ColdWaterFshr

My older sister has a cabin at Lindenlure which i have stayed at a few times in the last 3 or 4 years. The problems with the party crowd and the public access BELOW the dam and the drug use and litter has been going on for decades. Above the dam is private property, both sides of the river for quite a ways. Johnny Morris owns most of the south side at the lake which is undeveloped and hopefully stays that way. I fished above the lake in high school several times knowing that I was trespassing. Getting there in my rusted out 66 VW bug. Have painful memories of hiking through the stinging nettles to get to the creek and the refreshing joy of the cool water as relief. There is a low slab bridge that I think you could put in at, a couple miles above where the lake starts, but probably couldn't leave a car there. And its skinny water most of the time. You would have to carry a boat over the dam which isn't a big deal, maybe 5-6 feet? I don't think any Lindenlure property owners would give you trouble, as long as you don't get out on their land. The fishing isn't great there anyway. It used to be very good.

Mr. Cotton swam right up to within 20 feet of our tent on the Jacks Fork last weekend. I think he was curious. We walked up slowly and fairly close to him in a non-threatening way and we told him this was our gravel bar and we had made reservations. He bid us adieu and slithered away. I've floated far and wide and across many rivers and creeks. The only place I've seen Mr. Cotton is the Jacks Fork. Water snakes I've seen everywhere. Copperheads everywhere, but always on land. Biggest and only rattlesnake I've seen was on the Eleven Point, swimming toward the drift boat. It was huge, and there was no mistaking its tail. Copperheads freak me out the worst because they are so well camoflaged and don't usually move until you are right up on them.

My youngest daughter came up with the idea last week of going on an overnight float trip. I generally don't go in the summer, ... too hot, too buggy, too many obnoxious people. But she talked me into it, and the river gauge for the Jacks was at a very nice level for this time of year, ~ 220 CFS and very slowly dropping. We got an early start leaving home and put in at Hwy 17/Buck Hollow about 9:30 a.m.. By then it was already sweltering, but the water temperature was very refreshing. We took our time and didn't have to paddle much. Getting out to swim fairly often to cool off. The nice thing, we only saw about 20 people all weekend. Most of them were around Jam-Up cave. Yesterday we didn't see anyone. Caught a bunch of smallmouth. Mostly on top with a big buzzbait. And my daughter was catching the with them with the fluke on a spinning rod. Once the sun went down, the waterfalls of sweat dried up and it became very pleasant. Had one little visit approach us 20 feet from where we were chowing down on some chips and guac. I think he wanted us to share. Slowly the stars came out and we got to a little bit of Perseid, but not much. Lights out early and woke in middle of the night to throw light sleeping bag over me. . . .almost chilly. Packed up and floated down to Rymers and off the water by 10 a.m. Highly recommend the shuttle service with Linda and her husband at the top of the hill at Rymers. $25 to have her move my vehicle from Buck down to Rymers.

I’m convinced. Details matter in this type of pizza.

Good for you. And way to look after your dad and do what’s right by him. I’m sure he was disappointed you couldn’t do the bigger trip you had planned. There will be other times.

I’m drooling over that one. 00 flour?

Fly-fishing for smallmouth is fun and a bit more challenging, but I think the only carry-over from trout fishing would be as it relates to targeting larger BROWN trout large streamer-fishing tactics. Or large poppers on top. Much different than nymphing tactics for smaller fish and rainbow feeding habits. Not to say that large browns don't eat small stuff, they certainly do. But smallmouth are ambush predators, and usually won't waste their energy on # 14 crackleback. I'll reach for the fly rod for smallmouth if the creek or the river and conditions are right. But to do that, I'm out of the canoe, and I like it for the right type of water. Most of the time though, at least the way I fish for smallmouth, I'm pounding the banks with long casts on the baitcaster and moving as I cover water. And mostly large, fast-moving topwater baits. You just cant do that with a fly-rod. I can't anyway. Tim Holschlag book on fly-fishing for smallmouth is a good book with a lot of useful information if you are dedicated to using only that tool.

3" in about 3 hours and still raining here in Ballwin. Tornado touched down near the old Chesterfield Mall and went NE towards Creve Couer Park. No word on damages

Nice Meramec fat pig! No disrespect on the genetic make-up whatsoever, at least not on my part. I would be thrilled to catch a fish like that. Congrats!

Fantastic job! Looks very fast, and maybe a little tippy? I'm surprised there isn't a thwart to help keep those gunwales from flexing inward. I'm sure that its fun to paddle.

She has a smoltry, burnt out motel sign quality about her. Like something out of a bad dream. Oh yeah. It was either Forsyth or Rockaway Beach. I’m pretty sure the next morning we shared a stale plate of pancakes with cold boysenberry syrup at a diner near swan creek over bad coffee and some half crushed out menthol Pall Malls she found in the parking lot. She had a filthy mouth, and I could not resist her charms.

Impressive build! And quite the wood shop, too. What kind of coating is that on the bottom? I'm not much help on Taney flies. Conditions in a few weeks will likely be heavy flows of running water. All the usual stuff that can get down deep.

Renzetti Traveler is all I have ever used. Would like to get one of those fancy clamp levers, but like Ness, I have the old school dial tightener. That first fly, the Walts Sexy Worm is a killer pattern, especially with a tungsten bead-head.

Sorry I had to bail out on this swap. Been traveling too much for work.

Got a buddy that is planning to join. Please put in a placeholder for him. He needs to set up an OA profile

I was an early pioneer of the sport, in the late 80s when bike shops had 1 or 2 Mtn bikes, the rest were road. Competed in the first Mtn bike races and trials at Ritter Springs and Busiek SP. did well, but there was maybe 8 of us. 🤣🤣 I’m old

I’m in.

Those look great! Now have her start tying some #22’s….or triple articulated!

I could see that trailer getting all kinds of tangled up in the rest of the mini flies. Just not conducive to fly-casting.

Merry Christmas!

Yes

We didn’t go in the park at all.

Parker

Spent this past Friday thru Sunday on upper Current, Baptist to Cedar Grove. River was still somewhat milky, but visibility to bottom was about 5 feet. Destruction was evident upon arrival at Baptist. Though it had been cleaned up, huge piles of gravel and sand were everywhere. Sand covers the whole river valley. 15 to 20 foot trees and larger, …. (6 ft me holding 9ft fly rod, 4 feet short of debris overhead, standing 5 feet above waterline) ….swept down at 45° angles through both sides of the river corridor up to 20 feet vertical from the rivers edge. Large trees down everywhere. Parker Hollow was unrecognizable. Needs bulldozing and lots of chainsaw work, though it is accessible in high clearance vehicle. Fishing was good for 10-12 incher hatchery slicks, if that is your thing. I fear the sand deposits and major gravel shifts will take years for the riverbed insect population to recover. parking lot at Baptist was jam packed on Sunday at noon, fisherman looking for easy targets.

Amazing what doctors can do. Glad you're all healed-up!