RSBreth

It's not legal to "just carry a gun" concealed. You have to pass a CCW course. You said "Its not that I mind responsible gun ownership" then say "I am in favor of anything that takes an armed gun out of the hand of an inexperienced person". These two statements are totally opposite of each other. I will never understand the mindset that's more concerned with what may go wrong when good folks are trying to protect themselves but doesn't seem very focused on the people who do have evil intent as their main program. Sorry I'm grumpy, I didn't get to fish today. To answer your last question. Yes. And not to feel secure, but keep me from getting rabies. Or my leg ripped off.

Flysmallie has it right, the float from Kerr to Galena is a good one. Lot's of numbers, or try bigger lures for a shot at a bigger Smallie. Launch early to avoid crowds.

I like to be able to make my own decision about what I need or want, so I think this is a good thing. Also, I agree that I wouldn't want to pack around some 5-pound thing I may not need either, so I'd probably pack this: 26 oz S@W 329PD And this: Bear Spray And this, too. Streamlight Boy Scout motto..... you know.

I guess not having much upland bird action in the southern part of the state drops us, but the Turkey hunting is second to none. As far as fishing goes, what more could you ask besides saltwater or maybe Steelhead/Salmon like the great lakes have. These are "filler articles", anytime you rank stuff you're bound to get people fired up, but what does it really mean. Not a darn thing.

Yeah, it's pretty much a put-in before daylight and drive home in the dark trip. Lot's of areas in there I just pass by and only hit the prime water.

Cool. You should try to portage up above Riverside Inn. It's kind of a pain, but the couple of holes just up from Ozark can be nice sometimes, especially when the park gets crowded.

It's a long float, how long depends on your paddling skill and how high the water level is, it was flowing pretty good when I did that one. I really like that stretch of the James, but I don't have my "Missouri Paddlers Guide" in front of me, so I can't remember how long it is. Pretty long. You can call Hootentown canoe rental and ask them how long that float averages, they shuttle every weekend in warm weather, but they don't do it early enough for me so I have to get someone else to do it for me. I don't do it very often because it's a pain in the .... The lower part is better fishing most of the time anyway, so I mostly put in at Galena and paddle up towards H.L. Kerr, or put in there and paddle up and portage from there towards Hootentown. I fish up, then float back. Will probably do that very early tomorrow A.M. before the idiots take over the river.

Canoe? Kayak? Bank?

I saw it, and that's the best part of the entire thing. I put a little comment on my blog about it, mostly how it makes the Ozarks look like a stereotype from Deliverance or something.

Bassmaster has had some of the worst fact-checking in many of their articles recently, and it's no wonder. One of the senior editors used to work for Fish and Game publications, and was notorious for hatchet jobs of freelance writers' articles, and throwing in poorly (or not at all) researched tidbits like that. Had it done to me, and worse. Unfortunately, such behavior is not only often ignored, you can see it's often rewarded. After seeing so-called professionals work like that, when I see a typo or small mistake in something I've done I don't sweat it as much anymore.

If anything could make access to Fellows worse.....

I'm also on the "it's O.K. but other cranks work better, at times" tip here. I have never done as well with a "craw crank" as I have with a Honey "B", DT4, or even the newer Bomber 4A. Some other medium or shallow runners that work good are Strike King series 3, Bandit 200, and all of the Norman models like the Deep Tiny N, Middle N, and even their "Crappie Crank". I wrote a small article about crankbaits for Smallmouth last year and received several "hate mails" about my not really liking the Rebel Craw. Ouch. Hey, use what you want.

Hey, nice Crappie. You can catch some in our area rivers, but most folks don't know about them. I don't know how many times I've caught a couple out of the slow slack water around a down tree in Bull Creek, but most don't think that's possible, either.

My favorites for "do everything" are either a 8'6" 5-weight- (more for Trout and panfish) or a 9' 6-weight- (more for Bass and larger Trout, but not so heavy panfish aren't fun to catch on it.) I think you'll find many different opinions, but that'll be close to the average.

I've thought about building a 12' or so 6- or 7-weight just for that. Haven't acquired the funding to do so yet.

I catch tons of Smallies on spinnerbaits, but I live half a mile from a good stream and fish all the time. Compact models work better than full size ones. Spinnerbait Smallie<--click here. I have yet to even try a chatterbait for smallmouths, but during the same conditions a spinnerbait works a chatterbait would probably work, too. You really have to give the Spinnerbaits more of a try. Best thing to use when the water is up and cloudy like it is now.

I guess that many of the Ozark rivers have large gravel bars on both sides of the river that allow longer backcasts, and many others don't. When I think of a small brushy stream I think of Crane, not the Niangua, or even the small section of Roaring River downstream from the park.

This is a pretty good discussion of some of my first impressions wandering around here. You do have to watch the access points, but if you are obviously just a fisherman and are polite you can usually get permission. I have several choice parking spots (one was mentioned) because I simply asked if I could, "hat in hand." Picking up trash helps, too. The Finley is really more of a canoe stream than a wade stream, but you do have some decent places if you try.

If you use superlines (FireLine, PowerPro, etc.) you never have to worry about which way you spool it. No line twist, or it doesn't matter if there is any.

I posted some stuff on my website, but as a couple of emails pointed out, I didn't post a real report over here like I should have, so after being properly chastised, here goes: The Finley has come up in water temperature, and you could see Bass spawning right now depending on where you are at on the river. Let them go if you catch them please. Crappie in Linden and the Park Lake in Ozark are up in the shallows doing the spawn thing right now. You didn't know there were Crappie in either lake? Well, there are, just not many, and not much size to them. Every year I catch a couple of good ones, but you'll never get into giant schools like you would at Stockton, or even Fellows. Thankfully there isn't as much flood debris to contend with as last year, so floating should be fairly easy here in the next month as folks start doing that. I was having enough trouble without all the downed limbs we had last year. In what will always be called the "Spinnerbait caught in the barb wire debacle" I had a hell of a time getting my snagged lure free, getting myself cut, almost breaking a rod, and even had my paddle involved like it was a Scottish Claymore sword at one point while cussing in two or three different languages. Definitely not my finest hour. So there you go, there's the report.

I can't imagine using less than about 8'6"- 6-weight. But maybe you light-line-weight guys fish for Smallmouth in tiny creeks. I fish Bull Creek and there I use my 9' 6-weight. Just easier to cast poppers with.

Darn it, if it was a 9mm, I know someone who would buy it right now.

The water is only up a little, and not really off color. It's still a little cold, but if it stays warm this week everything will kick into spawn mode. The cold rain that's forecast for today may put the fish off, though. Yakfisher, if you click the Finley from the main page of Ozarkanglers, above the topics is the link to the USGS river flow gauge that's over at Riverdale. (South of Nixa) If you look at it often enough, you'll get a feel for normal flows and what different river levels look like. Before or after you go to a river you can check the nearest gauge and compare it too what you saw when you were on the water. A super tool for the river rat. UPDATE: As of 8:00 A.M. Sunday the Finley is up, and light mocha colored. Sorry folks.

I've used both the minnow for crappie, and the leech for Smallmouths. Super duper stuff. One thing, though, if you fish where there are lots of sunfish they will pester these lures forever. Frustrating. The 5" leech under a slip float is pure Smallmouth magic.

July 11th, my son's third b-day. I know someone picked it already, we're both wrong, so what does it matter?