ColdWaterFshr

BSC isn't a place to go to make long elegant casts. The limbs and branches there are hungrier than the fish and laugh at us all equally and therein lies the challenge of the place. Go again and you will only get better. And then go again. You will learn to side cast, flick cast, skitter-dapple, flip and pitch, and crouch like a tiger. Whatever you do, avoid the bow and arrow cast unless you want to deeply embed a hook in your thumb the way I did a few years ago. Frickin Lefty Kreh technique I had read about in a book.

I heard from a reliable source that the numerous Horse Club groups that frequent the ONSR are all up in arms over these proposals. It is rumored that they are going to have a mass-showing at the Powder Valley meeting next week, even going as far as hauling their horse trailers to the meeting in an attempt to crowd out the limited parking spaces for regular folk wanting their voice to be heard. Not kidding.

Seems that way to me too. Out of all the gauges to choose from . . . seems like they chose 2 of the most high profile, most referenced, and most needed gauges on 2 of the most popular rivers.

Anyone get the notice about the rescheduled dates for the meetings? I found interesting the location of the meetings: Meetings Now Rescheduled. Recent bad weather resulted in cancellation of previously planned meetings, first those in December, and then the most recent meetings scheduled this week. Yesterday NPS officials announced their new dates and added one additional meeting for Eminence. Here is the lineup: Eminence--Thursday, January 16, 2014 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Draft GMP Open House Eminence High School New Gym 505 South Sixth Street, Eminence, MO 65466 Salem--Friday, January 17, 2014 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Draft GMP Open House City Hall Auditorium 202 North Washington, Salem, MO 65560 Van Buren--Tuesday, January 21, 2014 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. Draft GMP Open House 8:00 – 9:00 p.m. Wilderness Hearing Youth & Community Center Intersection of Business 60 & D Highway, Van Buren, MO 63965 St. Louis--Wednesday, January 22, 2014 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Draft GMP Open House 8:00 - 9:00 p.m. Wilderness Hearing Powder Valley Conservation Nature Center 11715 Cragwold Road, Kirkwood, MO 63122 _______________________________________ 3 towns opinions against 1. Where is the citizens of Springfield, KCMO, and Jeff City's voice?

Ah, Steel's Bait and Tackle. Is it still there? Same Steel or different guy? Thats were we used to get our eggs and crawlers back in the 80's. Can't offer any memory of the gravel bar whether it was there or not. In those days we were bank fishing mostly down by the bridges.

Nextdoor neighbors sent me this picture taken in their back yard a couple days ago. Cougars makin love!

I think Gavin caught a few. One of the guys caught a few nice fish over 17. I managed a brown, a rainbow, and a smallmouth within an hour's worth of fishing. Broke out the buggy-whip on a milder day but only managed 3 or 4 stockers. Water was low and clear.

Hike in wouldn't be too bad, but it would limit the amount of crap you could bring. Hire a Salem sherpa? Michael M. had a rough night on Wednesday night. dry-heaving and moaning all night. At first we thought it was an allergic reaction to the Makers Mark, but when that wouldn't resolve by morning we knew he needed medical attention. Hiked him up a steep hill at burnt camp (short-cut) while Kip had went and got his truck and met us on the road that goes down to the horeshoe. ER visit to Salem and x-ray revealed he had an obstruction in his intestine. Oh the things people shove in their exhaust these days -- sick, sick world. Turns out it was a Hot-Wheel.

Downside is that I've had a horrible head cold and 103 temp since I got back.

Get 2 packs of JB Weld. Mix up a big batch and glob it on the area, smoothing it out as best you can. Won't look real pretty, but I bet it does the job. I've used it for some light patching on my poly Old Town 158 and it seems to have held up very well.

I don't think you really need fancy gear other than a good sleeping pad. One guy doesn't even have that - he brings a bail of hay/straw and puts that down under his tent. Perfect insulator. The rest is common sense stuff. 1) change out of your clothes before going to bed and put on dry long underwear, regardless of how dry you THINK the stuff you have on is -- it really isn't. Change it. 2) 2 sleeping bags - one inside the other 3) a knit hat 4) hand warmers/chemical packs thrown in the bottom of the inner sleeping bag. OR boil some water just before going to bed and pour it into a large nalgene bottle, screw the lid on tight and throw that in the bottom of your sleeping bag. Stays warm all night! 5) staying hydrated before going to bed. lay off the sauce and sub in a bottled water or two. You will have to wiz, but bring a large gatorade bottle in the tent with you for that purpose, that way you don't have to go outside your tent. As for the survival scenario - I think when the temps really bottomed out like they did 2 nights ago thru today, it would probably be best to stay put and hunker down, finding shelter from the wind would be the most important. Keeping a fire going and staying dry. Eating regular meals and staying hydrated. Floating out with no waders in those temps = not wise.

I have only been going for 8 years and yes, it was the snowiest I have seen. Probably close to the coldest too. One night got to -3. But I never got cold. Learned a few tricks over the years that make all the difference in keeping warm, especially when sleeping. I couldn't believe the weight on my tent Sunday morning. The 1 inch of ice with another 3 inches of snow glued to it. I was surprised the tent could support it. The Montana tent easily had 300-400 lbs of ice and snow on it.

Float out was spectacular as Gavin said. At times it was almost a complete white-out. The road out of Parker was deep with snow but we all had 4WD and it was no problem. Worst part of the drive home was on I-44 as we got closer to St. Louis.

I'm curious whether I am looking at sheet music written by Bach, or possibly Schubert or even Beethoven.

Navy Seal Team 6 was in the gym. hahaha Sniper!

That is one heckuva nice fish.

Castor St. Francis whitewater section very upper North Fork above twin bridges Bryant Creek has been way too long Swan Creek has been way too long Shoal Creek - Prater's property - would like to drop a deuce on it. Buffalo above Boxley and below Kyle's Landing would love to get back on the Big Piney and Mulberry Rivers in Arkansas -- been too long.

Spallmouth

Funny stuff this thread has become. Souped up Chevelle speeding tickets in North County, Dudley Do-Rights and Ugly Sticks, pregnant wives pulling boat trailers while their husbands get taken to jail, wives getting turned on by Thor. You never know what you'll find on Ozarkanglers. Great variety and interesting diversions.

Did you guys go to Lazy River Grill and not invite Paul Dallas? Thats just 5 minutes from my pad.

woolrich fingerless wool with hand warmers. ditto. work well, dry fast, insulate even when dripping wet

Nice write up!

Freese was plain awful last year. Way too streaky and he is a proven head case. Rather gamble on an up and comer. While I do wish him well, I think we got the most we were ever going to get out of him.

Ditto what MOsmallies said. I thought that smallouth pic was a drum at first glance - just by the shape of it.

You kill me, Al. Was pretty miserable most of the day and yet you still catch some dandies. Did you keep the walleye?