Wayne SW/MO

Here as usual.

The last time my BIL was here he and his dad did real well just west of the 65 bridge. You shouldn't have any trouble east of Lilley's if you're worried.

Many do, but when possible, and safely, give others a reasonable berth, and don't slow down! Slow down only when you can't give another boat reasonable space.

That some fishermen don't know the difference? Simply that they don't know the difference between a clean environment and a trashy one. I wish I could call them something other than fishermen, but many are, and some simply use the remote parking areas for other activities. I have to laugh at some though, such as those that put their trash in a plastic bag, and then leave the bag? I assume they feel they are being responsible by not scattering it, separating themselves from the worst of the litterers. I know you were attempting to be kind to those that litter, but I just don't believe there is any excuse. There was a time when accessing most streams was over private land and permission wasn't that hard to get, but you best not leave a mess if you ever intended to comeback. Not the Plymouth Rock, but some of my family was in Missouri between 1807 and 1814.

Or fish the eddy line.

Well given the facts that I was born in Western Missouri, and I'm 70 years old, I doubt that very many were here first. I certainly don't think that's an excuse for their actions. I won't insult pigs by calling them that because if you keep pigs in a clean environment they will tend to keep it that way. There are obviously some fishermen who don't know the difference.

I think there are a lot of people that way, I'm one of them.. I'm not that secretive about what I know, just who I tell it too. If you look at threads that have fishing reports in them the lookers far outnumber the posters, and I'll bet many of the lookers never post. They keep making more fishermen, but not waters to fish in. River trash? I know of a couple of MDC accesses on rivers in the south central area that are always trashed. I have to assume that id they care that little about the bank, what do they care about the resource? I suppose as far as deep holes go the James has some, but I can't think of any I would call deep on the Finley. I don't fish the Finley that much, so I'm not a good source of info. Deep to me is probably in the 8-10' range and I'm not absolutely sure they are that deep. You might check out the hole at the Hootentown access, not sure how deep it is.

The fellow in the Green one appears to be sitting in a modified lawn chair. Sometimes people feel they are sitting to high if the canoe doesn't have much initial stability. If the secondary kicks in reasonably quick then its just a matter of getting used to the slight instability at rest.

There's one on the Niangua, his family even has a bluff named after it. I'm not sure running a trotline on either of those rivers is a good idea. There's a lot of people using them and there isn't all that much water. I would think limb lines would be less intrusive and more friendly.

In a draft vessel the profile of the side and how it relates to the bottom can be important to secondary stability. For you Ness.

Luhr Jensen owns a lot of rights to the old lure. They made some Woodchoppers several years ago, but they were all large. O fall the oldies, I would like to see the Baby Hellbender revived, It was a fish catcher. especially in wood.

Joe that's not unusual for Fall. They are most likely entering winter holes, or at least staging. Try an X Rap, Pointer or a Husky Jerk worked slow over their heads. The take for me is always at rest and very subtle.

Virtually anything ugly seems to work with tubes, but they can be hard on fish because so many swallow them.

Does that really happen?

If the water is cool enough, a jerkbait, preferably an X Rap.

I always liked the original Gitzits in brown and green craw. There was a fellow in Idaho who made some killer colors, his brand was Snakebite and he had a web site. I got away from tubes because of the swallow factor and I seldom use them now,so I don't know if he's still in business. Garlands brother bought Gitzit and was producing them in Utah, and he also had a site.

I hate to show my age, but my son has my old box that's full of River Runts, Midget Digits, Tiny Lucky 13's, Hula Poppers, Punkinseeds, Bayou Boogies, Ranger's, Paul Bunyun Lucky 66, and some old one time Heddon's who's name escapes me.

Well if it was a slant six it weren't no Jeep. My straight sixes always had lots of power and didn't use any oil, they did use their share of gas, but then again you can't have a low rearend and expect high mileage.

Yes they do. I have a pair of studded boots, but they're hard on everything so I don't wear them unless I absolutely have too. I have never used chains, but I think that's the way to go. You can put them on or take them off at will. At one time I saw some studs that were put over boots temporarily, they would be a better option also.

Did they mention the Mojo's?

Must be on the west side given the level.

There was a dealer on the square in West Plains that sold Old Town cosmetic seconds. You might PM Brian Sloss, Eleven Point, to see if its still there and if he can supply a phone number. BP did sell Packs.

Big Piney Old School, or a school teacher turned artist a little farther east?

I can't see anything short of felt working on that stuff. There's some of it on Finley, just below the dam, that you have to careful on with felt soles.

Good read Bill. A book "How to fish the Rock" would probably be a best seller.