Al Agnew

If somebody was willing to part with their OLD Missouri Conservation Atlas from MDC, the old one used the county maps as their base maps...for $15 you got maps of every county in the state. Sure wish they hadn't changed that on the later editions...the maps in them are really pretty but not easy to read nor do they have as much road info.

Your rigging with weight both above the top fly and between the flies is why you're getting so many tangles. The more different points of weight, the more likely to tangle. I simply add an 18 inch length of tippet to the end of my leader with a surgeon's knot, tie the top fly about six inches down the tippet with a palomar knot, leaving the rest of the tippet section as the tag end (don't trim it), and then tie my bottom fly to the end of that tag end. Then I add my weight just above the knot connecting leader and tippet. So I have the weight about 6 inches above the top fly, the second fly about 10 or 12 inches below the top fly. I know lots of guys like to add the tippet between the flies by tying a separate piece to the bend of the fly...supposedly that makes the top fly drift more horizontally. My experience is that it makes no significant difference...I catch just as many fish my way, and I have one less knot to tie--I'd rather be fishing than tying knots. I use a lot of stuff with the two fly system, always making one fly a different size and color than the other one. Usually my top fly is bigger and/or brighter...the attractor fly, and the bottom fly is smaller and duller. For instance, if I'm using a Prince Nymph, it will always be the top fly because I consider it an attractor nymph. Princes, Hare's Ears, Copper Johns, red Copper Johns, scud patterns, and Pheasant Tails are my most commonly used nymphs.

Geez, my 40 HP E-Tec starts instantly every time, cold, warm, after it's been sitting in the garage for 6 months (yep, I hadn't had it out since March until a couple weeks ago, figured I'd better at least change the gas in the tank, hit the starter button and it started instantly.) I've had it for three years now. Love that motor.

I'll keep you in mind when I'm on the rivers, but you gotta realize that this is a bad time of year to be asking this. Most of us who fish in the winter fish out of boats, don't spend much time on the gravel bars, and with the shorter daylight hours probably aren't willing to take the time to walk around on the gravel bars looking for mussel shells. But it's an interesting project, and mussels are interesting critters. Some Ozark streams have about as much mussel species diversity as anywhere in the country. On others, the mussels are in trouble due to pollution problems. But like I said, I'll keep an eye out, and if I see any good ones I'll save them for you.

Actually, given the difficulty in raising smallmouth to a size that would insure good survival rates, there's no way it would be cost-effective. I'll tell you what WOULD be cost-effective...getting every MDC electroshocking boat on the Bourbeuse (and Big River) for a week or so in the best shocking conditions, shocking the whole river, and killing every spotted bass you shocked up. You wouldn't get them all, but if you did this once a year it would give the smallmouth a chance. Heck, invite the public to the accesses to take home all the spotted bass they wanted. Have volunteers to clean them and give them to food pantries. Sell them for cat food for all I care.

Everything is a trade-off. Want maneuverability? You gotta sacrifice tracking ability. Want to add weight to regain some of the tracking ability? Then you give up a couple inches of draft and you can't float as shallow. In the whole scheme of things, though, it just depends upon what you think is most important. Personally, I find it easier to learn to turn a good tracking canoe than it is to learn to paddle a highly maneuverable canoe straight and fast. Others may find just the opposite.

And you're right, the other one is a green sunfish. Nice pics. The Mulberry is one of the few Ozark streams I've never been on...got to get down there one of these days.

