheers.

I havent had a problem with my Pentax Optio. Might check the mode your shooting in and stay out of the digital zoom. You get lots of blurry pictures with digital zoom. You get better pictures without focusing in so tight with digital zoom, but youll have to crop the picture later with your camera software. The next step up would be a digital SLR. The Canon Dig Rebel is a nice camera, so are the Nikon D series of cameras. Cheers.

You can camp there, theres a little metal fire ring right by the access. The downside is that its accessable by road and it gets a lot of traffic from fisherman, campers, and horse people. I've seen at least 25-30 horses and riders down there on occasion. You can camp there, but you'd be better off camping someplace else. . Cheers.

Smallmouth bass usually spawn in late April-the end of May so I'd go early April in hopes of pre-spawn fish or after the end of May to avoid most of the spawning activity. Cheers.

The prices are pretty reasonable in relation to what you pay in other states but the hunting licenses seem high in relation to what you get. I cant see paying more than $10 to hunt deer (just a little something to cover the paperwork). Cheers.

Made my first trip to the White twenty five years ago and I made my last one five years ago. The White just isnt the same river it once was and I dont enjoy the trout park atmosphere. Dont know what to blame it on, unrestricted development, bad Agricultural practices, to much fishing pressure, invasive species, to many stocker bows. It could also be natural decline over time. Table Rock, LOZ, and Bull Shoals arent what they used to be either.

Temperature Dropping.... That just means that its time to go floating!

Caddis are the most abundant insect on the Current followed by Blue Winged Olives, Trico's, Hex, and March Browns. Caddis usually run in the size 14-18 range, brown with brown, gray, yellow or olive bodies. They look like little moths fluttering around, but theres a big October Caddis which usually runs about a size 6-8. Trico's and BWO are tiny usually size 18-24 and look like little gray wispys with big wings. Hex and March Browns are big mayflies, but they usually emerge and fall around dusk. FWIW, Imitating insects works best on the little fish, bigger ones tend to prefer shiner minnows and sculpins. Cheers.

The 11pt is blown out, but the Current is in great shape. If you can make it over there today, it would be an ideal time to fish streamers and crankbaits. Cheers.

It can be done. It sounds like the reel seat is already loose so try pulling it off so you can reuse it. Chunk the cork off the blank with a set of vise grips. Youll have to remove the guides on the butt section to install the new grip. To remove them, cut the epoxy over the top of the guide foot with a razor blade, then pop the guide off, whats left of the wraps should peel off. If it sounds like more than you are willing to take on, talk to Tom at Hargrove's fly shop in St. Louis. His custom rods and repair work are top notch. His prices are reasonable too. Cheers.

My Wenonah Spirit II tandem canoe. The bend right above Mary Decker Shoal on the Eleven Point, February 2005

I use Anvil's with the long curved seratted blade, but I'd recommend that you find a pair that fits your hand well when you tie, so you dont have to pick em up and put them down all the time. Cheers.

Cottonmouths? Havent seen any down there, but I've seen some big banded water snakes...looks like good cottonmouth habitat though. Plan to float it next weekend. Will post a report and let you know if we see any !

Another way to do a hunched effect is with some smooth jaw pliers. Wrap the hook with lead, dub it etc, then take it out of the vise and mash it with pliers. The same works for making sowbugs look fatter except you use a straight shank hook and mash them horizontally after they are tied. Cheers.

You can make your own tool to create rabbit strips out of some 1/4 or 1/8 inch scrap wood and some razor blades. Attach 3-4 or six of them together, add a handle and slash away ala Freddy Krueger. Cheers.

If your looking for a pay to play place, I'd go to Rockbridge near Ava, MO, or head to Steelville and hit Westover Farm or Windrush Farms. All cater to fly fishers. Of the three Rockbridge has the most water, good accomodations, good food, nice cabins, sporting clays, trap, etc. Cheers.

FYI, Jack Dennis will be presenting at the Ozark Fly Fishers on Saturday February 10th. Meeting starts at 9am at Queeny Park and should end around 2-3pm. Admission is free to Ozark Members, but there will be a small fee applicable towards membership for non-members. Hope to see you there. Gavin

Send $....LOL...It depends on what the club's board has in mind, but there will probably be lots of ways to get involved. Our club in St. Louis does a lot of different stuff; monthly meetings with guest speakers, fly fishing, fly tying, and casting classes, club outings, newsletter, maintaining the website, conservation activities, etc. None of it is possible without the help of a lot of volunteers. Contact some of the board members, I'm sure they will put you to work. Cheers.

The composition and lighting are good, but the fish appears to be missing a few fins. Not a bad fish pic though. Cheers.

Bill, Since your old SLR was a Nikon, I'd see if your existing lenses will fit a new Nikon DSLR body. There's a good chance that the lenses will fit. My wife had a bunch of lenses to go with here old Canon SLR, and they work fine with her new Canon DSLR. FWIW, most camera stores will order stuff for you and match an online price. Cheers.

Missouri's trout fishery is heavilly regulated, monitored, and highly dependant on stocked fish, so I'd say that its OK to take limit of trout in Taneycomo and most of our other trout fisheries. I'd draw the line at taking wild rainbows out of the N. Fork of the White or any of the small blue ribbon trout areas. Cheers.

The Z-Axis is nice, a little faster than may 9'5wt SLT. I like it a lot. The Loomis is a great rod too. Cast them side by side. Try short casts, medium casts, long casts, roll casts, accuracy at different distances, etc. One will probably work better for you. You cant go wrong with either of them. Cheers.

I like a 5.5' or 6' medium light action rod for tossing rapalas though I'm partial to the larger sizes (9's & 11's). I usually pair it with a larger 2000 or 2500 series reel as well. I've been disapointed with my Shimano Sahara's because they bind occasionally when the reel gets wet. I plan to get a couple new Daiwa Exceler's before the next outing. Anyone have any comments on the Daiwa's?

A farmer in Springfield? That's odd, the winning ticket was sold at a Dierberg's Supermarket in South St. Louis County. I worked at that store many years ago, and my mom still shops there. If she only played Lotto.