JimmyV

So changed plans a bit we floated from Slabtown to Rich's Last resort this past Friday /Saturday. Fishing Friday was fantastic. It seemed like we could not do anything wrong. plastics, jigs, spinnerbaits all worked well. We did not catch many big fish but lots of 12-14 inch smallies, some really nice goggs ( quite a few over 10), and a few large-mouth (my buddy did get one L-M around 16 inches). Sorry to say, I did not take a single picture all weekend. The Fishing Saturday was tougher, we thought it was going to be pretty good after the rain, and slightly rising water, but it was much slower than Friday. Not sure if it was the difference in the stretch.. Friday was Slabtown to about horse-camp and was great the whole length; and Saturday was horse-camp to Rich's. Saturday ran into quite a few pleasure floaters and a bunch of fisherman all was well but most of them concurred that the bite was slower. The river did seem to be in pretty good shape, still some trees and brush in the water but nothing too rough. this was actually my first time ever on Big Piney and I really enjoyed it, I have deemed this the best kept secret in mid MO..

I was thinking Dog's Bluff to Boiling Spring. But yeah, I know everything got beat up pretty bad.. So was wondering how things were progressing.. I have been watching the flow charts and looks like things are starting to get back to normal flow. I did see the the Boiling Springs Resort folks are planning to get floaters in this weekend, i hope that means things are safe and getting back to normal (well other than the resort losing pretty much everything I don't think normal will be in their vocab for a minute). Again thanks for any and all input.. Jim

Has anyone been on the BP lately? Just curious how it was looking? Hoping to get down there in a few weeks. Thanks for any info /thoughts.. Jimmy V

Very cool, glad it all worked out, and that you were prepared for such incidents.. Also so neat to hear that your son caught so many fish.. I love that kind of stuff!

How did it go? Where you able to float JF? Was the rain helpful or a pain in the a$$?

I did not trust myself with a camera much on the water so I only got one decent fish pic.. This is one of the better fish my buddy caught..

So I tried the hammock this weekend and I was pleasantly surprised at how comfortable it was.. (maybe it was because I was numb from a few adult beverages) I was really happy with the way things worked out.. We were able to find a smaller gravel bar that had a few trees just off the water line and a nice open area for a fire and chairs etc.. It turned out real nice. We were fortunate enough that the weather / dew point was just about perfect as we did not have to deal with any moisture at all; same can be said for bugs, barely saw any of them at camp. I will have to admit we got a little behind and we were hoping to get a few miles further before we stopped. So we were traveling for a bit and starting to run out of day light and just grabbed the first spot that looked okay.. and as luck would have it it worked out great.. Again thanks for everyone's thought on this and the fishing.. We did catch a lot of fish this weekend.. mostly small one in the 8-12 inch range with a few getting up into the 14-15 inch range, and each of us were able to land one nice fish at or near 18 inches.. jigs, crankbaits, and Texas rigged worms all seemed to produce nicely for us, we caught fish on other things but seemed like the jigs and crankbaits were the most consistent producers, my buddy did catch the biggest fish of the weekend on the Texas rigged worm but not a whole lot of other ones..

Was that the Whopper Plopper? I just ordered one after watching a friend do really well with it on LOZ a few weeks back.. At first seemed pretty "gimmicky" but after about the 4 fish he landed I was sold.. I have not had any luck with it yet, but only threw it a handful of times so far..

OzarkRiverCamper, thanks for mentioning this. Being this late in the year I did not really give it much thought as years past it is too low by now, but it looks like there should be plenty of water.. I am moving the float path for sure. Think I'll shoot for Hwy 17 to Alley.. I haven't been on this stretch of water in a very long time... Super excited for this..

Thanks for all the feedback... The idea was to bring less stuff, that is why i was thinking of going with the hammock, so I could skip the tent, thermarest, etc.. The hammock gizmo has a full mosquito netting around it, and I was planning to hang a tarp above on a guy line to keep the dew away. Hammock is not super important, but I hear a lot people talking about how comfortable they are compared to ground sleeping. But I am with you JoeD the fishing is the priority here.. sleeping is optional lol! . Looks like this might be the weekend I make it down, looks like it'll be hot but dry.. I will probably do like holleybob suggested and bring a small tent as well just in case.. either way I will certainly let ya'll know how it goes.. Now on to the more important things.. fishing... plastics, topwater early and late, maybe some crawfish style crankbaits, what do you guys like this time of year? Thanks again for everyone's thoughts!

Hi all, I am fairly new here, been creeping on the sidelines just soaking up the knowledge shared here for awhile and just recently made an account. Now, I thought I would ask for some input. I am planning a trip on the Jacks Fork in the next couple weeks and have a question about camping. I recently purchased a hammock tent with mosquito netting around it and a tarp for rain protection etc... But I was wondering how likely I will be able to find good trees on or near a decent gravel bar? Has anyone else tried this type of camping? I like the idea because I feel like I can pack in less "stuff" and still be fairly comfortable. No need for a bed roll etc.. Thoughts? Thinking of floating the area from Bay Creek to Two Rivers.. Stopping somewhere between Alley Springs and HWY 19 bridge (maybe just past Horse Camp where it's still Protected land on either side).. Also any other advice is welcome, fishing reports, areas to really check out, etc.. it's been quite some time since I have been on the Jacks Fork and I am really looking forward to it. Thanks, Jimmy V

I have a small jet that I run on the Meramec near the Eureka / Pacific area. I almost always put in, then head upstream; this way if something where to go wrong it's a lot easier to go downstream. The ramps at Route 66, Allenton, and Pacific Palisades are all pretty convenient to the STL area.. Most of that stretch is easily navigable but with enough obstacles to learn a few tricks. During the summer there are a handful a canoes / yaks on that stretch but not an overabundance. Now for the bad news, there is not a lot a smallies that far up, but I have caught most everything else.. Have fun a good luck.