Chief and others...according to my sources, the fish you caught was a shadow bass, not an Ozark bass. According to both "Fishes of the Central United States", by Tomelleri and Eberle, and "Freshwater Fishes", one of the Peterson Field Guides, Ozark bass are limited to the White River system, so wouldn't be in Shoal Creek. "Freshwater Fishes" says that shadow bass ARE found in the Arkansas river system, which would include Shoal Creek. "Fishes of the Central United States" says that shadow bass are common in the Ouachita drainage, but says nothing about them OR shadow bass in Shoal Creek except to say that rock bass in NE Oklahoma in the same drainage are probably introduced hybrids of shadow bass and northern rock bass--apparently shadow bass can hybridize with the northern rock bass, but neither species hybridizes with Ozark bass. In addition to all that, the fish in your photo is identical with the shadow bass I catch on the St. Francis and Black River in my part of the Ozarks, and looks nothing like the Ozark bass I have caught on the Buffalo and Kings River. The key diagnostic characteristic of Ozark bass is that their small dark spots are scattered, not in rows on each scale as the fish in your photo is. I've also never seen one that was that heavily blotched, but the "camo pattern" is very characteristic of shadow bass. So judging from the photo as well as my sources, I'm pretty sure your fish is a shadow bass. By the way...there ARE four species of rock bass (Ambloplites). The fourth, which is not found in the Ozarks but in the eastern U.S., is the Roanoke bass. The Ozarks is the only region that has three species. I'm going to go ahead and post this, but I'll try to find good photos on Google of the various species. Edit: If you Google Images "Ozark bass", the second and third images in the first row of the first page are very typical of Ozark bass I've caught in the White River system, scattered black spots with never more than three or so in a row, and lots of black spots on their backs. The fifth picture in the first row shows one that has a lot more of the big blotches than any I've seen, but the scattered dark spots are still characteristic. The photos on the web of shadow bass show a lot more variation, but in all of them the big blotches are very obvious. Take a look and judge for yourself.

Yep, and a medium fast will probably be a rod that's not JUST for beginners--they work really well for most trout fishing. All but one of my 6 good fly rods are four piece rods for just that one reason--they travel better. But two piece rods do have one major advantage--fewer attachment points to get loose and come apart or get damaged. They probably cast a bit better as well, but most people probably couldn't tell the difference.

For what it's worth... When I first started fly fishing, it was because I was going to a couple of art shows in Michigan that just happened to coincide with the fall salmon and steelhead runs out of Lake Michigan, so I bought 7/8 wt. fly rods for my wife and myself from Bass Pro...I think they cost about $90 apiece. They were perfectly fine for the purpose. But as I got into it more, I decided to buy a more expensive rod. I bought a two piece 4 wt. Sage. The difference between it and the cheaper rods was like night and day, but I figured it was mostly because the 4 wt. was so much lighter. The next rod I bought was an 8 wt. Loomis. Well, it was about 5 times better than the BPS rod as well. So my point is that you can fish just fine with rods under $100, but there IS a difference between them and the $250-350 rods...enough of a difference that, if you can afford it, I'd buy the more expensive ones. I've also fished with friends' rods that cost $600-900, and I couldn't tell enough difference to make paying that much worthwhile. So to me, it's a lot like the difference between a $50 baitcasting reel, a $150 reel, and a $500 reel. The $150 reel is worth the money, but the $500 reel is simply not 3 or 4 times as good. And the thing is, if you really get into fly fishing, you'll be glad your first rod was a pretty good one, because you'll want a few more good ones. On the other hand, the difference between trout fishing and smallmouth fishing is wide enough that a compromise rod just won't do everything well, so the idea of buying two cheaper rods has a lot of merit. Which, I guess, is a round-about way of saying I agree with Coldwaterfisher. Like he said, don't go overboard on high end fly rods and reels unless you have money to burn.

Nice looking canoe...I think I'd prefer it to the shorter one. I wonder why they designed it with so much rocker, though. That has to affect tracking ability. Still, I'd like to paddle one. The weight is okay, not great. What is the price--didn't see it on the website?

Eric, lots of fly lines already have a loop on the end nowadays, and I think they all should. So the last couple lines I've bought I've made sure they had the loop. Leaders usually come with a loop as well, so you attach the leader to the line loop to loop. Also, whenever you buy the reel, you should go ahead and buy the line and backing and get the reel filled, that way you won't have to worry about all those knots. The main knots you'll need to know are the double surgeon's knot to attach tippet to leader, and whatever knots you use to tie the fly on. Like Wayne said, with bigger flies and heavier leader/tippet, the palomar works just fine, but with very small flies and fine tippet there are other knots. I usually use just an improved clinch knot with only three or so wraps on small flies...don't want a big knot. The palomar really comes in handy when nymphing with two nymphs. The way I rig two nymphs is to tie a section of tippet about 18 inches long to the leader with a double surgeon's knot. Tie the first nymph using a palomar knot about 6 inches below the knot between leader and tippet, leaving the rest of the tippet as a long tag end of the palomar, then tie the second fly onto the end of that tag end. Then I put split shot just above the leader-tippet knot, and the knot keeps the split shot from sliding down to the first fly.

