ColdWaterFshr

you'll be fine from the Prongs if you wanted to do it. Go and enjoy, just shorten your expectations of how far you'll go those first day or two and be prepared to drag a little. And besides, how much can you fully load a kayak and call that work dragging it anyway. Have fun!

Hazels campground? Is that somewhere between Hwy F and 47? And open to John Q. Public, for even a small fee? Enquiring minds want to know.

It was a fun time. Floated a section of the Big i hadn't in many years and fell in love with it all over again. The problem with Gavin's bloody mary's isn't the spice . . . . no, the problem is he goes a little heavy on the "active" ingredient. Pow!

Gavin, Hoff and I fished the Big yesterday. Wind at our backs the first mile or so, then we went around a bend and it was the opposite. Got a good work-out, but the fishing was lousy, though Gavin caught a few dinks on the Ned rig. I think I only caught 2 fish total. Big thunder head rolled over us and pelted us for about 10 minutes, but it was beautiful. Never seen sheets of rain whip so fast across the water, and then a few minutes later all the tree limbs were glistening like they were ice when the sun hit them. Spectacular. Gavin's bloody mary mix might've helped a little too.

Fine attitude, JD, good grief. ONSR is a park but one that covers 134 hundred miles. Thats some kind've park, eh? Clearly you don't care too much for it, but I sure do and would like to see my kids and someday grandkids enjoy it in some small fraction of the way I have. And to "leave it alone" or not alter the current management plan, based on the degradation I've seen increase the last 10 years . . . . well, I think even the Park Service acknowledges that would not be a good idea.

Thats right! hahaha

Yeah that one about the week long White River float. Entry for Wed, Aug 21, 1907, substitute the name "Ness" for wherever you see "Frank Parker". ahahahaha

JD -- good for you, I like those places, too and for all the same reasons as you. We're talking about the ONSR though and it sounds like you've already written them off as being "overly developed and publicized". While that may be true, we have to continue to do what we can to bring them back. Take a few minutes and log on to the "open for comment" link and share your frustration with these rivers being overly developed and publicized.

Huh? Not the point. We're not talking about some super remote river in Saskatchewan. The Jacks and Current don't need more roads of any kind, paved or unpaved, and particularly the illegal kind made by ATVS and Billy-bob in his Jeep with muddin' tires.

yes, something very dark and sinister is afoot. if these illegal roads and trails to littered gravel bars are shut down . . . . this could set Eminence back a hundred years or more . . . instead of being the year 1862, it would go back to 1762 and then where would I get gas for my Subaru when I'm in the area? I'd have to fill up in Salem?? or God forbid in Mountain View?? (Those are in Dent and Howell counties for those that don't know)

I received today a postcard in the mail on this. So I went and downloaded the document. Good grief - its 500 pages. Typical federal gubbamint, eh? Good lord. Then I figured someone on here had researched it and boiled it down for us. Thank you, Al! Let me just say this. Every time I go to either the Jacks or Current I am amazed and disappointed at how many more people I see and evidence OF people than the last time I was there. And I've been going for almost 30 years now. The closing of these illegal roads and access points is absolutely necessary. The motorized boats above Akers, and above Eminence . . . . . those have all gotta go. I like Plan A the best even though I don't think it goes far enough. I'd like to see daily admittance #'s capped and permits issued for overnight camping. Plan B is the NPS's "preferred alternative". Preferred based on what? A blending of the public input they have received so far?? I don't like the suggestive wording of "preferred" at all. Its like they are trying to vote for us. Does it say anywhere in those 500 pages exactly what is meant by this?

I can see why you're doing Field and Stream videos, Brian -- you've gotten quite good at shooting them. Very slick. Question - do you think that jig hook helps this "fly" swim any differently? Just curious about the choice over a standard hook.

You want the straight scoop from Paul Dallas? Do you? Do you?? Ok, here it is. I hate bass boats. I hate bass boat occupants. I hate their clubs, their arm patches, their smoked gray windshields. I hate the storage rod holders and their fish finders and the 130 lb thrust trolling motors and vinyl seats and stain resistant carpet. I hate tournaments, weigh-ins, and all manner of boat-ramp comers and goers. And I hate any talk of trailers, or rigs to drag the dam things out of the water with. I hate Table Rock Lake and especially Lake of the Ozarks. And I especially loathe big-lake marinas, with the $5 bags of ice and assortment of tackle and hoky t-shirts. And Bass Pro Shops, Ranger Boats, Phoenix, Nitro,Skeeter -- I mean really, Skeeter as a name for a boat? "Hey Vern, lets hop in my Skeeter and go drop-shot for some Kentucky's that I seen on my sonar in 68 feet of water on that one pea-gravel point by the bridge". The whole scene makes me want to throw up its so depressing. Don't do it Mitch. Don't become one of them.

hang some skirts on them trebles! not saying where I got that idea

VERY nice fish.

Favorite jets: Phantom F-4, SR71, B-1 Favorite WWII: B-17, P-38, Fiesler Storch, Stuka -Junkers Ju

Nice report. Looks like some good sized fish.

mzrealfish -- trip report??

Man, thats a serious whitewater boat. Its going to be a little under-whelmed on the 11P, but it would make a helluva nice gear barge. You could pack a couch on that thing.

I'll echo what the others have said. You gotta use common sense and respect the water. I started taking my kids on safer stretches of river from about the time they were 3 or 4. Here's my daughter, 9, on the Jacks Fork this past spring.

I was joking bro. Love the boat, love the dog. People always accuse me of being too serious when I'm joking and too joking when I'm serious. Have a great trip. I'm going this weekend too in my old beater 17 year old Old Town and dog. Cheers

Cool dog! But even Humphrey seems to recognize the hopelessness of your boat, and seems to be saying with his eyes that you need to put that boat down. Do it man, do it. Its cracked, its patched with what looks like asphalt and pond scum. The outriggers even seem to be begging for mercy. Craigslist that stainless steel grill visible in the background of the photo, and the faux leather recliner, and there you got some spending cash to find a proper boat that Humphrey deserves at this point in his life. There should be a rescue shelter for boats with abusive owners!

Done it in 2 night trip. Never again. I'd recommend at least 4 nights.

Well, them fishus hadn't met Paul Dallas. Glad the home team won.

One of the best purchases I discovered a few years ago is a large tupperware container that has a lid that snaps on. And one that you selected based on measurements to fit in a certain spot of the canoe very snuggly. It functions as a giant pantry; holding all your pots and pans, paper towels, utensils, dry food and snacks, flashlights and loads of other miscellaneous stuff. I hate digging around in dry bags looking for odds and ends. At the end of the trip, this stuff never makes it out of there, its the perfect storage container ready-to-go and keeps it all together. Another favorite purchase, this one more recent, the "luggable loo". Its a toilet seat that snaps onto a 5 gallon bucket. Getting too old to do the squat thrusts anymore. I keep a folding army shovel in the bottom to dig a waste trench, with some TP in a ziploc and a small pack of aloe vera scented wet wipes, bio-degradable poo bags to fit over the bucket, and a copy of the latest SI Swimsuit edition. Kate Upton seems to aid in difficult BM's.