Mark

Sorry to hear about the theft. I know I am guilty of being too trusting sometimes with unattended gear but I have never experienced anything being messed with on the Eleven Point. Just goes to show you. I am always leery of leaving a vehicle too but again have never had a problem. I hope they catch whoever did it and put it in the local paper to discourage further problems. I have heard of these things on other more popular streams in the Ozarks but not my favorite waters.

I am heading to Grand Mesa area for a Christams vacation with another person, specifically Grand Mesa Lodge. We plan on doing some snowmobiling and hope to do some winter fishing. I've checked and found some creeks we may try but wonder if anyone is familiar with the Grand Mesa area and can offer some advice.

Has anyone fished the Gunnison in the winter? I am making a trip to area over Christmas and wondering if I should take my fishing gear.

Good report. Fishing is good right now.

Come on, Jeb. THis is an appropriate venue for this topic. No one has diverted the discussion to further candidate or the others political agenda beyond conservation, environment, or outdoor recreation.

Once again, I believe Al has hit the nail on the head with each party's stance on the outdoors. I doubt if either Obama or Romney knows, cares, or will do much of anything about fishing, hunting, or other outdoor activities. Of course they will say whatever a particular audience at the time wants to hear. If asked, I'm sure both are pro fishing, pro hunting, pro environment, pro whatever you want them to be pro for!!

It has always been my understanding that Greer Campground is the only place that RVs are allowed. Is that not right?

I figure these are questions for Brian primarily, but wonder if anyone else has noticed...... We noticed the work being done at Whitten. Looks like a decent project is being done - lots of rock hauled in, concrete poured with maybe steps going down to the river, a retaining wall where it use to be just a dirt banks by the launch, lots of bulldozing in the area. We were wondering - we heard they were going to put in specific campsites at Whitten, and trying to prevent it from becoming a trailer park on weekends. Are they going to prohibit RVs altogether? Or allow RVs but in specific campsites? It is good to see something being done with the Whitten access. It has been chaos on summer weekends trying to get in and out of there. I drove around Greer campground on Sunday on my way home. I couldn't tell if RVs are allowed in Greer Campground - never saw a sign saying yes or no. I have heard that no RVs are allowed at Turner North - is that true? I do think it is a shame that there is no where for RVs to camp on the river, just because I have older siblings in their 60s that bought RVs for their retirements. They have been exploring Missouri State Parks, Trout Parks, etc. and would like to have them go to Eleven Point sometime, but I don't know of a place to park their RVs near the river. Also, man the section from Whitten to Riverton is loaded with down trees. We even thought that it would be hard for a jetboat to put in at Riverton and go very far upstream. Will the Forest Service or anyone try to remove some of the downed trees and debris? I understand that some cover is good for fish and to slow erosion, but there are sections that look like they are dangerous for canoes, and like I said, jetboats will definitely have problems travelling very far upstream from Riverton. And travelling downstream from Whitten, for that matter.

You can never trust those forecasters. Early in the week, they were predicting the cold front to move thru southern Missouri on Friday with clearing skies on Saturday and Sunday. Well, the front stalled out over southern Missouri and the Eleven Point on Saturday, making for a wet rainy day on the river. Delvis and I put in a Turner and floated to Riverton, due to the work being done at Whitten. No sooner than we put in my canoe, the rain came. It varied from a light sprinkle, to a steady sprinkle, to a good rain all day. Fishing was slow at the beginning of the day. We found out later that the fish seemed to be in deeper water and we had much more success. Actually, by midday, the fishing was good as we concentrated on the deeper water and bypassed the usual shoals and rapids that have produced in the past. We were troopers until mid afternoon when we decided we had enough rain and being wet. Unfortunately, we were a long way from Riverton yet - good thing I have a motor on the back of my canoe. I could not believe the amount of trees down from Whitten to Riverton section. We hadn't floated that section in a good while but several treacherous sections due to low water and logs. We had the misfortune of almost tipping the canoe and had to jump out, and that made for a miserable last 2-3 hrs. of being tired and soaked from head to toe. All in all, the fishing was good, just beware of low water and log jams. It's easy to scrape rocks and get thrown off course and into trouble. Just wondering - none of the fish we caught had clipped fins. It use to be common practice to clip the fins of the stockers, we just found it hard to believe that all we were catching were natives. Especially since some were good size fish in the 14-16" range. Is it still the practice of MDC to clip the fins of the stockers?

Thanks for PM Brian - appreciate it.

What is the Cane Bluff to Greer section like right now with the low water? I'm heading down this weekend and we don't like long sections between takeouts. Greer to Turner is possibility but just wondering if anyone had put in at Cane Bluff lately.

Brain - when you get to the bottom of the hill at Whitten, the road forks with one going to Whitten access and the other goes down a trail to the gravel bar that is at the last right turn on the river before Whitten that the locals use to bank fish. Is that closed down also?

I'm wondering the same thing. Does "shut down" mean you cannot get down there at all just to pull out canoe? How about the last turn before the long stretch heading to Whitten? The road leads back to the gravel bar used by locals to fish from the bank. It would be possible to load up the canoe there but wondering if road is totally closed down.

Any other posters heading to the Eleven Point this weekend? I'm guessing that it will be good fishin', not many people on the water, and looks like great weather. Give us a hollar if you are an OAF regular. Would like to put some faces to names.

