ollie

I've caught a lot of trout above Parker Bend on the deep side along the bluffs. Has that filled in also?

Oh, I know. I've been around here most of my life. It's all the farm run-off and flat plains that drain into it. Different terain that's for sure.

I always go over Shoal on my way to work. Tonight it did look better than yesterday and this morning. Even when it runs "clear" and I use that term loosely because it isn't like other streams around here. Anyways it does look better.

It still looks a little muddy and stained over by Joplin, but I'm sure that will clear up over the weekend if no more heavy rains hit!

Chub, are you talking right upstream from Tildens? I've seen a LOT of large greenies in there! That is a great stretch of stream, but try and keep that on the down low......... Wait, you better not go on that stream at all, there aren't any fish in there!

That is a pretty long float. I know it takes me around 6-8 hours to float Powell to Cyclone on a normal flow. I was thinking Cyclone to Sugar Island was about the same, then on down to the Heaven? Of course if you are doing an overnighter then things are different! I'm contemplating an overnighter in May somewhere on Big Sugar also.

Mighty impressive amount of water coming through the flood gates.

I found this link this morning of the dam spillway opened up. http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-10797 If the link doesn't work, I found the pics on I-report a Cnn service.

Maybe I shouldn't say "epic", I just got through talking to my neighbor who use to live right down where those pictures are taken. Where there is a skate park now, there use to be a run down shack that somebody lived in and a few other houses where there is no road now. He also said something about a cement factory that took me a minute to remember. As a kid he could remember the water coming close to how high it ran this morning, but the homes were trashed by the water.

You couldn't PAY me to be on any creeks around here this week!!

I thought we came pretty unscathed last time the flood waters came, but this time Hickory creek has come WAY up. I had to stay home with one of the sick children today so I got out for about a half hour and snapped these pics. I have lived in the Neosho area almost all my life and I'm not a young man, but I have NEVER seen the creek like this. The road to my house had to be blocked earlier because of high water and debris that was in the road. I think the drainaged ditches were full of debris from last time and that's why I'm seeing water where I shouldn't. Anyways, these are pics of the low water bridge entering Morse Park. If you look close you can see the water up into the ballfield and where the bridge is suppose to be. Some of you should recognize this place.

I'm sorry, didn't mean to come off in that way. Bad night at the house. Around here in hickville all you hear about is the rave of OG. If these people only knew there were much better out there. I use to live in Alton and have eaten at Tony's. Pretty good stuff. When I lived there there used to be a place over in Edwardsville that was good also. The guy that owned it was Badalamenti (sp?). Can't remember if it was named after him or something else.

Pasta House is bogus. I had a kid work there when I was a manager in St. Louis at another pizza joint and he told me that they used a LOT of pre-made items from different suppliers. Mind you that was in the 90's. Zio's is nothing more than a Mazzio's in an upscale atmosphere. It is the same, trust me. I guess I shouldn't put any of them down, it's just I expect a true Italian joint to be made from homemade recipes and not from a mix or pre-made item just heated up. IMO

He's talking about the lower end where 43 bridge crosses over.

Were those taken on the Little Sugar? I don't remember falls like that on the Elk? Almost looks like the river made a new path around those falls. I stand corrected, those ARE of the Little Sugar. My UPS driver says his cousin caught a 5lb. smallie from there just last year behind those falls.

I took these just a couple of days ago, so this wasn't at it's peak flow. The spring was really pumping out the water! I've never seen a river like that ever and I've seen that park thousands of times. I can only imangine how much was flowing on Tuesday.

Ok, if that pic was taken from the road, I'm guessing it was up in town! My wife just looked at that picture and she went to school in Mac County and she thinks it's probably over the road in town.

Here is a photo of the river yesterday when I was going into work. The same bridge I crossed yesterday to take those photos is now under water as you can see. Real bad for a lot of folks.

I don't see pics. Maybe they didn't load?

Back in January we had a massive amount of rain that flooded Shoal big time, but this last round of rain really sent the creek on the rise. Here is a couple of pics I snapped traveling home last night from work. If anyone is familiar with the Undercliff campground you will know where these were taken. I travel over Shoal everyday to and from work and I also took a couple of pics this morning on my way in. I will post them this evening and you can see how much the water came up. In one of these pics you can see a trailor in the background behind the shack. All you could see of it this morning was the top of the trailor above the windows. Really surprised it didn't get washed away.

I am soooooooo jealous! I am going to try and do the Mulberrry again this year if I can time it just right. Today would have been perfect for it if I wasn't at work.

I was down there yesterday and it looked like RR on a much smaller basis. As soon as the people learned that you could keep them after the first they showed up in droves! I fished Capps in the morning and Hickory in the afternoon. Capps was pretty tough, but did manage about 4. Did better at Hickory with about 8 for the count. I left around 2:00, it was all I could handle of the bucket-brigade. Saw one older man with about 12 trout in a basket and was about to call him in when I saw about 5 grandkids running around. I'm guessing the old man caught the fish and were going to claim the kids caught there share. Without seeing it personally I'm not making the call. One things for sure, there will be empty worm containers, power bait bottles, and corn cans washed downstream today.

I love this little creek! I have always done pretty well on it from the spring downstream. Caught a 17" smallie down there one time and on the same day I saw the biggest smallie I have ever seen on that creek. It dwarfed the one I caught like by twice! Was there a couple of years back and my son's uncle caught a nice 16-17" trout. There are some pleasant surprises in there that's for sure.

Right now I have on P-line CCX in 4lb. low vis green. Only have that on because I didn't have enough to order from Cabelas. I have used Tectan before and like you use to like it, but then I lost two HUGE bass on it. Switched over to P-line cx premium after the Tectan and I have been pleased with it so far. The CXX I have on now I'm not too sure about. I fished it the other day when it was REALLY cold outside and I had some problems with it. Laugh if you will, but I use to really like the 4lb. spiderwire in mono low vis green, but they quit making that. For jig fishing trout water I use nothing less than 4lb. and a low-vis color.

A lot of people are just lurkers or trolls. They want to take info, but not share in return. One forum I belong to has the fishing reports closed to anyone but the members. They have to be a member to post, but to see or post in the report section they HAVE to be a member. Cuts down on some people wanting info without sharing. Let's face it, you want people to share, but at the same time you don't want to just "give away" info you have done all the research on like fishing spots and locations.