living_waters

If I remember right the place we took my daughter while in Branson when she was 15 lost a pair of wolves they had and the female was pregnant. One problem with MDC press statements is that wolves mate for life and the pack is usually made of the breeding pair and their offspring, so technically we have a breeding population.

Well I have to finish up a little airbrush work on a motorcycle tank today and my schedule is cleared for the first this year and Im going fishing. Planning on fishing from below baptist to the park any river updates of advice?

From a political point of view I have been listening to Jason smiths arguments ( and his unending robo calls). Economics and "his" constituents dominates his discourse. To be practical the two could be the very same, I have yet to hear of the ecological impact. Should this not be priority when discussing something of this nature? Would it be such a tragedy if the parks returned to primitive camping and did away with full rv hook ups and access for their christmas lights and astro turf? Would it be so devastating to have to travel at 8 mile an hour upstream and not 18? If it meant your grand kids kids could enjoy the same pristine river your kids did? The main political motivator is the changing policy proposed by the park service and infringement of rights, the initial purpose of the park service was to protect the river from us, maybe we need to consider who can best protect the river and not consider the economic impact until the first is figured out.

In october of 2000 Me and a buddy were bow hunting an area on the current river on the shannon carter county line. My buddy was on a ridge on the opisite side of the river then I was. I was high in a tree in the flood area of the river below him. He radioed me and said there was a dog running a couple does with fawns across the river towards me. In just a few I seen a doe and two fawns making their way quite fast through the thick tangle below me. Right behind them came the dog and first I thought it was a coyote but as he got closer I could see he was much larger and his coat was different. I drew on him and as he stopped directly under my stand I seen something that made me let off. It had a tracking collar on it. i radioed him back and said Im almost possitive that was a wolf he radioed back that he didnt want to sayinything but it came under him and that is exactly what he thought. I think I posted picture of some tracks on a a gravel bar of the NFOW last year that belonged to a long legged Molted gray dog. The wolf and mountain loin issue will increase as time goes on, it will follow the path of the bears and hogs we have localy did.

I can see from the video that Nixon shares some of the same thoughts as I do about gun issues.... When he jokingly points the starting pistol at the fishermen, if I was in the crowd the thought would probably cross my mind also When I first seen the lines of people I thought it would be way too much fun to wade out in the middle of them with my daughters old pink snoopy pole and dressed like this I know this idea is done on the board and I hope no one minds if I crash the party but it looks like fun. Us old people have to let our hair down every now and then(if we had any) lol

Here is my other favorite In shad and pumkinseed.

Then June may be a good time to make a trip lol its like fishing a big pond but the pads with give up a cooler full of HUGE red ears. Black rubber legged dragons and bully spiders are good flies. I dont know if I would make a long trip to fish it or not, Have fished it since I was big enough to hold a rod and still fish it a lot since it is just a few miles from my house, it is more of a convenience for me. But I always catch fish, it would be hard to imagine not catching any.

Probably a better name "cheap and nasty" lol. A non slip loop knot to allow it to move free and it is very productive. Probably because the tail up bounce looks alot like defensive craw moving,

Sneaky petes, or pencil poppers on fly rod will catch good numbers of bass most of the year, and the occasional dinner plate sized red ear that thinks hes a bass.

Since I was home with the flu today thought I would tie a few warm water flies. Here is my version of a grim reaper, I like to keep them a little thinner then what most tie them. (forgive my poor tying skills) 3/0 with a large trailer eye I dont use a weed guard for current river so I stop wrap just behind point craft felt cut 1/4" wide about 3" long split half way Body is a fairly tight wrap of poly boa, head is split shot ( I like the round head it seems to hang up less, and its cheap doesn't hurt to snap one of these off their easy to tie and cheap... did I say they were cheap!]) 5" motoroil colored skirt material cut in half, one clump on top and one on bottom. leave a little on the front side when you tie it on.wrap it all the way to the eye and whip finish. I use a paint marker on head then brush with epoxy.

Reply number 2 by fishenwrench was the best for the lower current "there are no rules" I keep two rods rigged, 1 with a jointed minnow (silver backed shad for late winter early spring, sunfish up to early july) and the other a grim reaper in tones of brown. And I fish them everywhere, sunlight, temp, wind can change patterns totally. Clousers, poppers, wooly buggers and sneaky petes will catch fish but confidence makes up for a lot. On sunny winter days often a dead drifted grim reaper will pull fish out of water you would never dream of them being in cold weather. For whatever reason it seams that I do best with flies in the 4 to 5 inch range. The stretch of current from paintrock to doniphan is some of the best smallie water in the country, but it is also the most unpredictable. You just have to cover water until you find out what is working that day under those conditions. I find i am much more productive changing patterns then I am changing flies. If I let myself get into the mode of fly hunting I will miss out on some good water I should have been catching fish on. For instance last trip fished for 2 hrs stripping minnow by casting 90 degrees to the bank and boat with only a couple fish, a simple change of casting upstream at a 45 degree and slowing retrieve down to where I was picking up at a 45 degree down stream. it was good for 25 fish in the next 2 hrs.

I have a question, in the shot of the front door it looks like you are wearing one of those radio head sets. Was that music layered over the video or is that actually what you were listening too? If it was what you were listening to next vid you might want to pic the diet coke. Just kidding, nice video and like I have said before I am jealous lol.