Eric, I kinda figured you were in the situation you described...also figured that like me, you'd find the fly rod more useful and enjoyable for trout, with smallies as a once in a while thing. Since we fish pretty much alike on smallmouth and really LIKE the spinning and baitcasting tackle for them, if you're like me even if you take the fly rod along it won't get used much. You'll probably only use it smallie fishing if you go wading on smaller streams, and in that case the 5 wt. is definitely what you'll want to be fishing with. The 9 footer is a little better at getting distance on your casts, but the 8'6" is probably good enough, especially if you are mainly fishing it on smaller creeks for smallies. For trout, I have to say I've never used my 6 wt. for Ozark trout, although it gets used out West for fishing streamers all the time...wind is so much more of a factor on the big Western trout streams, and the heavier rod handles the wind better. So if you're sticking to Ozark trout for the time being, the 5 wt. will definitely work for everything you might use. Reels...for normal trout fishing and smallmouth fishing--by "normal" trout fishing I mean the kind of trout you'll usually catch in the Ozarks and not those humongous knuckle-pounders you might catch up in Alaska--the quality of the drag on the reel is rather unimportant. A cheap reel is all you really need. However, cheap reels are usually noisy and rough. I used Scientific Anglers reels for a long time, but whenever I'd pick up my fly fishing buddy's rod and reel (he uses more expensive stuff than I do) his reels were always so much more smooth and quiet and felt so much better. So now I'm using a couple of Ross reels and a Lambson. Definitely try the reels as Drew said and spend whatever you feel like spending, but keep in mind that you don't have to buy the MOST expensive reel just for trout and smallmouth. Line...this, of course, is your other major expense in buying a fly rod. The line is important because with the fly rod, you're actually casting the line, with the fly on the end of the leader just going along for the ride. Get a WFT (weight forward taper) floating line that matches the weight of your rod. Weight forward means that the thickest part of the line is near the front end of it--since you're casting the line, not the fly, it helps to have a line with the heaviest part of it out in front. Floating lines are all I ever use for trout and smallies, since if I gotta fish something so deep that I'd need a sink-tip line (a line where the front few feet sink) I ain't gonna be fishing with a fly rod, it's just no fun for me. Heck, you can always use a lot of lead to get stuff as deep as I care to fish with a fly rod. Any decent quality line will do--figure on spending $40-60 for your line. You'll need backing (a thinner, cheaper line that goes on the reel first as filler and in case you hook into a fish so big it will strip off your relatively short length of fly line), but the people wherever you buy the reel with fill it with backing and line. If you're really just starting out and have not cast a fly rod enough to know what you're doing, it probably won't help you just to try out rods and reels at the store. This is one time when it REALLY helps to go to a fly shop and not a big box store, and ask for them to show you the casting ropes. The last couple rods I've bought have come from T Hargrove in St. Louis, and in both instances we took four or five different rod and reel set-ups out in the parking lot and spent a good half hour or more casting them. The first good fly rod I ever bought came from Feathercraft, just down Manchester from T Hargrove, and the late Ed Storey, the owner, took me out in their parking lot and basically gave me 45 minutes worth of casting lessons before he even brought out several more rods and had me try them to decide which one I liked best. Once you've fly fished for a while, trying out a bunch of different rods is really useful, but if you've never done it before, you probably won't know what you're supposed to be "feeling" when just trying them out on your own, so find a very knowledgeable person to help you try out rods. Other than that, to get started you'll need leaders. A leader is the monofilament line that attaches to the end of your fly line. Actually, for fishing heavy streamers and wind resistant bass bugs, I sometimes just use a 6 foot length of regular monofilament, 6 or 8 pound test. But for most fly fishing, you need to buy tapered leaders (the mono is thicker back where it attaches to your fly line, and tapers to thinner at the end where you attach your fly). Tapered leaders cast unweighted flies much better than a simple length of mono. With heavily weighted flies (or even when fishing nymphs--sinking flies--with a lot of lead) you don't really need them. However, since I've almost always got a tapered leader on the end of the fly line anyway, I go ahead and use it no matter what I'm fishing. Leaders usually come in 7.5 ft. and 9 ft. lengths. The 7.5 is usually all you need, but as you use it and break off or re-tie flies it will quickly shorten. Which is why you also need tippet, which is little spools of mono (or fluorocarbon these days). You add a length of tippet to your leader to replace the length you just broke off hanging your fly up in the snags. Leaders and tippet go by X numbers instead of pound test, although the spools usually have the pound test on them as well. The X numbers (like 3X, for instance) denote the diameter of the line, not its strength. Since you're using a leader that tapers down to thinner at the end, it would make no sense to add tippet that's thicker than the end of the leader. So if you buy a leader that's 3X, say, and gradually lose a couple feet, the end is now probably about 2X or 1x (the smaller the number, the thicker the line--go figure) so you'd add 3X tippet to it to get it back to the taper it originally had. If you've just put the leader on, but want tippet on the end (for fishing a double nymph rig, for instance), you'd add a length of tippet that's either the same, or one number thinner, than your leader. For smallies, 2X leaders and tippet is as thin and light as you'll ever need, and it's no problem using 1X or 0X. For trout, most of the time I use 3X, sometimes if I'm using pretty small flies I'll go to 4X, and if I want to use a really small dry fly like a size 18 or 20 (the numbers get bigger as the flies get smaller, too--go figure) I'll go to 6X, which is about 1.5 or 2 pound test. Personally, I really like to use fluorocarbon tippet for any sinking flies, but you almost have to use regular mono tippet for dry flies because it doesn't sink as quickly and take the fly down with it. We can get into flies and other stuff you might need for trout if you want--others will want to chime in there as well. I'm pretty sure you'll have your own ideas on smallies. Welcome to the world of fly fishing--if you're like me you'll find it the most interesting way to fish for stream trout. I sometimes think I have a split fishing personality--love fishing the fly rod for trout, dislike using spinning tackle for them even though I know that sometimes it's a lot more effective for pursuing the bigger fish, love fishing spinning and baitcasting for smallies and can take the fly rod or leave it when I'm pursuing them.

