jdmidwest

No problems at all. The only thing I would change would be go to solid PVC pontoons instead of the cordura covered ones. I think there would be less drag while rowing.

Pontoons are great fishing platforms for flowing waters. You have to remember that they are wider than a kayak or canoe in tight spots. Very stable, sit up higher for sight fishing, you can put your feet down in the shallows to stop and fish. I use an 8' by Creek Company, around $300. The pontoons do create alot of drag so they are hard to row in still water and back upstream. I use a kayak for the most part now.

Spring River in AR? That is where we normally have a guys weekend at and the fishing is always good. Throw in a float trip from one of the local outfitters for a memorable experience. Some campgrounds have cabins and the towns of Hardy and Mammoth Springs have motels. Should find something to fit a budget and get a good bang for the buck. Is warmwater fishing out of the question?

Alright everyone, any personal opinions on the Canon Rebel XTi or the Pentax K100D cameras? I have used a Canon D30 for years in our outdoor sports business but have not personally owned one. I have a Pentax 35 mm SLR and several lenses and filters of my own from before autofocus days. I am going to upgrade from my Minolta Z10 digital and looking for any advice. Both cameras are great and are backwards compatible with 35 mm lenses. Canon takes great pics but can be kinda finicky and requires costly trips back to home every once in a while. My Pentax has never been back and takes better pics than I am ususally capable of. Any suggestions???

Cheaper than Dirt has a good deal on flares. Then your buddies can fish too..

Good question, better check with a local a local warden on that one or drop an email to the MDC Website. I would tend to think not in an area that is "Fly Only", single hooks. Missouri laws state that a fly is a "Single point hook" and was written to prohibit trebles in these areas. The definitions for the fly area mentions "Flies" several times and that could be construed to mean multiple flies like a dropper rig. Now I bring up the question of tandem flies like streamers tied on a double hook arrangement, essentially a dropper rig tied short? Here are the excerpts from the Missouri codebook this year. 3 CSR 10-12.150 Fishing, Trout Parks PURPOSE: This rule establishes methods, seasons, and limits for fishing within Trout Park streams under management agreement with the department. (1) On Maramec Spring Park, Bennett Spring State Park, Montauk State Park and Roaring River State Park: (A) Fishing is permitted on designated waters during posted hours. Not more than one (1) pole and line may be used by one (1) person at any time. Gigging, snaring, snagging, and the taking of live bait are prohibited. Flies, artificial lures, unscented soft plastic baits and natural and scented baits may be used, except in waters posted as restricted to specific baits or lures. The use of any foods to attract fish, except when placed on a hook, is prohibited. ( Trout fishing is permitted from March 1 through October 31. The daily limit is four(4) trout, and no person shall continue to fish for any species after having four (4) trout in possession. Fishing in the designated trout waters is permitted only by holders of a signed valid area daily trout fishing tag. © On a designated portion of Montauk State Park and Roaring River State Park, catch and release trout fishing only is permitted from March 1 through October 31. Only flies may be used, and trout must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Trout may not be possessed in these designated areas, and no person with four (4) trout already in possession may fish there. (D) Trout fishing is permitted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. on Fridays, Saturdays, Sundays and Mondays from the second Friday in November through the second Monday in February at Bennett Spring State Park, Montauk State Park and Roaring River State Park. Fishing in designated trout waters is permitted only by holders of a valid trout permit. Only flies may be used, and all fish must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Fish may not be possessed on these waters. (E) Trout fishing is permitted from 8:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. daily from the second Friday in November through the second Monday in February at Maramec Spring Park. Fishing is permitted only by holders of a valid trout permit. Only flies may be used and all fish must be returned to the water unharmed immediately after being caught. Fish may not be possessed on these waters (23) Flies, lures and baits: The following are authorized for use except where restricted in 3 CSR 10-6.415, 3 CSR 10-6.535, 3 CSR 10- 11.205, 3 CSR 10-12.135 and 3 CSR 10- 12.150. (A) Natural and scented baits—A natural fish food such as bait fish, crayfish, frogs permitted as bait, grubs, insects, larvae, worms, salmon eggs, cheese, corn and other food substances not containing any ingredient to stupefy, injure or kill fish. Does not include flies or artificial lures. Includes dough bait, putty or paste-type bait, any substance designed to attract fish by taste or smell and any fly, lure or bait containing or used with such substances. ( Soft plastic bait (unscented)—Synthetic eggs, synthetic worms, synthetic grubs and soft plastic lures. © Artificial lure—A lure constructed of any material excluding soft plastic bait and natural and scented bait as defined in (A) or ( above. (D) Fly—An artificial lure constructed on a single-point hook, using any material except soft plastic bait and natural and scented bait as defined in (A) or ( above, that is tied, glued or otherwise permanently attached.

