sean c

Rick for the Durango guided trip I would do a guided float on the rio grande should be big dries that time of year. Sounds like a great trip enjoy.

I'm with Ham when I think of overnight smallie trip neither river come to mind but that's not saying it's not worth doing or that you can't and it's actually something I want to do just haven't gotten around to it. I would need to go in the spring I need pretty good flow to get my boat down the upper and I wouldn't want to deal with floaters. Everyday of the summer from Hammond down you will deal with floaters, on the Bryant the accesses can fill up with locals on the weekends.

Mark you will likely not be harassed by land owners and you certainly won't be harassaed by the "resorts" they are well aware of the stream access laws and the importance of them to their canoe rental business. I have never had an unpleasant experience with a property owner on the river and have only heard of a few and those usually involved new home owners on the river who didn't understand Missouri stream access rights and drunks. Also it's the trout water where the private property is I'm guessing 2/3rds of what your talking about floating isn't.

A new bridge would be great but I'm sure that's out of MDC's control also if there was ever a new bridge built having a ramp on either side during construction would be nice. I personally don't see a real need for an upstream ramp but it would be easy given they own the land and already have a parking lot and it would take some pressure off the existing Patrick and Blair accesses. Personally I think what they are doing to Hammond is completely unnecessary it was just fine it's not how I would spend money on the river but I'm sure they are limited to what they can do but any money spent on the river by MDC is a good thing. Now if they were to buy property farther down stream to put in another access that's something I could get behind.

An upstream take out would be good as long as we don't lose the downstream takeout. Honestly it doesn't seem to be a heavily used access mainly locals and driftboat guys losing downstream access would suck in a major way. Safer absolutely no question.

I think you can I don't take my motor off my towee when I float it. Not sure why you would want to you wouldn't make it very far up or down from any of the accesses.

Wow great pics flysmallie thank you.

I put a ix5 on my Towee it is hands down the best trolling motor I have ever owned for fly fishing. The spot lock is amazing especially compared to Minkota not sure how much current you are talking about but I would think 24v would be better if slowing down in current is your main need

I have no idea what will happen to the trout population long term if the dam is removed but neither does TU or Shawn Taylor. I know there has been a hole in it for a number of years there have been stripers in the river and from a fishing perspective the trout population is just fine in my experience. That doesn't mean long term if the dam is removed the trout population won't be severely impacted. In my opinion the MDC should own the dam and repair and maintain it or remove it based on what's best for the river long term it seems from the outside looking in the decision is being made based on what's the quickest and most cost effective solution to remove the the hazard based on the terrible tragedy that happened this summer. I don't understand the dirty politics that go on behind the scene on these types of deals but it seems to me everyone involved or that has a financial stake in this deal is missing the point. Sad really.

Agreed. You will likely get down any of those rivers safely in your drifter but learning how to actually row is a whole different story it's best learned from someone who actually knows what they are doing. If you don't have any friends with rowing experience hire a driftboat guide for a day just to see how it's done I did that and it shortened the learning curve considerably.

Boat is sold but still have trolling motor for sale: Minn Kota pro drive v2 I pilot 12volt 45 lb thrust 48" shaft with quick release bracket $500. Chris has first dibbs. Sean

Not sure of its benefits in rivers I mainly use mine lake fishing make sure you try before you buy. I have one on a 15 foot Jon just got a new boat and debating if I want to keep it or get rid of it. I have been pretty underwhelmed with mine it's annoyingly noisy the spot lock function isn't as tight as I expected it to be and it is a bit quirky. I'm really too impatient to learn and use some of the other features even though they seem like they might be beneficial so the jury is still out. I will probably mount it to my new boat dedicate one more season to it and really give it a chance but if it's more of the same I'm going back to a bow mounted tiller and if my main use for a trolling motor was on rivers it certainly wouldn't be my first choice.

Worth every penny another top notch place! Just wish I could get a beverage there or that it was open a little later tough on the fishing schedule but excellent grub.

Yeah back 40 I love that that place ham can see a person having a bad experience there though. Pretty much all Mexican food is good with the exception of Lettie's but for an Okie it's just the same ol same ol

Meh Mexican food is Mexican food never been. What's the barn place just down the street? I like that joint too. Good burgers cold beer.