Got up this morning and decided spur of the moment to go fish the Meramec. I wasn't in any hurry, since the fishing had been much better in the afternoon the other day when I fished it, and with the cool night before but a sunny day predicted, I figured the river would warm up a little in the afternoon. So I got on the road about 8 AM for the 1.5 hour drive to the river. I was cruising across Highway 8, listening to NPR and in no big hurry, when suddenly there was a strange noise back at the boat trailer, and then a feeling of roughness. Uh-oh. Pulled off the side of the highway and walked back to check it out. The passenger side trailer tire was almost totally missing its tread! Still holding air, but only a fourth of it had tread, the rest down to the wire reinforcement. I'd been meaning to get a spare for the trailer forever, but never had. Geez, these tires were three years old, but didn't have that many miles and were not worn at all. I was a few miles from Huzzah Valley, so I decided to drive to there, park and detach the trailer, take off the wheel, and take it into Steelville to get the tire replaced. First place I went in Steelville didn't have any tires that size, but they called another place which had a used one. So I went there and got it replaced. Now it was nearly 11 AM, but I figured I still had the afternoon to fish. Drove back to Huzzah Valley, put on the wheel, hooked up the trailer, and drove to the river. There was one other boat trailer in the parking lot. I figured whoever it was had gone upstream a ways, so I motored up to the first good hole and started fishing. Water temp said 50.5. Decided to try a crankbait. I tied one on, made a couple of casts, and it wasn't wobbling right. Tied another one on. Still didn't like it. Tied a third one on. I'd lost two just like this one the other day, and it was the only one I had left. About the third cast, I whacked the top of the trolling motor with it and broke it into pieces. Geez. Maybe I should have stayed at home. Dug out another crankbait, made a few casts. It seemed to be okay...and then I hung it up. Had to go to it and mess up a good spot. Didn't catch a fish until about 30 casts or so, and it was a little one. Well, at least I'm not skunked. Two more small fish in that first hole. Two 13 inchers in the next hole...and then finally, a good fish took the crank. 17 inches. That's more like it. Fished the rest of the way down it, caught another 14 incher. Went over to the other side, where there were some good logs, so I decided to try a spinnerbait. Bingo, 16 incher. Things are looking up. Finished that hole, and fired up the motor to head upstream. I went as far as I figured to have time to fish...it was already after 1 PM by this time. I started fishing my way back down the river at a long, moderate depth, moderate current pool that usually produces a few small to medium fish. Caught a couple in it. Then another similar pool, nothing. Then I got to one of my favorite pools, medium to deep water, rocks, logs, slow current spots, medium current in other spots. I kept fishing the crankbait. Caught one 12 incher out of pretty fast, shallow water at the head of it. But then fished down through the upper half with nothing. I wasn't too concerned, since there is a short section of the lower half with big rocks that almost always produces fish. Sure enough, caught a little one at the upper end of this stretch, then hit the sweet spot and caught 4 fish from 11 to 15 inches in five casts. A few more casts there produced nothing else, so I let the boat slip downstream a few yards to make a cast at the right angle to the single best cluster of rocks. Perfect cast. The fish hit exactly where I expected, and I knew immediately it was a good one. In fact, this smallie fought about as hard and powerfully as any I'd caught this year. I was a little surprised when I finally got it in and measured it--it was 18.5 inches. I sure figured it to be bigger than that while it was in the water! I caught one more little one, and suddenly realized that the sun was sinking behind the bluff and it was getting late. There were four more pools I wanted to fish, and I knew I wasn't going to be able to fish them all. I started up the motor for the short hop to the next pool, and caught nothing from it. Now it was getting seriously late. Started the motor again, zipped past the next pool, couldn't stand it and made one more stop at the one after that. As the light began to fade, I caught another little one, and then finished up the day with a beautiful 18 incher. I love it when the last fish you catch is a big one. Looked wistfully at the last pool as I motored past it, the sky fading to dark. By the time I got the boat loaded on the trailer it was dark. The only bad thing about fishing this time of year is that the days just aren't long enough...especially when you spend half the day just getting to the river!

