Brian Sloss

Cane Bluff to Riverton is floatable right now, though the water is up. Still, it is fine if you can handle a canoe. Cane Bluff to Greer looks awesome right now. Next week they are supposed to clear Thomasville to Cane Bluff. If they do, I'd do that as the water looks great up there right now. The access point at Thomasville is shot, I'd pull off at the gravel road between the Middle Fork and 11 pt. and stop immediately and unload and put in the Middle Fork and float 100 yards down to the 11pt. The access point road is horrible. Turner South is in very rough shape too and so is Cane Bluff, though you can park at the upper lot and walk down to the river.

Greer down to Riverton is clear enough for boat or canoe traffic, though you must go around the left side of the first island below the Greer boat ramp. The river is still quite high, but experienced floaters should able to handle themselves as long as they are cautious and don't make any silly decisions. Fishing will be tough until the water comes down some more, but the sloughs can be productive (ie stair-step hole for pickerel, bass and occasionally a trout---first island below Greer). Calling the forest service tomarrow to see if they are going to start clearing the upper river this week as the water looks great up at Thomasville, but there are some nasty blockages now. I'll be allowing experienced people out in my canoes starting this week, assuming the water continues downward.

I would feel more comfortable selling it when you can see it in person, that way there is no confusion and you can personally inspect the boats. If they are still around in mid May, I will be happy to sell it to you then.

I am not going to NW Arkansas anytime soon, sorry. The 169 is 16ft 9inches and the 179 is 17ft 9inches. Call me if you have any interest.

I've got a few Old Town canoes for sale. Green discovery 169s that we are taking out of the canoe rental fleet. Looking at between $200-250 depending on the boat you choose. Will listen to different offers though. My phone # 417-778-6497.

Are you buying or selling? If buying, I could help you out. Let me know.

Don, Barring any more bad rains, the first weekend of May should be fine. Brian Sloss

If you are going in a couple of weeks, then they may well fix the roads by then. Turner south has been damaged for sure. The rest are fine though I have not been to McDowell access or Turner north since the floods.

there are not going to be a heck of a lot gravel bars exposed right now. Also, there won't be a lot of other campers, if any. Cane Bluff has taken some damage, you'll want a truck to deal with some ruts in the road.

I would camp at Greer, where hwy 19 crosses the river. Wading will be a challenge and might not be doable. That is the blue ribbon trout area though. If it is too high, you could probably go up river to Thomasville and wade fish for smallmouth or go to McCormick lake or falling spring lake to fish smallmouth and pickerel. They are both close to Greer and you can camp at McCormick if you want.

There is no rain in the forcast for the upcoming week, which is a relief. Hopefully, if the water goes down quick enough, experienced floaters may be able to get out on the river by next weekend or during the week following that weekend.

The above suggestion is solid, but it depends on what you are looking for and how seriously you plan to fish and what you want to target. If you strictly want trout, I'd say Greer to Riverton as Snap said. But if you want to have a day that is strictly smallmouth, I'd start above Greer at Cane Bluff, should be plenty of water this year. Then go down to Whitten covering the blue ribbon trout and just under half of the white ribbon trout water (which does have smallmouth as well). If you wanted to move a little faster, you could add 8 miles and go down to Riverton and finish the rest of the trout water. Feel free to call me at 417-778-6497 if you want to discuss details or ask questions. Brian Sloss

Just holler when you are ready to go and we would be happy to shuttle you. As for us we had some vehicle damage and a canoe rack busted. There were those that got it worse than us though. Let's hope it stays dry for a while.

It is great smallmouth water and there should be plenty of water this year. Mostly private land until Cane Bluff, though you can camp at Denny Hollow on the upper stretch. Cane Bluff to Greer is really good smallmouth water as well. Thomsville down to Greer is about 17 miles, which can take a while if fishing.

3-3.5ft the fishing might be ok, though challenging. If you are experienced you can float at just over 4ft, but this year I'd wait until reports have come in, to ensure that there are no blockages out there.

It will be doable in a couple of weeks I hope, but who the hell knows really. I've had enough of this spring, we canoed right past the front porch today and I am not being sarcastic. John, I did get the letter and look forward to the festivities.

Flooded again. Not just the river this time. We had waist deep water in our parking lot and chest high in the campground. We had an emergency evacuation of vehicles and boats and trailers. The near by creek got us good. Never seen water like that here at the shop. Check the gauge if you want to see what is happening to the river right now. This is getting plain stupid, enough with the rain already.

The Eleven Point is 1 smallie at 15 inches throughout the river, but if you want a meal, goggle eye are 8 inches and 15 fish. As for catfish, you will need to go to the Arkansas side or the lowest parts of MO. otherwise you could hit McCormick or Forsche lakes in the area.

If we don't get hit very hard this week, I'll be taking the kayak out on another stretch of river to see if it is clear. Hopefully the usfs will be able to clear the river some next week as well if the water continues down.

Check the river reports thread, I posted a report from floating the Thomasville stretch. Been too high since then.

Actually, I own what used to be Wood's Canoe Rental, now called Eleven Point Canoe Rental. He retired and sold out in 2000 and Ryan Griffin and I bought the second owners out in April of '04. Don and Judy live right around the corner and Don still fishes the river quite a bit.

A couple of forest service guys stopped by today and they are getting organized to start cleaning up the access points and dangerous log jams along the river as soon as the river levels allow, they say within a couple of weeks. Probably starting at the top and working their way down. This is good news, they seem to be right on top of the situation.

That canoe rental is currently owned by Mike and Wendy Jones. There are still lots of Hufstedlers in the area.

The Beatles staying on the river is absolutely true. They stayed at the Pigman ranch, which currently has 5 miles of river frontage (under easement today) just downtream of Riverton. Their pilot's family when they were touring America, owned the ranch and he invited them to stay there when they had a 2 week break in their schedule so they could get away from the crowds. They took him up on the offer and stayed about 10 days until people stated to sneak up to the house to peek in on them. They rode horses, motorcycles, and floated the river I think. They rehearsed in the old boat house on the river. The ranch goes up sale now and then by auction and they always bring out the pics of the Beatles enjoying the ranch. Pretty cool trivia for the area if you ask me.

The latest edition of Missouri life has a nice article about the history of the Irish Wilderness you might want to check out. Did you know that the Mary Decker Shoals area is supposed to be haunted, at least that is what I have heard. A civil war union soldier from an Iowa reg. supposedly fell off the upstream side of what was the logging dam there in the winter. His brother stayed around a few days waiting for the body to surface, but it never did. I've never seen any evidence of the ghost, but that is the jist of the story that I heard. If it is not true, I don't want to know because I like the story. They have recovered musket balls in the river over the years and a good part of a riffle was found at Mary Decker shoals.