Brian Sloss

David, Just got back in town. Glad your Sat went well anyway. Yes there are wild trout in limited numbers. Island 3 below greer being one of the likely areas to catch them as are Mary Decker shoals (the boulders) and Little Huricane shoals. Winter is a great time to be here as the fishing is ussally good. By late summer the better fishing is below Turner Mill, but then the blue ribbon picks up around Oct again through the winter. Of course the fall stocking really helps in that regard. Hope you can get down this way again.

JD, I'd love to hear more of those stories. We don't get enough naked female fly fishers around here anymore. Stop by sometime, I own the old Wood's canoe rental you used to stop at. I think the biologist you are looking for is Jon Ackerson and he works out of the West Plains office. Nice guy and will answer any questions. Dave Mayer was the biologist before Jon. What I highly recommend is going on an electro-shock trip. We go along every Sept. and would enjoy having another along for the ride. You learn a lot and you have the biologist's ear all day.

MDC stocks them from Riverton to the Arkansas line, though they have found that a good number of them end up running downstream to Arkansas. You can find them between Riverton and Arkansas, but above Riverton is not likely. That is not to say it is impossible, just not likely and it would be a long day if you wnet above Riverton to target them.

Brian, After rading your report, I went fishing on the 11 Pt (not trying to drag another river into your section) and when I got to the river I remembered your report and had 1 golden on me, so I put it on with a dropper to see if I'd get the same results you did over there. Well, the second cast produced a chunky 15 incher that when I reached down to release by grabbing the fly and not the fish, kicked as soon as I popped the fly out of his mouth and his tail got hooked by my dropper. By that time I was holding the leader and the whole rig was lost. Thanks for the report, just wish I'd have brought more goldens. By the way, I've got a friend with a cabin by McKee bridge and we are hoping to go over there for some fishing this winter sometime if you are interested in meeting up while we are there. Don't know when, but will let you know when we do.

I've been fishing the 11 Pt since the mid to late 80's. The smallmouth in the blue ribbon area are numerous as proven to me on the last 3 electro shock trips I've taken through there. They are stocking about 6300 trout every fall in the blue ribbon area and the smallmouth are still numerous and of good size. The smallmouth populations are very good as well from Turner to Riverton and they are stocking trout about weekly in the summertime and farily regularly during the rest of the year. I think the 1 smallie @ 15 inches has really helped the population throughout the river. I agree that Cane bluff to Greer is the best and that below 160 is very good as well. All I was saying, is that the Blue ribbon area should not be ignored because of bait restrictions. I also agree that the lower trout area has been producing good sized trout, helped in recent years by the release of "lunkers" by the Mdc in that section. I'd like to see more big trout in the blue ribbon area, but they are there. Just not as many as I'd like to see, but hopefully that will come to pass soon if everyone follows the regs. and the fish that are there are given the chance to grow. I personnally have not kept a fish out of the 11 Point in over 10 years. A side note, this years stocked fish have the adapose (sp) fin clipped and the previous years were right one year and left the other year pectoral fins.

I think your limit is right, but as for eating; there are those who do eat them, but they are awfully boney. I've never eaten them, so I don't know how they taste.

Just a quick note, from the confluence of the spring to the 19 bridge has lots of trout as well.

No soft plastic or scented baits. No live or synthetic baits. 1 smallie @ 15 inches is the limit everywhere on the river. If you look up the blue ribbon trout regs., that will let you know exactly what is and isn't legal in case I left something out. Give it a try between Greer and Turner sometime, there are some nice smallies there.

I took a couple of guide trips this past weekend and also got to see first hand some of the changes to the river from the flood. Just above the 19 bridge, we have a tree almost entirely accross the river. At Turner Mill there is a tree all the way accross the river that you need to portage around and the boat ramp on the South side is covered with a gravel bar. There are new holes and new shallower areas through out the blue ribbon area. The flood did a job on the river. So how was the fishing? On Saturday, I took Andy and Jeff fly fishing from Greer to Turner and they caught between 20 & 30 fish (didn't keep count)with 1 being a smallie. The water was about a foot higher than normal and the flow of the river was fast (about 1000 cfs). That meant heavy flies. The rig to use that day was a heavy stonefly with an egg dropper. The seams between fast and slow water were key, as were drop-offs in the shoals. All and all a good day with a couple of funny KC guys. Sunday I took Gary and Ferrel from Kentucky out for a day of spin fishing from Greer to Turner. They wanted to catch a little of everything. Spin fishermen often ignore the blue ribbon area because they can't use soft plastics and that is a mistake. There are very good smallies there. We caught similar numbers to the previous day, but we caught just about as many smallies and pickerel as we did trout. Smaller deep diving crank baits that looked like crawdads were most effective. We found trout in the same areas as the day before and fished slower waters and sloughs for smallies and pickerel. A good day with good company.

