jdmidwest

Depends on how much it drafts and what time of year you go. Spring River does not carry as much water thru riffles as the 11 pt. The ledges from above the Bayou Access on down can hang a canoe up on them in lower water. Sadler Falls has about a 3' ledge to go over or around. If it is flowing good, you will probably be ok, watch river gauge at Hardy or Imboden to see rises in water levels.

Try a few wraps over the mono at the head then fold the mono over that and finish the head out. Or a couple of half hitches over the mono then fold the mono over that and whip finish over that. It should be enough to lock it in unless teeth are cutting the mono.

It was a great weekend around here, heavy frost Sat. morning and t-shirts Sun. afternoon. I hunted the farm we own in Wayne county with my father and great uncle. We sit around drinking coffee while we watched 4 feed in the field behind the house. We went our separate ways and my 85 y/o uncle killed a little doe. Dad killed a 5 pt buck at 3:00 in the field behind the house. I saw 30 does and fawns Sat. Sun., I had the farm to myself and I patterned a nice buck. At 2:30 he fell to a well placed 6mm bullet standing at the same tree where I took my buck last year. Sunday, I saw the same amt of does and fawns, but held out for this one. All deer were feeding in open fields on grass all thru the day, both days. Rough score 123 3/4 8 point. Back to Ducks now!

No brood stock today, fished the park top to bottom and all I saw or caught was small ones, should have been held over till next year!

Was planning on taking a few days off next week to get a little fishing in before duck season starts. I have not seen a report on the upper Current River lately. I was wondering if the low water has affected the fish any. It should be getting close to the fall spawn around there and the big fish should be out.

You could use them as a quill type body on a dry fly or ribbing on any fly. You could shave all of them off on one side and watch him stagger around the room!

I agree with the others, much as I hate Wally World, the photo service is pretty cheap. I edit and put them on a memory stick then take them into the store. I usually wait till I get over 150 to print, they give quantity discounts. I have made 8x10's from there with good quality results.

Ethically speaking, is that really the way to handle a fish that is to be released?

Interesting box, which brand is that one?

I was looking at the pics and was wondering who the big guy, looks like John Candy, that was choking the small rainbow in 2 of the pics with his bare hands, was. I assume this all took place in the Trophy area and everyone was catch and release. Some pics show what may be the culprit for the low survival rates of trout on the 11pt in the trophy area, poor catch and release practices. It makes it hard to recover after handling a fish like that.

Attention Shoppers, Glow in the Dark head cement on sale at the local Wally world in the halloweenie aisle. Glow in the dark nail polish. Several other colors also. Be on the lookout for shiney stuff in the Christmas dept. Some tinsel make good flash a bou.

I bought this boat back in the spring for fishing and now its time to switch it over to its other purpose, duck blind. To date, I have hunted out of kayaks, canoes, the gimme boat at the conservation areas, a inflatable pontoon, and a vintage herters fiberglass boat. We have never had a good boat blind to hunt big water or rivers. I bought some 1/2" pvc and some fittings and went to work. I took out the seats and the rear trolling motor. I pieced the framework together and used 3/4" tees to make the hinged parts. I tied everything together with wire for camo support and strength. I think it turned out pretty good. An army half shell tent is used for rain and wind blockage on the back part. It all folds down for travel and hinges to get in and out. Its lightweight and it lifts out easy to convert it back to a fishing rig in the spring. Here are some pics, it all still has to be painted and the camo attached. I had a flock of snows give it a look today in the back yard.

Where is the boat located?

Browns in the Current, Meramec, and Niagua Rivers are stocked each spring as fingerlings. They are pretty small fish. Most don't survive very long due to predation and fishing mortality. The Current River trophy area used to be stocked with 8000 fish in an 8 mile stretch of the river. When this happens, there is more competition for food and the larger fish that are in the stream change their habits and feed more agressively. I used to fish this time of year and catch some nice browns, but would have to sift through all of the little ones. The trout parks raise rainbows and stock only rainbows thru the season. That is why you only see rainbows. Browns sometimes swim up into the parks from the trophy areas below. I believe the MDC even puts a size limit on them at Bennett within the park boundries.

Not knocking any of the locals and I don't know where you are located, Janns Netcraft is a good source of blanks and parts. Good prices and fast shipping. Jann's Netcraft

Most people have their favorite flies they go to all of the time. New patterns always require a material you don't already own so there will be little chance of having it along in the first place. Carry the essentials to restock your goto flies and buy materials if needed. You can take shortcuts with the traveling box like carry black and white thread and some permanent markers to color the white to match a pattern. Carry only essential tools, pluck different size hackle off the cape and keep in ziplock bags. Repackage material into smaller packs or containers. Or buy a big box and carry it all. I have carried a kit to Alaska twice and never opened it. The only time I end up tying is on longer vacations during down time and nights or when I travel with the family and have campsite time to kill. I always am short something for a pattern I need and end up making a trip to the shop for materials. My traveling kit is the shower kit bag in the previous post and it works well. Best of all, it was cheap!

Its the same thing that makes them rare in all of the trout parks in the state, people catching them out and MDC not tossing them right back in. Some will travel up out of the river, especially in the fall, but they are not stocked daily like the rainbows.

At least they had the sportsman like qualities to shake off all the game fish in the stream and not leave their carcasses at the dock to give us more fuel for the fire. What river was this?

