shadman

I floated Elk a week ago. Sugar Island campground was where we stayed, its a great campground but gets a little wild on the weekends,,, if u wanna catch fish,,, only go durin the week. One float they offer is from big rock to the campsite, takes about 5 hours with some good water to fish.. if u want a longer float, u can put in right at the campground and float to Mt.Shira,, 10 mile float, takes about 7 hours. We floated both stretches. Plastic worms seemed to work best, long casts cause the fish are spooky in the clear water. Hope this info helps.... GL!

goin on anual float trip this weekend to big sugar campground,, we are floatin from cyclone, doin the 10 mile float..... Has anyone been there recently? im worried water will be so low we will spend more time draggin canoes than catchin big ole smallies.... Anyone fished or floated there this week with any info?

just wanna throw this out there,,, wading has always produced more fish for me. and i catch fish every trip that hit my lure right at my feet. sometimes walking will spook em, but not alot. they wont go far, and if u make long casts then u will be fine. and those active fish will chase ur lure right up to ya like ur not even there sometimes., i always fish fast, targeting the aggresive fish. Like was mentioned earlier, targeting the fish in structure is key. making the right casts and knowing where those fish might be. usually the in a certain hole u will catch em fast, just a couple casts and ur on em. after a few fish and a few empty retrieves, move on to next hole. keep moving! even if u see the bass in the water, if they havnt already tasted ur hook, they aint goin to.

circle hooks work great, i even have some 5 o barbless circle hooks that work great.. they hook in corner o mouth every time and then when u grab the hook it slides right out.... dont be surprised if 10 years from now, circle hooks are required by state law.

ok ok ok ,,, im gonna be the wierdo here and say that sounds pretty nasty... HA ha why wouldnt u wanna fillet the bones out? they hurt and poke ya if ya eat em. and if ur just eating around the bones, then thats a pain to pick around for a little tiny nibble then pry around and find another tiny nibble, i know that fileting fish is work and i hate it by about the 3rd fish, i run limblines alot and have cleaned a WHOLE lot o fish this year alone,, i been releasing alot o fish lately,, thats my time saving method. I also filet my filets so they are completely boneless so i dont have to worry bout the kids or pokin my self. Am i the only one who does this? lol I will say though i will try the fins next time, never done that before... hmmmmm

im no fly fisherman but i am a cat man.. those cats are up in the shallows protectin the nest,,, its great when u find these fish at just the right time o year,.. usually i find em on real rocky banks in shallow water(u can see em chasin off perch), on small lakes or big ponds. when they are runnin like that i promise you that they will hit just about anything u throw at em. but like was mentioned earlier,, that "phase" will only last a week or so at most... BUT, this tells u that the cat pop is good where ur fishin... when they move back out again, just change ur tactics and ull still catch em.. they will come to the shallows at night to feed all summer long... Good luck!

1, i checked into the Stream Team and they quite strongly advocate getting owners permission at all times before doing anything. 2. good point.. lots o loopholes there. i do know stockton is public because its a state park. i also know that on table rock land owners own part, but what part and how big? i know i have been runoff from a mean old lady for fishin her dock from my boat, u see all over the place no fishing signs on docks,, and let me tell ya,, try runnin juglines in a cove there, omg i thought a mob was gonna get me! 3.i agree with you 100% on that one,

heres a radical thought which i like,,, make new law where there is NO harvesting of bass on any missouri stream not deemed commercial. catch and release only. and lets take it a step further if ya want, follow other states example and impose barbless hook restrictions on fish in streams(except catfish!) well i dunno bout the barbless hooks, but if any of you have ever used barbless circle hooks for cats u know what i mean, they come right out and do very little harm to the fish, compared to regular barbed hooks. just another thought i figured i'd throw out there

thats exactly right, what it boils down too is having the money. we all know we are right, and we all know that the law is with us and against them few jerkwad landowners, but untill someone steps up to take this to a higher court, we are without our rights,, i know if a group existed, like a coalition, i would be in and donate as much money as i could, like i said, we all know we are right, but how are we gonna pay the MAN to prove it?

Local streams that have been deemed public are Shoal Creek, Spring River, and Center Creek... thats it,, if ya head south towards pineville alot of those have been deemed public as well but around here ya just got 3.

Jasper county agent for MDC was the one who told me that it had to go to a state court in order for a judge to have the authority to "declare a stream"

hate to tell u this but very few missouri streams have gone to court to be declared navigable.. loop hole is that if it hasnt been classified then it reverts to being private... im going to court july 20 over a tresspasing charge on for wading jenkins creek. most streams we wade are private even though the law says diff, crazy, but if u have 100k to take it to the state court then u would win im sure

ever floated shoal creak to the kansas state line? is thier an access point somewhere there to take out?

im surprised we havnt passed each other on the water before...lol

Just wondering if anyone has ever floated the osage river in a canoe and what it was like. Saw an ad for primitive floating with no outfitters,65 mile stretch, ending in truman? I am not familiar with this area.. i have catfished below truman on the osage a few times but thats it.. Camping on gravel bars wherever u can find one? smallmouth? catfish? I am gonna look into this and figured i would start here.