Brian Sloss

I do use those.

1/16 oz is not that hard to cast on a 5 or 6wt, 9 ft fly rod. It is big enough to get down fast and small enough to cast with no problems. In moving water we dead drift it and it simply looks like a dead minnow floating with the current. In slower water we add 3 inch strips every 5-10 seconds to give it a little life (a wounded fish). An easy meal.

The bottom of the tail is closer than the top of the tail and I think the top side is folding back and a little down. Not for sure. Didn't notice anything abnormal when we inspected it in the net though. Just angle of the picture I think.

Oops, sorry about the extra "a", but it kind of works for this fish. Max, see the text below the picture for your answer to what was used.

Took a couple of guide trips out Mon and Tues. Mike and Arthur on Mon and John and Zach on Tues. Both groups caught fish regularly through out the day with lulls from about 12-2pm each day. The water is very low and clear, so longer casts were needed and deeper water produced better. On Tues Zach hit some big fish ...including a 16 inch smallie, a 17.5 inch trout, an 18 inch trout and a 24-26 inch trout. The pig was caught on a 1/16 oz jig (olive and orange) fished under an indicator in about 7 ft of water. White jigs, Pat's rubber legs, prince nymphs and Bloody Mary's also caught lots of fish over the two days.

Terry Thanks for coming down, it was great to have you here. The fish were a little spooky with the low, clear water, but everyone caught fish and I think a good time was had by all. The bonus, Mizzou beat the Sooners!

Gigging season is open now, but snagging season is not until the spring is how I understand it. I may be wrong on that though. Regardless, gigging and snagging are illegal in blue ribbon trout areas. That I know for sure.

I have to leave town on important family business this week. The shop will be closed from Mon-Fri. I will be back Fri afternoon to get everything ready for the weekend.

The first one you listed is Turner Mill south and is a good access, I don't know about the other one, have to look up that road number on a map.

Just the Discoveries.

Some are better than others; it is a first come, first choice situation. They have had a rental canoe life though, which means they have been around the block. Some would be good for plenty more trips down the river, while a couple should be used on a lake and could go for years more if they were used there. I have dial-up and so uploading multiple pics of 8 different canoes is not viable. All prices on these boats are negotiable.

It is that time of year around here at the Eleven Point Canoe Rental. We have 8 Old Town Discovery 169s for sale. They range in price from $200-$300. 417-778-6497 if you are interested.

Did guide trips Sat and today and did real well both days. This is the lowest the river has been in 2 years though. I have noticed better hook up rates with 5x over 4x lately, but on a given day if they are on...it might not be a big deal. Today my trip started with a trout, then a 14 inch smallie, 9 inch goggle eye, 20 inch pickerel, hog sucker, trout, then sucker, then trout the rest of the day. What a crazy, but cool way to start the day.

Our real low and say Crane creek low are very different. Our river is plenty big and the fish don't seem to be unduly stressed, just spookier and a little harder to catch. You should be fine and be able to get into some fish.

The water down here is getting very low and clear, but no problems floating from Greer downstream. It has affected the fishing though. The fish are a little spooky and I have started using 5x tippet, which I almost never do. Still catching fish though, just have to work a little harder. Been guiding a lot lately and seeing thick BWO hatches in the mornings, not that anything has been rising to it. Olive hare's ears have been producing in the mornings lately though. Did real well with it yesterday in the AM. The water is dropping out fast and we really need some rain here.

In my neck of the woods, I enjoy the hex hatch on the Eleven Point and Spring rivers, though I get more top water activity on the Spring during that hatch. Fished a salmon fly hatch out west once and I have to say that is the best hatch I ever fished.

Took Earl and Bob, from Jeff City and St. Louis respectfully, out in the drift boat. They caught lots of fish, close to 50. They fished a white 1/16th oz marabou jig under an indicator with 6 wt 9ft rods almost all day. There was simply no reason to change, the fish were all over it. They had 2 fat 18 inchers and another fat 20 incher. Great day with a couple of real nice guys. Guiding Wed through Fri and will let everyone know how that goes as well.

Now that canoe traffic has slowed considerably, my busy guide season has gotten under way and the fishing has been very good. The number of fish in the river is solid right now and they are feeding well. The rainbows should continue feeding well up through Oct in preparation of the Nov spawn. The hot flies as of now and probably will continue through Oct are Stoneflies (Pat's rubber leg has been great), prince nymphs, squirrel nymphs, eggs, 1/16th oz marabou jigs, Don's crawdad and anything meaty. Also been throwing a few streamers, particularly big articulated ones, in low light situations. Been throwing them to cover, like weed beds in slow water and getting a few pickerel. Been casting a few, with a sink tip, upstream and letting them sink into deep holes as they drift downstream and stripping them out and catching a few. The most effective method is still fishing deep with a nymph rig using the above mentioned list of flies. As the month of Oct ends, and hopefully the water rises a little, start looking for fish to be hanging out just below shallow gravelly areas with current. Basically spawning like waters. Look off drop-offs from these shoals with some current. Pre-spawn fish may be staging in these areas and provide good action. Then comes the spawn sometime in Nov, depending on weather. If you spot spawning fish, please think twice about fishing to any on Redds, as they are stressed. A hooked female will loose a lot of eggs on your waders and everywhere but the redd. She will be very tired to begin with and could be played to death. That said, you can do well fishing a little downstream with eggs catching all the fish waiting for an easy meal coming from the redd. Fishing looks good this fall and then before you know it, winter trout and smallmouth fishing begins.

No surprises really. Lots of 11-15 inch fish with some bigger 20 inch + thrown in there as well. Population looks good now.

Just a reminder to any interested fly fishers: Our annual Fall Fly-Flingers event is coming up on 23 October. Good fishing, good friends, good food, and a chance to win some cool gear all while raising money for TU! Send us an email or give us a call for more details or to confirm a spot. Fish ON! www.11pointcanoe.com

Nice report, glad you had a good time. Which ones were you guys?

They shocked up every species you mentioned except walleyes, which they never really do between Greer and Turner. They were only collecting trout this time out.

I generally like to give the fish about two days before I hit an area that has been shocked because of the stress put on the fish by the shocking. By Sat they should be biting well again I would hope. Sounds like you found a girdle bug, which I have started carrying lately and it has shown pretty good results. Glad you did well with it. We found more young of the year trout in this years sample than I have seen in a number of years going along with the electroshock crew. It was what I thought might happen as we have been catching some all summer.