Brian Jones

Yep, terrible. Wouldn't even waste my time throwing them.

Here are a couple of pics of a bluff on the Meramec that lost part of its face. It is about 1/4 mile upstream Campbell Bridge. I think that this happened sometime in December, but I had truthfully forgot about it and was quite surprised to see it when we came up on it.

A 15 or 16 foot flatbottom all-welded .100 guage jon with a 48 to 50 inch bottom will be perfect for all of the of the Gasconade as well as a lot of the Big Piney. As Al stated, unless you are a very small person and fish with very small people, I wouldn't go with an engine that was less than 40hp. Regarding running: As long as the river level at Jerome was 2.60 or higher you should be able to run from Hwy 28 to Riddle Bridge without much trouble. The riffle right under Hwy 28 bridge and the riffle/rapids/ledge/falls at Portuguese (sp?) point are doozies. But to the best of my knowledge, all of the others are fairly easy to navigate.

We've had two I/O bowriders as well and Glorydaze's above statement applied to them both as they were both terd wagons. Our river boat on the other hand has been nothing but a pleasure to own and operate. With the exception of some preventive maintenance (water pumps, ect.) it has only been in the shop for a mechanical problem once in 12 years and that was for an issue with an o-ring in the fuel connecter disintegrating and becoming lodged in the carburetor.

Do you make the 3.5" beavers? If so I can I contact you to purchase some? Thanks

Yep. Drives my wife crazy and all my friends really enjoy heckling me for my musical selections.

If I am by myself, it is usually Yanni, Kenny G or Cher. If I am with someone else, I generally don't listen to anything.

I got a blue card as well. I filled it out and sent it back. If I get a survey I'll give them my honest opinion and go from there. I feel that it is my duty to give an opinion when asked. It is the MDC's duty to manage the state's wildlife resources in a way that benefits the most and is not detrimental to the resource itself. Given the MDC's overall track record, I'd say they've done a lot more good than bad.

We've caught a couple over the years in the Vienna area as well. Usually about that size and always by accident.

How about Big River? Since you have floated the Meramec and Black Rivers, I assume that you are fairly close to the Big. Lots of good fishing, and only one commercial canoe livery which minimizes the party traffic. Other choices might be the Piney, upper Gasconade or James; depending on your location and how far you want to drive.

I voted yes, no, no, no but I tournament fish quite often on the Gasconade and some on the Meramec and the Osage and a lot of the C&R guys don't consider that as catch and release.

boat sold friday for 11,000

Kevin: I sent you a PM but not sure if it went through. Best thing would be to call or email Chris personally.

I am posting this for a friend of mine 2003 1856 Blazer Sport 100-guage Aluminum flat bottom jet boat with 2002 Yamaha 150 V-Max(carb) jet. 2003 RiverCraft Trailer with Aluminum Wheels/New Spare Tire with Cover, 70lb Thrust Minn Kota Maxxum Trolling Motor 24V (2006 model) Variable Speeds, Front Deck and Full Back Deck, Aerated Livewell with divider, Fully Carpeted Charcoal Gray, Bench Seat with Two additional Seats with pedalstals, 28 Gal Built In Aluminum Gas Tank, Driver Side Console, Storage under the bench seat and in front of console, Radio/Speakers/Bilge Pump, Bought Brand New From Troutt and Sons in July of 2003 Asking price is $12,500 Boat is Located in Belle, MO Contact Chris Feeler at 1-573-578-5723 or cfeeler2000@yahoo.com

