Gavin

Nice fish! Good for you...

I'd have to agree with Silver Mallard. St. Charles, Alton, IL & East St. Louis have improved since the casino's went in. They do a lot of advertising, but if your not into casino gambling you hardly notice they are there. Travel Channel Poker has helped gambling improve its image a lot since the Rockaway Casino got voted down a few years ago. I have a feeling that a casino amendment would pass if they put it on the ballot again. Cheers.

I dont have the recipe, but I picked up a few from Brian a few trips ago. Its a big (size 4, 6, or 8) rubber leg stone fly pattern with a couple big tungsten beads and lots of lead on it. Its tied on a york bend hook (TMC 200R or Dai Riki 270), two long brown rubber legs out the back tied long, dubbed body, 4 or 6 brown rubber legs out the thorax, and two out the front. Brian can give you more detail, but IMO anything big & heavy with lots of rubber legs seems to work well on the NFoW & 11pt. My fav is the old fashioned rubber leg stone fly. http://www.flyfishingmagazines.com/images/...rstoneflyHR.jpg Its easy to tie and it works. Cheers.

I'm not a fan of casino gambling but I have no objections to Casino's. To me it comes down to a matter of personal choice and responsibilty. If you have some extra money, and want to waste it in a casino go for it. If you cant afford it, or dont like it, stay home. Cheers.

Avoiding the stuff is the best bet, but if you get exposed youve got to remove oil quickly before its too late. Someone once told me that rubbing the exposed area with a liberal amount of dirt helps absorb the oil and lessens the reaction. Not sure how well it works, but the only thing that really works on the rash is time, or prednisone. Cheers.

If your talking trout I'll spill, its a toss up between the Current, 11pt, or NFoW, but I float & fish the Current most often. When it comes to smallmouth, its tributary of a stream that eventually drains into the Gulf of Mexico . Cheers.

You can camp at Tan Vat & Parker Access, but not Baptist. If your looking for a little backpacking and trout fishing, the Ozark Trail runs along side the blue ribbon section of the 11pt its pretty rugged country though. McCormack lake is a good place to start and pull out down by Hurricane Creek. www.ozarktrail.com... Baptist to Parker or Cedar Grove is a pretty easy 5.5 or 7 mile at low water levels...just follow the fisherman's/horse trails. If trout fishing isnt a requirement, Ozark County has a lot to offer. The area around Noblett Lake is pretty neat, and the Devil's Backbone Wilderness on the N. Fork of the White is pretty cool. The Paddy Creek Wilderness off the Big Piney is worth exploring too. Cheers.

How do you join this fine organization or is it an invite only buddy club? Never paid attention to the MTFA or trout derby's before but this peaked my interest. I found it odd that Montauk has 6 trout derby's a year and Bennett and R.River only have one. Does St. Louis MTFA organize these events? Why so many? All those trout derby's have to be a PIA for the folks who work at Montauk and people who accidentally stumble into a trout derby. Regardless, it looks like KC and Springfield MTFA have something on ball, but I couldnt find anything on the St. Louis chapter. Doubt if they will be around much longer if they have difficulty running events and cant maintain a web presence. Who knows, we might be better off without them. Cheers.

Thats a shame. You have nothing to lose, so why not make some noise and draw attention to the issue. Does Arkansas require a number on rental boats? Rental Operations on the Current are required to put a big number on both sides of their boats so if people have a problem with the occupants of say Schmuckatelli'Canoe Rental #146 they can call in the number to law enforcement and they can try and meet them at the next river access. Cheers.

Brown trout are a little different than rainbows. Rainbows tend to hang in current and feed off what is drifting in the water while browns are more of an ambush type predator (slower current, wood or rock cover, etc). Browns will feed on tiny stuff if its in abundance but they tend to feed at low light and have a preference for larger food forms (minnows, sculpins, crayfish, large terrestrial insects, stocker rainbows, etc). Fish accordingly. Cheers.

Fishing below the park is either hit or miss due to the aluminum hatch but there are some decent fish down there. If you fly fish, go with streamers, terrestrials, or midges, if you dont try crankbaits, inlines, and jigs...No bait or soft plastics are allowed. Good luck.