I'd agree with the 9 ft. 5 wt. as a decent compromise. I've fished a lot of good sized streamers on my 5 wt. St. Croix Legend Ultra, but it's my usual go-to nymph rod for trout. It'll also handle dry flies. It's probably least able to cast big bass bugs, but I think it's still doable.

As we were driving home, Dad said, "You know, I enjoy the kind of fishing we did today a whole lot more than I do lake fishing." I was thinking at the time that I'm pretty fortunate that I can still take him fishing and show him a great time. Dad is in his 80s, and far from in the best of health. I cherish the days spent fishing with him. I'd owed him this trip for a long time. I can't take him in the canoe, and this year has been hectic...I hadn't had the jetboat out since March. I was more than ready to get us on the Meramec. I knew it had to be getting into good fishing shape after the high water--I'd been watching the river gauges regularly for the last week. Sure enough, the river was still pretty full, but green where we put in, at least. I caught two bass, one largemouth and one smallmouth, at the first place we stopped to fish. But the morning fishing was slow. Dad was sticking with his regulation white spinnerbait, while I experimented with crankbaits and jerkbaits, picking up a fish here and there on each. Dad had caught nothing until the third spot we stopped to fish. But his first fish was a good one. It was a little over 17 inches. The picture doesn't do it justice, the fish was pretty fat. Dad obviously doesn't do the holding the fish out way in front to make it look bigger! There were times when the fishing was very slow. I finally caught several on a white spinnerbait like Dad's. But it wasn't until the next to last place we fished, late in the afternoon, that we got into the fish consistently. I'd just told Dad that although this hole looks great, I'd never caught a good fish out of it. In fact, I almost didn't stop there. But something made me do it. I immediately hooked a big one on a crankbait that broke my line--weak spot in the line. Then I caught two 14 inchers. Then Dad, fishing the other side, hooked the fish of the day. The white spinnerbait had struck again. Almost 19 inches. Right afterwards, I caught a 16 incher and a couple more small ones. Then at the last spot, I caught a few more and so did Dad. Total number of fish caught between the two of us was about 35 altogether. My biggest was the 16 incher. Dad put it to me with the 17 and 18.5. And you know what--I didn't mind a bit!

My first float trip on Big River was at age 7 or so, so that's about 50 years of fishing that river every year. Next longest stretch of fishing would probably be the Meramec River, about 35 years.

