jdmidwest

Back in 96 during a red run on the Russian River, a friend of mine spoke with a lady on the bank next to him in the crowd. She was from OK and stated there was only one other place like it she had been, Montauk on opening day! Of course the scenery is better and the fish are bigger. Naknek is a little more remote so that will help. Kenai and Susitana fisheries get the most attention.

KFF, you might want to pack a spinning rod and reel just in case, medium heavy with 12 to 25 lb. mono depending on the fish. You did not mention a target species of fish. If you are keying in on a red or a king in a run on a popular stream, you may encounter a crowd similar to Montauk on an opening weekend. They define the sport of combat fishing up there in the heat of a run, locals and tourists next to each other. Most salmon will not feed after getting into fresh water. If you are fishing a red run or kings, it will almost be like snagging them. Silvers are the only ones that will strike after they hit the river. The guys standing shoulder to shoulder with you will not let you fight one very long on a fly rod. You will need a spin rod to get them in quick. If you are targeting rainbows, dollies, or grayling and have a little private access to a stream, the fly rod will be all you need. I fished the fly rod exclusively while up there last time, but it was Sept. and all the crowds were gone.

Here is a good example, scientists are going to introduce an exotic species to eradicate an invasive, destructive species. I am sure you have seen the signs in campgrounds the last few summers about the ash borer and firewood brought in from afar. They are going to bring in a wasp that attacks only the ash borer to kill it off. What will happen when the ash borer is gone, will the wasp die off or will it adapt and improvise? Anyone remember how the ladybug got here? Anyone ever have a problem with swarms in the fall of ladybugs?

Democrats Need Retreat! Dems Not Right? Rusty, I feel you may have dealt with DNR on that issue. I know how you feel, I contacted the MDC a few years back on a water quality issue on the Big River near Highway 8. Cattle and Fences across the stream, and alot of S__t in the stream. Water quality went from great smallmouth water to stuff a catfish would gag in. They suggested I contact DNR, without a fish kill they had no beef. Weeks later their investigation turned up nothing, they could not find the problem area. Did I mention I give them the GPS locations of the affected area along with accurate descriptions. You can file all of the complaints you want. Most are just good buddy locals and you are a tourist. Just another government agency that wastes my hard earned tax dollars without any effect. No offense to the parks division of DNR, they generally do a good job.

I have to disagree on that one Taxidermist. As a landowner and a farmer myself and my family too, we are educated enough to water cattle from ponds and not the stream itself. We keep a buffer zone of trees between our fields and the creek that runs through the land we own. We keep the livestock away from the stream banks to prevent bank erosion. We keep the fences away from the streams, floods just wash them out anyway. We don't clearcut our forests, we manage the timber and selective cut to prevent erosion. We fertilize our pasture with manure from the feed lots and barns with manure spreaders. We are living on a century old farm that was homesteaded in the 1800's. My Great Grandparents have started here and through the years we have made several livings off this land. I harvest all types of game and fish from this land. We have gone away from row crops and converted it all to pasture and timber. The problems lie in the major operations, not the family farms. Large dairy farms, feeder cattle lots, chicken houses, and major hog operations are the culprits here. Commercial operations with concentrated waste, toxic spills and runoff are to blame. Like any other industrial accident, someone should be held accountable for their actions. A local hog operation here lost a waste pond that spilled into a creek that resulted in a fish kill. MDC was on the case and I believe fines were levied per fish killed. Government grants and programs are in place to prevent such things from happening. Monies for watering wells or ponds, MDC has landowner programs for land management, local extension offices have trained professionals to help. There is no real excuse. With most of Missouri in private land ownership, landowners should take care of what they have.

There you go, I thought you were talking about the Spring River in Arkansas. I bet some of the others thought the same too. Crap!

As far as livestock pollution, it would be hard to pinpoint as there are cows everywhere. I think that they might even have a river access or two around Riverside Camp on the right. Multiply it by all of the feeder streams that runoff into the river from the hills during a rain. The Spring River drainage starts up around West Plains so it would be hard to narrow down. Then there is the South Fork. It could be coming in from Mammoth Spring itself, runoff into a sinkhole somewhere. I always get a kick out of the locals that come down to Lasseters to fill up jugs of the fine spring water. Fish guts, Ducks, runoff from town, yummy. You know what their gut feels like!

Thanks for the AK porn, 72 days and counting here. Are the Kings running around there yet?

I don't know about alot of fish, but some watersheds have several pickerel. They can be hard to find sometimes. I have kept a few in the past to fry if they were hooked too deep, they are good eating. Some of the watersheds that used to hold them have been fished or gigged out. I know that Castor river and its tributaries used to have alot of pickerel, but it has been many years since I have seen one around there. Water quality is important, they need clear running streams or lakes just like the larger cousins the pike.

The entire length of the 11pt is managed by MDC with a special 15" length, 1 fish smallmouth limit already. It also has an 8" limit on goggle eye and an 18" limit on walleye and sauger. MDC manages it for warm water species also, and the fishing has improved over the past few years. The walleye are on the decline and they are trying to figure out why. With the exception of the areas around Greer and Boze Mill springs, the warm water species do really well. You can find many Smallmouth fishers below Turner any time you go down. The river above Greer is excellent also producing 18" to 20" fish consistantly.

Pickerel are found in several colder streams in southern Missouri. 11pt, Little Black River, Cane Creek, Hurricane Creek to name a few. Also Duck Creek and Stanley Creek have a good population of the Chain Pickerels. Excellent fish on a fly rod and are worth a trip. I have caught fish to 36".