Yikes, thats one ugly mount!

You can change all the components and add a guide or two to improve the performance a bit, make it look a lot better, etc, but its not going to make a huge difference. Depending on the cost of the components you are considering, you may be better off buying a blank you like and wrapping that instead. Cheers.

Sounds good..headed to the Current for a couple days this weekend, but maybe well swing by. Have a great 4th.

The Supreme's http://www.supremeboats.com/ and Shawnee's are nice boats, but they are made of fiberglass. If you want aluminum, you might check out Blazer Sport http://www.blazerjetboats.com/ or a Legend Craft http://www.legendcraft.com/customboats.htm . They do a lot of jet hulls, but they can weld up just about anything you want. Cheers.

Foam Blocks slide all over the place..I'd get a nice rack from Yakima or Thule. Cheers.

Dont know if crawdads do it, but some friends from Florida took me out lobster netting on the flats several years ago. The spiny lobsters prowl the flats at night in long lines like ants, and if you can find them, you can load up the boat in hurry. Maybe crawdads do the same. Cheers.

The fishing is poor but there is some great scenery. Cave Spring is really cool, and make sure you take some time to hike up Pulltite Spring Branch after you take out. Pulltite spring branch enters the Current across the river from Campground Group Site 2. Some friends camp down at Pulltite every 4th of July and the river is very crowded. Cheers.

Your probably a little early for Silvers, but there should be plenty of Sockeyes to mess with and this summer might a Pink Salmon year.As Phil said your best shot at a fresh silvers will be in the bay, or near river & creek mouths. Another spot that congregates salmon, trout, & char are lake inlets & outlets, and especially the short runs between lakes. Dont forget your nymph box, your probably going to need it before the salmon drop eggs, and make sure you have different sized eggs or beads, big for king salmon roe, small for sockeye and other roe. As for Pike, I've hooked a few in AK, usually in weedy pockets off the main rivers, but never really targeted them. When preping for last years Kenai trip, we found a lot of good info about salmon, and pike fishing on the Alaska Fish & Game site. Sorry but I dont have the link. Cheers.

We floated out of Buck in heavilly loaded boats at 63 and falling a couple weeks ago. Had to hop out and drag a couple times but it wasnt bad, might be a little worse at 47 and falling but you should be floating most of the time. Might shorten your float if your concerned about dragging or put inat Blue Spring, Rymers, or Bay instead. Bay Creek Access is a bout 7-8 above Alley, short shuttle too.

http://www.theflyshop.com/54.htm I usually use a big ball, but the fly shop indi is a good one too. Both will float several AA, split shot and a few big stone nymphs. Cheers.

http://mdc.mo.gov/documents/fish/2_010.PDF pick one. Cheers.

Good idea, shoot em an email and ask them to put the list on their website. Its got to be a lot better than that pathetic "Operation Game Thief" hotline.

I do a bit of salwater ffishing down at my folks place in Tampa Bay. A 9' 9wt should be about perfect. bring some clouser minnows. Chart/White, Tan & White, and if you can find them some Dupree's Spoon Flies, and some pink & tan stuff that looks like a shrimp. For leader..It really doesnt matter much. I usually use a 60/20/20 formula. bout 4-5ft of 40lb, 2-3ft of 20lb, and some 20lb flourocarbon bite tippet. The hard part is reading tides and finding fish. If your doing it on your own, scout the flat at low tide so you can see the flat inlets and pot holes, then fish the outer edge till the tide comes in. When the tide rolls in, fish near the cuts and pockets. Cheers.

You can catch some fish even with the aluminum hatch going on. The fish have to eat and all the comotion stirs a lot of food. If your caught in traffic, a good trick is to anchor up at the top of a bluff hole and swing you bow out so folks have to go around (Not that I've ever done that before). Look for deep holes with rock, and drag a tube or a 4" grub through the rocks and you should do fine. Any color, as long as its green pumpkin, or green pumpkin with red flake. Cheers.