Chief Grey Bear

The last I knew, it was for sale. Close to $400K IIRC. I am guessing until someone buys it, it will remain closed.

I think its in the neighborhood of about 2.5 miles to Elk from 43 hwy. I have not fished that stretch yet but, it is on my list of things to do. Funny though, my list of things to do is different from the list my wife has for me! Oh, be careful how far down you fish. You will be in the state of OK before you know it.

I concer, nice fish. And boy, just look at that smile. Its a shame so many parents use electronics for babysitting perposes. Nothing better than spending time outdoors. As a family. Wily- Sorry you can't fish anymore. I have a great time at all the places you mentioned.

Hey way to go! There may be a lot of walking on that creek but, it can pay off handsomely as the pic shows. I take my son Dylan there quite often and its always have a great time. Where did you fish? We are usually in the Klondike area.

Yep. Still not big enough. I have tape wrapped around the plug now but doesn't make as good a fit as I would like. I went to Iboats dot com and though they show to have them, I can't figure out yet how to order one. It was pretty late last night when I was looking, so maybe I will try again today.

Can anybody here steer me in the direction of a 1 1/8" drain plug? I have been looking around local boat dealers and such. All they have is either 1" or 1 1/4". Thanks for any and all help.

Dylan was wanting to do a little messing around on the creek this evening so we took a little trip to Shoal Creek. Spent about an hour or so and took 1 LM, 1 Brownie, and 2 Spots. LM and Brownie came to via a Red Coachdog Tadpolly and the two Spots were fooled by a red spinnerbait. The largest was the LM coming in at 12 inches. The Brownie was the baby of the bunch being all of 10inches.

CDC We kept looking for you guy's but never did see you on the creek. Spinnerbaits and a tadpolly took the honors. We did catch a few on soft plastics. There wasn't any of this tap tap tap stuff either. The boy's were hungry. Every bite was BAM! Fish on! I don't know what was going on with the LM bass but, every time we let one go, it would jump back out of the water or do a little dance on water. We just laughed and decided that they were peeved caused we fooled them into biting. I think it was about 4:00 or so when we took out. Wader - I was telling Buzz that come this fall we are going to host you and your friend to fine SW Ozark Autumn fishing. He and I are both ready. We have so many spots we want to take you, we can't decide.

Heck why would anyone use a net? If they are too big, just drag them up on the bank. And I like to use treble hooks. I can get 3-times the hooking power.

Wader Make sure you check the Shoal Creek forum this evening. Buzz is about to post some pic's of an absolutely awesome day we had floating. We took in the neighborhood of 20 pic's of good fish. I don't think he is going to post them all, I tried to get him too though. It was the first time either one of us has floated this particular stretch but, it won't be the last. Well, just look later on for a report.

I don't know. I think we hijacked the thread. I think I'll give up though. I don't think I am connecting with the youngster anyway.

Well, just how many refineries proposals have you heard of? I can't think of any. I think that is because oil companies have been in a capacity reduction mode. They now have it just about where they want it. So now when a plant has a shut down of some type, Boom, there go the prices. And that goes back to my comment about plant updates instead closures. Why shouldn't each state have the say what is built in their state? Why should the Fed's be able to trump them? That is not the job of the Fed's? You surely wouldn't like them making the rules in your state when it comes to fishing would you?

Oh you bet come on down anytime. Mid Oct to early, mid Nov, depending on temp can rival spring. I actually like it better.

