Chief Grey Bear

Nice write up RS. I love to not only fish for them but eat them too. I would would just like to add that the Northern Rock bass is native to more systems in Missouri than just the Meramec. Including some in SWMO.

I agree that would be a great float Buzz but, I am thinking we may want to do a shorter float like last time due to all the people and shore lunch. Otherwise I think that would be about a 24 hr float!!!!! When we get the sign ups done(a couple more days) we will start hashing the times and places.

I hope you can make it too. If not this time, later this summer.

Memorial Day weekend is probably not the best time to float Big Sugar KC, That is opening day of idiot season.

Just a plain ol channel cat. Nice going. Fun to catch and fun to eat!

PM's aren't. Are you going to sign up?

You bet you can bring your dog. It has been a while since I have seen ronnie. Glad to hear you can make it. I think the saturday (May 29) would be best for all. But I am open to all of them. Just put down a date that works best for you. If we can get this done this week or next, it will give all of us a chance to discuss a date and plan for it. All - If you are interested in doing this float, please follow Wheaties example and post your answers in that form so I can easily transfer it to the original post. It will make this much easier to keep track of for all of us. And please answer all of the questions. Any "I don't care" responses will be don't help us. So like Wheatie, he has now voted for Shoal creek on Saturday May 29.

From the looks of things, we have a few that would like to have a spring float like we have had in the fall. So lets start a sign up. 1. List your name, screen name is fine. If you used your real name I wouldn't know who you were. 2. List how many will be in your boat. 3. List what you may bring for food if you guy's would like to stop for a shore lunch like we did last time. 4. List what river/creek you prefer to float. 5. Pick you preferred date to float. I know KC would love to be on this and I know he only has 1 weekend open in May but, I can't remember what that date is at the moment but that is the one that I will pick. EDIT: If there is anyone that would like to join us but does not have a canoe, it looks like we will have some empty front seats in a couple of boats. I just talked to KC and he has offered his front seat to anyone that would like to come along. I am sure Buzz would offer the same. I also will have a 12ft Ram-X jon and a canoe that I can make available. Edit #2. I suggest we do one of two floats. The one we did last time was Cherry Corner to Allen Bridge. There is ample, safe parking at both ends. It only about a 1.5 - 2 mile float with a great place about half way to do our cook out. Or we could go from Allen bridge to Lime Kiln. Again safe, ample parking is available. We could either stop half way and do the cookout or float on through to the Lime Kiln access and use the facilites there. Which really only consist of a picnic table and bbq gill. But with the looks of all the food that we will have, I think that table will come in very handy! This also a 1.5 - 2 mile float with some outstanding fishing in between. I think I will vote Allen to Lime. Which ever float we decide on, I think we should plan on hitting the water at 9am. We should probably meet by 8am, get vehicles and boats in place and get organized. So since I am going to pick the Allen to Lime float, I say we meet at the Lime Kiln access at 8 am May 29. If you agree just post that you agree or post what float you would like to do. Type your response as below and I will Copy and Past to this post to make it easy for all of us to keep track. Please answer all 5 even if you don't have a preference on a float or a date. It can help make a decision. Chief - 2 - Hotdogs - Shoal Creek - May 29 Wheatenheimer - 1 - Stuffed Jalepenos - Don't care -Any Saturday, except May 15 Markw - 1 - chips if anyone has preference let me know what kind - Shoal creek - may 29 KCRIVERRAT - 1 - Deviled Eggs - Big Sugar, then Shoal - May 29 CDC - 2 - Potato Salad - Shoal Creek - let everyone choose and see if I can make it. fishinSWMO - 2 - baked beans - Shoal Creek - May 29. Saturday Buzz - 1 - Mustard/ketchup soft drinks - Shoal Creek - May 29th Wily - 3 - snack sticks - Shoal Creek - May 29 Knot Head - me - cucumber/tomato salad - Shoal Creek -May 29 Stinger160 - Needs a seat - ??? - Shoal Creek - May 29 Ollie - 1 - Chili!!!!!! - Shoal - May 29 flytyer57 - 1 - buns - Shoal - May 29

I would think they would have to accept the canoe as a form of tranportation due to the fact that the MDC activly promotes their use. Of course it goes without saying that we should hook up in a couple of years to test this. You will work pro bono on this right??? I mean it is for all of us??????

I believe that law also gave the right to camp, picnic and portage around obstacles. With limitations. As I see it, trapping is commerce. Canoes are used in trapping. I can get a canoe up and down a lot of creeks. Not arguing either. I always enjoy hearing someones take on this law.

