Matt Tucker

Thee D200 is probably more camera than I need. Quite frankly, my D70 still fits my bill for my uses as I don't think I will ever end up selling an image and have only printed over 8x10 once so the more megapixels = better photo doesn't work for me. All that being said, the sole reason I picked a D200 over a D300 is because I wanted a wide angle lens. I couldn't justify spending the cash on a D300 and a $700 lens, but I could in picking up a D200 and the lens. I am a huge believer in spending money first on glass and then on the camera body. As far as how I like it......I like it alot. The controls are different than my D70, but I think it will force me to slow down and think about shots and what not. I am more impressed with the Tokina 11-16mm ATX that I picked up though. That lens is incredible. From my rowers bench in my boat, I can get the entire bow in the frame. That is going to lend itself nicely to fishing photos. The photos that I posted above look a little weak in my opinion because they were resized for the web to 500pixels and only "good quality". The lens is tack sharp and really impressive. I really do like Tokina Lenses. I have an older 28-70 2.8 that was my primary fishing lens. As far as which to buy, I would say that if you have your lenses the way you like them, then get the D300. But if you don't, spend the money on the lenses, because that technology doesn't change as fast as the camera bodies. --Matt Tucker

Every year I make a fall trip to the White River with my two friends Craig Peterson and David Stinnett. Craig and I get to fish together fairly frequently, but this is only an annual trip for David as he has to travel north from Dallas to fish the White River. This trip isn't as much about the fishing as it is about hanging out with close friends. But the fishing is always good. So i got a new camera / lens (Nikon D200 and Tokina 11-16) last week and had to try it out on my last trip to the White River. Combined with my Olympus Stylus 730sw the below is a little photo essay of the trip. Hope you don't get bored, but figured I would share. Matt Tucker www.OzarkChronicles.com ================== The view from the deck of our cabin on the White River, near Bull Shoals, Arkansas. We stayed at RiverCliff Cabin, and the cabin had its own boat ramp, and boat dock, as well as nice accommodations. ============ We fished with Jim Traylor, who is a fly-fishing guide and personal friend on Thursday morning before the heavy rain hit. ============ The rain hit hard on Thursday afternoon, so I helped Jim with his web site while David and Craig hit the river again in RiverCliff's boat and met up with me on the deck for some more brews. Miller Lite isn't normally my beer of choice, but my friend from Texas didn't know any better and well any beer is better than no beer. ============ On Friday (10/23/09) we took out my drift boat and this was the view from the top of the dam......wind was on the forecast today according to the flag. ============ Craig spent the day in the bow stripping streamers, with no reward other than a good follow from a large rainbow only to get rejected. ============ We caught plenty of fish, just nothing to shoot photos of as the dinks weren't worth the effort of breaking open the Pelican Case. But the camera case did prove handy come lunch time as a platter for lunch. ============ Lunch was good, but dessert was perfect. ============ As was dinner.... ============ We woke a little late on Saturday morning suffering from a Biscuits & Gravy to Alcohol imbalance and had to rectify that at Gaston's Restaurant (breakfast is about the only thing that Gaston's does on the cheap). ============ After filling our bellies we were ready for a morning back out with Jim Traylor in his boat, but we were sporting monster hangovers that are just starting to show. ============ After an afternoon nap, we woke around 4pm to find the river calling us. ============ We float fished until we got to the top of Cane Island, where we got out and wade fished. ============ We pulled off the river at dark, after nearly missing the Gaston's boat ramp because it wasn't lit up and after dinner with friends in Mountain Home, we headed back to the cabin and a campfire. ============ We started our drift early on Sunday (10/25/09), so much so that the coffee drinking actually got in the way of the fishing. ============ But once the sun broke, we knew that there was no better place to be then where we were at on the river. ============ We started the trip with three friends and ended it as three friends, even if the darn Texan forgot the keys to our shuttle vehicle at the put-in, it is always a good trip. ============ We didn't shoot many fish photos, but caught a ton of fish, it is hard to justify shooting photos of "dinks" when you are on a river as great as the White and catching them on SJW's and Eggs, but it was fun and that is what this trip is about. But here is the ubiquitous fish photo, hope you enjoyed. ============

I have a personal pontoon and really liked it when i used it. Slow water in it SUCKS. there is no other way to describe it. I have a 10ft ODC and if I had to do it all over again, I would have bought the 12ft or 16ft model so I could have taken my girls with me. I still look at the 3 man pontoon every now and then....

