Osage

If the Cicada are out: Time to throw a green cripple killer.

I was motoring upriver from Cox tonight to fish. I saw two guys in the water trying to tie styrofoam blocks on what was left in hopes of floating it down to Limberlost. Got to talking to them, they've been having a heck of a time getting it salvaged. They tried to float out with innertubes, someone stole the innertubes. They tried to run a winch cable ALL THE WAY from Limberlost, (man that's 3 to 4 hundred yards), and the cable kept getting snagged on the bottom of the river. So they cut it into pieces with a hot saw and took it out piece at a time in their jon boat. All that's left is what you saw, the front end and the engine. As I was coming back down they had abandon the idea of floating it out on the stryofoam blocks, at least for the evening. My hat's off to em' The locals here will probably run another one off the cliff now that it's gone.

Plenty of gravel bars to camp on with the river as low as it is right now. Hootentown to Galena is 22 miles, a nice two day float. I wouldn't leave a vehicle at Blunk's overnight un-attended though. Better offf leaving it at JROs.

You could put in at the south east corner of the battlegrounds. That's about 1/2 mile above where it runs into James. Going south on ZZ that's the first road to the left (east) after Terril creek. I haven't ran a boat up there in years but it seems like the mouth of Wilson is a 1 1/2 or so miles above Delaware Town.

Wow, the car fell. There was 'another' car up there in the same general area for years. The county went to the trouble of having it winched up the hill. Then, our indigenous promptly ran another off the cliff, the one you see in the picture. Looked like an older Ford or Mercury when it was halfway up the cliff. I was up through there a month ago so it's fell since then. A big rise will float in on down towards Galena I guess.

That would be tough trying to herd something like that down James River. I bet they gave up and either walked out or hopped a ride with their pals that were in canoes.

You might go check out the Shoals Motel people. You can drive your vehicle in there and bank fish. That'll put you 1 1/2 miles or so above Blunks, or a mile above Taylors. JRO/COX Access Shoals Motel Blunks/Taylors That's about it. You can bail off down the cliff and walk/slide down to the cave hole. Might not be a good time with your wife and kids to do that. That whole area is going to be under 10 to 15 feet of water here in the next 24 hours.

Shoals Motel/Campground might be open. They have a pretty nice place you can go in and camp out. Don't think JRO is open yet, If you're floating through, it use to be nice to camp out at the Genrty Cave Hole. Or a 1/4 mile down at Taylors Ford. But, I wouldn't leave a car at Blunks overnight any more, sure to get vandalized. The river will be flooding the next fews days, It'll be hard on what's left of the white bass run but will be good to clean out the river. Maybe it will clean out that mess of gravel in front of the Galena launch ramp.

Nope still around, or were in the summer. After the convenience store went down they moved around the corner and were doing business out of a camper trailer. I saw them launching canoes at Kerr's in July. The web-site's still up.

There's a 3rd one. They seem to move around a bit but were in business this summer. http://www.ybridgecanoerental.com/

That's a quarter. It was a nice cat, maybe 4 to 5lbs so I put a quarter on it's head for reference. I use cut shiners that I catch out of the river with a throw net. A very good bait for channel cat. These were rod and reel, I don't trot-line. My middle boat seat could use a paint job but it probably won't get one. Zack

Here's a few decent size channels. Good eating size. A couple of nice smallmouth from better years. No, I don't eat these. A 13incher was as good as it got this year. Launch ramps messed me up. I couldn't get into the places I like to go after July. Zack

Don't know but I doubt it. Walleye co-exist with smallmouth bass in the northern climates where they're both native. From Hootentown to Galena is one of the CCs pet smallmouth bass project so I'd bet the CC biologists have got the colleratal damage numbers figured out. Walleye are native and have always been here. They breed in late winter or very early spring so they're doing their thang while we're home by the fire putting new line on our reels and watching fishing videos. I've heard the depression folk kinda wiped them out along with most of the white tail deer when folks were hungry. I guess this is the CCs effort to try to bring the population up. Ol' timers called them jack salmon. I was in my early 20s before I knew that a jack salmon and a walleye were the same fish. A call to the Springfield CC office would likely answer your questions. Haven't done too noteworthy this year on the bass but will get busy with Photo Bucket on some nice small mouth from years past. Got plenty pics of nice catfish this year. You like catfish? Zack

You just got to love those 4A Bombers. I've got several different brands that 'look' to me just like a 4A but don't catch smallmouth like a 4A. I can't tell the difference but the fish can. For me the 5A works just as well.

Thought I'd add, yes walleye are a native fish to SW Missouri and James River. There's always been a few. The old timers fish/ed for them with minnows when they spawn in early March. I caught a 20 incher while white bass fishing at Blunks 15 years ago or so. They've got those red nocturnal eyes that show up like at night like a deer in the headlights so they get a hard time for the giggers. Zack

Hi Yaknar and everyone else. I'm new here on this forum but live on and fish the lower James fairly regular. Yes indeed that's a Walleye, or what the old timers call a Jack Salmon. I talked to the Stone County Conservation Agent earlier this year and he said that the CC had stocked thousands of fingerlings this spring in Lower James so we'll be picking up a few of them fishing. The yellow 'Caution, No Swimming' sign you posted is from Deleware Town Access. There is a rock ledge about 40 yards down from the access area that has a strong under tow past it and will suck swimmers down underneath the ledge and KEEP them there till a diver rescues them and then tranports them to a funeral home. Not a good place to swim. I fish for bass and catfish. I did ok on bass and very well on catfish till the river level dropped off. It got hard to launch my motor canoe at Kerr's and impossible at the Galena launch ramp. The fish are still there but it's hard for me to get my rig in the water. So, guess I'll wait for a river rise or spring. Or both. Seems like we went from too much water to not enough in just a month. How was your year overall? Zack