It's tough spending time in Montana...you just gotta go into the fly shops once in a while, and while in there you just gotta look a the fly bins, and while looking you're just bound to find some interesting looking flies that just might be exactly what the fish are looking for. I finally got over the habit of asking the guy running the shop what the fish had been taking, because it was funny how many times that just happened to be the flies in the bins that were the fullest...I wonder why they weren't ever taking the flies that should have been in the bins that were empty. And then a guy I got to know out there told me he never fishes anything in the summer but Joe's Hoppers. I looked in all the fly shops. No Joe's Hoppers. So I asked him where he got his Joe's Hoppers. He told me the Emigrant store, which is a tiny grocery store convenience shop a few miles from the cabin. I went in there and sure enough, there were a bunch of Joe's Hoppers in a fly bin that was also full of lots of dusty flies I'd never seen before...and the best thing was that all those flies were 95 cents apiece! So now I have a supply of Joe's Hoppers. And a whole bunch of other flies that I just couldn't turn down because they were so cheap. Heck, I don't even know the names of most of the flies I have now. Not to mention the streamers I tie myself. All I do when I get to the river is go into this zen trance, open the box, and let the right fly speak to me. Funny how often that actually works. Seriously though, I think I could get by with a bunch of Hare's Ears, some Prince Nymphs, Copper Johns, a few scud patterns, woolys, my own streamers, some Adams, Stimulators, hopper imitations, and Elk Hair Caddis.

Gavin, yep, the UV brighteners...don't know if the fish perceive them differently than us, but underwater, the brightened colors keep their hues a lot deeper than non-brightened colors. While pink (like red) turns gray underwater at depths of less than 6 feet because the water molecules absorb the red wavelengths, artificially brightened (fluorescent) pink still looks pink in 12-15 feet of clear water. Great tying job on those. I like the one with hammered chrome blades the best because it's more compact...I'd shorten the wire in front of the head considerably on the others. And you gotta add the wire "leader" to make them less likely to tangle. And I'd use smaller blades...I don't know the size blades I use without looking at the catalog, but mine are a bit less than 3/4 inch long. And I'm still pretty convinced that a curly tail grub--or maybe a piece of chamois cut into a curly tail shape--will work better than your tied-in trailers. But I could be wrong and yours might work as well or better than mine. At any rate, I'm sure they'll catch fish.

If you care about eating pigs and chickens and cows, you gotta read "The Omnivore's Dilemma". I guarantee it will make you start figuring up how you can afford to buy more true organic food. The stuff we buy at the grocery store, not to mention the slop that we buy from the fast food places, goes through an appalling process from CAFO to processing plant. Wife and I are really trying to eat organic and natural as much as possible...which is why I gotta kill a couple of deer this fall. We already eat only beef that comes from her brother-in-law...grass fed, no antibiotics or growth hormones. Owls have buttholes, and they poop, but the grain of truth in the original assertion is that they regurgitate most of the "solid" waste. They eat most of their food whole, and barf up the bones and hair instead of passing it through. It's actually pretty cool to find an owl "pellet". Dig through it and you'll find a lot of nicely cleaned mouse skulls. I have a collection of them. Owls also have ear holes that are asymmetrical...one hole is much higher on their head than the other. This gives them much better stereo hearing than other critters...not only is their hearing extremely acute, but they can exactly locate a mouse by sound in total darkness and catch it. We all know that bats use echo-location to navigate and find food. But did you know that they catch insects in mid-air not with their mouths but with the membrane that stretches between their hind legs and their tail. They cup it like a catcher's mitt and fly into the insect, catching it in the mitt and then bending their heads down to eat it out of the mitt. And maybe my all time favorite nature fact...freshwater eels, like those I have caught on upper Big River, for instance, migrate not only all the way to the Atlantic Ocean to spawn, but actually all freshwater eels in both North America and Europe spawn in the same region in the MIDDLE of the Atlantic, the Sargasso Sea. So those eels I caught on Big River had to migrate down Big River, down the Meramec, down the Mississippi, across the Gulf of Mexico, and halfway across the Atlantic to spawn! Scientists believe that this spawning behavior developed back when Europe and North America were all one continent. When the two continents separated, the eels spawned in the narrow strip of saltwater between them. As the two continents continued to spread, the eels continued to spawn in the middle of the widening sea between. Now, with the continents so far apart, the eels' instincts force them to go all the way to the middle, to what was always their ancestral spawning grounds.

