Brian Sloss

Nice

As everyone knows, the river is the lowest it has been in years. That means the smallmouth fishing we normally do a lot of this time of year is not as productive as normal years. Low light early in the morning or right before dark is best for smallies. The upside this year is the trout fishing has remained very solid. If we get a rise in levels, fishing might get silly, though I would not just hold out for a big rain. The trout fishing is plenty good right now. There are a few trout spawning redds out there, so be careful not to walk through one.

I have 6 used Old Town Discovery 169 canoes for sale and a few sit on top typhoon kayaks (Johnson Outdoors/they own Old Town). These are livery boats that we are selling to make room for new inventory. The canoes are 16'9" and the kayaks very much typical livery kayaks, basic "funyak" design with just a little storage behind the rowers seat. They are easy to use and lots of fun. Canoes will go for $200-$250 and the kayaks are $200. Call (417)778-6497 if interested or just respond to this post.

Awesome trip, those are some great fish!

Well this year we had a smaller turn out than the previous couple of years, possibly because we moved the date back into Nov. Regardless, everyone seemed to have a good time and we still raised a little seed money for the Greer Mill restoration. As for the fishing, I went out with a few early arrivals up to Greer on Friday afternoon and we did pretty well fishing our way up to Greer Spring and back down. We caught fish on Stoneflies, eggs, Don's Crawdad, and stripping woolies. The water is very and clear by the way, so we fished a lot of 5x, which is very light for this river. Sat. I stayed back to run the shuttles and set up the bbq/raffle. Everyone caught fish with the least I heard about being around 7 and the most around 15 and a couple fish hooked nearing 18 inches. The bbq and raffle were good fun and successful. Thanks to Pacific Fly, Hendrix Outdoors, Ray Krouscup, Steve Farr, the Thorsen's and anyone else I forgot for their donations to the raffle.

Though it would be like winning the lottery, it is possible to have a brown trout on the Eleven Point. It would have to run (in the winter) down river about 40 miles (Spring) and then up about 40-50 miles to get to the lower end of the Eleven Point trout water. The conservation dept did shock a brown 14 miles below Riverton one spring during a population survey. I get people who tell me they caught a brown, but 99.9% of those are misidentified.

Just a reminder, if any of you are thinking of coming to Fly Flingers this weekend, please let me know by calling the number listed in the first post or by pm. We are meeting at the canoe rental at 7:30am Sat to go fishing and doing the bbq and raffle at 5pm at the canoe rental.

Basically the MDC biologist comes over and they have a fish fry and the MDC gives a river update and answers questions. I did not make the last meeting, but the four strains (trophy area) are Eagle Lake (TN), North Fork of the White/hatchery hybrid, and i think the other 2 are from Idaho. The EL strain has a pelvic fin clip and the other 3 have a little metal under the skin in different areas. Next year they will be using the different colored dots they talked about in the article. After a few years of data they will determine which strain does best and start using them to stock the blue ribbon area. My bet is on the NFOW hybrid. Last year they used 2/3 straight hatchery and 1/3 NFOW hybrid and last spring something like 2/3 of the fish recaptured were NFOW hybrids. Not sure of the exact numbers. They have worked on the walleye for a while now and have found that when they stock them, they tend to run downstream to Ar.

Max It is a local fishing club that meets twice a year. If you want to join, I'll hook you up when you are down for fly flingers.

Keep it quiet Justin! That is one way to stir the pot.

Whitten opened today at noon officially.

We have been down that road and lost that battle. Our previous state biologist proposed it a few times and the forest service said no, siting the hellbender. Rainbow trout are grandfathered in. We did a big petition and everything and even though the hellbender problem seems to be more kiptrid fungus related than predation, no dice. Even though hellbenders are having the same problem in non trout rivers. We would grow some of the biggest browns in the ozarks though.

It was not technically open this weekend, though people did pull the sign out of the road and use it anyway. Hoping that it is officially open this week.

I was just told by the forest service that Whitten would probably officially reopen next week as the concrete steps have to be retested.

Just came from Whitten 2 hours ago and the forest service was doing the inspection on the work. If it passes hopefully it will be open by the weekend, if not they will keep it closed until the corrections are made. Here is to hoping they pass it.

It has looked ready for about a week now, but they were waiting for an inspection. Guess they must have done it.

I heard they are letting campers stay there again, but there is no phone number that I know of and no sign saying for sure. There are hookups about 2.5 miles from Greer access now at a place called Cornerstone, though I don't have the number off the top of my head. Cornerstone is a family friendly campground that also does the occasional weekend rodeo or blue grass concert.

There are no hook ups on the river, but Greer is a nice campground. We move cars for people all the time, though you should let us or any of the outfitters know when you are coming this time of year. Our houses are a good option if you are interested. This river runs through national forest and is as a result, pretty well undeveloped. Some people don't like this and for others that is the best reason to come. I fall in the latter category. You may want to consider taking gear with you and float/fish/camp for a couple of days.

They have not stocked since late June3/early July, and yes they do float stock them. There are plenty of fish down from the Greer put in, I guess you just didn't see them. They are really easy to see just down from the ramp a little as it is not too deep, almost no current and very clear water.

progressing, but no date certain on reopening.

Can always use a donation for the raffle. Flies, gear anything really.

May of 2013 they take possession

Time for my annual gratuitous plug for our fall fly flingers weekend. Fly fishing, bbq and raffle on Nov 3. Please reserve a spot if you are coming at 417-778-6497. More info at www.11pointcanoe.com and click on the fly flingers banner. This year the money raised will go to help start The Friends of the Eleven Point River organization. The goal of the group will be to work with the forest service on projects for the betterment of the river and surrounding area. First project we are hoping to tackle will be the old Greer Mill restoration.

Ditto what has already been said, but marabou jigs in a variety of colors and color combos are deadly here. 1/16thoz-1/8oz for spinning outfits.

I have been keeping my eyes open looking for your boat. A couple of days after your canoe was taken, Hufstedlers had one stolen at the hwy 142 access. I am betting someone discovered an easy way to steal and is now cruising access points in the evenings. Might be a good idea to check Craig's list to see if these boats go up for sale there and hopefully be able to track them back to the jerk that stole them.