When I fisrt mentioned this, I also included LMB but, I have not caught one with this coloration or lack of. All of them have been spots. And as Buzz mentioned, we caught quite a few that particular day. And yes all of them appreared to be healthy in all regards. As far as the pointed jaw, when you say there may be a cluster of them, are you meaning in the same area of the same creek or SWMO as a whole? As with the grey bass, I have caught these out of at least two seperate waters, and possibly three. Speaking of the dorsal fin, I am trying to locate a question posed by a fellow from a nothern fishing board that has a post of two browines. In one of the photos it shows a brownie with the spiney dorsal with the spine points fully exposed. In the other photo it shows one with the membrane bewtween the spines all the way to the point. His question was if one of these was a Neosho Smallmouth. But he had caught both of these in like Michigan or some other northern state. I am trying to locate this again to post here. I go with eric on this one. If you get a chance, snap a photo and post it.

I was not having a good day on this trip. I usually don't do to bad with my casting but, not this day. It sucked and I let everybody within ear shot of the river know it too!

You can put in/take out on the upstream side on the south side of the bridge. Right there where the house is with the white fence. From that spot on down to Reddings Mill is really good too. But it can be tricky to float. There are some shoals that can be difficult to negotite. Probably the best way to get over them is to drag over them. A spring float sounds like a good idea. We did have a fall float last year. We need to do that again too.

I would be glad show you and your litter around on Shoal. I think a good float that would be real easy is Tipton Ford to Gateway(Hwy 175). It is only around a 2 mile float that has some easiest water to float on Shoal. There is only one easy riffle and no log jams or hard turns to worry about. And it has some great fishing. And before you know it, you have killed 3 or 4 hours.

Always a pleasure to be a part of the team Ollie. It was a pretty long day for Dylan and I by the time we showed up at 1:00. We got up at 4am that morning and hit the road before 5:00, headed to Ozark to meet up with Slider and his nephew Cody to do some sucker grabbing in a few creeks around Branson. After the clean up, I went home, froze some fillets that Slider and Cody fixed up for me, smoked 4 cornish hens, greenbean cassarole, scalloped taters, and baked beans for supper. Thank goodness for a good sized smoker! Then after a dish of ice cream, it was off to bed!

Hey RiverRatt, please do. It doesn't get the press that others do, and I really don't mind that but, she has bountiful secrets not easily obtained. One must spend time with her to understand and appriciate her. But ahhhh, what a lovely lass she is.

That is what I find strange about these "Grey" bass. They did not come from murky or even stained waters. This one in particular came in the early spring with very clear water. But we have caught them at all times of the year. None have come out of back water either. So I can't really say at this time what it is. I know I never caught one in all my years of fishing this area until about two years ago. And to add to that I have been catching more bass with a very pronouced pointed lower jaw. When I say more, I mean about a dozen or less a year. That is also something I had never done until a couple of years ago. I don't believe this to be from being hooked as a youngster either. They look really deformed.

Great post AL. At the moment I am not able to post pics due to my computer being down. But thanks to a very nice forum member, it is getting fixed. I have a pic of a brownie that is just as olive green as it can be. I thought I had posted it but, I haven't located it on the forum yet. If I do,I will post it here. Have you guy's also noticed that in LM, Kentucky bass, they are sometimes devoid of color? They are what I call the "Grey Ghost". If this this repost works, look at the third pic down and you will see what I am talking about. I have caught a few of these in Shoal Creek and Spring River.

Kind of. The belly will be a brighter white. Like it has bleached. Nice fish. Where did you catch it?

But those rules change in the west flowing creeks of SW MO. If you will look back at the pics posted from this area and compare to those caught from other watersheds you will notice that the Neosho brownie is more of a olive green coloration. We have caught some that depending on the current habitat, as stated, will have more of a broze color. But both seem to lack the tiger stripe type marking of their eastern counter parts. You will also sometimes notice in Kentuckies and all the species goggle eyes that at times they don't seem to have much of a red eye and other times it look as if lit up like a light bulb.

Was there a banjo?

Hey that is a nice brownie! Did you do an over nighter?

I think that stopped when some good ol boys shot back at him.

Right on KC. J. A. Reed kept me busy many a weekend. Spent a lot of time fishing Jacomo too. That is a great lake for a small one or two man craft. You can really get back into the wood.

I like plums. Very delicious. Now prunes, not so much. I have read that you can melt gallon milk cartons into cracks. I will look this evening and see if I can find that again.