Brian Sloss

Phil, Sorry you couldn't make it, but I look forward to when you can. I'll try to fish with you when you can make it. The fall would be a great time. Maybe you could get down here during our fly flingers weekend in late Oct. Check the fly flingers post, the fishing will be great that time of year. Brian

Took a father and son from Memphis through the blue ribbon area today in the drift boat for a guide trip. This was the first day that the river starting looking good enough to fish after all the rains we had. The river was still up about a foot and running about twice its normal pace and a little off color. The fishing was still a little off, but we were still able to get into some fish in less than optimum circumstances. Heavily weighted stones and MOATs with crawdad droppers fished deep was the only method that worked. We had a few in the 15-16 inch range and some in the 10-13 inch range too. Fishing should continue to get better over the weekend.

The river is cresting at about 1 & 3/4ft above normal (not too high) and is moving at a good clip right now. We are not expecting any rain through the weekend and the river should continue to recede. The water was pretty brown above Greer today, but that was the condition when the big fish mentioned above was caught. Greer spring is dumping some clear water into the river now, so it is murky below Greer, but not as bad as upstream. The trout fishing will be tough for a while the water recedes a little, but the smallies have been biting pretty good even in these conditions. Crankbaits have been most effective in the murky water.

We are in the early stages of planning our second annual fly flingers weekend down at the Eleven Point and wanted some input. We are thinking Oct. 20-22 and wanted to see what the interest was for that weekend. The tentative plan is for people to arrive on Friday the 20th and fish on their own if they get in town early enough and that evening have a get together (boyb) at the shop where we would be happy to go over maps and give tips on fishing the river. Sat. float and fish the blue ribbon section (a portion of any canoe rentals to go to TU) followed by a free BBQ and raffle (probably a rod, flies, etc) benefiting TU. Sunday those who want to float again anywhere on the river can do that or you can go wade fish, hike to Greer spring or whatever. We want to keep everything fun and raise a little money for TU. We can help with lodging or camping needs as well. The only conflict we see is Turkey season will be in its last week, though by then the hunting has ussually wound down around here

We are in the early stages of planning our second annual fly flingers weekend down at the Eleven Point and wanted some input. We are thinking Oct. 20-22 and wanted to see what the interest was for that weekend. The tentative plan is for people to arrive on Friday the 20th and fish on their own if they get in town early enough and that evening have a get together (boyb) at the shop where we would be happy to go over maps and give tips on fishing the river. Sat. float and fish the blue ribbon section (a portion of any canoe rentals to go to TU) followed by a free BBQ and raffle (probably a rod, flies, etc) benefiting TU. Sunday those who want to float again anywhere on the river can do that or you can go wade fish, hike to Greer spring or whatever. We want to keep everything fun and raise a little money for TU. We can help with lodging or camping needs as well. The only conflict we see is Turkey season will be in its last week, though by then the hunting has ussually wound down around here.

Had some guys float Cane bluff to Greer to hunt smallmouth. The water was high and pretty murky, but they still managed a fair number of fish. Grubs were not working, but crank baits were. They landed one trophy sized smallie. It measured almost 19 inches and they estimated its weight between 3 & 4lbs before letting it swim away. That is all for now.

There is no way what so ever to know that the way the fish was handled caused his death. The fish was released over a month ago and judging by its size, was plenty old. Fish can die of old age too and I think this was the case. If that fish was to die of poor handling, I doubt it would have taken 1-2 months.

Are you kidding me!

Definitely call DNR and see if it is legal. If it is and you want to stop it, I'll sign the petition. Also, check with groups like trout unlimited and the smallmouth allience to get their 2 cents. They may be able to help or at least point you in the right direction.

This forum wouldn't be here without you Phil...thanks are well earned.

knock'm dead and tell us about it.

I had 3 guys float from Cane Bluff to Greer to target the smallies and goggle eye. I know this is a report that is long overdue, since I'm always chasing trout. They said that over 2 days they had about 100 fish between them, with smallmouth ranging up to 16 inches and a goggle eye of 11 inches. The action was fast and furious on soft plastic grubs. They didn't tell me exactly which ones they used, but I know they bought some beetle spins. Bass hunters take note and get out on the river, because they are biting.

I'm displaced Mid-Miissourian living by the trout now. Where in Mid-Missouri are you from?

So, if they were ever able to get to control the amount of water released from the dam, they would be able to produce an atmosphere that allowed natural reproduction most years? i don't know, any thoughts? Think of the stress that could be taken off the hatchery to produce fish, especially during drought years like we've been having. If Tany could produce even 15-20k fish without the hatchery a year, you could increase the number of fish in Tany and even produce some extras for other fisheries since production has been down at the other hatcheries for a couple of years. Also, the hatchery improvements they are adding around the state are supposed to improve production. Think of the win-win situation all these things could provide for all the trout fisheries in Missouri. I'm rambling and dreaming I guess.

