Brian Sloss

waiting for next years budget, probably spring before anything done

Phil, you may know how to load the video straight onto this post, but I don't. Thus the link to my facebook site.

Alex Turley made a great video about a day on the 11 Point with me guiding and his buddy Matt Green fishing. It has great footage and discusses the impact of this past spring's record floods. https://www.facebook.com/brian.sloss.5

Got out yesterday to fish for fun, rather than a guide trip. Along for the ride were friends Justin Spencer and Denny Robinson. The river fished great, though still very low. Marabou Jigs were the most effective, though we caught plenty on Stoneflies as well. As usual, fishing deep was key. Tried throwing streamers on a sink tip a little, but no love there. The big fish of the day was a fat 18 inch rainbow. By the way, we had the whole river to ourselves. Now that I have sold the canoe rental, I am guiding more. www.elevenpointflyfishing.com

they own both

Thank you and remember if you ever need a guide or cottage....417-270-2497

After 14 seasons in the canoe rental business, we have sold the business. I want to take a minute to thank all the friends/customers I have made over the years, it has been an honor sharing the 11 Point River with all of you. I also want to thank all the employees we have had over the years, who made running the canoe rental possible. I especially want to thank my business partner, Ryan Griffin, and Brenda and Joe Oneill, who have been with us since day 1 and have been invaluable. The new owners will be Mike and Wendy Jones. They have 19 years of experience in the canoe rental business, so your canoe rentals will be in good hands. I hope all of you will continue to use the Eleven Point Canoe Rental. That said, I will still be in the area and will continue to guide fly fishermen through the Eleven Point Canoe Rental and I will still continue in the cottage rental business. The cottage rental business will be called the Eleven Point Cottages and a web site and Facebook page should be up in the next few days. If you want me to set up a guided fly fishing trip or a cottage rental, you can reach me at 417-270-2497. The canoe rental number is still 417-778-6497. Thanks again and please say hi to me if you pass me on the river.

Blue ribbon extends to Patrick bridge, not Blair. Here is a fun kicker there now, you will probably find some stripers in the deeper holes and a lot of them are 10 pounds or more. Actually caught a 5lb channel cat on a fly rod when I was there a couple of weeks ago that ran up from the lake. The day I was there the trout fishing was a little slow, but my friend who owns Sunburst, said a couple of days earlier it was fishing great and his wife caught a huge brown. Been hearing more good reports on the trout fishing there, than bad ones.

Was there the other day, it is open

You can get a few miles downstream of Whitten and there are places to camp. The locals who know the river can get all the way to Hall Bay. Same goes for the other access points you mentioned, you can go a long ways if you know what you are doing with the boat, except at Greer if you go upstream, I would not go above Greer spring very far.

Took Max Drown and his brother Jared on a guide trip today. His 9th trip on the first Fri after labor day. I consider this the unofficial start of my busy guiding season. Fishing was good and the weather awesome. Max hooked a 12 inch trout who was chased and rammed 4 times by a 22 inch, huge trout, which was wild. Probably hooked 40 to 50 fish. Caught a lot of the fish on 1/16th oz marabou jigs, Pat's Rubber leg stones, prince nymphs and olive woolies. Call my cell at 417 270 2497 to book a day

They already tried and failed to pass something that would require the state to sell it off. The latest ploy is to not develop it at all, which is what they are currently doing. My guess is they will quietly try to sell it off in the future when people forget we have the land there. Very short sighted not to develop it. A state park in the poorest county in Missouri could really help the area, but instead they are being petty because they hate Jay Nixon and he bought the land. Have not heard about the mining angle, but I would raise hell if they tried that as it would ultimately pollute the river downstream of Riverton. The area below the Arkansas line is already stinking from the massive chicken operation they recently started.

Every trip is different, just because you caught more fish between Greer and Turner last time, does not mean that would be the case this time. Regardless, just getting in your canoe and floating from Greer to Turner is currently averaging 2 hours. With fishing, how long it takes is up to you.

Both those access points are still closed since the floods due to damage. Probably wont get funding to repair them until the new year. Thomasville area still has tangles of trees everywhere in the river. Check with the forest service at 573-996-2153 and tell them you want to get in there some time, the more people they hear from, the quicker they will move

I can get you shuttled on an overnight float, call 417-778-6497. Greer to Riverton, 20 miles, is good if you move slowly, otherwise, I would go down to 142, 29 miles.

People have been floating it since Memorial Day. I have an outfitter and have not seen any more problems than we normally have with floaters having mishaps.

Without a head to the parks dept for the state, don't expect anything to happen there. Parks are obviously not a priority for the Gov or he surely would have hired someone by now. The position has been vacant for months. Due to the existing easements, even when opened and developed, I wouldn't expect any changes to the river corridor.

11 Point: Got permission from the forest service to run from Greer to Riverton yesterday 5/17/17 to look for danger spots. I caught a ride from the Jone's in their john boat and did sort of a Hufstedler's/Eleven Point Canoe Rental scout trip. Here is the long and short of what we found. Starting at Greer, the first island, the the right fork is clear, but caution is needed. As you are going around the island you will come to a fairly sharp bend to the left, it is clear and easy and coming out of the bend I would stay in the center and go over the shallower center part of the river (the right and left bank have logs that can be troublesome. Then there will be a sharp right turn and you need to hug the inside bend as there are downed trees that can get you on the outside bend. Continuing downsteam, the next island, stay on the right fork the whole way, it is open, but the left has lots of trees down. Below Turner at fish Dam (normally 45 minutes below Turner, now probably 25-30 minutes), there is a big tree and root wad in the river that looks pretty nasty, but before entering that swift water, there is a small fork to the right that is clear, take it. Hall Bay shoals (the big rapid down from Boze Mill) has very big waves in it, stay far to the right or you will swamp your canoe in those waves. There was a tree all the way across the river, right before Riverton, but that is clear now. We are starting back tomorrow, but here are some general tips. The water is still high and quite swift, if you have kids or are not a good paddler with experience, you should wait a little longer for levels to drop. Stay in the bigger forks at splits in the river, except for the fish dam exception I laid out earlier. If a spot looks ify, stay away from it, don't go for it. Give trees in the river a wide birth. Greer, Whitten, Riverton and 142 will be open. Hopefully we can have Turner opened again soon. They had a big crew there grinding up trees yesterday, but it will be a while still. Thomasville and Can Bluff will remain closed until further notice. Hope this helps everyone.

Hoping to run the river in a john boat this week. Forest service still has the river closed off

I spent 6 months there just outside Newcastle about 20 years ago. There are some nice streams, but normally you have to pay a rod fee and reserve a spot to fish a particular beat. Reservoirs can be easier to deal with. That said, it sounds like you are visiting people who I would assume are taking care of organizing the outing, so I would just sit back and enjoy. There are wonderful things about the UK: public transportation, pubs, healthcare. the people, etc...I love it. I just wished there was more publicly accessible rivers when I was there.

This would be a very short term solution. They need to build a proper bridge that is 2 lane and elevated well above the water so people can easily float under it.

Strictly fishing

Strictly fishing trip.