As long as it keeps the wolves out of this neck of the woods.......

But that will just cost them more snakes.............

Hey, what happened to them wolves? Last I heard Ark was going to trade some rattlesnakes for them.............

What if you grind your beans at the store? I use a trash bag for a car I found at a dollar store. Shove the flap under the tying bench to hold it in place. Put a stiff piece of wire around the lip to hold open.

Unless they have changed it, there is an area to put up a tent at Tan Vat off of the parking lot but the river ford, but you would be better off at Baptist. There is not enough floatable water between the two to make a difference. There is camping at Baptist. The road to the left as you go down the hill leads to a camping area. Someone even pulled a popup down there. Any of the gravel bars on the current is fair game also. They have cleared an area by the parking lot also.

I have always found that when one is too big for the net it is too big for the frying pan also. Saves on taxidermy fees too. Catch and Release on streams, trout taste like fish, yuk! Don't touch the fish either they give you cooties. Use barbless hooks and let them go!

It looks like a nice Kentucky by the spots. Where is the Sugar or the Elk River at?

I actually had the opposite happen this weekend at Montauk. I was fishing a good hole with one other guy above me and doing very well. A family of 4 cheese baiters waded in below me and started slinging. The youngest was closest to me and kept getting closer. Mom saw what he was doing and told him to quit crowding me. Wow, usually they use the little guys to clear out a hole. I tend to let the little guys have a free run of the place and he was not bothering me at all. I was just fishing for fun and had taught most of the fish in the hole a lesson already. The guy on my upper side however had cast his worm over my fly line several times and has horned in my way since I had moved in. It was good to see some stream ethics being taught to the younger generation. By the way, a .357 gives better penetration, just don't hit the motor or they will never leave.

Thats a good idea Terry, some of the responses have shown a stigma regarding dry flies in the White River area. I was not starting this post to pick on any one area of the state or a fishery. Most of my trout fishing occurs in the Upper Current, Montauk, Bennett Springs, Eleven Point, and of course Spring River. The latter 2 are slim pickens for dry fly action, but trout will feed during a hatch there. Hoppers, beetles, and ants produce well during the summer months any where in Mo. or Ark.

Those would be caddis larva and I have a post in fly tying for a latex caddis nymph called the Trojanator. A pretty good imitation for a good source of trout food. That shows that stream has a healthy caddis population like alot of OZark Streams. An assortment of caddis flies should be in the box next time.

My first lessons on fly fishing in Missouri came from books that were available to me at the time. My instructors were Ed Story, Helen Shaw, Chuck Tryon, Lee Wulff, Dave Whitlock, Dick Stewart, and Paul Jorgensen to name a few. I started fly fishing and tying without a mentor, just books. I used all of the techniques to catch fish, dry flies, wet flies, nymphs, and streamers. The only scuds I tied at the time was an orange shrimp pattern that still resides in my fly box today. The best books at the time was Chuck Tryon's "Fly Fishing for Trout in Missouri" and a softback publication by Ed Story of Feather-Craft called "Missouri Trout Flys, How to Tye and Fish Them". Ed's book contains hand drawings of the patterns and how to tye them. It has the original crackleback pattern in it. Chucks book has a wonderful hatch chart and a section on the streamside entymology of the insects of our streams. Modern fly fishers have so much more to offer now, Guides, internet, flyshops, Dvd's, TV programs, and alot more fellow fly fishers then when I started. Some trout streams are a little different, Eleven Point and Spring River. I have seen great hatches but no rises. If you look at the stomach contents of 11 pt. trout you will probably see minnows or crayfish. If you look at Spring River trout you will find snails and moss. But, this still goes back to one of the fundamentals of fly fishing, observe and match the hatch(food source). Taney is different as it is really a lake not a stream below the tailwater except in low water times, so its hatches are probably dispersed over a wider area. And midges have to have an adult part of the life cycle, so who uses Griffiths Gnats anymore? How many people walk up to a stream, reach down, and pick up a few rocks before they fish?