I will be down 1/30 - 2/2 with 5 to 6 guys from the forum on my site (and 3 of the following 4 weekends). No better time to catch a big fish on the White. But bring your trout park mentality and treat it like a party and you will get along fine.

The trip was a definite blast. Next time we do this though, I think we are going to pay alot more attention to the photography / videography side of it as we fished a TON on this trip and shot very few photos (only about 500 for 4 days). I haven't done any editing on the photos that were shot by both Brian Wise and myself, other than resizing them, but I do have them online for Days 1 - 3 of the 2008 Missouri Trout Odyssey. They are uploaded to my blog entry for these reports (and Day 4 will be coming, as soon as the video is done). You can see the photos by clicking on the links below. Photos from Day 1 of the 2008 Missouri Trout Odyssey Photos from Day 2 of the 2008 Missouri Trout Odyssey Photos from Day 3 of the 2008 Missouri Trout Odyssey Thanks, Matt Tucker www.OzarkChronicles.com

I think everyone would be surprised at the amount of fishing we were actually able to get into. We were up every morning no later than 5am and on the first stream of the day as soon as possible after a gas station breakfast -- but the waders were on from the time we got up to the time we pulled into whereever we were staying (also had rods rigged up, so all we needed to do was step out of my rig and fish). We fished until dark, and played out the logistics of the streams in a pretty good order to keep daylight driving to a minimum and did night fish on occassion. Don't get us wrong.....there was ALOT of driving. But i have a new appreciation for Missouri Trout Fishing. The fishing was better than expected, but no pigs were caught (although a few were hooked). --tucker

I still haven't pulled the trigger if i will be floating the 11pt or the NFOW on the 18. Will probably see you on the 11pt. I will call you. --tucker

I know this isn't fly fishing related, but I haven't been out shooting wildlife photos lately so I pulled out the photo gear and headed over to Lone Elk Park in St. Louis County this morning. I was rewarded with seeing the "Boys of Summer" in all their glory. It was good to catch up with these old friends that I photographed quite a bit in 2006 in this contained park. Photo # 1 Photo # 2 Photo # 3 Photo # 4 Photo # 5 Photo # 6 Photo # 7 Photo # 8 Photo # 9 Photo # 10 Photo # 11 Photo # 12

In talking with some people at the shop. I don't believe there won't be a pubic funeral, but I believe Bob is in the process of setting up a memorial fund in honor of Ed. I am told additional details will evolve once the family and feather-craft have some time to greave. The shop is definitely in good hands with Bob, Ted, and Evan. Ed's passing was unfortunate to say the least, as he was one of the nicest guys in the industry and he definitely left his mark on it. --Matt Tucker

Try throwing a #4 Rag Sculpin in olive or gold........there are pigs on the Current if you can find them. --matt tucker

Brian: I am looking to come down and float again in maybe two weeks (at somepoint in January for sure). Will keep you posted as my schedule clears up. We could take my boat if yours isn't back yet. --Tucker

I got to say that watching "Chasing Silver" was the straw that broke my back and the reason I am looking at a couple of trips to the salt water in 2008. The movie completely broke my mind in thinking about landing big fish on light tippits......I will leave it at that. IT IS A GOOD FLICK. You may also want to check out these links -- "The Hatch", "Running Down The Man", "Trout Bum Diaries I and II" "Garden of Darkness" (a personal favorite) --Matt Tucker

