Seth Clarkson

That should have said blunks, but after thinking more about it, probably only going to do one section either horse creek to Galena or Galena to blunks with the slow water. Any suggestions on which of the 2 you would prefer to fish? Thanks

I'm planning to fish from horse creek to blinks I think Saturday. Shouldn't be any issues with the current water level and flow right? I know it may be a little slow but shouldn't be low enough cause problems right?

I dont know but I know it catches big fish. I've only personally seen 2 caught on it. The one I caught and this beast I netted for my buddy.

Slow fishing day Saturday and the temperature was nice, but I did catch my new pb smallmouth. It was 19 inches but didn't get a weight since the scale battery was dead. I would guess somewhere between 2.5 and 3 lbs, it wasn't all that thick and not as strong as the river smallies. Caught on a megabass hazedong swimbait that was given to me a couple years ago and sat in my box, I was lazy and saw it handy after breaking off a chatterbait so I tied it on, sure glad I did. Caught it up by shadowrock park, sure wasn't expecting to catch a smallie there. Water has been really clear for bull shoals from our account.

I still didn't get to test them in the environment most people use them, but I don't see why they wouldn't work. Something different and should last. What color did you use and what river?

I haven't actually floated Finley, but this would be a start to investigate your spots, and also a useful resource for other rivers using the drop down https://www.missouricanoe.org/river-maps/jamesfinley.html.

Yeah.... Didn't mean to start all this lol just wanted to show a pretty fish and wasn't sure what to call it haha

Growing up and still majority of the time they are all perch in my family lol

Is this also a long ear, just a male? This is what I always thought was a long ear.

Are there wide ranges of coloration for the longear sunfish? I may just be confusing males or females with a different species. Same thing for green sunfish? I feel like I can identify those easily, but maybe only the male or female. Regardless of what they are, I like their looks!

I'm not sure what the actual name for this fish is but I've heard them called pumpkinseed. They are all pretty, some even more so than others. This is definitely not a professional caliber photo by any means being taken through a waterproof case but I just thought you all might enjoy this little guy. I caught him on Niangua Saturday with a yellow rooster tail.

I did catch this pretty pumpkinseed (I think that's what it is anyway).

We went I had never been there before but to me the water definitely look dirty and it seemed low and it was definitely slow. The fishing wasn't that great I'm not sure if that was because it was low and slow and dirty or not but we caught a few small bass and Sunfish and a rock bass using soft Plastics. I had a handful of fish that were hook but came off right at the boat the biggest one may have been 12 in. This was the first time I have ever been there and I was kind of disappointed. The only thing that we encounter that would have been dangerous was a tree across the water and someone in front of us had busted it up and open where we could get through. There was another stretch where there was some trees in the water that we probably could have got through but decided to pull off and dragged where we could readjust.

Well, we are going tomorrow, so is there any section of that stretch of Moon Valley to Bennett to be aware of or know to go left or right to avoid trees or worse rocks or anything? I can definitely see some trees on google earth, but have no idea if it looks that way now.

Haven't got a real test on the sukoshi bug yet, but I took it out for a bit last night in the kayak. Only caught 1 perch, but didn't have much luck on anything else either. I will say that the material does stretch, but it seems to be in between standard plastisol and elaztech. It definitely stretches but is not as light and airy as the elaztech. The look when stretched reminds me of mashed up skittles. It has a chunky look to it in the material when stretched. Seems like it will last but not as well as the elaztech. It is a little larger than most ned rig offerings and has a ribbed body. I will report back more when I test it at Table Rock and compare the catching ability to the zman baits.

Definitely will if it all works creek wader.

Personally, I would want/expect to catch numbers of fish, type and size not as important but large black bass would be a nice bonus. I would not want to use live bait and would want to learn for future outings of my own how to find fish during this time of year and hope to replicate it on future trips. Whatever time a guide said to go would not bother me at all. However, if I was someone who only fished 5 to 10 times a year and was going with family I could care less what we used as long the group was able to catch and see fish of any kind and try to avoid the most high traffic pleasure boat areas. The time may factor in some if it was a larger group or had little kids that may be thrown off schedules.

Hope I can, this is my choice for Saturday but going with a group so we'll see what others think!

Hoping to go this weekend, but going with others, so other options are still open. Haven't floated the Niangua at all, what baits/colors would you recommend? Rooster tails, crankbaits, ned rigs, small swimbaits and jigs? Reds, Oranges, Browns, Yellows and Chartreuse? Will be using artificial baits for sure. Is there a lot of pool and drop areas or more a steady flow? Also primarily smallmouth, goggle eye and sunfish? James River is where I have fished the river primarily and there is some largemeouth and spotted bass mixed in there.

I'm hoping that they don't do too much travel before daylight haha

Wondering about floating either Moon Valley to Bennett or something above and finishing at Moon Valley. Would the water be better at one or the other currently? Also any details about the differences in the 2 would be appreciated. Fishing is first priority but scenery is a plus. Would one potentially have a chance for trout and not the other? Thanks

I don't have a ton to offer, but we did pick up a definite pattern on Saturday. Ned rig under docks accounted for all but 1 of our fish, ended with around 10 total. Tried a small swimbait in and around the docks and also a smaller flutter spoon with no luck. Saw some good swirls early in the morning and some smaller fish in the afternoon come up but couldn't get to them before they went down and couldn't get them to come back up. Only had 1 keeper but couldn't find them anywhere else. Had 2 on a jig right on the bank, caught one and broke the other one off on the hookset. The docks were not on the main lake and best depth was around 15 ft. Saw a ton of color on the graph around what is showing to be a thermocline based on my graph anyway. I am not sure if it is just a ton of bait or just coincidence with the trash. Water temp we saw was about 84 in the morning and saw 88 later in the afternoon up flat creek, didn't catch anything up there.

I just looked them up on Tackle Warehouse. That punch bug may work on the ned too, would be a lot like this Sukoshi bug but not as subtle. The cutr ned worm will be a lot like that missile baits ned bomb too. I think I am more excited for the baby rage bug though. I did go ahead and order a couple packs of the green pumpkin orange and pbj, the standard green pumpkin was out of stock. I'll report back when I get the chance to use them.

If I follow through with ordering them I definitely will. They're a little bulkier for a ned. The new zman ned bugs at icast will work well too if the bulkier profile is something they want.

Anyone tried these? https://shopkarls.com/10000-fish-sukoshi-bug I guess they are a brand sold under Catch Co through Mystery Tackle Box. From what I can tell everyone seems pretty impressed by them. They are made from a similar material to Elaztech so they are supposed to be bouyant and long lasting. I was just curious if anyone had tried this yet and what they thought. I am thinking about ordering some in the green pumpkin, green pumpkin orange and PB&J to try on the Ned Rig. Wondering about trying some of the Missile Baits Ned Bombs too.