You know I have this theory, they don't really catch a lot of fish they just play excessively with the ones they do catch. Just kidding, im just jealous I cant fall out my back door and roll off into some real fishy water like they can. Nice video, I did notice something in yours that I have noticed in others that adds to the quality........ it is fishing with someone else. I live in a part of the country where if you aren't setting on the front of a boat starring at six rods with minnows hanging from them they look at ya like you have 3 heads. My only fishing partner is my wife and good luck with getting her to help you video anything. She dont want you anywhere near her when she is fishing, she has an imaginary space around her that she polices like a mother lion protecting her cubs, get too close and you will have a petes rubber legs up side the head. Those fish in that space are hers and nobody better mess with them......... Im just waiting for the day when a canoe full of cub scouts gets swamped because they made her miss a fish. lol

Mic I have to be honest, watching Brians oldest boys double haul makes mine look like I have some kind of casting turrets syndrome on a good day. lol But I am planning on redeeming myself, my daughter is having twin girls and they will make the best of the boys look like newbie daffodils, atleast thats my intentions Their momma can do it with a bow. Justin I cant scratch my but with any accuracy, much less cast with my left. A good cortisone shot and rest is the only way to help mine, thats why I have only been fishing a few times this winter. Does suck though! Thanks fisheye I will check it out.

Here is a couple stills taken with my phone. Biggest Smallest from Barren Fork Seen waaaay too many of these Thanks Justin and Mic. My old camera recorded directly to DVD format and was such a pain to edit, most videos were left raw. This GoPro has kinda sparked my interest in editing the videos, maybe once I find a good cheap user friendly software, make it through the learning curve of the software and cameras the videos will get a little better. BUT then I will also need to be a little less intense about catching fish. My mind is picturing the fish setting in front of the rock or right behind the end of the log, and no matter how many times i repeat to my self "turn on the camera" its always after the fact when I remember it. lol Oh I almost forgot please over look the nasty looking casting, I have been nursing a bad case of tennis elbow and a bad shoulder. im gonna have to get Brian Wise's boys to reteach me how to cast. lol

Well I finally got a day that I could sneak off before my phone started blowing up.and ruining my plans. And to be honest when I past through Freemont I was still undecided where I was going, but I had told my wife I wanted to try Barren Fork since it had a little water . So just by the off chance my phone got accidentally turned off I decided to be in the general area in case she sent the national guard looking for me, so upper Current here we come. First stop was county road 258 low water crossing on Barren Fork, decent water and not a person in sight, perfect. Fished down about 3/4 mile according to gps, hooked a couple small rainbows on a small prince. Water was beautiful and fish were spooky just like it was supposed to be. From there went to Baptist and headed down stream, water was quite a bit higher then it was in December but it was a bit dinghy. Picked up a couple nice bows right off the bat on a bead head nymph. Then hit a dry spell, tried a couple streamers, then late afternoon started seeing a lot of sliders around the banks and put on a "jeffs" rubberlegs and picked up a couple more before the sun went down. all in all a sweet day, finally got my first glimpse of another fisherman on my way back to the truck. Fishing has been tough on the current as far as numbers, one reason I believe is that I lost count of all the hooks hanging from trees with dried bait on it that wasnt there the last time I went down. Here is a little tease clip of the day, it is the first time I used only my new gopro. Plus I am an amateur, unlike a few of the awesome artist on here. I am too consumed by the fish to do any quality videoing.

The shattering reality of this story is not what was done wrong but that three individuals died, two children and odds are they didn't just die at one time. The horror and helplessness, the fear is unimaginable. Our hearts are broken for all those involved, it is these things that scream for answers but there are no real answers, at least none that can undo what has been done. So what do we take away from this? How do we make sure this never has to happen again. Being prepared is only one small part of the equation, a person can have all the tools and supplies imaginable but if they don't know how to use them they are of little use.

sweet vid and some nice fish

SWEEEET, Im trying to clear my schedule right now so possibly I can make an end of the week trip out there. And a positive report is awesome to hear. I am a conspiracy theorist and am beginning to think the locals are falsely reporting bad fishing conditions to throw us off

It could have been packed up stream by what made these tracks Of course the MDC will deny that there was any 150lb rod thieving pack dog running wild on the bank below sunburst

As I get older I have found it has to fit my bifocals also

please dont laugh out loud at my tying skills.... vise...... diet soda......... bad camera on phone.......lol I found this awhile back it is a shad daddy variation, supposedly it was used with great success on the North fork back in the 90s. I use a small shad daddy for hybrid bluegills here at home. Anyone tried one of these?

Streamers for trout is a new uncharted territory for me. On the lower current 9 to 10 months out of the year smallies want an olive rust or brown something close to craw colors. But Oct and April, a silver chrome shiner pattern is killer. My theory is water clarity more then food, but thats me. Not sure if trout are the same on NFoW. I need some direction, getting tired of tying little bitty flies. My mother in law is staying with us for a while after a hospital stay, need to work on some big gaudy patterns to release a little frustration. lol

Not an expert by no means, but used 3x last week with no problems apparently. I done had it tided on from a prior bass fishing trip. But I did have absolutely perfect conditions, My 4 year old nephew could have caught fish.

I have a rainsuit I bought to ride in, Top half works good but is protected by fairing and windshield, bottoms of legs will soak through from road spray if you ride very long. BUT its totally different material then the waders, toggs calls this stuff dri pore Its a 4ply laminated material like orvis uses. But here is the way I look at it, breathable means just that, air must be able to pass through the material. if air passes through then under certain conditions moister will too. My beloved bone drys would leave you with a damp butt if you set down in the water for any period of time, SO I just didnt set in the water. Breathable waders are disposable, that is why ebay is loaded with simms and orvis waders.