The path to hell is paved with good intentions. At least that must have been the weatherman's motto as Brent McClane and I discussed taking the drift boat down to the Eleven Point this weekend. Earlier in the week, the forecast was for a high in the upper 50's / low 60's and cloudy on Saturday but the weather report slowly degraded to a high in the upper 40's for Saturday by the time we rolled out of St. Louis around 5:30pm on Friday. The trip down was pretty uneventfull in terms of travel. We made good time and stopped off in Rolla for dinner at the steak joint off of Hwy. 63 directly across from the Rolla Lion's Park. Don't waste your time. It wasn't very good, and definitely not what I would call a steak place; it was more along the lines of a Ponderosa.....but not as nice. We met up with Brian Sloss (one of the owner's of Eleven Point Canoe Rental) around 10pm on Friday night at Eleven Point Canoe Rental to arrange for a shuttle and to pick up some of his choice flies (sorry he was out of MOAT's so no photos) and get the latest fishing report. Here is where I got to give props to Brian -- he could have just told us to come up to the shop on Saturday morning at 7am to fill out the shuttle paperwork and what not; but instead he met us at his shop and opened it up (selling us a few flies) got us hooked up for the shuttle and even had us follow him to Rose Cottage (the place we were going to stay for the weekend......an UNBELIEVABLE deal at $45/night for 2 guys). McClane even commented that it was the nicest fishing cabin he has stayed in; and trust me there was no cabin about it, as the place was just darn nice. After getting settle in and watching a little TV, we ended up hitting the save around 11:30pm. (Above is an image of the rig sitting on the Alton town square as we left Grandma's Kitchen after a very tasty breakfast) Up at 5:45am on Saturday morning and a quick stop off at Grandma's Kitchen for breakfast (a great little restaurant on the square in the town of Alton....with some nice deer mounts on the wall) and we were at Greer Access by 7am (the only car in the boat ramp parking lot....other than a guy hiking the Ozark Trail that pulled up as we were rigging the boat) and on the water shortly after that. After debating on what to wear on the river, I was glad I threw on the long johns in addition to the fleece as only two words can describe the day we had on the river -- COLD and WET. The fishing was not as good as my previous trip to the river but we did catch enough to keep us interested. The flies of choice were a beaded SJW, bh gold ribbed hare's ear rubber leg, Don's Crawfish, and little cream colored fly that McClane ties. We also threw black stoneflies, but didn't pick up a fish on them. (Above photo is of McClane and his dog Tucker with an Eleven Point River rainbow caught near Greer Access) I can't say enough about Brent's dog. He is just a good dog plain and simple. This was his second trip in the drift boat, but he is welcome any time. He toughed out the rain and cold better than Brent and I did, and was wiped out by the end of the day. (Above photo was a typical scene throughout the day, as Tucker would "kennel up" on the bow of the drift boat.) The river was lower than my last trip, and according to Brian Sloss, this is the lowest the river gets. It was definitely lower than my first trip down during Eleven Point Canoe Rental's Ozark Fly Flinger's event. Floating the Eleven Point in places makes the White River look like a walk in the park, with several areas being tough to fully extend my 9 1/2ft oars. (Above photo was taken along one of the 4 or 5 islands we came to during the float.) Because of this the boat got a few more battle scars -- both that the hands of me and McClane during his first time on the oars. However, in the immortal words of Shane Falco "Pain heals, chicks dig scars, and glory lasts forever." They aren't anything that a little Goop SuperMend won't fix......a couple of boxes of it. We definitely left a few white marks on the rocks for sure. A few of them were definitely our fault; as there were a couple that began with a "oh come on you can make it" or "man I think we should go left and not right as Brian told us" but we got more laughs than cringes out of it and after a few of them I definitely am impressed with the durability of the fiberglass......and we will just leave it at that. (Above photo is a shot of one of the "many" rocks we did battle with...you can just see it in the bottom right of the frame.) We spent way too much time fishing the upper river, and since we really didn't have a good way to gauge how far we had to go to the take-out we pushed it pretty hard during the later part of the day. (The Eleven Point is full of just "good looking" runs such as the one in the photo above. We spent a TON of time exploring this area.) (Here is a photo of Brent and Tucker in the drift boat coming down the first island.) As the fog settled into the valley and stole what little light we had on the river -- it was around 3pm or so when we made it to Mary Decker Shoals. We spent the rest of the time trying to row out before we lost light -- but did make time to stop and fish to a few fish that we spotted along the way. (The photo above was shot just above Mary Decker Shoal and is a great section of river to fish.) I definitely think that the Eleven Point is the most scenic trout stream I have been on in Missouri. We saw a ton of fish in the river this trip, more than the last trip, and even saw a couple of 20"+ fish which was very cool to see. The fish are some of neatest colored fish you can see anywhere and they had a ton of color on them this weekend. We fished all day, and only saw one other person (the guy that we ran into hiking the Ozark Trail). Which was actually fairly funny, to give you an idea of how long we fished the upper section of the stream (we saw this guy and the first words he mentioned was something along the lines of asking us if we planned on camping at Mary Decker this evening...we ran into him in the afternoon). We pulled off the river just a the daylight began to fade, and by the time the boat was squared away and we were out of our waders we were using the light from the truck and driving out with headlights into the Ozark fog. Brian left me a note in the car about meeting him and his business partner Ryan for dinner at the Possum Grape in Alton and after a quick call we were set. While they have a real limited menu, the food is generally pretty goods and the pork chops that we all ate were some of the best that I have eaten anywhere. It was over dinner that we learned of the impending ice storm that was supposed to hit somewhere north of I-44. After kicking around the idea, checking the radar and hazardous weather warnings, and making a few phone calls -- we decided to drive back to STL on Saturday night (after fishing all day). We left Alton around 8:00pm or so and rolled in to my driveway and iced up vehicles and trees around 12am this morning. After seeing all the ice on my driveway and trees / grass this morning, we probably made the better decision. I haven't seen the video or McClane's photos yet, so we will see how they turned out and I will post them later. Thanks for reading. --Matt Tucker