You can find spawning rainbows in the 11 Point from Nov. - April as a rule. I was told once by the MDC and I may be mistaken, but the fall spawners were probably the McCloud strain rainbows (crossed with hatchery fish) they put in like 15 years ago. Over the years when they didn't stock, the McCloud DNA seemed to come to the forefront and that they were spawning from Nov. (fall) through the winter. I have come accross spawning wild fish since Nov. of this year and that has also been my experience in the past. I have found fish with clipped fins (hatchery trying to spawn) all the way through spring. That is not to say there are no McClouds reproducing in the spring, I just have not come accross any yet.

We have trout that spawn in the fall, generally the McCloud strain, and those that spawn in through the spring. I've been told a reason for our relatively smaller success rate the last few years in spawning was the lack of fall floods to wash the gravel. Well if this flood didn't wash the gravel, I don't know what will.

We crested at just over 12 ft and are at just over about half that now. It is coming down fast but will be high for a little while now. It will be intersting to see what changes the water caused. Also, I wonder if this will help or hurt the spawn.

It is over 11ft now and still on the rise. Here is a picture from the Riverton bridge (160). The pic is from the West side looking to the East. Notice how the boat ramp and canoe launch are under water. No fishing for a while I guess.

Just got back from checking the 11 Pt river at Greer. It is out of its banks. The parking lot is under water as is part of the campground. Don't come this way to fish for a while folks. Wish I had a camera with me.

Alton, Mo got 0 inches of snow and no ice to speak of. My friends and family in mid-mo got 17 inches. That being said, the river here is up about 7 ft. according to the computer. Have not had a chance to go witness for myself.

I've got a 7 month old yellow lab and I'd like to take him fishing. Until recently he never really showed much interest in leaving my side, but now he is getting bolder and constantly swiming in my fishing hole. I don't want to discourage his swimming, I just want him to stay out of my hole until I'm done. He is fine in the boat, but when we get out to wade he can get in the way. Does anyone have a dog that fishes with them and how is the best way to train them to behave at the fishing hole?

On Sunday the 26th I took Dan and Dean from Columbia out in the drift boat. Dan had purchased the guide trip at the Mid-Mo Tu banquet where I donated a guide trip for the charity. Both were super nice guys and I'm glad they enjoyed themselves. The fish were biting pretty well as long we were getting down to them. Eggs and the bitch creek were working the best. Dan was an experienced fly fisher and landed well in the double digits. Dean was on his 2nd trip fly fishing and first time outside the trout park. Though Dean landed slightly fewer than Dan, He was well into the double digits as well. From the 1st island down, we were catching fish pretty regularly. Dean caught a beautiful wild male at the first island, which is rare as that is not a wild trout stronghold like Mary Decker or Little Huricane shoal. Anyway, just about everywhere we thought we'd get a fish we got one. The exceptions were the back side of island 3 and Little Huricane Shoal. The water may have been too swift to get down as well as we probably needed to. We even had a fish to release at the boat ramp as we were pulling in to end the day. A good time was had by all. Today I got out for about an hour with my 7mth old yellow lab at Graveyard hollow (island 1). Considering Finn has finally decided that labs do love to swim and is getting with the program, I was happy with the four fish I landed. Not bad with an excited puppy swimming through your hole constantly. For now I'm happy he is enjoying the water, but soon he will have to be trained to stay out of the water until the fishing is done. It was nice to get out, as we are expecting very cold temps. by tonight with some possible freezing rain. Finn diving off the hillside into my hole

Pictures don't turn out well with my skills or camera, but it is an easy tie, though not a pretty fly. Size 6 hook. Black thread. First put on a larger Tungston bead followed by 2 smaller ones. Put on a rubber tail in brown or black. Using peacock dubbing, come up from the tail a little and add a pair of rubber legs. Dubbing a little further up from those legs and add another pair just below the beads. Then add more dubbing covering all but the largest bead and whip finish. Just follow those instructions and you will have a fly that really gets down when the water is above normal and will really dredge the bottom and will pick up fish when you can't get deep enough with other flies. It takes a while to get used to casting the weight and doesn't look like a pretty fly (don't let that bother you because the trout don't care), but it works well, at least on the Eleven Point.

