ColdWaterFshr

Nice report. I just got back from the Jacks late last night - my family of 5 plus two other families. Had a great time, but lordy it was hot. I didn't want us to do a long float on Sunday, so I tried to shave off a couple miles by putting in at Harlow Ford (2.2 miles downstream of the Prongs). Chuck Tryon's book showed us the way on paper but the absence of street signs left us to guessing and so ended up on a rather treacherous jeep trail that took us to Ratcliff Ford. We floated there to Blue Spring on Sunday, and then Blue Spring to Rhymers yesterday. Caught half-dozen smallish smallies on poppers and pumpkinseed worms, but we didn't give it much effort. Spent more time swimming and fighting off heat-stroke. Water was beautifully clear and felt wonderful to get in. Kids got to see Jam-Up cave which was a real treat. Chuck Tryon's book is a good one, but I'm sure its gotten a few people in trouble. Some of these roads have a high pucker factor if you arent in a 4x4. The road to Ratcliff Ford ain't for mini-vans.

Very nice.

The Bay Creek access is on the NORTH side of the river, not the South side. CR 106-425 is the gravel rd that is off of 106.

Spinning gear - 6 lb Maxima low-vis green or Trilene XL low-vis green Baitcaster - throwing big topwater baits - 12 lb Cajun Red Fly-rod - straight 2x-3x mono or just fish off the end of a 7.5 ft 3x tapered leader

Definitely not bear tracks. Those are either the prints of a North American Sasquatch, or a Boston Mountains Yeti. Did you happen to have any plaster and make a mold, Fisinwrench?

I like that river, but it can run a little murky for a while after a rain. Also, be prepared for lots of long, slow pools. 14 miles in 2 days will probably seem more like 20 miles. I like the upper river up near Hwy 5 better than the lower sections below Drynob. Lots of cows in the water down there.

Is that 20-ft camper still set up down at Parker? It was there all weekend. Wish the river would rise high enough to wash that #$%@ thing away.

No doubt about it, that was bad judgement: 5 small kids to 1 adult in a canoe. As Ness said, there is a perception about float trips, that anybody can do it, just give me a paddle and lets go. I guess what bothers me most is that I've taken my 3 kids in a canoe (as young as 3 yrs old), along with my wife, many times. If things went sideways, we would be outnumbered, and my wife doesn't consider herself the strongest swimmer. So . . . I'm not going to cast stones. I don't think its necessarily wrong to float with young kids as long as you're careful. Walk the boat around any approaching hazards, no matter how tame it looks. And obviously it should never be 5:1 This story is about as sad as it gets and that poor woman will carry the burden the rest of her life.

Crazy stuff. I've been on water like that once or twice in a canoe, probably not that bad, and its just as you described - a lot of fun at first, but then you get humbled real quick.

I use a Sage FLi-7wt, 9-ft. I couldn't imagine chucking big blockhead poppers, or big 4-inch streamers with anything less than a 6 wt.

Scratch Morgan Fairchild and replace with Bo Derek.

1. Barbara Eden 2. Farah 3. Ginger on Gilligans Island 4. Morgan Fairchild 5. (tie) Raquel Welch or just about any of the chicks who starred on the Love Boat

The Y cabins are the way to go! They have one that sleeps up to 8 and is only $55/night!! Very friendly folks. Cheap and clean, and you can get a little rowdy w/ a bachelor party and no one will get all uptight on you as long as you don't break anything. http://www.ycabinresort.com/rates.htm

Tough call. I've been to them all except Barren, which I do want to check out sometime - driven by it many times. Each is its own little gem and beautiful in their own right, but I guess with the North Fork or the Little Piney having the bigger flows, I hate to say I might admire them slightly less than the others just because of their proportional advantage. I'm amazed that we have wild trout living in some of these small places. Go visit Blue Springs in late August and tell me how trout can do that. Don't get me wrong, I love the NF and LP!

