Riverwhy

I wonder what life expectancy stats look like for largemouths assuming they are not caught and fried.

Twenty minutes is plenty of time to wait. Just my opinion.

For clarification it was a deputy sheriff. Deputy was polite but told him you can only float streams determined to be navigable and then listed some examples of both. He was not issued a citation but was made to immediately exit the water. I am quite confident the prosecuting attorney would not have pursued the issue but who wants to go through that ordeal.

A friend of mine was recently stopped by the sheriff on Charrette Creek in Missouri and told he was trespassing for kayaking down the creek. So, I'm not sure about Kansas but in Missouri small creeks are evidently private property even if the have enough water volume to float.

It is never too low to launch from Bertha. It is floatable even during the mid summer of drought years. Fox creek helps keep the water flow up. You might do a bit of dragging and will need to portage over a few log jams but nothing too bad.

I have been asked to not camp twice on that stretch. Nothing confrontational. They ask me not to camp and I said yes sir and moved downstream. I love gravel bar camping and I would not be deterred but I do keep my campsites small, quiet and with little campfire and lantern light. I love smallmouth fishing that stretch but if you camp it is hard to not fish for a few of the big catfish after dark. Good luck and send us a report when you are finished.

I think you will catch bigger fish from Hodgson to Cook's Landing. Be careful on your campsite choices. It's best to pick an island area if possible to prevent landowner discussions.

They bite very quickly. My dad got bit three times on the hand before he could react and he was not trying to pick it up.

We had a post on here many months ago about a copperhead snake bite and the majority of posters down played the lethal danger. I think that uneducated mind set is prevalent.

I'm a conservative. Bundy is in the wrong and should pay up for grazing our land,.

I tried this recipe last night with 3 white bass, a catfish, a crappie and a drum (quit laughing). I added creole seasoning to offset some of the strong fish flavors. It was a surprising hit with the family. I liked mine with a touch of cocktail sauce. I'm still walleye dreaming. I caught 6 last time out but no keepers.

Looks great. I would duplicate if I could catch walleye like you obviously can.

I think I have bought and tried them all. The curve bladed Rapala is simply the best in the lot. I know it is cheap but it will out perform expensive knives.

Norfork can be a very tough lake without numerous trips. The summer time clear lakes with limited wood structure are difficult for about everyone. I've learned from reading Babler and Champ that you have to back off and fish the 20 to 25 feet of water. It's tough for me even when I know it's the right thing to do. Thanks for reporting back.

We need a report Leitsout?

I take my kids tubing but not in the creek arms. Stay in the main lake and have a blast but please don't feel the need to ski and use pwc in the creek arms where ;people are just trying to avoid the wakes.

Seth, Jet boat owners scare the dickens out of us canoe fishermen. I can't imagine a small water canoe guy inviting a jet boat guy to come visit his secluded and peacerful stream. I would recommend the Current, Meramec and Gasconade as they are pretty much already jet boat parties. Jet boats, wake boats and PWC are all great fun and perfectly legal. I just hope my smallie streams get a few more years of peace before they loose their serenity. I mean absolutely no offense and would love to share fishing stories over a few beers someday. Riverwhy

The folks on the wake boards and the pwc are probably by in large great folks who simply enjoy a different use of the lake. However, the use of the wake boats in particuloar is more than a nuisance. I had my first experience with a wake boat while trying to fish out of a 17 foot bass tracker in a creek arm off Norfork a couple of weeks ago. I was totally shocked by the size of the wake. I gave up fishing and simply tried to keep the boat from being swamped.

Well, I fish a lot so maybe I go slower than normal but Indian to Hebron is a half day float and Hebron to Twin is a normal day long float.

I would recommend putting in at the bridge just a few hundred yards downstream from Indian Creek. There is also another low water bridge just north of indian Creek but it will only gain you a few hundred yards more water and it's a little brushy to get through. I am surprised Twin will launch from Topaz. By the way, the third shoal up from Hebron is a real fun ride. It will seperate the men from the boys. We always take bets on whether we can get through without getting hung on the slipperry rocks. Good luck. Tim

The walleye were caught casting a hot-n-tot into coves just off the main lake. Color didn't seem to matter much. Boat was setting in 20 feet of water and we threw toward the bank and usually got bit about 2/3 of the way back to the boat. The blue gill and green sunfish were pretty far back in the creek channels and preferred small rooster tail spinners and 1/16 ounce jig heads with a twister tail. I really encourage starting at daylight and fishing until 10:30 A:M and then hitting it hard again from 6 to 9 P:M. The mid day bite is pretty tough. I visited with a nice family at the ramp and they were doing really well at night catching catfish on rod and reel. It was also their first time at the lake. Good luck.

We fished the mid lake area of Norfork on saturday. Put in around 6:30 A:M and tried to find some topwater action in the back of the creeks but nothing was on the surface. Caught 9 or 10 largemouth in the buck brush and rocky banks but all were short. I was using a spinnerbait and crank baits. Moved about halfway out and we caught a keeper Kentucky on a twister tail grub. Caught a nice crappie on a hot-n-tot and a nice little two pound channel on a small bomber. We caught a bunch of big green sunfish on inline spinners. Fishing got pretty slow during the late morning and afternoon. I had my first experience with a wake boat coming way back into the creek arms. They finally ran me out of the area with waves that were more than my 17 foot little fishing boat could take. After the big afternoon rains cleared out we tried a few main lake points but only caught a few shorts. Around 7:00 P:M the bite turned on again and we caught another nice crappie, some big blue gill and six walleye. All the walleye were short. Not much of a report but I thought i would post anyway. We had a lot of fun even though we failed to find a lot of keepers.

Fishinwrench is absolutely correct. Just makes me sick that this young man died in custody. We do not know he was intoxicated. We do know he was in custody and he drowned. A properly secured life jacket will not just slip off.

Fished Sunday from around 8:00 A:M until 3:30 P:M. The morning was slow but we finally found the pattern and went on to limit out with the smallest at 10 inches and the biggest just shy of 13 inches. About half the fish still had eggs. They wanted wood on 45 degree sloping banks. Minnows set about 18 inches deep about two feet off the bank was the best bite. I might note that the biggest fish came later in the afternoon and were caught on jigs, Water was muddy as usual at Mark Twain. Quite a few boats Sunday morning but nothing unusual. When we loaded up Sunday afternoon we literally saw zero boats on the way back to the ramp. I'm not sure how that could be on the Sunday before Memorial day but I sure liked having that section of the lake to myself.

Champ, I laughed about the envy angle earlier today. I think you pretty muched hit the nail. i would like to think we would allow all boats and just not allow the big motor to be used. Although, I guess in this case it sounds like the rules prohibit that.