Brian Sloss

If you are wanting smallmouth, try fishing from Cane Bluff down to Greer, rather than the blue ribbon trout area. The Cane Bluff to Greer section is great smallmouth water.

I will be opening the cottages when I see medical professionals saying it is time. Hoping mid May or first of June. There will probably be policy and procedure changes based on CDC advisories. I will rely on medical advise though, not politicians.

I am not currently renting my cottages out due to the virus. Please consider when you visit, you may be bringing the virus unknowingly. We have our 1st confirmed case. People have been packing in places like McCormack Lake, creating their own little village of people on weekends and popping into the grocery store. Please consider giving the area more time until the doctors (not politicians) give the all clear. If you live down the road and can get here without stops for gas or services, then enjoy. That has been my rule of thumb, get outside everyday, but I have been keeping myself in my home county for now. No long drives.

For the 11 Point, if you decide to stay in Alton, I have lodging at www.elevenpointcottages.com and guide services at www.elevenpointflyfishing.com. For canoe rentals or shuttles, I would use Eleven Point Canoe rental at 417 778 6497. They also own Hufstedler's, but the Eleven Point Canoe location in Alton is better for floating the blue ribbon area. You can easily spend 2 or 3 days fishing different sections for trout. The Blue ribbon is great, but ignoring the white ribbon stretches simply because of their designation is cheating yourself. If I had just one day, I would choose the blue ribbon, but with multiple days, I am mixing it up. On the North Fork of the White, Sunburst is where I would go. There are 2 days worth of trout fishing floats there too.

Mr Babler's fish was a wonderful accomplishment and I don't begrudge him getting it certified. Too bad it didn't make it, but hey, you tried and that is great. I will say, I wonder if triploid trout should be a different record than non-modified trout, but not losing any sleep over it. With 2 state records in one summer and triploids being stocked, prepare for a world record in the future and congrats in advance for whoever catches it. May come over this winter to try and catch one.

Well Done!!!

Thanks Al. Was hoping more than 1 person had been to New Zealand fishing, but will look into your suggestion.

Thinking of doing a New Zealand trip. I prefer to do a do it yourself trip by renting an Air B&B and maybe a guide a day or two and then fishing on my own. Anyone here ever fish over there? If so, what is better, North or South Island? Rivers and towns to look for lodging in? Any other advice?

Got about 5 inches of snow. Roads are bit sketchy here and there now, but may be better by by Monday. The accesses on gravel roads will still be icy on Monday probably. River is up and a bit murky, but was fishing well the other day

I have been catching fish, just make sure you are getting deep enough.

Sorry been off grid for a while with family health issues. Yes it is open, just no boat ramp anymore, but you can launch canoes there

On Saturday I was one of four guides taking folks from the Ozark Fly Fishers out on the North Fork of the White. Brian Wise was the lead guide and I thank him for including my boat on this trip. Brian has some of the best streamer tying videos on the internet, look him up at Fly Fishing the Ozarks. Anyway, I was assigned Bill and Jerry for the day and they were great guys. The river was up, but not quite an ideal level. The shoals were ripping with some pretty big waves. We concentrated on finding seams of current off the main channel, particularly towards the end where it deepend a little, just so we could get down to the fish. We didn't catch a ton of fish, but we certainly found some. The rainbows we caught were fat, pretty, hard fighting and wild. The North Fork can be challenging sometimes, but I love it and everyone should give it a try sometime. We also got a couple of brown trout and the bonus of the day was 3 smallmouth. On Sunday, Mel and Glenn, from the same group, joined me for a half day on the 11 Point. We met in the morning and got off the river right as about an inch of rain started to fall on the river. That said, fishing was red hot for the 4 hours we fished. It was nice to be home. This post has been promoted to an article

Took couples Jon and Emily and then April and Jason out to catch some trout recently and we found plenty of fish. On both trips, the ladies had never fly fished before. Both got their first fish on a fly rod and then added a number of fish after their first ones. We even got a grand slam on one of the trips: Trout, smallmouth, goggle eye and pickerel. Both very good days with great people. www.elevenpointflyfishing.com

Since the higher water has receded to fishable levels, I have been getting some guide trips in. The water remains up a bit and there is a stain to the river. I have done a trout trip and a couple of smallmouth trips. The trout has been ok, but the smallmouth are loving the stained water. Here are some highlights.