Well, you shouldn't be happy. It is still over priced. You may thank Reaganomic's for part of that due to what can basically be termed as unregulated mergers. His idea of reduced competition through mergers has paid us dearly. I mean we have paid dearly. The government does not build refineries. Oil companies do. But if they build more, there will be more supply. More supply means less demand. And you know how the law of supply and demand operates. So I wouldn't look for any to built any time soon. Hundreds of refineries have been shut down instead of being updated since the 1980's. There again, consolidation through mergers saved no one but the oil companies BILLIONS of $$$$$. And we have been paying ever since. In the 80's I paid between .45 and .75 cents a gallon for gas. In the 90's that went to between .80 and 1.00. Come 2001 it jumped from a low of .92 cents to over 4.00 now. You can make your own conclusions to that. I have mine. The next paragraph that I quoted of yours is something that I have often wondered to myself. In lakes especially, how many time can a bass be caught and released before he starts to associate presentations as painful. I don't know that I would call them sloppy presentations. When I sit on the dock at Grand Lake just relaxing, I can hardly count the number of boats that come by and try their luck. And on days of tournaments, the number is staggering.

I am not opposed to the idea, as it does not effect me one iota. But I do question how the established limits will be enforced if one is floating through a zone and already has brownie or two on a stringer.

And then you mention respect. This post has been respectfully edited upon request.

If I may ask, what type of disablility do you have?

Can't the same be said for any number of presentations, not just powerbait? It sounds as if this fish has a lesser IQ and should be taken out of the gene pool.

Oh how sweeeeeeeeet it is. I love that place. Though it has been well over a decade since I have graced their door. It was the first real steak house that I took my future wife. What is sad is we have talked many, many times about returning but, never have. Have you been any time recently? Is it still about the same?

Isn't the whole concept fishing, regardless of method used, except snagging and noodling, to fool the quarry in believing it is hungry and needs to eat your presentation for survival? That is the sport of it. Out foxing the fox. If you want to get back to the "sport" of it, maybe you should use a cane pole and not the technology offered in today's rods, lines, tackle, etc....... Just a thought.

Well JD, he didn't really get bent out of shape so I kept my cool too. I did tell him that it is a public waterway and that I do have a right to fish it but, that I would respect his wish and travel back the way I came. I did also tell him though that I will be back and I will fish it. He didn't say a word and we walked off. Then while fishing Jenkins earlier this year, a land owner stopped by to see how I was doing and said "Just don't leave me any trash." I told him would not be a problem and thanked him for his kindness.

Well, not technically. The land is purchased by said entity. That being state, county or city. An easement would be that someone gave them permission to build across their land without ever tansfering the deed to said land. I do agree with the rest of your post.

That is posted on Shoal Creek in Newton County. There where more posted along the creek but a local land owner ripped them all down. I guess he couldn't reach this one. At bridges, the county, or state, still owns the right of way and though it may be harder to do, you can still put in. I have noticed that some farmers have strung fence to the edge of bridges in an attempt to deny access to the river. But they do not own the ROW. It is public. And now for a little food for thought. I have a book, written by Marvin VanGilder, that chronicles the history of Jasper County. In that book, along in the 1830s or so, a family moved into the area of what was to become Carthage along the banks of the Spring River. He started a service as where goods and patrons were floated up and down the river. This I am sure was done in numerous areas of the state. Years ago, mostly in eastern Missouri but in some other areas on a smaller scale, railroad ties were floated down many waterways. Also fur trappers and traders navigated the creeks and rivers of this state in the name of commerce. So, where to go from here?

Uh, feel free to believe that info if you want but, from my experience and observation, I see a lot of false information. I have had gar in an aquarium. Never have they grown to a foot in their first year of life. And yes they were properly feed. Well, I feed my natural food not pellets. I never noticed a high metabolism as I condsider it to be. My observation was every movement was very slow and deliberate. That is until they had slid in next to the intended prey and then if you blinked it was over. How fascinating it is to view a small gar "walking" a minnow or small perch from the front of his beak to the mouth and getting it turned head first for swallowing. Of all the hours that I watched them I can honestly say, I don't recall ever seeing the young gar gulping air. I wonder how they do this when the ice is on? The ice can get pretty thick in the northern areas of their range.

Gulping air is not the primary source of oxygen. Gar have gills and will "breathe" like other fish. They have a lung like air sack so that in times of low dissolved oxygen, they can gulp air to supplement the air that comes from the gills.