3 1/2 hours one way to any trout waters and I did it yesterday as a day trip. 4-5 hours to any White River location for trout for me. 6 hours to Sauger at Pickwick. 20 minutes to 2 hours for most local smallmouth trips. Alot of miles and this darn gas is going up again. When are we going to conquer an Arab country so we can have a free tapper of oil?

A topic of discussion yesterday on the long drive to the fishing waters was about dry flies. My younger fishing partner for the day was asking about the fixations everyone has on midges and nymphs lately on forums and in print, and there has been no talk of dry flies. I have been doing some tying sessions lately and have been teaching him to tye some dry fly patterns. He was trying to justify spending an chunk of change on some genetic hackles. My response, while tout feed for the most part subsurface, my best trout and my best experiences have been while trout are actively feeding on insects lighting or floating on the surface of the water. I have noticed that alot of fly fisherman lately ignore this while fishing and will continue to fish subsurface even if the trout are actively rising to the top and sipping insects. Dry fly fishing is a very important part of the fly fishing experience but it seems to have gone to the wayside along with classic wet flies. My best fish on the Norfork tail water was a 29" brown on a size 18 RS2 Pale Morning Dun. When I fished the Taneycomo tail water this fall, nobody was doing much subsurface, so I switched to an attractor dry fly and started catching fish like crazy. I am sure that there were several size 12 Royal Coachmans sold that day at the local flyshops. Yesterday, I watched a trout rise to a snowflake, proving the point that trout are always keeping a watchful eye to the top for food. It is instinct for them and most have had there food in floating pellet form for most of their lives. My questions are, why don't I see more people dry fly fishing? Is it too technical for most fly fisherman? Is it too expensive to tye dry flies? Too many steps or techniques in tying dry flies? Is the whole thing about entymology and life cycles and hatch charts too confusing? I am going to sit back and enjoy the discussion on this one. I am curious to see the responses.

Fished upper Current River and Montauk on Saturday. Had a pretty good snow flurry that morning as we fished below Baptist access. The ground was white for a while and we had to stop fishing for about 20 minutes and lean against a tree it was coming down so hard. River was in excellent shape and we had it to ourselves during the morning. Caught a few fish, nothing to brag about. Left out at 10 and drove back to the park as the herd from the park started migrating down river. Bought a tag and fished the park in the afternoon. Caught 30 to 40 fish with the best around 4 lbs. I bought tag 3475 so the crowds have been low for an opener. Even a few campsites in the park when we left out.

Don't forget the upper and lower parts of the Eleven Point river for prime smallies.

I don't know about a trap, but I know several people that like to hunt them. The MDC wants them dead any way you do it. They have been causing problems in many locations.

You can't go wrong with Canon, we use the 20D in our action sports shoots with a high speed Ultra sonic zoom lens. We can take 5 pics of a hardball as it goes into bat with high detail. Canon has been the leader in digital SLR. Pentax and Sony are great too. Minolta was doing good and they dropped the ball, they sold out to Sony. As far as software, Photoshop Elements will give you more editing for the money than you will ever need and will save you some bucks too.

Patricks, with gas you must sit and watch the grill while it cooks your food. It gives ample time to savor some cold brews and relax. Although, I never could figure out what the higher burner settings were for other than to burn off the last time you used it. I always cook on low unless blackening something. Gas is better in winter because of the extra heat. I always use some wood chips for flavor.

They should perform well with limited use on those rivers. I bought one several years back at Wally world for $25 on clearance. It has been on several floats and duck hunts. It served the purpose of a lightweight boat that could be packed in or an extra backup boat on a float trip. Still, I used extra caution with hooks and always watched out for beaver sticks. Same thing goes with inflatables of any type, I only floated with them when I had a backup boat that I could crawl into in case of trouble or deflation. You would be better off with a rigid plastic kayak, spend a little more money and get something more durable for all around use.