I was originally supposed to take the drift boat down the Meramac River today, but couldn't seem to connect with the right folks at the right time to make it happen -- but it will happen -- so Brent Hinds and I headed down to Montauk State Park (aka Montauk Trout Park) for some fishing during the Catch & Release season. It has been more than a year since I have been to Montauk, and it still hasn't changed much. The water was low (as with most rivers currently in the state). It was cold this morning when I rolled into the park -- the temp was 21 degrees in Licking as I passed through around 7am -- but that didn't dampen my spirits. I suited up and awaited the arrival of Mr. Hinds, who showed up about 20 minutes after I did. While rigging up the 4wt, I decided to throw some flies that I bought for my Wisconsin salmon fishing trip that I didn't really use (some white zonker strip streamer with a beadhead and rubber legs, some estaz eggs, and some egg sucking leeches). I rigged up the zonker rubber leg fly (I don't have a clue what it is called -- but it looked cool....it needed more weight though) and we headed up to the C&R area below the hatchery. My first fish of the day came very early, and was a nice fish to say the least. I was actually fishing a bigger fish, when I felt the take and set the hook. It was a solid hook set and the fish didn't move -- so I thought I hooked up with the larger fish. I was surprised when this fish started to move, and the larger fish was still in its original holding place. Brent made for a good net man with this fish and we made quick work of it. I do need to teach Brent how to become a better photographer though, and hold the camera still. For those viewing the photos, keep in mind that I go about 6ft 3in and 325lbs+ so the fish is definitely a behomoth of a fish. The fish was several inches past the 20" mark on my net -- but my guess is about 23" or so. It also was a super thick fish. Mark one for the salmon flies that I never threw in Wisconsin. After releasing this fish, we high tailed it to another section of river before the crowds started showing up. I switched flies to an estaz egg, and Brent was throwing a Whitlock Rubber Leg Red Fox Squirrel Nymph. We spotted some fish and went to work. I quickly hooked up with a little stocker sized fish in some faster water and decided that it was time to mess around with the underwater capabilities of my new Olympus Stylus 790 SW point and shoot camera. Below is one of those photos shot under water, and it was important to note that I probably should only make a practice of this when the air temp is above freezing. Brent was the first to hook up with a decent fish in this section of water, and was rewarded with a healthy rainbow of just about 20" against the net. I was out of practice using a smaller net (I had become accustomed to the boat net that I have in the drift boat) and this fish took off around my back and under a log as Brent followed it and kept contact with the fish. The end result is seen below. To put the fish in context against Brent -- he is also a man of stature (a "Hungry Man" if you will) so fish tend to shrink when held against him. The fish is still a really nice fish, and we had several laughs when fighting / landing this fish. We also played around with some underwater photos with this fish as well and tried some underwater movies as well -- which turned out but are too large to post here. Here is another underwater shot that I took. If you recognize the fish below, it is becasue I actually caught the fish Brent released above about 15 minutes later (he took a pink estaz egg) and below is the end result. Park fish aren't the smartest fish, but it made for a good photo and a nice laugh. The last nice fish of the day is below. The fish is lucky to have its photo taken, but I will let Mr. Hinds divulge the story of this fish. All in all it was a good day on a trout stream. As the day wore on, the stream seemed to get more crowded. Around every turn there was someone. I was walking the bank upstream on one section and had let an older angler fish it out as he was fishing down stream. I jumped upstream (about 30 yards) above him and started fishing, only to have this guy walk upstream in the river (there was a nice trail on the bank and the guy could have avoided walking through this nice riffle and spooking all the fish) through my run and then cross the river upstream of me and while doing so he told me "that the run fishes better from the other side" to which I promptly replied that "I imagine it fishes alot better when you don't have someone wading through it". I sometimes have a short fuse in the "parks." The incident above set the tone for the rest of the day as more and more people began to show up on the river -- which is to be expected in one of Missouri's elustrias trout parks (LOL) but we did manage to find seclusion in a few other places and had a few more shots at some fish over 20" but none were landed. It was a good day on the water, and one that I ended around 2pm and headed back to St. Louis. I was also reminded why I need to stay away from the trout parks on nice days, as I just don't like the crowds. That being said, I can't wait to hit the water again (maybe this Sunday)....... Fish Hard, Matt Tucker