I was just browsing the news and came across this article. The Ozark streams were originally stocked with trout from trains and natural fish from another stream far away. They still had the natural genetics from the stream born heritage. This article states that hatchery raised fish lose the ability to reproduce naturally after a few generations. It may explain why trout in streams don't reproduce. Interesting article. I read another version of this on another blog. Yahoo News Article GRANTS PASS, Ore. - Steelhead trout grown in hatcheries lose their ability to produce offspring in the wild, raising concerns about whether captive breeding programs can help save endangered fish, a new study concludes. Scientists at Oregon State University found that even when hatcheries breed fish captured in the wild, their offspring become less and less successful at reproducing in the wild than their cousins that never left the river. "The argument that hatchery fish and wild fish are functionally equivalent is basically dead," said Michael Blouin, a population geneticist and associate professor of zoology at Oregon State University. "If the idea is just to produce for harvest, hatcheries are really good at that. If the goal is to help wild populations, then you are in a completely different ball game." While the specific reason for the lack of success remains unknown, it is clearly genetic, Blouin said. "There must be really intense natural selection leading to strong domestication," in the hatcheries, Blouin added. "And it happens within two generations. That is what is so surprising." The study appears in the Friday issue of the journal Science. Steelhead are rainbow trout that, like salmon, spawn in rivers, but go to sea, where there is much more food, to grow to be adults. As logging, farming, dam construction and urban development destroyed their river habitat, hatcheries have been built to fill the gap. About 95 percent of the salmon and steelhead returning to rivers in the Northwest's Columbia Basin were born in plastic trays and reared in concrete pools in hatcheries. Federal, state and private spending on hatcheries amounts to more than $90 million a year in Puget Sound and the Columbia Basin, which cover the bulk of Oregon, Washington and Idaho. About half the salmon and steelhead populations in the West are protected by the Endangered Species Act, which limits destruction of habitat and overfishing. In hopes of getting some salmon and steelhead runs off the endangered species list, property rights advocates, development interests and farm groups have been trying to force federal agencies to count hatchery fish along with wild fish, but recent court rulings have held they don't have to. The study is based on 15 years of genetic samples collected from every steelhead, wild and hatchery, that passes over a dam on the Hood River, which flows off Mount Hood in Oregon into the Columbia River. Technicians take scales from every fish that goes through a trap. The scales reveal the age and DNA of each fish. So far about 15,000 fish have been examined. "The real problem right now is our wild fish are driven to such low numbers that any kind of effect, including hatchery effects, take on a greater importance," said Rob Jones, NOAA fisheries branch chief for hatcheries in Oregon, Washington and Idaho. "In many places we wouldn't have any fish at all if it wasn't for hatcheries."

The report??? Lilley posted some pics of your fish but we are all waiting for your side of the story....

Lots of great info, I am starting to do research on them as we speak. Looking for campsites that are open after 10/1. Found one that is $22 per night for a tent, Yuk! Will check out the other places. I still have not confirmed that I have a way out yet, may have to wait till next year.

Time to pick some brains and see if anyone on here has been to the Gunnison River or the Arkansas River in Colorado. I have some friends that hunt in the area around Salida each year and have access to a trip to that location. I have read articles about the Gunnison in the fall and I know that the Arkansas is a world class river, but I would like some personal feedback on the matter from locals to compare to what we have around here. I would either be going for a drop off and camp for a week from a certain location or rent a car and fish the area while everyone else hunts for the elk.

Fall is here and the weekend was wonderful. I met up with another couple on Friday at Sam A Baker Park for a weekend of R&R. First weekend to relax since Alaska. The weather was perfect, cool nights for camping and sitting around the fire, and warm days for floating and wet wading for the kayaks. We floated Sat. from the park to Bounds Creek. The river was still dropping from a rise last week. I was not aware of that much rain falling on that drainage, we only had 3/4 inch, but the river had come up and was still muddy. Fishing was not worth a crap, but the float was good and well needed relaxation. We saw a bald eagle feeding on a catfish carcass, interesting for the rest of the bunch, just another eagle for me. Made me want to be in Alaska. The campground was pretty empty and camping was great. Its the best time of the year.

Looks like the fun is still going on up there. Great fish, I may have to book a trip over there. Lilley, the rainbows hang in the trees for protection. Eagles can bust them out in the open. The sockeyes will knock them off the redds too if they get close. Sockeye are guarding the redds. There are still plenty of eggs floating in the trees. The dollies on the Quartz were the same way. You could drag one thru the sockeye and watch the salmon nail the dolly in defense of the redd. Have you seen the salmon eating wolf yet? ADN online reported today about a salmon catching wolf at Brooks.

Sounds great. The trouble with fly gear is that it usually only lasts one season till the next generation comes out and the stuff is replaced. Newer, better, faster if you like to keep up on that sort of thing, its the way of retail. I have always just trusted a company to stand behind what they sell and take back the stuff that don't work. As an Orvis guide, past Orvis dealer, and current customer, I trust them to sell only top notch stuff. If I have a problem with something they exchange or replace it with no questions asked. Most of the retail businesses is like that and I am not suggesting just one company to trust. Opinions on here could be biased and you have to take them with a grain of salt. I enjoy the traditional stuff and buy alot on Ebay. If you like something and it seems like a good deal, go for it.