KCRIVERRAT

Can't wait to see the rest of the video guys. Great reports for each day too! Don't know if I could do a trip like that... hell, it takes me ten or eleven hours to fish the lower three miles of the Jacks Fork!

Hey Kc... guess there's two of us! Good luck fishing!

I most always fish outside the park. In-laws don't like the 4 fish limit any more than they like me!

Howdy laker... yep, and one of those critters is me! When I'm in Shell Knob the in-law's won't let me come home without something for the smoker!

Hey Chief! Still following ya... first half-assed warm weekend me and a bud are heading to the Niangua. Gotta be warm for me, got too much metal in my neck amongst other things. Glad to see you got out... and hey... your reports ain't erroneous! Even if there's not a fish in the picture, the shots of the rivers are priceless! See ya this spring and thanks again for the invite! Oh... by the way... I've floated Flat Creek a few times and there's some nice smallie's in there, along with the great scenery!

Just told the wife... "Honey... you've got to read this post!"

I've caught 3 or 4 fish down at Roaring River with talon marks on them while the bald eagles were in the area.

Way to go Tim! If anybody would treasure a rod like that, It'd be you I would think. I had kidney stones once and asked the wife if this was what labor felt like! Thanks for responding to my posts and like I'd said before, I'll drop in and say hello. Merry Christmas!

Enjoyed your article Silver Mallard. Spent time in Lake City six years ago and the area is absolutely beautiful. Fished Henson Cr. and the Lake Fork before it runs into Lake San Cristabol. I've since found out I have a second cousin who owns and operates a restaurant there but I can't remember the name. Wife and I are going back in '09. Again, thanks for the story and pics...

Hey Al... very informative reading. I've read some of your stuff in Missouri Game & Fish haven't I? I had read some stuff, maybe in the Conservationist, about spots overtaking smallies. A few years back the MDC rated the Big River your best chance to catch a 4# plus smallie. Well, I've been blessed to catch a couple (or three) 4 pounders. Not on the Big though. The two rivers I caught them on don't contain any spots as far as I know. Don't think the habitat would suit the Jacks Fork or North Fork (both flowing south of the plateau). I like Chief's idea to get together and catch some bass. Maybe one of us knows of a family or families that could use the spot fillets we could possibly provide... Good time for a good cause... we'll never catch the deer hunters, but we'd have fun doing it!

Well put Buzz

Man... you guys got my blood runnin' now! Good thing with these wind chills up here. I haven't fished Indian Creek but a friend of mine raves about it. My Dad got me started on rivers when I was a kid down on the Big Sugar. We always camped at a place called Cole's Hole if I remember right. Glad you guys did well and great pics. Wished I could get down there more often... if only my private jet was up and runnin' ! Looking forward to wetting a line with ya in the future... anybody who wears a Mizzou cap is o.k. in my book!

Chief... I will be hookin' up with ya in the future. Wished I could've made it to Capps but R. River was great. Holler at you soon...

No browns Tim. All rainbows 10 to 15 inches. Caught 9 total and was there about an hour and a half, maybe two. Thanks for all your help. I've been in your shop a few times but it's been a while. I'll stop in and say hello and learn a thing or two sometime soon.

I was standing in the river (at the bank) where that little creek comes in under that small bridge between the cemetary and F hwy. No... didn't give her fathers name and like I said, I didn't get hers either. Yep... I've seen the Pryor name everywhere down there. The road, tire store, etc. The agents I talked to were at the hatchery. I mistook that for the office. Guess the office is the building where you buy tags? I'll go to the hatchery again and I'm sure leaning towards fishing there again. If she shows up, maybe these sunglasses will hide my identity!

Fishing was great last Friday. Caught four upstream from the bridge for the smoker back at the lake. River in this area looks the best I've seen it in the last 2 or 3 years. Lots of trout through here. While I was cleaning my fish, had a car come by, with Tennessee plates, twice before stopping. A lady got out and asked me if I knew that I was on private property. I told her no and that I had fished the area for the last 13 years and had on a couple of occasions run into an older gentleman who ran some cattle in there who told me he was the owner and had no problem with me fishing. She told me the man was her father who had passed on. Then she went on to say that times had changed and she didn't want to be the victim of any lawsuits. I agreed with her and told her about the few times I'd been wadeing and had young people on ATV's mess with me or a person along with me. I explained to her also that before I had ever set foot along there 13 years ago, a friend and myself talked to a couple of agents at the park office and were told that yes, we could fish anywhere in the river outside the park. Let her know that I had visited the office many times since and in conversation with the agents about where I fished they never had anything to say but "good luck". Told her also that once while the father-in-law and I were getting our gear on to fish (we were parked at the little pull-off before the first small bridge) two agents drove up and stopped, checked our licenses, then wished us luck. After all this she got a little upset with what the agents at the park had told me and exclaimed, "Those agents just deny it!". She then said she would be going to the park office to try and set them straight again. In the end, my conversation with the lady was amiable and I told her I wouldn't fish there again (to make her happy). She told me thank you for being so nice about it. I do regret not asking her for her name. A dumb oversight by me. Now to any of you who read this... I know I'm not the only one who fishes this stretch. That's obvious by seeing the empty worm containers by the road along with beer cans, plastic bottles, and minnow traps placed in the river. I know that most people who fish it are responsible though. At least I hope. Has anyone on this forum run into any problems here? I don't want to make trouble by going fishing there and running into her again, but I do plan on visiting the park office and talking to them about it. If I'm legal, I'll fish it. If I'm illegal I won't. I would hate to lose this spot to fish. When I visit the in-laws it's easy to get to and easy access, but if I'm legal and do fish it again... this incident will be on my mind. As you all know, there aren't any jewels like Roaring River anywhere near K.C.

Wow... excellent advice. One river memory that sticks with me involved a strainer. A couple had their teenage daughter in tow on an inner-tube down on the Jacks Fork one summer. They managed to just graze along the branches without tipping, but it slowed them enough to let her whip right into the middle of the mess. The rope wrapped around her calf as she stayed put and the canoe kept going. We were fishing right there and grabbed the knife out of the bucket. Her calf looked like an hourglass from the rope. Amazingly after a while, the dent that had been so obvious disappeared to just a bad bruise. The power of the human body. Some people don't realize the power of water. Obvious when you see the news stories about the ones trying to drive their vehicles through it.

Has anybody ever been getting ready to put in or start a float and had someone ask (or overhear them say)... "Which way do we go?" Happened to me on the Jacks Fork a few years back...

A great website with lots of Current/Jacks Fork and Montauk in particular info is: www.missouriscenicrivers.com

I can't wait to use that on my father-in-law!

What strain of rainbow are these fish... from California I think? Is Crane the only stream holding these or are there others? Just remembered... McCloud River (is that right?)

The USGS Real Time Water Data readings this morning from the Rich Fountain area (mm 203.8) are: Gage Height - 2.63 ft. Discharge - 911 cfs. Mt. Sterling is 16 miles downstream.

E-mailed you this morning Brent.

USN 78 to 84.

That's It... I'm contacting the FBI !