Cool! I didn't know that what "ignostic" was, either, and now I'm happy to know that it describes my belief system pretty well. Wrench described my feelings about Pascal's Wager pretty well, too. And my philosophy is, believe whatever you want to about an afterlife, but live THIS life as if it's the only one you'll ever have, with an eye toward cosmic justice. In other words, enjoy life to the fullest, but try not to do things you might have to pay for later. On a more scientific Ozarkian note...did you know that dye traces have shown that some of the water coming out at Big Spring comes from sinkholes 40 miles away? The highest bluff in the Ozarks is Big Bluff on the upper Buffalo--it's highest sheer rock outcrop tops out at 530 feet above the river. At a little over 400 feet high, Virgin Bluff on the James was the highest bluff in the Missouri Ozarks, until Table Rock Lake flooded the bottom 75 feet or so of it. Now, the highest bluff is probably Portuguese Point on the Gasconade, at a little over 300 feet high. The Gasconade is the longest river that's ENTIRELY within the state of MO. It's also the longest undammed river in the Ozarks...unless you count the mill dam at the headwaters. There is a complex bend on the Gasconade that flows through every direction of the compass for 13 miles, to end up less than a mile from its starting point. Portuguese Point Bluff is about halfway through this bend. And once the river reaches the other end, it bends back around for another eight miles to reach a point that's only a mile from Portuguese Point. Another bend on the Gasconade flows for 7 miles to end up an eighth of a mile from where the bend began. Too bad there aren't roads at both ends of these bends...think of how easy you could do a shuttle!

I started out a few weeks ago to write an article on the properties of color underwater, but haven't completed it yet. Suffice it to say that there are a lot of variables, but underwater colors don't look the same as they do above water. Fish do see color, for sure, as Gavin said, but they don't see it the way we do above the water. Eric, I've often thought about trying a sky blue color on my twin spin. It probably would work. But actually, white works better to blend into a blue sky than sky blue. I've taken the time to go underwater and look up at both white and chartreuse lures against the water surface and the sky above. White works because since the fish are viewing it from underneath, they are looking at the shadowed portion of it. So they aren't seeing white, but a light gray, with light bouncing off the water column itself and hitting that underside with blueish and greenish colors, so they are actually seeing a blueish greenish gray that blends into the sky very well. There is a reason why mid-water swimming fish have white bellies. If the lure was sky blue, since the fish would be looking up at the shadowed underside of it, it would actually appear darker than the sky. I think chartreuse works so well, as you pointed out, because the fish are seeing it against sunlight filtering through leaves, which is pretty close to the same color. But there is also the fact that chartreuse or fluorescent yellow is an "artificially" brightened color, and actually appears as bright even in the shadowed underside as the above water landscape.

Pete Kaminsky, an outdoor writer that I took fishing for a week for an article on Ozark smallie fishing many years ago, described the twin spin like this: "His other favorite lure beggars description. It starts as a leadhead bucktail, flanked by two minispoons that spin on the retrieve; the bucktail is joined, by a tandem arrangement, to a second hook upon which he impales a jelly grub. What it amounts to is a lure that features a little bit of everything bass have ever been known to hit. I'm not totally sure whether the bass hit it because they like it or because it is so supremely hideous they want to chase it away before it depresses property values." As I mentioned, though, there are reasons for the design. The twin spin arrangement makes the lure easy to make to run level on the retrieve instead of listing to one side or spinning. The whole bucktail thing we all know is a tried and true dressing for various lures, and was about the only game in town before the advent of various synthetic skirt materials. As for the color of the bucktail, as far as I know the fluorescent yellow/chartreuse might be my own idea...the old Shannons were never offered in those colors. In fact, Shannons came only in black, black and white, red and white, yellow, and natural brown. For many years the natural brown was my default color (with a white split tail pork rind). I actually got the idea for the chartreuse after having good luck with chartreuse on buzzbaits, and figuring out that chartreuse and fluorescent yellow are actually not highly visible colors when the fish are looking up at them against a background of bright sky. The brown was deadly on Big River when it was its usual murkiness, but light, bright colors, I found, work a lot better in clear water.

Yeah, the short paddle idea is an excellent one. However, I don't want ANOTHER paddle in the boat to keep track of and within reach when I need it. I can do all the one-handed correction strokes I need to do with my regular paddle, and some that would be a lot more difficult to do with a short paddle because you need a LOT of leverage to do them. The only time I carry two paddles (other than taking a spare regular canoe paddle along--I've broken a couple of paddles through the years) is when I plan to paddle upstream and drift back down. Then I take a take-apart double blade for paddling upstream, and the single blade for when I start back downstream. And the wide canoe thing still applies. If the canoe is too wide where you're sitting, you can't get any kind of paddle into the water vertically enough to make a lot of those correction strokes, short, long, double, single.

Solid wire, pretty thin. You can buy lengths of solid wire with an eye already formed on one end, just have to attach it to the lure.