Chief - your 4th boat in 30 years?? You don't need our opinion man! My brother had a Wenonah fiberglass canoe for several years and it was a great boat. Very light, quick, tracked well. He just had to patch it fairly often, which caused him to be overly cautious with it, and then the final hole he put in it was its death nail - just unrepairable. Had he bought a Royalex boat instead of the fiberglass, I'm sure he would still be using it.

Chief, Don't do the Ram-X or even fiberglass. You're setting yourself up for disappointment. I'm sure there are plenty of happy Ram-X owners out there, or fiberglass canoe owners. But they don't use their boats regularly, at least not on Ozark streams. I've seen both in action, and it isn't pretty. Ram-X is the Huffy of mountain bikes. Yes, you can peddle it up a moderate paved hill. Fiberglass boats are just fine as lake or flat-water boats, but rocks will destroy them very quickly. Ness and Gavin offer good advice.

Well, I've got two words for all of you as far as privilege of fishing with such and such, just two words . . . 1. Paul 2. Dallas So put that chicken in your ziploc, shake it up a lil, and then bake it. Shake and Bake.

I would suggest to increase your pre-fish time whenever approaching any new water. Call the boys at Febreeze or M & M's, or Midol PMS . . . whoever your sponsors are, tell 'em you need an extra nights stay and an extra days guide service, too, and to loosen the purse strings . . . this is afterall the most difficult professional sport ever created.

I don't mean any disrespect, I really don't, but I can't help myself. A dude in a $40,000 glitter boat, with the latest in high tech sonagraphs/fish-finders equipment, sponsorship and endorsement deals, paying huge entry fees and running up and down the lakes (all over the country) to fish the "circuit". TV boats to follow the action . . . the suits, the patches, the weigh-ins and award ceremonies, the fame, the glory, its all too much. Even the phrase "pre-fishing a tourney" cracks me up. Its an odd mix of geekiness, NASCAR, and hoosier, and its begging to be made into a movie like Talladega Nights. Shake and Bake, baby. If there exists a more severe perversion of an otherwise relaxing past-time, I'd like to know what it is.

Hey, watch it. I resemble that average weenie fisherman, and I can't even manage to get broke off. Just tone down the glow is all I'm saying. I'd like to see the river kept as cruel as possible. Save the advertisements for bigger waters already overrun with weenie fisherman.

maybe you're a victim of your own glowing reports and your favorite hole is now 179 other peoples favorite as well.

I can't get excited about that river any more. Its okay fishing about 1/3rd of the times I go, but usually it sucks. Its okay for an afternoon fix, but if you drive an hour further, there are a LOT better options.

eat lots of carrots

I'm fine with the bait fishing restrictions as they currently exist - keep it in the White Ribbon area and manage it and enforce it as is. The Blue Ribbon area just needs more enforcement. But I will say it has improved in the last couple years -- it seems like I've seen a game warden down there on almost every trip in recent memory. But I've also witnessed poaching on every trip in recent memory. The problem with enforcement down there is its a lot of river to cover and I don't think the agents venture much further than the area around Hwy 19 bridge down to the first island downstream, or the other accesses. My last trip, about 3 weeks ago kind've confirmed this -- yes, we saw an agent up in the woods near the 1st island, but at the end of the trip we saw a couple hiking out with a couple fish 12-14 inches on a stringer just upstream about 1/4 mile from Turners. I think the locals know what areas are patrolled and to some extent when. And I think certain baitfishin locals with jetboats also know this, and the jetboat allows them to do their damage relatively quickly away from the Hwy 19 area. And I'm pretty sure a few nice trout get "accidentally" gigged whenever someone wants a taste of trout. Lots of nice folks with jetboats that use the river, and I don't mean to generalize them all as poachers, but as others have said -- in keeping with a wild and scenic river, it would be nice to have an area off limits to jetboats.

I'd like to see the jetboats gone in the Blue Ribbon section.