ollie

Anyone going to go and check it out? I know last time it was held on Grand I kept telling myself I would have to make the trip to T-town for the weigh-in, but never made it. Might have to change that this year. I just love a circus! lol

For those putting in at 10C, be warned, it is still filled in with gravel. I went down there on Sunday to take a look around and saw a few rigs in the parking lot, but also saw one guy try to launch and gave up finally. That and he was probably a little pissed since I saw one of the taillights on the trailer hanging off after he tried to put in. Saw some fish cleaned on the bank as well. Waited around and saw a few people coming back from the gravel bar upstream but didn't see any fish caught.

I for one haven't been out as much as I have in the past. After having that car wreck a couple of years ago, I had to start putting things into perspective. As in now I am a huge believer in looking for signs in life. Maybe that sounds strange to some of you, but my life flashing before me changed some of the ways I think. I have always been obsessed with fishing and on that faithful day I was in a hurry to get to the creek. After thinking about it, I decided that was a sign since I came out pretty unscathed. That and this past year every time I have been out it seems like the fishing just isn't as good as pre-pandemic. Elk river and some of the other places I fish regularly just aren't producing like they did. I know the lack of rain lately has played a large part in that as well. In years past the rivers were higher and the window to get on them and fish were somewhat limited. Now they are all down and you can access them early on in the season to which I have found just isn't too conducive. At least IMO. That and last year I got covid. Now I just got over the flu and had to have an operation on my wrist. That one hurts and the stitches are coming out next week. Hopefully that won't affect me too much this year, but I have a feeling that this will slow me down for at least the springtime. It wasn't an easy surgery at all. I am still optimistic that this will be a better year for fishing however so we will see.

Oh my, at the docks already. Seems about right though since we have been having some warm weather. Still got a ways to go until they go crazy! The bass and fishermen! lol

Ok, I have personally tried to find access where Spring Creek enters at Bluff drive and I can tell you this, I didn't find one! Sure, there are bridges you can go down to the creek, but knowing it is private property, I wouldn't chance the tow myself. All of those bridges that I went across had no access and the ones I thought might, had a gate closed and locked by the property owner. So, my thoughts on this are, sure go ahead and take the chance if you want. Not my problem if something happens to your vehicle. Heck, maybe you will have one hellava float and come back bragging about it. Up to you obviously. You do what you want.

Only if you are a glutton for punishment! lol Not sure where you would even put in. Pretty much all of that is private property and if you put in at a bridge be prepared to get towed or something like that I would think. JMO

It is an impressive sight to behold. Very well done and maintained. I thought it was miles ahead of the Branson aquarium myself.

Just about every town in Missouri has a homeless population it seems. Springfield used to be a very nice city with a great downtown going for it until not so long ago. I must admit, the last time my wife and I were in downtown for a concert I was really surprised at how out of hand it has become. My wife who doesn't get that paranoid asked me if I was carrying that night. She had never done that before when we have been out and about. She can spot a homeless person a mile away from the training on her job and she tells me Joplin isn't much better than Springfield when it comes to the homeless. Just more room for them to hide out in the bigger city. I know this is becoming a huge issue nationwide as well.

I know all the outfitters in my part of the state do not rent jon boats or even have them available to rent. I don't know about some of the other rivers you mentioned though. Hard to believe any of them would rent those out anymore though. Simply because of the cost and transportation of them for the shuttle. You can get more tubes and kayaks on a trailer than jonboats.

I've driven past there a couple of times and always wondered how it would fish. Good info there, thanks for sharing.

I fish it occasionally, but it isn't anything like it used to be. There was major drought a few years back and the creek all but disappeared. I haven't done well on it in the last few years since then. I mean yes, there are fish in there, but the numbers and size isn't there like it use to be. JMO

Well, for me, life just got in the way this time around. I came down with Covid last week earlier on so it took me out of the game all of last week. Must have been an alright day, you didn't end up skunked! Which is pretty easy to do down there. I guess you won this year by default whether you caught anything or not! lol

Man, that was one tough opener for C&R. Not many fish caught this year. I'm used to catching some numbers down there on opening day, but not this year. It was slow and tough this time around. Not many fish to be seen even. There were some spots where fish were stacked up, but not many. I ended up catching 16 and the biggest was 17". Most of the ones I did catch had some size to them with only a couple of them being under 10". I ended up going home around 2. It was a beautiful day to be outside though so that was a big plus this year. Looking up and down the stream I didn't see many people at all catching fish. Not sure if low water was the factor in not stocking this year. I suppose they did stock, but if they did you couldn't tell at all. I will say this, it has changed since last year when I was down there. As in the pools look like the floods got the best of them. Oh well, still a better day than work!!

