vonreed

there are several access points above Linden which are good places to put in. The closest is a tall bridge. It is privately owned but the guys name is Ed and he's really nice, his house is on stilts. It's been 2 years since I floated it but the best I can remember it is about a 3 hour float or so. Above that is a low water slab which is a little longer float than the previous stretch but both are very easy day floats. There is lots of good holes up that way, especially Linden lake. I never fished it but it looked real nice and I seen lots of good bass in there. Good luck.

I was wondering if anyone has any reports on the whites or crappie in the flat creek area?

well I don't want to give away our spot. just kidding. the mouth of swan creek. I've been surprised not to catch a single crappie though.

me and the wife caught 1 keeper walleye a keeper largemouth and 4 whites tonight on bull shoals downstream from the dam. anyone else doing any good?

I caught myself 2 whites at the mouth of swan last saturday and seen lots more in the water after dark, but they weren't hitting real well. went back monday to the same spot and they never showed up. I guess they went down deep with this cold weather.

I started out at barker just fishing off the bank, then went upstream and talked to a guy getting ready to put a little jon in and he offered so I went with him. we just stayed above barker though, didn't go far. I caught a few whites tonight at swan creek. there seems to be a few in there to catch now.

I just got in from fishing this evening down at the barker hole. I caught l 16 inch walleye, lost a white bass and lost a big walleye, probably go 5 pounds or better. Just wasn't my day. On the other side I did freeze half to death,lol.

Hello Phil, I was just curious, did they shock all the walleye in the actual pothole itself or downstream? the last time I was down that way it was pretty small, I was thinking about going down there tonight for some bank fishing and then I seen your post and was surprised to hear the walleye report. thanks.

that would generally make sense and they possibly could of been small males, but they were caught late in the summer, it wasn't during a spring run.

referring to the remark about white bass getting up to Springfield dam. Me and a freind caught about a half dozen 6 inch white bass about a mile below 160, campbell street bridge on the James. I thought that was pretty unusual. I sure wouldn't want to try and depend on that though!

Hello all, My opinion on the current otter situation is I beleive they are a positive addition to the rivers. I do know for a fact that they are destructive but they will never compare to people in any way imaginable but they do need to be controlled and allowed to overpopulate. I trap the furry cute little critters and spend practically the entire winter floating the rivers and have a lot of experience with them. Im not an expert by no means but I do know some. They are not a wasteful animal from what I have seen although they do comsume mass quantities of food. It has been my experience they eat more crawdads than fish in general but they still eat a lot of fish too. I trap the james and finley river and have for the past 10 years and they have had a damper on them as far as population control, expecially compared to fish available. I did make it to a different area this winter trapping and on bryant creek there is not hardly a fish to be seen in the river. They are overpopulated there. As far as anyone who thinks or worries they will be killed off because of their pelt price or any other reason, in my opinion is wrong. They are unbeleiveably hard to trap and once you do latch onto one, holding it is a different story. I hope my insight to this topic has had a positive one. Happy fishing

I really appreciate you folks answering my questions. I live over in the springfield vacinity and me and a buddy were thinking about coming over and checking it out and coming over for 4 or 5 days and trapping our hearts out. I pretty much strictly trap during the winter although a long ways from being a professional. I have caught 10 otters this year which is pretty good for my location. I was also wondering if there is a good place you guys would recommend on staying the night. hotels are out of question. any good camping spots. Particularly where the most otters are, lol. thanks again

Hello All, I was wondering if there is much beaver and otter population on the niangua river. I floated it today and seen one dive in the water and was wondering if there is anybody that knows if anyone has been trapping it much at all. Particularly the upper parts from Buffalo north. thanks for any replies.

I was curious if there is much beaver and otter activity on the current and eleven point rivers. Or if anyone has noticed any trapping activity on these to wonderful rivers. any replies would be greatly appreciated. thanks

Hello Lilley, I was just curious on the your trapping success. Me and my dad started out monday the 26th and pulled our traps today and was surprised to see that someone had beat us to the furbearers. I was curious how many of everything you totaled up on. we ended up with 40 coon, 4 possums, 13 beaver, 1 otter, a few muskrats, and 8 red fox. we expected a lot more coon and otter until we got started. did you trap the backwaters mainly? we seen where something had been caught across and downstream from coopercreek and shot. I was sure surprised at the lack of otters. well good luck on the trapline.