cnr

I took a complete plunge on a Steelhead stream in Michigan in March. The water was up and stained and I could not see the bottom. Having fished this section many times I was a little cocky wading down stream and stepped into a hole that went completely over my head, one step I was knee deep and the next I was bobbing down stream. My buddies thought it was hilarious to see my hat floating and me disappear in one step. Sure did make me a little more cautious after that! It's inevitable for all of us stream junkies to take dip eventually. Why does it always seem to happen in Winter?

Nice pics, makes me want to go fishing. Okay, I gotta ask. What's MFU?

In the St Louis area the footing depth is 30" minimum on undisturbed soil. Actually there is no Permafrost in this area. Permafrost is defined as soil at or below the freezing point of water (0 °C or 32 °F) for two or more years. What you are looking for is the frostline which is the depth to which the groundwater in soil is expected to freeze. Since Springfield is in southern Missouri the depth for footings may be shallower, your local county or city building department will be your best source of doing it correctly.

Coolest fish I didn't catch: Tarpon at boatside in Boca Grande eaten by a Hammerhead shark. Fish estimated at 150lb by the guide, shark bit it completely through the middle and left me with just a head. Scared the heck outta me! Funnest fish I have caught: Steelhead hands down, nothing swims in freshwater that can compare IMO. Had one break me off by jumping 3 feet up into a low overhanging tree. Small stream and big rainbows are a blast!!!

I think you may be right on target with your plan. I don't think we have had any decent high flows on the upper Current in many months. Seems like the Brownies would be out taking advantage of the extra current to feed a little. Good luck!!!

Are you looking for website ideas? I am a website creative director and may be able to help you out. I really think OAF is a great resource and if I can give back to you a little that would be great. The service you provide to us anglers is really valuable and much appreciated.

I think that may be about perfect. I bet it will be around 2ft by then (my favorite level is 1.75 to 2). Wading is harder but the fish seem more eager. Good luck, I may hit the stream myself if I can get a pass from the wife!

Happy Turkey day to you and your family Mr Joe. We need to get on the water soon and chase some big browns!

Here's a good size to view.

If you are willing to go into Arkansas then Crooked Creek would be a good option. There are no commercial canoe outfitters and the creek holds a good population of smallmouth. The one time I floated it we only saw 2 people in 3 days of fishing.

Seems like that water temperature would be perfect for spawning. I am sure someone out there would know what the optimal temp would be for the smallies to spawn at. Of course they probably don't all spawn at the same time so the fish will be in various stages right now. Either way I am sure they are close to nesting areas right now. Would you say most are in the quiet back eddies close to some sort of structure?

When I was on the river Monday it was running about 2.25 on the Montauk gauge, I don't think you could get a canoe under that tree, but I was wading and not floating. Good luck and enjoy!

Just a so you know, there is a tree down a little ways below the baptist access that lays completely across the river. It is .5 miles below the launch and is at the first gravel bar you see on the left. The water moves fairly swiftly into it so watch out when you see gravel on your left side and pull over to the left to drag around it. I fished this area on Monday and had a very good outing, a lot of quality browns were caught between my fishing partner and myself.

What about us wading anglers? Any thoughts on that?

The light show was very cool though!

I thought the vocals were terrible. Great band but they just don't have it anymore.

Catching trout on a dry sure is a lot of fun, congrats on a good day. For woolly buggers I am sure there are a lot of ways to fish them and each person has their favorite. I like to dead drift them and then give them small strips back on the swing, or cast across and slightly down and just let the fly dead drift and swing back. Seems like I get a lot of hits on the swing this way. Try a few different ways and let the fish tell you what they want.

http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?07064440 If you are talking about the level at this gauge that is right outside the park I would say anything less than 2 feet is still wadeable if you know the river. Some spots may be hard to cross and require a little backtracking.

http://www.walleyesunlimitedusa.org/documents/hook_removal_technique.pdf I did a search and found this link, it is probably the same one.

I think I may have to add a few LC Slender Pointer 112's to my box, I can't let JoeD get the upper hand on me. Sometimes the most expensive part of a fishing trip is the few days before I go! My wife has no idea how much money can be in that little Cabela's bag I bring home!

So should anyone selling cars for a living be offended by the Ford truck being sold in this forum also? What if I tied a few hundred flies up and offered them for sale, would that be okay to sell even though it competes against the fly shops? I definitely have Brian's back on this subject. Capitalism is what makes this country great and if you start restricting the ability of people to exercise it what happens then? I use the fly shops and give them a fair amount of business but I also need to find a good deal. Instead of taking this as a negative situation one of the fly shops could step up and match his price or offer assistance to setup the line if they buy xx$ of merchandise. You are never going to stop the horse trading that goes on but you sure could use it as leverage to gain more sales. If you are willing to adapt and take advantage of the situation it could turn into a positive situation.

Since this is a spring fed stream it really does not fluctuate the same way other waterways do, the closer you are to the spring head the more constant the temperature is year round. I don't believe the temp varies too much from the summer to the winter up in the park. There are some seasonal hatches that differ through the year but generally the water is much the same IMO. I bet someone on here would know the temperature variance between seasons.

Brian Would you say the egg fly bite has improved with the spawning going on?

I would add one more suggestion. If you see any redds in the area you are fishing make sure you stay on the upstream side of them. The eggs drift into and below the redd the spawning fish are using. One wrong step could kill hundreds of future fish!

Thanks for the info Gavin, sorry I missed you. I like the tight wobble of the Rapala but think I will invest in a few LCs to have some other options. I like to fly-fish mostly but have been giving the hardbaits a try this year to see if I can connect with a fish you measure in pounds not inches. I know they're around but I still haven't connected with one yet. I probably need to be out a little earlier than 10 too!