RSBreth

I could have told you that there wasn't access - there's kind of access of off AA there (like your picture) but if you pull down on the gravel you can get blocked in - locals use that spot a lot. Good fishing in that area is true - pretty good sometimes. I was downstream just a bit today - some good fish in the rain including a couple of "football" Spots - https://plus.google.com/photos/101507934293977390383/albums/5678952200955725489/5905797869009204082?banner=pwa&authkey=CInu54POh-TQmgE&pid=5905797869009204082&oid=101507934293977390383

ZMan stuff is neat but that is the problem - don't mix and match it or Berkley GULP stuff - none of it works with other plastics - turns into a gob of - well, a mess. It's too bad because I'd love to use one the grubs as a spinnerbait trailer but it usually makes a mess with the skirt on the spinnerbait it you store it together.

Um - no, there are suspending cranks and jerkbaits, that when "tuned" perfectly don't rise up OR fall on the pause. Suspended perfectly - doesn't get "slower" than that. Matter of fact - most of my biggest Table Rock Bass have come on suspending Jerkbaits on a loooooong pause - 30-seconds, a minute, sometimes even more. Just sitting there, neither rising or falling, getting stared at by the Bass that finally couldn't take it any more and hit it. They're pretty new though, you may not have heard of them since they were invented in the deep clear Ozark reservoirs in the late 60's or early 70's by guys modifying their lures. (<- I'm just giving you a (hopefully good-natured) hard time.) Anyway - fish what YOU like - but there are some really good techniques out there - this lure doesn't look like more than hype to me, personally. A good suspending hardbait has no equal in cold water or suspended fish - except a soft bait under a float (bobber). And for the "changing color faster" - I use a snap most of the time - easier to put on a different crank or jerk than re-threading a soft plastic on a hook.

I agree with Al on the cost of plastics vs. hardbaits - but there's another factor - rigging time versus fishing time. I'd rather be throwing a floating minnow bait like a Flat Rap or Rogue Jr. than be constantly re-rigging or changing out torn up flukes. Sometimes the fish don't want anything but the plastics, but if they hit a hard bait I'd rather being throwing it - just more casts in front of more fish.

I'm like many others here- I pick up what I can where I can. Sometimes you get a mess at the access that would require full on Haz-Mat removal - Yeah, I'm not doing that but I'll make the call.

The V6 Ficht Ram Evinrudes (before the E-Tec) were known for trouble - but the I know a couple of people who have the V4 (I have one in 90HP) are mostly trouble free. Mine is a 2003 and runs great and strong.

It happens - but I'm not sure if it's there aren't many Bass there or they just aren't aggressive. I covered about 3-miles of Beaver Creek last month with only a few Bass to show for it - until it started raining. Then it was one after another going back down through the water I'd just fished.

Yeah - when I did use a film SLR I'd brace like a rifleman with a sling - otherwise "wobbly wobbly wobbly" - half a roll of film down the tube. Thanks - I wish I had more time to spend on it - have to work on stuff that's more serious a lot these days.

It's not the lens - it's the lack of wobble from being on a tripod. I've shot lots of pictures with Androids and iPhones - still not really good compared to the faster capture speed and no wobble of even a cheaper point and shoot on a cheap tripod. Maybe a still shot - O.K. - but not a throw it up here and get the shot right now. Not for me, anyway. My cheapie is 12 MP, BTW.

I use an inexpensive point and shoot camera with a timer on a collapsible tripod. Works pretty good once you get the hang of it. Better pictures than any phone, too.

Glad your travel back was safe, and good report. I don't hit Taney as much in warm weather but thinking of heading down next week.

How much for the 119?

First - Crighton to the Lake is one of my least productive stretches of the James - I don't even hit it anymore except on a whim once every couple of years. There are some fish but I'll spend my time on more productive water. Second - Most of the time I don't have the time or schedule for shuttles either. Most of the time my solo trips on the river are paddle and portage up, then float back down. This can be tricky for kayaks - the double bladed paddle is a liability when trying to get upstream in the current seem right beside the bank - you keep hitting the blade against the bank and it just doesn't work very well. This is one of the reasons why I like the little Old Town Pack solo - light, easy to paddle upstream, and super easy to portage. One of my favorite trips on the James is up from H.L. Kerr - it takes a little skill with the paddle and one portage just upstream a bit from the ramp - but it's in the trophy area and totally worth it.

