SGFChief

I have a notched bending branches. I've considered taping over mine to keep it from getting tangled up in my line.

Last I checked the outfitters at hootentown will either shuttle you or drive your vehicle back to their parking lot and you can float down to it.

No I hear Bois D Arc is pretty good, just crowded at times. Just looking for options.

I have a German Shorthair almost one and a half years old and could really use some work on live (actually dead) birds. I bought him with the intentions of training him to find sheds (which he does) but he has such a natural instinct when it comes to birds, I thought it would be a disservice to him to not hunt him. He's from Muddy Creek and was bred to hunt. Where I deer hunt doesn't have a great dove population--anyone know of a place to go in SW Missouri other than Bois D Arc?

You can actually drive there with a 4WD just avoid the mud holes, some of them could swallow up a cow.

Certainly getting excited--I drove the jeep down there last week on the way back from the farm. Lots of great memories with my Grandfather/father/uncles/cousins fishing that stretch of the river all the way back to the late 60s. Most are gone now but my son and I still fish it every year. Water seems to be really low right now and the potholes in the road seem to be bigger than last year too

I need that hat.

I don't understand this reasoning, especially right now when the fishing below Fall Creek is so good. I did what I had to - I called our local MDC agent and reported all 5 boats. Although he didn't get on the water this evening, he will be out tomorrow and Saturday checking hooks and live wells. It's not worth the fine and embarrassment. Sic em Phil. That's a big lake, no need for them to fish like that in that area.

Yes it turned out to be about a 7 lb channel cat. Thought I had a state record for a bit, then was afraid it would break my rod.

Spent 6 hours floating Saturday in anticipation of a good fishing hole on the James. Last week I pulled a 15 inch smallmouth from under this tree, I was concerned that this one would break a $150 rod. If you listen closely you can hear me yelling to my son for help...between the wind, current and fighting the fish I couldn't get away from the tree. I've seen too many snakes lately and especially sunning themselves in the trees--look closely and you can see a turtle drop off the log after I hit it a couple times. I don't like snakes. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=757RNDEpr-4

We'll be fishing it as well, water was crystal clear last weekend.

Floated Jamesville to Hootentown, caught a couple dozen small smallmouth (biggest around 14 in) an all around great trip. What made me wish I had some bottle openers and a different rod was the first hole just below Jamesville. The yellow suckers were really stacked in there and a few really nice redhorse thrown in. If the water hasn't muddied up with the rain I'm sure they're still in there. If I wasn't working, that's where I'd be.

Lots of little ones yesterday but occasionally you'll pick up a bigger one.

Perfect medicine to prevent sea sickness. We were fishing on a blue water charter out of Florida and my son offered one to a guy puking off the side of the boat. Told him it would settle his stomach. It produced an immediate yak from the guy. It was one of my most proud moments, show's he's been paying attention to me over these years. We prefer the Jalapenos although they are getting harder to find. .

Deer season for me ends tomorrow once alternative season ends and my kayak is looking pretty inviting despite the weather. Anyone fish Lake Springfield in the winter? Any suggestions?

A bit too long a float for me if I'm going to fish much. A couple weeks ago I spent nearly 7 hours to float Jamesville to Hooten. You may have a bit of drag until you hit Shelvin in a canoe but we got quite a bit of rain yesterday and its sure to bring it up. The smallies were hitting anything soft green pumpkin. Good luck

My son and I took the kayaks out and floated from Jamesville to Hootentown this last Monday. Despite the many rentals celebrating Labor Day (there were literally hundreds of them) we caught and released a bit over 30 smallies. Some of the best fishing I've had on the James in many years, my son's job is more flexible than mine and he's said its been this way for over a week. While that's a short stretch of water, we fished it for almost 7 hours. Most were small in the 10-12 inch range but I had a couple that went 16-17 inches. Virtually all of them were caught either in or just outside the grass beds and would hit anything green pumpkin. Maybe other colors would have worked as well but I never bothered switching out. Although it was close a couple times, we never had to drag the boats. Shhh don't tell anyone.

I used Minolta cameras for years and once Sony bought the rights to the mounts it was a no brainer for me to buy one since I had so many Minolta lenses. With that being said, I no longer use an original Minolta lens since technology has left that old glass in the dust. I'm on my third Sony Alpha now and I don't even use my original Sony lenses now. Science has progressed that far in the last 5 years that the clarity is no comparison.

Use the ramp at the veterans cemetery, its open 24hrs as far as I know.