Well I have noticed that since Greer to Turner has the new regs and the Rainbows have declined, the Smallmouth fishing has gotten better. I was given the low flows and the warmer water temps the credit, but it may be the decline of the trout. I do not want to stop the MDC from the stocking of rainbows in the 11pt, the fishery between Turner and Riverton is excellent. How about a world class brown bass stream? Wait a minute, MDC is trying to make it that also with restrictions in place already.

Well said Coldwater... There are evil forces at work here.

Hey CC, what's the website address for the Sierra Boat Supply? Did a google and did not come up with it.

There is one big invasive species, Man! We drop new species where they don't belong and they become a nuisance. We dam up streams and change the habitat. We farm to the edge of a stream and cause them to silt up. We raise animals and let the manure pollute and kill the streams. We clear cut timber and let the gravel and soil runoff and choke the streams.

Great info CC, just bought a 73 Johnson 9.5 on a 14 ft Monark w/2 trolling motors for a song. The local boat shop is only interested in new ones so I don't get much help there. I just got the service manual from ebay and was going to start to work on it. Already have new fuel system to the carb and new plugs. It runs, but floods and sputters. I was thinking carb rebuild next.

Scrape the bulbs and make sure you have good contact. Buy a circuit tester or a meter to find the shorts or problems. Make sure the wires match your plug on the vehicle. If all else fails, buy a complete new set and redo the whole thing. Make sure you have a good ground.

Gold and Black Floating Rapalas, solid or jointed. White or Black Twintail jigs. Yellow or White Sonic Roostertails. Firetiger Rapalas. Shad Raps, Copper color or Crawdad color.

The front one is a Mainstream Kingfisher sit on top. Its my fishing boat, dry storage in front, big area in back for a cooler and other stuff. It comes rigged for fishing with rod holder holes, paddle clamps. Its stable and self bailing for getting out wading. I paddles a little slower that the other and is tough in a strong wind. Weighs 55 lb. The other boat is a Wilderness System Pamlico 120 recreational kayak, the base model w/o dry storage. I duck hunt out of it. Paddles great, lots of attachment points. A little lighter and easier to carry to ponds.

Day 3, and what a beautiful day it was. No rainouts today but had thunder. Floated a more public stream a little further west. Spring fed and the bass were still on beds here. Fishing a little slower today because of the bedding activity. All day, Smallies, Goggle eye, and Longears on beds. Pressure was heavier on this stream. Cleaned out fish and dead fish all day in the stream. This is a bait fisher stream and has several campgrounds that people fish out of. Ran into several wakers with minnow buckets trying to catch a limit. Lots of public access. We floated from the MDC access below Marquand to Trails End Camp. Water was gin clear. Wildlife was plentiful today. We saw a buck with small antlers in velvet already. We had a Merganser and 3 ducklings in one hole which is rare for this area. I found a drowned bird of prey in one hole. I believe it was a Redtail Hawk, looked like a foot got trapped on a rock and killed him. And of course, lots of Herpie Noshoulderous hanging out in the trees. For those that have not fished with me, it is my latin name for the watersnakes. Enjoy the pics.

It has been closed to fishing to everyone but the owners of the private property. The spring branch is a unique ecosystem preserved by years of private ownership. The gradient of the flowing water would make most of it dangerous to the flyfishers. I would hate to see it trampled down and cleared out to make a park. It deserves to be a natural area and protected as it is.

Day two, took the new jon boat out to a local lake, drowned a tube of crickets with the other half. I now have to clean half of a 5 gal bucket of big bluegills. No pics, nothing special. BTW, I only used the motor to run up the lake and trolled back. Drove a little further and maybe used a gal and half of gas. Gonna splurge tomorrow and float Castor River for smallies in the Yaks. I may have to burn 2 gals of gas!!

Careful there, three guys stripping on a riverbank at night might project the wrong image to our fellow non-flyfisher posters. Brokeback Mtn? Why couldn't have made those guys Nascar fans or golfers. Why did they pollute the Flyfishing Sport?

Probably all of the beer bongs and mardi gras beads on the NFS streams. Actually, we have 2 major river systems that account for alot of it also, the Missouri and the Mississippi. Several lakes account for alot of it too, we are fortunate to have them also. What amazes me is all the unexperienced floaters that hit the streams, drink to the point of confusion, then can't remember which side of the canoe is up. You never see any reports of drownings there. Of course, there was that one guy that swallowed a live redear and choked to death, duh, murphys law.

Day one, Memorial Day Weekend 07, on strike with the gas bastards, I choose a stream locally. Hit the water at 11:30 am with the kayaks and was into fish off the bat. Stream in good shape and floated well. 2 15" smallies in the first 1/4 mile. We floated the stream till the rain run us off at 4:00. We caught alot of bass and turned a few more that should have come in. The best day on that stretch of river in a long time. I had several over 18" and hooked a gar that was in the 40" range. The gar run up the river in the spring to spawn and sometimes get trapped and stay all summer. They have been a blast on the fly rod. Today, I used 1 lure and was spin fishing from the boats. Too much cover and obstacles to fly fish. The lure of the day was a J7 rapala floater, gold and black. I was amazed how agressive the bass were for this time of year on a top water lure. Looks like a great summer. Oh yeah, we floated for 4 hours without seeing another soul except for a farmer riding his fence. We saw deer, turkey, wood ducks and a whole lot more. And it was a 24 mile round trip from the house so I used about 1 gal of gas! Here are a few pics.