Linden is patrolled more these days, but I just know there are people who linger around up there that like to relieve other people of their property. The other thing brought up is true - the past year's drought and then flooding has made for a little tougher fishing - but if you think there's no decent Smallies or Rock Bass (or Largemouths) you're just not catching them. I haven't had time to go up there with the chainsaw like I usually do - but I'm surprised the Ozark Mountain Paddlers haven't been through - they usually cut trees like that out of the way on most every Spring.

You can avoid the discussion altogether if you do like I do, just call it "The Finley".

Here you go - just assemble them with blades and a skirt and you're good to fish.http://lurepartsonline.com/Shop-By-Category/Buzzbait-Heads/Double-Arm-Buzzbait-Heads.html They're plenty slow and very loud. Better (and cheaper) than most of the ready to go buzzbaits out there.

Mid-day heat indices of 100+ are just plain uncomfortable to me, but I drink tons of Powerade cut with water 50/50 and just deal with it because it's true - sometimes the best bite of the day on the river is right in the middle of the afternoon.

Does it have to be a telescoping rod to fit in a rod locker? Otherwise I wouldn't bother - just makes the rod heavier and kind of clunky. Otherwise I'd try the Bass Pro Crankin' Stik - I don't like the "Powerhump" handle shape so I sand it off. Post this in the Table Rock forumn and you'd get more responses - this isn't anything to do with flyfishing.

Easiest is Lindenlure to the Ozark Park but don't leave a vehicle up at Linden unattended. Get someone to drop you off and leave your car in the lot near the ramp in Ozark where the cops patrol often.

I'd look for another boat of your same model - they just got a replacement gas tank it seems.

Al has a point there - when I first started fishing Smallie streams here in the Ozarks I hated it when I got caught fishing behind a bunch of people in "used" water - but I generally catch fish behind people, and big ones, too. Most people I see on the river are using tiny grubs or a bitsy tube or something little. And I rarely see any topwaters besides buzzbaits (I haven't been throwing them much anymore either) so I think most of the time people who fish faster and higher up in the water like AL and Gavin and I do are fishing for different fish than the majority of people who are pecking around on the bottom. I'm not saying you can't catch fish, including big ones, bopping a tube around on the bottom, but like Al said I think it boils down to how YOU like to catch fish more than any special lures. Although, I had a couple of hours in the rain on lower Beaver Creek last month where I caught one Bass after another - almost one on every cast - fishing a Spit-N-Image topwater right behind a couple of guys using lures so small I couldn't see exactly what they were using from just a short distance away. I never saw them catch a fish in the mile or so a dawdled along behind them to the take-out.

I think about that, too. I don't know why the James isn't hit as hard as it COULD be - but I'm thankful for that. Maybe I'll use that thought as my "happy place" the next time 15-18 canoes and kayaks waddle all over me as I'm fishing ( It could be like the Niangua, it could be like the Niangua, it could be like the Niangua).

All of my Rapala lures are about a year old or older except for a couple of Scatter Raps and Flat Rap - but I haven't had any issue with the stock VMC hooks - something to watch for. I do like to bang cranks off of either the bottom or cover - but whatever the fish want, the fish want. Gotta experiment every time on the water and see what's working. My past half a dozen or so trips on the James have had very little success with cranks - maybe I'm fishing behind you!

This time of year it would be: Compact Spinnerbait - I have a couple of ones I've been customizing so they're the size of the little 1/4-ounce "finesse" spinnerbaits but weigh 3/8- or 1/2-ounce with bigger blades. Burners. Walk-the-dog topwater - usually a Spit-N-Image but sometimes the LC Gunfish comes out. This could also be a Zell Pop or LC Wakebait. Medium diving crank - usually a Bomber 4A but I like the DT4 and Bandit 200. Strike King Series 3 is a good one, too. Floating minnow - most the new Flat Rap in the smaller size - or the "Smallie size". I also use the floating Rogue Junior, and the smaller XCaliber suspender in deeper water. My only "slow" lure is the 1/8-ounce finesse jig I make myself. I sometimes throw a wacky rigged stick bait instead, but that's not that often these days. Color depends on time of day and water clarity.

Despite occasional rants about poaching or whatever I'm pretty happy with the fishing for Smallies in general. Maybe instead of trying to make it something it may never be, we could try harder to protect what it already is, and share the love of that some more. "World Class" is in the eye of the beholder anyway. I know I still get a kick out of catching bigger fish out of a smaller creek than vice-versa.