Chief Grey Bear

Well I'm glad to know I'm in good company! I thought maybe I was the only one!

Not with the last year I've had. Wow! Easily the worst year in the river I've had since 1976!

So when it comes to learning all the nuances of fishing a given stretch of river, I just don't have it. What I am, perhaps, is a generalist. Put me on any stream in the Ozarks and I can catch at least a few fish. Put me on any of the non-jetboatable streams and I can probably hold my own with anybody. But I do not know any given stretch of the bigger rivers well enough to compete with those who do. I'm a cherry-picker. I fish for the easy fish. The guys who are the very best at it can catch the difficult fish more regularly than I can. His words, not mine.

I would like add in all fairness to Al, we have two totally different styles of fishing. Al will fish many miles of stream in a day. 12, 14, 15+ miles in a day. He admittedly catches the easier to catch fish. On the other hand 5-6 miles are about all I'm good for. I enjoy working the brush and beating the banks. We use different styles of baits too. He uses faster baits like spinners and WTD and the like. I use slower baits with lots of soft plastic types and slow wide wobble cranks that pierce deep into the water column . So it stands to reason our experiences on the same waters can be different. I should have stated this earlier but I didn't. After I thought about it for a while I came to realize the reasons why. So I just want to put this out there.

Well not for me. Get you one of these. Or just use your phone. No disrespect to Chuck. His book at the time was gold. But it's far outdated compared to the tools we have today.

I talked to a fella years ago that used to be here. He knew Chuck and told that he barely left his living room when he wrote that. Most info and maps came from outfitters and locals. Its a lot cheaper to cover your miles by phone calls and US Mail. I was pissy when I got my copy as thought there was going to be some stories!

I heard they put in the bill that life starts at conception. I was curious if that's when you could start socking away money.

If Creekwader was still around, he'd know. He spent a lot of time in Jeff City due to employer. He chased brownies all over that area. You might try to search for some of his posts. Does the MSA still have any copies?

That's some pretty fancy math there. I like it!!

What are the parameters of these 529's?

WOWZA!!!

It will be my pleasure. How about some BBQ?

So let's recap years of information posted here. Report after report has yielded nothing but excellent results on these same waters. Some afternoon marathon floats of 20 miles have yielded 200 fish days. Never once have we heard about the miles and miles of barren fish land that now inhabits an increasingly large portion of our floatable streams. It was once the demon MDC and their inept management that was the cause of great demise of our most noble fish. And the giggers. Don't leave out the giggers. They are decimating thousands of miles of the best Smallmouth waters! Lets not forget the meat hunters. Those like Oneshot that enjoy meal of Smallmouth steaks and a baked potato. And now we have spring water. Who would have thought spring water would have been the culprit. We have now lost 100's of miles of Smallmouth waters to spring water.

Accurate above all else. From my point of view anyway.

That's just not accurate Al. You're straining to make you're argument. I have actually fished a few of those waters and your description does not mirror my experience. There is no doubt I have not fished as much as you have but I have had total opposite results.

You win the forum today Joe!

Oh believe me I have thought about it! I may surprise you some time!

A small suggestion if I may. And I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers. You may want to keep an on going list on your original post. Just keep editing/updating as members state what they will be bringing. Thats what I used to do years ago when I hosted fall floats. It's makes for quick reference to all that are coming and keeps double ups nonexistent. I know it's too late this year but something to think about next year. Carry on and have a blast!

Here is what we're going to do this summer. We are going to hop in your jet and we're going to go to these waters on the Niangua. We're going to check temperatures. And then we will see.

My mistake.

Ha let me rework the quote. I miss a lot of action on this forum. I don't click on every thread unless it has an interesting title.

I have fished almost every inch of spring river. There are smallmouth and largemouth within a half mile of it boiling out of the ground. It's not floatable but it darn sure is wadable.

Yeah I guess not. I a lot of the action on this forum. I don't come close to clicking on every thread unless add an interesting title.

No not buying that for a minute. If the water is big enough to float a jet boat on it it's more than warm enough for smallmouth. You would have to be within 1 mile of a major spring, meaning multiple thousands of gallons of flow per minute, to be too cold for smallmouth

I'm just thinking that we've had these discussions multiple times a year for a decade and we've never heard this story. Just saying it doesn't smell right. Even good food can stink.