How did you end up doing? My son and I put in about 5 (after 3 years of drooling over a Native Ultimate, I bought it) and fished until about 10 from the cemetery almost to the boathouse. I think we ended up catching 6 between us with the largest 16-17 inches. Small green pumpkin worms and red eye shad worked the best. No pictures since I was afraid to take the camera or my phone out of the dry sack since it so wet yesterday evening. Beautiful evening, dead calm, families of ducks, 3 deer and 2 beaver, I may have spent as much time loving life as fishing. One word of caution; That boat ramp at 65 is really slick--you could get better traction on ice and it is NOT possible to stand on it. Trust me, we both fell and the mosquitos were stacked thick. Guess that’s two words of caution.

Who; Bud Tichenor My best fishing partner....ever Where; Cape Fair Area When; Mid March 2012 We've fished together from the Gulf to Ontario and many times in Alaska and still go every chance we get

We have some family flying in from Florida for graduation this weekend and was wondering how much water they have been running the last few days. They were here last summer and I took them down to the rebar hole for an afternoon of fishing and that's all they've talked about since they left--It's also high on their "to do" list for this next week. I haven't been down since the big flood so I'm not sure what to expect. I've never been very good at fishing there when they were running the generators and am not quite sure what to do with my family once they get here. Is there any chance they won't be generating (i saw one post that they weren't for a while) and if they are, where is a good place to take the family where they can get some fly casting in? Thanks!

We survived although didn't get much sleep living here in the city designated as the official tornado magnet (Battlefield, MO). The round that came through @ 2:30 AM was especially ugly. Some of my patio furniture is missing (the cushions needed replacing anyhow) The basketball goal snapped in half (but had it fell the other way it would have hit one of our jeeps) So this morning we consider ourselves blessed and if all we lost last night was sleep and some old furniture, the Lord was watching over us as usual. Those less fortunate than us are in our prayers as well as the students from Kickapoo and Glendale who lost their lives in the accident from Saturday. As a parent I cannot imagine the pain they are going through nor how they will continue on without their sons. I pray I never find out... But on a lighter note my son and I spent the time between wall clouds on the back deck with a tripod trying to capture lightening on digital film. How do you attach pictures?

Okay, I wasn't going to bring it up but since you went there, I thought I might throw my two cents in as well... I should have known better on Saturday afternoon but while my wife was shopping at the landing (and I just so happened to have my waders and rod in my jeep) so I ran down below the dam for a couple hours of fishing. Unfortunately it seemed that the best of January weather brought the worst out in our local "sportsman" as I saw no fewer than 4 individuals between #2 and the rebar doing the ol' shuffle your feet and dangle (by hand) your bait just downstream of your feet and one of them even had a stringer attached to his belt with a couple of fish on them to boot. Why bother even using a rod with this technique? But what really got to me and eventually caused me to pack it in and go home was a couple of individuals (2 guys-1 girl) fishing at #2--one I observed doing the shuffle earlier in the day but as the afternoon wore on they were up on the bank chugging what appeared to be "shots" of something. They way they carried on I don't think the shots were soft drinks. I will admit that I'm not a "tee-totaler" but I do believe that there is a time and a place for everything and Outlet #2 is not the place for drinking games. The gentleman with stringer very well could be keeping trout below the slot but what got to me was the hand line technique he was using to catch them. Maybe I'm just getting old and bitchy--maybe even a bit snooty that these unrefined individuals invaded one of my favorite fishing holes and made me feel uncomfortable enough to go do something else. Thank the Good Lord that cold weather will soon return and drive all the fair weather sportsman back to their TVs and lazyboys. I'm sure I wasn't the only one to view Saturday afternoons spectacle am I? Is it just me?

I am not one for watching a great deal of television and other that a bit of CNN, MSNBC and a few science channels, the TV usually remains off. My true love on this earth is my family and the outdoors so that is where I spend all my spare time. Also I spend virtually no time watching sports on the tube (baseball tranqualizes me and never got into basketball) but the NFL is an exception. When we built our current home, cable was not an option and prefering a clear picture we opted for a dish to provide our content. Being blessed with a wife that both loves the outdoors and football (her first love was the Jaguars-born and raised) we opted for Direct TV and the Sunday NFL ticket. We've had the "ticket" for 6 consecutive years (up near $250 a season now ) but it gets my wife the Jacksonville games and it gets me every game on Sunday. As a bonus we get the NFL network but of course we were out of town on thanksgiving and had to scramble to find a resturant that carried it. Thank the good Lord for TIVO as I can go to church and then jet down to the dam for a little fishing. As long as I don't listen to the radio and someone seeing my KC hat doesn't say "hey, what did you think about that play where..." it's as if it was LIVE and we can zip through the commercials. The nfl network will probably be a part cable packages soon and this madness will be over--I seem to remember ESPN2 started out this way and the new College ESPN will be doing the same thing in order to get new subscribers. Although cable is now available to me (love the HSI) we have stuck to the DirectTV and would recomend it to everyone--if you have any problems, the customer service is second to none (they've won the JD Powers award for many years) and I wish ALL customer service centers were like this.