My friend Chrys fisher and his buddy Mike came over from West Plains and we got out for a day on the river Sunday. It was nice to be out fishing in the drift boat for fun rather than work. The conditions were marginal at best. The water was up about 1.25 feet above normal and 1.5 feet above its level a couple of weeks ago. The clarity was decent, which was on our side. The depth and the flow being almost double was working against us. I always throw heavy flies to get deep here, but Sunday you really had to be willing to use some serious weight. After meeting the great white trophy hunter in the Greer parking lot (the oddest man I've met in quite some time, who took hunting and fishing stories to a whole new level of obsurdity), we hit the river. I was worried my friends were going to have a tough day, as neither have done much fly fishing. My fears were put to rest at island one where we had a couple of hook ups. Though we didn't light the world on fire, we did catch fish regularly out of the boat. At every shoal we could wade we stung a couple fish. Mike, being the least experienced, landed the best fish of the day right above Mary Decker. A 16 inch wild beauty, caught and released on OA forums own Superfly's Bitch Creek stonefly. Thanks for the flies Superfly. The aforementioned fly, Don's Crawdad, San Jaun worm, eggs, and the MOAT were the producers. Saw a couple eagles and a good time was had by all.

Cripple caddis, You are right when you point that the fighting continue and that it has been going on for eons. They will in-fight for the rest of my lifetime and probably for generations to come. Whether we are there or not, the fighting will continue. I was raised christian and can't say I've studied the Quran. That being said, I have met a Muslim or two, and worked with one about 10 years ago. He would not have advocated the 911 tragedy or any other terrorist activity. He is Iranian and grew up in MO and desperately wanted peace in the middle east as he still had family in Iran. My point is he never advocated killing anyone. His friends included christians, in fact most of his friends came from a christian tradition. Now my only point was that when you start generalizing about the intentions and beliefs of an entire race or religion, you start down a slippery slope that I refuse to go down. I would not do so when others would generalize about christians, jews, blacks, whites, hindus or anybody. There are numerous denominations in Christianity and that is because there are numerous ways of looking at the Bible. If there were only one perspective on the Bible, there would not be so much disagreement on the messages found within. During the Civil War, the Bible was claimed by both sides. One side owned slaves and yet claimed the Bible was on their side. My point is that you can twist anything to meet your needs if you are fantical enough. And though I have not read the Quran and don't imagine I will, I suspect that is what is being done. It is probably being twisted to fit fantical needs to carry out out horrific deeds. That is what fantics do and have been doing since recorded history. People who know much more about the Quran seem to say this as well. That is all I have to say on the subject. I don't believe in stereotyping.

Crippled Caddis, Do you mean everything you just said? You have just stereotyped every muslim as an intolerant killer if they are devout. Would you want to be judged by the actions of the worst of your religion? I know I don't.

Water is a little up and a little off color still. Fished the park at the waterfall the other day and some small rainbows on an egg dropped off a heavy stonefly.

There is almost always someone who is going to make money off of changes in public policy whether it be tax cuts or funding for different programs. That is what happens in a capitalist society. The question remains, does society benefit a greater good with this legislation? I beleive it does, so I am voting yes. As for an earlier question about emotion dictating ones decision on this matter rather than the facts. Well, whatever side you come down on, in the end it is an emotion based decision. You can't avoid it. If you think that embryonic stem cells are destroying human life even at the earliest stage (fertilization), your emotions and morallity won't let you vote yes. If you draw the line (as Al says) elsewhere and allow for exceptions, you may want to vote yes. I am voting yes. But don't kid yourself, it is an emotion based decision. There are obviously those on this board who know the science better than I (Al and 3wt) and appreciate your input and respect your thoughts. Thanks for the discussion, and vote on the 7th.

I will be trying them out next time I get out. Thanks agian.

Island #4 below Greer on Don's crawdad in about 3 ft of fast water from what I understand.