I just picked up an Olympus Stylus 790 SW point and shoot. It is 7.1mp and says it is waterproof, shockproof, and freezeproof. I was going to get the Pentax but the Olympus actually felt like a better build. I wanted something to keep in my fishing bag when I didn't feel like carrying around the DSLR and 70-200 2.8 and flash. I have had good luck with the pentax optio underwater cameras in the past -- having used two past models of that camera. We will see what the Olympus has to offer tomorrow. --Matt Tucker

I have to disagree. Once you get some photos printed at an actual photo printing place, you will never take them to a Walmart or Walgreens again. Granted, 5x7 and smaller are generally fine from either. But if I am going with 8x10 or anything larger I go with an online print house. I have used White Hous Custom Colour (http://www.whcc.com/ )and Mpix.com (http://www.mpix.com) with success. Also pay attention to the type of paper they use. I am a big fan of the Metallic paper at Mpix. --Matt Tucker

Yeah, that was a pretty cool photo.....darn you and your eye Brian Wise.

Yawn........................ DeepDiver, the river is perfect for a pontoon fish/float. There were only a couple of places we had to get out of the drift boat and walk it through (no more than 5).

On second thought as I look at the second photo, it was almost as if i was trying to bring the standard gripped fish to my mouth. I can assure you that was not my intent. That is just sick. Ethically speaking, why should we catch and release at all......I bore with you already.

JDMidwest.....really..... If you notice, in one photo below, I was using the reverse forearm grip......come on you know the one..... I seem to recover fine after the same practice and at this point I was really trying to focus on forearm extension for maximum photo pleasure. In the other photos I was using the standard grip as outlined below. Notice the jubilation on my face at the moment the photo was taken, I almost feel guilty...

It was definitely a good trip. Here is a sneak peak at the unedited photos (most all were taken by Brian Wise). My apologies to missing the BBQ/Raffle that evening -- fishing was good enough we didn't take out at Turner until 6:30pm. A full blogged report of the trip will follow in the coming days on my site. --Matt Tucker

Here is a link to the USGS Water Gauge on the 11pt. I am not exactly sure where this is in relation to the river, but I think it is upstream of Riverton (given Bardley's location on a map). Thanks, Matt Tucker

I just saw this. Ryker is the man. I should have headed down to the conclave instead of chasing salmon in Wisconsin that weekend. Hell, I would make a trip down to Dry Run just to be Ryker's net man ....Dry Run Creek is definitely a special place.

Brian: I guess a #6 Turks Tarantula would constitute something NASTY on the NFOW? Perhaps throw said turks tarantula with a sink tip and fish it with a strip......... I don't think the fish on the NFOW are ready for a morsel such as this. --Matt Tucer

I got to say, I am a little pumped about dropping my boat in the 11pt next weekend. I was curious if anyone from this forum will be heading over to the 11pt next weekend (10/20) to attend Brian's get together? I know Brian Wise and I are headed over, and I am certain Tim Biesendorfer is headed down as well. --Matt Tucker