I haven't given this a moments thought until now... I'm on the fence on this one. I definitely see KC's point and I wonder what the point is. Someone correct me if I am wrong, but I believe the idea is to get the elk herd established in Peck Ranch and the herd will always be limited to Peck Ranch. The size of the herd will always be limited somewhere in the 200-300 elk range. When the size of the herd starts to grow beyond the size limits, the hope is that a hunting season will be established to thin the herd. SO realistically, what are we talking about - maybe in a good season, 25 to 50 lucky hunters will get their names picked in a lottery to kill an elk. Sounds like a lot of trouble and expense to go to just so a handful of hunters can kill an elk in MO and the rest of us can say "Oh yeah, we have elk in Missouri". I wonder now what is the total cost of this project to satisfy a miniscule percentage of hunters? And couldn't that money be put to better use? Just saying ...... but since I don't hunt, I'm sure the majority of hunters have a different opinion.

One thing I have never been able to master is fishing alone. On fishing trips, I do take time to get off by myself to fish. But I enjoy company when I am recreating - whether it is fishing, golf, or drinking a few cold ones. I went on a couple 3 day solo floats by myself when I bought my canoe and it just isn't as much fun by myself. I would much rather have a friend or two along. Probably why I don't hunt - to me it's boring.

Only in America...............................

So besides the boat ramp, what else are they doing? I understand that they are trying to prohibit the "trailer park" of RVs that congregate there. Are they building specific spots for RVs, building tent campsites, and holding people accountable for RVs and camping in spots reserved for such. It really is a mad house around there on weekends. But I have always thought that the Eleven Point needs places for people to park RVs along the river. I would like to tell some people with RVs that I know to visit the Eleven Point River, but as far as I know, you can't get an RV close to the river besides Whitten access, and the road is horrible, and the crowd is, well, it's a trailer park on the weekend.

A group of Boy Scouts are floating this weekend - Aug. 14-15. I am trying to find out if fire ban is still in effect.

We'll consider all - thanks - the primary reason of the trip is to see the scenery of the canyon section. We'll wait until the last minute to make a decision. The idea of a lot of work doesn't sound appealing.

So that would be doable at this water level?? That would be better because we could see Jam Up Cave. It looks like Blue Springs to Rhymers would only be about 6.5 miles, but mileage doesn't matter to us as long as there is great scenery and some fishable water. I guess what would concern me with that trip is leaving the vehicles at Rhymers for several days. I have never had any trouble with thieves breaking into vehicles or such, but there is plenty of warnings on here about that area. We could take 2 vehicles and shuttle ourselves. OR would the businesses in Eminence shuttle us up and pick us up on Friday and take us back to our vehicles if we left them in Eminence.

Mountain view gauge is at 37 cfs and Alley Springs is at 98 cfs. Thanks to everyone on giving detailed info on upper JF on my previous posts. Given the dreadful low water conditions right now, I am afraid we may have to cancel our trip June 4-8. Originally we wanted to do the upper section, and from everyone's advice, that is not doable under present water levels. We really had our hearts set on the Jack's Fork for that week. With loaded canoe, would Rhymers to Bay Creek just be too much work right now? Granted Rhymers to Bay Creek is only 10 miles and we will have Monday afternoon- Friday morning to do it, so we're only talking about going short distances and a couple hours of work each day won't kill us. I know we would be getting out and pulling the canoe along in lots of places from everyone's descriptions on low water levels. Unless conditions change (and 10 day forecast looks like more of the same clear sunny weather), is Rhymer's to Bay Creek doable or would it totally suck!! I'm afraid I already know the answer and we should look elsewhere. We would really love to see some of the canyon section. Sorry for repetitive posts, guess I am just looking for confirmation to DON"T DO IT!

I am just trying to see both sides of the issue. IF I owned land along the Current or Jacks Fork and was told I could not make a primitive road/trail down to the river or build a little campground/pavilion ON MY LAND so I could conveniently enjoy the river, I would be up in arms and screaming about BIG GOVERNMENT. But on the other hand, I would have a responsibility to not cause harm to the river and should be fined if I cause any damage to the river. I do agree, we all own the rivers and not just the locals. I agree there should be a total ban on ATVs, 4 wheel drive vehicles, and horses in the river or creek beds. But I also think the ban should extend to livestock, regardless of if the landowner owns the property adjacent to the river OR owns land on both sides that the river runs through. I have been on the upper Eleven Point River where cattle are allowed to cross the CREEK at that point, and watched the cattle crap in the stream. I've seen pigs in the St .Francois below Fredericktown. It makes me sick. I understand that the farmers need a water source for livestock but we are beyond that as a civilization. There are alternatives and they SHOULD NOT own the river, but in their case, they DO own the river.

Joe has been known to stretch the truth.

My buddy and I have talked about not so much a fishing guide as float trip coordinators for people from perhaps St. Louis who would like an outdoor adventure like a float trip but don't know where to start. Something more along the line of all the customer has to do is show up with clothes and beverages, and perhaps fishing gear if they want to fish. Most people who aren't experienced don't know where to float, what rivers are relatively safe with children, where to rent canoes, and where are lodging accomodations if they don't want to camp. We would handle all of that for them. They just show up and everything is taken care of, including meals on the river and in the evening. Just an idea we have tossed around and we have no idea of what regulations we would be under. But we are thinking more along the lines of people who run hunting trips that take care of just about everything for you.