fly.flinger

but did you catch any fish?

I can't vouch for the quality of Samsung televisions as an entire unit, but they are currently the world's largest manufacturer of LCD screens and have been for a several years. Most laptop computer LCD screens are made by Samsung, also mobile phone displays. Sharp and Sony are the only other LCD screen manufacturers that most people would recognize.

it says in the wiki article that they have wings and can fly.. i have also seen them fly when startled

If you're talking about a water STRIDER, the spider looking water bugs that skate along the top of the water - they have wings and can fly water strider from wikipedia

Yer welcome. There could be some confusion, as the concession has moved to the south side (river side) of the county road that turns up the north side of the river to noel. It use to be on the north side. i suppose the one hut there can manage access to the river & campground and also service canoers. their canoes are also generally stored during the season at put in points up river.

FWIW, I finally spoke with someone @ Cowskin Canoe and Sylvia says they are indeed open for business. The river was up to almost 9' at the cowskin gauge tuesday night. it is currently falling at 6.5' The river will probably still be murky this weekend (at least the lower end and espy if there is more rain) and fishing likely still out of whack.

i'd appreciate it if anyone local could verify the demise of Cowskin Canoe rentals... I'll be floating in my own canoe from Noel => 43 bridge this saturday, but a buddy needs to rent... it's possible that if Cowskin went under that the Noel outfits are putting in at the ranch and picking up at cowskin 417.775.2448 answers with an answering machine for Cowskin Canoe - i left VM to call me and advise of their status... we'll see...

Sorry about our buddy's windshield, Ollie. The mouth of Buffalo creek is not necessarily the safest place, day or night. Not that it is dangerous, but it fairly remote and is certainly not patrolled by any officials. Did you leave the vehicle there during the day or overnight? It is a popular drunk hangout and giggers use it to access the lower Elk also. Sunday morning when we arrived there were 2 large snapping turtles they had gigged, smoldering on a fire. Also lots of uncleaned, gigged fish (carp, buffalo suckers, etc) they had tossed into the water there. Unfortunately there were also several 3-5 pound black bass in the mix. It is illegal to gig black bass.

Bill, Unknown about who to contact specifically re: white bass run in the river. Maybe some of the local grand lake guides. local giggers would be a better bet for river watching. I spoke with some local giggers over the weekend and they are only seeing a few WB as of last weekend. Unknown about the fishing knowledge of the outfitter @ Cowskin. Keep in mind they're seasonal (they're not even open yet) and merely 'canoe renters.' They commonly put their clients in just below Noel and float down to 43 bridge (back to their facility). They may or may not be willing to accomidate you in floating down river from their facility. There is a logical takeout at the mouth of Buffalo Creek. There is OK-S697 road from OK-E240/MO 76 that goes south to the river and terminates at the mouth of Buffalo Creek. ok-S697 is ~1 mile west of Tiff City, MO in OK. latitude 36°38'6.69"N longitude 94°37'52.50"W I frequently float and fly fish the Elk river from Noel to Buffalo Creek. The white bass do certainly come up the as far as Noel, but can't get over Shadow Lake Dam @ Noel. But I suspect it will be at least a few more weeks before they're that far up river. See my TR in the Elk River Forum...

I floated from Cowskin to Buffalo Creek, Sunday, 3.25.07 looking for White Bass. Apparently still a bit early. It was a great morning, although overcast and rained a few times on us. Lots of bug hatching (stoneflies 1" long, yellow thorax with black wings and abdomen, unidentified grey mayflies ~#12-14, BWOs #18) and bird singing. Also saw several bald eagles. I mostly paddled/guided and let my partner throw his grubs and paddle-tail shad to see if we could find any WB at all. We saw and caught none. We did managed to find a few smallmouths, one ~3 lbs or so, in the deeper holes, but the river is only just now waking up to spring. I caught a couple SMB on a bronze/rust pigboat. Water was flowing well with recent rains. Cowskin gauge reported 4.66 feet at noon sunday, which is decent flow with no dragging. we'll try again in a week or so and try to post a followup...