I don't know about hardest there is, but it certainly ranks up there pretty high. Congrats to her!

Yes, Grand will get even more crowded. I have a buddy that lives in Bernice and he told me there is a lot power land grabs going on right now. I would venture to say Vinita is looking to expand their city limits out that way as well. If you know where the turn off to the darn is off of HWY 60 to 82 that is where it will be. They just broke ground on the RV this past week I think.

I can relate. Have a friend that completely believed it was some sort of government secret thing going on to spy on all of us. Never mind that they can ping your cell phone at any given time and probably find you, but hey what do I know. I do know that a lot of people get paranoid like wrench said when something like this comes up.

RR hasn't been fishing like it used to IMO. Even during the C&R season you rarely even see any big fish in there anymore. Sure, you can rack up the numbers with the stockers, but very rarely do you see anything bigger in there. When I first started going to C&R it was about 15 years ago and I would catch at least one over 20" every time I went. Shoot, one year I caught over 3 of them in one day! Haven't had that happen in a long time.

For me, when I think about pro fisherman I think yeah, that's an easy gravy career to have. But, I also know there has to be a lot of grinding going on. As in schedules, driving a LOT, trying to keep sponsors happy and a family life. Those aren't necessarily physical issues, but more of mental issues. I'm sure they have days where they are being taxed physically, but I would think most of it would be mental. Hard to keep going out and not placing in tournaments knowing money is on the line and that is your source of income. I myself would never have made it had I went into the profession. That is definitely a job where you have to be upbeat all the time even down to the last minute. I couldn't do that I know.

Brian, I admire you for your efforts and commend you for them. I just gave up years ago. I used to be in charge of the stream team down here on Hickory Creek. Key word there is "used" to be. After cleaning up all day along the stream only to go back the next day and see more trash just finally weighed on me and I decided I can't anymore. I think the one that really got me was going down there the next day and seeing a guy throw a beer can into the creek right in front of me with no regards. I asked him why? His response was, "oh, there are some people who come through here and clean up every so often, so I don't worry about it". Needless to say, I was livid at that point. This was the next to last clean-up I was involved with. That is small scale compared to what you are talking about as well.

tjm, I remember exactly why they passed that county ordinance as well. Sheriff and his family were down there one weekend and a bunch of women were showing there ta-tas off in front of his wife and kids. No, they rarely enforce that one if ever. Why would they since money revenue is up for the county since the pandemic?

Even places I used to go to about 10 years ago have gotten out of hand with people. Elk in the summertime has been that way for years now. I wouldn't stay in any of those campgrounds. All pretty nasty from what I have seen. I'm sure with the Kings it has to do with the population explosion of NWA. Heck, any given weekend that is the majority of plates in the parking lots down on Elk or Big Sugar. I am constantly looking for new access points on the creeks around here. They are fewer and fewer anymore though. ☹️

I could see that on Grand, but I had no idea Beaver had them in there that big!

If you haven't heard the news yet, you should check this out. It will either be very successful or a complete flop and never make it off the ground. Big news around here for sure.

Fish for the moment, but I feel like you always need to push yourself for the PB. I don't think I have ever reached my PB. Most people have caught bigger fish than me so I am always wanting to catch that bigger one!

Got a good report that they were still catching nice fish up Spring to the last gravel bar upstream you could motor up to. I figured that was the second gravel bar upstream from 10C so I decided to check it out yesterday. Got there around 8 and hardly anyone was down there which kind of surprised me. This time I took the yak and went upstream. That will probably be the last time I do that one. Too much water and a lot of paddling just to get up there about 1 -1 1/2 miles. Anyways I got up there and didn't see another person. Great! got the place to myself. Too bad the fish weren't there for me. I threw a lot of different lures and only caught one dink until almost leaving. So I'm over by this fallen tree on the west side of the river fishing it and I start to hear a load commotion from behind me. I turn and see the water churning with whites! I am like 50 yards away and I jump into the yak and start paddling like crazy to get to them. Just as I get there the water goes calm again. -------! I missed them. I'm sitting there and all of a sudden they start back up to the left of me so game on! I throw out there and bam! instant hit from one and it is on. This fish is pretty big I tell from the pull of the rod. That and the fish I saw busting the top weren't your average sized whites. This fish was pulling hard. My bait caster was bent over and drag was going out. I have that drag set tight as well. Got a glimpse of the fish and can tell it is nice and a hybrid. When I finally got it close enough to the boat I saw he was hooked in the back fin. No wonder it was fighting like hell! After getting hooks out I measured it at 18" and it probably weighed around 5 pounds was my guess. The fish was fat and had a girth to it as well. That was the first time on Grand I have witnessed hybrids schooling like that. I have seen and been in the middle of white bass churning the water, but not with all hybirds like this.