What do you like to fish for? If you like river fishing for trout and smallmouth and like rural living, consider the West Plains area. From West Plains you are 30 minutes or so from the Eleven Point (trout, smallmouth, goggle eye, walleye, & pickerel), North Fork of the White (trout, smallmouth, white bass), Spring River (trout), Bryant creek (smallmouth). Also, Lake Norfork is under an hour (upper lake more like 30 minutes) and Norfork tailwater and the White River are within an hour. West Plains is a town of 10,000 and there are lots of smaller towns in the area. Real estate is very rasonable and the taxes are great. Lots of good deer and turkey hunting as well. Just alternative I thought I'd mention.

A regular down here, John Kern, caught and released a 24-26 inch, 5-7 pound rainbow on Friday. I was fishing in the area as well (blue ribbon), but left about 20 minutes before the hook up. A local fisherman had to net the fish and verifies his large size. He was caught on a size 8 prince nymph heavily weighted with tungston. His exact location is somewhere in the blue ribbon area, that is all I can say by fishing law. Happy hunting if you decide to look for him.

I said it before and I'll say it again, I'm worried about our outfield and relief pitching (Izzy in particular). Co Cards. Woops, suposed to be in the Cards thread.

I had a couple of Columbia, MO guys, Mike and Lynn, come down for a guide trip today and it was a good day. I guided Mike last year and it was good to see him again; it was a pleasure to spend the day with both gentlemen. The upper section of the blue ribbon area has been fishing rather slow as of late, but we got fish right away, so that was good. Lynn got a smallie on a brown wooly bugger before we got to the first shoal. At island 1, we got 3 trout so I was happy considering it had been fishing rather slow previously. From there down we picked up fish not only in the shoals, but in some of the deeper slower water as well. We nymphed deep with MOATs, Stoneflies, Don's Crawdads, rubber legged hairs ears, and poxy back sparrow nymphs. We caught fish on all of these. I don't have exact numbers, but plenty were caught and more culd have been caught. The fish were taking softly and some premature hook sets cost us some more fish. The weather was nice with cloud cover and a little drizzle in the morning. Dogwoods were in bloom everywhere, making for a great day with light traffic. I enjoyed my day very much. We had a few fish in the 15-16 range. Below are some photo highlights of our day. Here are the other 2 pics from above

It looks like there will be a Wrigley comparison to be made. With the low outfield wall to give the view of the Arch, if the wind is blowing in it will be a pitchers park. If it is blowing out, then it is a hitters park. The outfielders are having sun fighting issues during day games, which favors hitters. The dementions seem very fair for todays standards. All in all looks like a good stadium in my book, but I won't be able to say for sure without a trip to the park myself. Brain

They are putting in new toilets at the float camps soon, supposedly. We will see if the forest service does soon enough.

I got out at the 160 bridge at Riverton (white ribbon area) for about an hour in the evening. Caught 8 fish and after the forth started to notice rising trout. Yes dry fly on the Eleven Point. MDC stocked some small surplus fish this past month (hard to believe we had any given hatchery outputs the past couple of years). Regular stocking in the white ribbon area begins this month. Anyway, I put on a blue winged olive and caught 4 more before I left. All were small, but it was on a dry fly, which is rare down here and worth a mention.

I am not saying don't kill the cat if he is posing a real danger, but just seeing one it should be left alone and reported to MDC even if they won't asknowledge it was a cougar. With enough reports they will have to to admit they are here someday and then they will hopefully start an education program that will keep people safer. If the population gets bigger in Missouri, then I hope they eventually will have a hunting season because I agree that with our population, we can only support so much of this animal before humans and cougars will have confrontations.

A cougar was hit by a car and killed in Callaway county near my home town of Fulton (not far from Cloumbia and Jeff. City) on Hwy 54 maybe 5-6 years ago. There was an article in the Columbia Tribune. They determined he was wild and had game in his belly. they did a DNA test and determined he was from the Rocky Mountains. Whether he traveled that far or whether he got here over a couple of generations was not known. They are here, but not in big numbers is my opinion. I don't know if I agree with the shoot on sight reaction I have heard on this board. Seems like a knee jerk reaction to me. There are cougars down here in Oregon County (in small numbers at best) and lots of cattle and the ranchers and they are not report loosing cattle to the cats. As for the cougars being a danger to people, they want nothing to do with us. I spent a whole summer in Colorado in an area where cougars were thick and never saw one and all the locals told me I likely never would. They didn't want to be near us they said. Now if the population gets bigger, then I believe we need to use hunting as a management tool, so encounters with cougars are kept rare. My 2 cents.

Tough to see the Cards waste a very good start for Carpenter. Worst yet was the humble pie I have to eat around the shop (my business partner is Cubs fan) because we have lost the first series of the year. I'm sure I'll have the last laugh as usual though. I'm still nervous about our outfield.

I can't say what a boat slip should go for, I have no idea. That being said, if he won't give you a firm price then I would not do business with him. My guess is he wants to sucker you in to a very high priced boat slip or is too poorly organized to have this info figured out. Either way it would make me nervous. Just my 2 cents, I could be all wrong, but I'm sure these new developments are not cheap and if it were my money, I would expect full disclosure about every aspect of what and how much for what I am buying.