chub minnow

One river, one forum, IMO. Why subdivide. or put it in other waters? I think MSU is confused. To put these post with the MO/AR Spring river would be confusing and quite frankly, ridiculous. Probably just need to drop the (OK) designation at the end of topic title. Just my 2 cents.

Caught one decent sow just up from the bridge on Friday morning. Fished all afternoon and didn't have another bite.

Saw temps as high as 58 in the back of coves up the King's yesterday in very shallow (<10') water. Temps mainly in the low 50's other than that.

If you want to stay on the river and go for smallies, then King's River Resort is the only place for you. They have cabins on the River. If you are lake fishing, then there are several options around the Shell Knob area. King's River Resort should be listed in Berryville and Eureka.

There are definitely eyes above romp hole when the river is up. I have seen others hauling 'em out of holes adjacent to bluffs over a mile upstream from romp hole (3 years ago, I think). At any rate, you can pretty much catch anything on a crankbait up there. We've caught several cats while fishing for smallies.

Here's a handy map. Some of the descriptions are a little outdated -especially some launch sites on the upper ends of the three tributaries. The distance measurements are very accurate though. http://www.missouricanoe.org/river-maps/elksugar.html

Fished Big Sugar on Tuesday afternoon and had good luck on my quest for big fish. I fished mainly deep holes using different types of worms on the shakey head or spot remover. The water is low, but navigable if you solo in a canoe. I had to get out and go around trees etc. maybe three times. The big boys are definitely packing it on for the winter, so the bite should stay good until the next really cold stretch. We'll be floating the Elk on Wednesday. It should be low and cold enough to ensure that the bead slingers are safely tucked away under the rock that they crawl out from under every holiday weekend. I haven't been on the Elk since 1995 for this very reason. I'll report back and let you know how it goes. Here are the big ones from last week:

Boat traffic was horrible on Sunday up the Kings. I thought I was going down when a huge yacht came by throwing the largest wake possible. This was way up the Kings, almost to the 86 bridge. What are these people thinking? I saw two lake patrol shortly after this. Maybe he achieved his goal of sinking some poor family in a little Tracker or flat bottom. The fishing was slow for me, to say the least. It's always humbling when you go out before sunrise and still get skunked.

Yes, we actually have family buried there. I am also aware of the off roading and trash problems, but I think there might be some confusion on who is causing the problem down there. Float fisherman, in my experience, are a generally considerate bunch of folks. Why not focus on blocking off road access rather than blocking passage on the river? It sure would be a shame if someone were hurt or killed in an intentional manmade strainer.

Just about anything but drift fish. Well you can get away with it, just don't let the ranger see you. I don't understand why you can swim, tube etc. but you can't kayak this. The Missouri guidebook, put out by the tourism division even shows this on their map of float streams. The last time I did a Rambo float on this section I actually saw some landowners down by the cemetery pulling a tree across the river to block passage so that you had to get out and portage on their land (below high water mark, so not really trespassing). Since these men were also armed, I decided to try to float through the tree. When I found a hole to pass through one of them commented "I didn't see that one, we'll have to fix that!" I do understand the frustration of the landowners with people trespassing and tearing stuff up but is there really that much of a problem with people floating this section? Are the rangers office and the landowners in cahoots to try and keep people from floating this? Is it actually illegal or against the park rules in any way? These are my questions.

For non-toxic insect control try diatomaceous earth. They sell it at Lowe's now and it works like a charm. The only drawback is that you have to reapply after heavy rains. This stuff is actually edible as I understand it, so it's worth it IMO to take the extra step.

You could most likely float fish with your fly rod by August. You'll probably want sink tip or even full sink line and some big flies to help deal with the current and depth, but there will definitely fish to be had unless it rains any more!!

I agree with Murdoc - Don't see much frowning at the park So long as no one is using bait or powerbait, I don' think anyone will question what you are doing.

I caught a 16" rainbow while minnow fishing for crappie off of a deep dock in Shell Knob, and my buddy claims to have seen a big rainbow while scuba diving below the thermocline in that same area.

You don't get to 450 posts by taking time to do silly stuff like checking spelling, punctuation and sentence structure. Right Taxi?

I have seen dozens of alligator snappers this year including several smashed in the road near streams/lakes and ponds. All of the flooding must be doing them good?

Great report, glad to see that everything is looking good up there. The Big Sugar is so nice when we have good flows like this. Also good to hear that they're finally going to the beds. I was beginning to wonder.

The takeout at the 143 bridge is gated and you must call 24 hrs in advance to pay and have it opened. That is only @5 miles from 62. Stoney Point is the 10 mile float. It's another 7 or so to romp hole I believe. Great fishing up there, especially between the brigde and Stoney Point. Not a lot of people do that. I'm jealous.

Were you on the Elk or Big Sugar when he stopped you? I'm sure glad to see that they are out there. Hopefully they'll show a presence on Indian and the Sugars this weekend to help discourage poaching and general chicanery.

The river is running fine to Stoney Point. The lake is backed up past Romp Hole (next take out after Stoney Point), but has some current up there. There are two take outs on 143. One is at the bridge and is pay access. The second is Stoney Point.

Oops, you'll want the smallest, weighted shank hook you can find. Probably not the 3/0.

I like the 3/0 hooks with a weighted shank on them. You push the hook through the little flat spot on the top, back of the tail so that it comes out on the bottom of the tail, right at the crease. Spin it around so hook faces up. Push the hook up through the opening at the front of the body. Go up through the body and skin hook it. The weight will keep it right side up and it doesn't come off like with the spot remover. As an added bonus the weight clicks across the rocks, attracting attention. I'm working on a sketch, but can't get it uploaded.

Watch out for strainers! Also, don't waste your time fishing until you are @1/2 mile past the low water bridge at Cyclone. Then it's on. Pay special attention to the blufflines, particularly where there is a gravel bottom between the bluff and stronger current. You'll see what I mean. There are some nice little rapids right in front of The Owl's Nest (You will recognize it as a redneck port-of-call). All of the deep water after that will have some fish holding near the big boulders. There are also lots of goggleye on this stretch that will take small jigs and the 2.5" craws like candy. They are always about 2" from the bank under cover. It's sure fun when you get into a nest of 'em.

You mean rubber legs like these?

We'll be staying at Tablerock for the whole weekend. Normally we would go to Crane Creek or somewhere obscure from there, but it's just too far. Last weekend we explored the War Eagle because it is the closest floatable stream (except the Illinois ). Nice scenery, but the water is only a little cleaner than the Illinois and the fishing is similarly poor. Due to gas prices we'll probably be doing it more though.