We fished in the "area" last Wednesday May 14. We actually put in at Riddle Bridge and fished down to the mouth of the Big Piney and then up the Piney to the RR bridge. On the Gasconade, we mainly fished in the sloughs for largemouths. It was hit or miss. The sloughs that we fished would either be full of fish or not have any in them at all. Once we got into the Big Piney, we started catching some smallmouths including a 17 1/2, 17, and 2 16 inch fish. The water temperature was 57 when we put in at Riddle Bridge that morning and 59 when we took at around 4:00pm. Are you going to be fishing out of a jetboat or canoe? Hopefully you are not planning on wading as there is PLENTY of water in the rivers right now. Are you camping at the Arlington???? I will hopefully be on the water down there Saturday as well but it will depend on how many of my yards I can get cut tonight and tomorrow evening. We will either put in at Jerome or back at Riddle Bridge, so we may bump into each other somewhere along the way. One other thing, I would bet that there will be several of the big inboards on the river this weekend since they won't have to worry about low water levels right now. But the gas prices may limit some of them as well.

The mark up depends on the boat. I am not trying to pick a fight but I think that mark up is more like 3 to 5 percent on glass boats and 10 to 12 percent on aluminum. Also understand that much of a boats price (sometimes as much as 50 to 60 percent) is in the cost of the engine.

Joe: The last time that we fished it was in June of '01 and that was the "lower part". We put in at Hwy 47 and took out at Mammoth on Big River. We had a good morning that day as we caught 11 "keepers", the biggest one being right at 17 inches. I used to float it a bunch with my father in law back in the 90s, but I bought a jet boat in 98 and my father in law sort of lost interest in floating so we haven't canoe fished much at all since then. I am supposed to float this spring with a guy that I used to coach against. If we go, I will let you know how we do.

I haven't floated it for quite some time but crossed it at Hwy 47 on Saturday and the water looked pretty decent. It was high and dingy, but not even close to being muddy.

I am currently in the process of movine into the steelville area as I have taken a new job in Cuba. The Steeleville/Cuba area is a pretty nice place for a river rat to live. You can fish all of the best water of the Meramec, plus you are only about 45 minutes to an hour away from the Jerome, Bell Chute, and Rollins Ferry accesses on the Gasconade; not to mention the Bourbeouse(sp?), Huzzah and Courtois.

We have put in at the MDC access at the end of Hwy O before during this time of year. We didn't have any trouble running but we don't venture that far up unless the river stage at Sullivan is 3.8 or above. I'm not sure what that equals as far as cfs flow though. Bman: You can put in at Sand Ford on a summer weekend and fish down stream and avoid the "commercial" canoe traffic as all of the commercial liveries take out at the Meramec Caverns boat dock. Also, what we used to do to avoid the canoe traffic was to put in at one access and run up to the next access that the canoe liveries use and then drift back. That way we were always in front of the canoers. An example on the Meramec would be to put in at Campbell Bridge and run up to Ononadaga Cave and float back. Or put in at Meramec State Park and run up to Sappington Bridge and then float back. You can do this between Sappington Bridge and Campbell Bridge as well, but Blue Springs Ranch throws a wrench in this as they put canoes in at their place. This is not a fish all day in solitude type situation, but if you are on the water at daylight and the fog doesn't hinder your running, you can fish for usually around four and half or five hours before you start seeing the pleasure floaters. The Gasconade between Jerome and Rollins Ferry is great as well. There is only one guy that puts in canoes through this area and I have never seen them put in more than 10 or 12 canoes and or rafts on a weekend. He usually puts them in at Bell Chute and they take out at Moreland's or Indian Ford (Hwy 42) which was washed away by the big flood last month. The guys in the big pleasure/go fast jetboats can be a nuisance at times, but the past couple of summers, they mostly stayed below Hwy 63 bridge once we got into summer, because of the low water levels. I suspect that will all be different though this year with the extra water that it looks like the rivers will have.

Vehicle was sold today. Thanks to all her inquired via emails, U2U's, and phone calls.

Has anyone ever stayed at the Arlington Campground and RV Park that is located near Newberg/Jerome where the Little Piney and Gasconade meet? The pictures on their website make it look like it is a really nice place. But sometimes you do not get the entire picture and I would like to hear from someone else what kind of place this is before we pull the boat and camper two hours to stay there. Thanks a lot Brian