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.

i did really well sunday too! so many bass and a few monster perch. This is a stretch i havnt waded in many years but it used to produce hawgs and guess what, they still there.. i went wit my brother (so we kept count of who caught what,lol) i caught 24, and he caught 7 or somethin like that,, he he... all the fish were over 10 inches,,, lots o brownies and surprisingly we were catchin just as many largemouth. i even caught to perch that were real toads... i wish i had brought my scales,, biggest perch i have ever caught... anyway, i dont know what it was, whether it was the stretch we were wading, or the cool cloudy day, but we just tore em up,, were only on the river 4 hours. biggest bass was a 15 in smally and a 18 in largemouth. GREAT DAY.... Jasper county btw

Just had to let yall know i went wadin on center creek sunday and the action was incredible. in 4 hours over 30 bass caught, and a 11" perch! lots o brownies and largemouth all good size. Many were over 12".. caught a 15" smally but then caught a 18" largemouth, what a hog he was on my ultralight! its the way i wish it always was,,lol,, cant wait to go back only next time im goin farther upstream! on another note i just gotta say i have hit alot o creeks this summer and the tree damage is awful,, ice storm and other storms have made many downed trees in the rivers,,, canoers beware

I just gotta say after reading a few things here i see here that thier are more waders and floaters hittin these small creeks that we are bledded to have, glad to see it lives strong! I also have noticed that what i thought was my great wisdom,lol, is actually common knowledge between us brownie stalkers. The one lure i always have on a trip is tried and true and i always know that if thier are fish in this hole, i will get one or 2 of em to hit... I bet all of u have a lure and i also bet its the same one... Heres my question. If you could take just one lure on a trip to the creek, what would it be? for me theres no doubt,, teeny rebel craw crankbait, green softshell color. actually this lure IS all u need to catch bass on the streams, but sometimes another lure will outperform it, next size up rebel craw...lol

my opinion is fireline is junk, wont ever use it again... power pro green

mechanicals all the way,, spitfires are reasonable,, i like 125 grain... shoot just like fieldpoints in open areas,,,, notso good in brush, but we shouldnt take those shots anyway, right? lol

jig n pig in flooded willow. summer at sunset, Grand Lake.. 8lbs 6oz also gotta mention a 7 lb 3oz largemouth caught on one o my limb lines, baited with a 5" whole shad,,lol... spring river.

its a flathead... ur best bet right now is using perch for flathead, cut and whole shad for channels and blues... best time to use nightcrawlers is when the water is rising and flooded. them cats go on a feeding frenzy for worms on the flooded shallows. Liver will usually work anytime.

those channel were prolly males protecting the nest.. caught several myself... they are just about done doin that on the smaller lakes , like fellows. It was funny watchin em chase the perch away and they were all sittin right on the shoreline where u could see em.

Another weekend of chasin Mr wHisKers and runnin lines.. In the small rivers flathead are still goin good. Few caught with eggs but most were males. they just about done doin thar thing. Spring River is your best using perch and cut shad. Perch has been gettin more fish. Center creek and shoal creek are producing a good channel bite. Best time to rod n reel fish is 10- mid, less ur a die hard and wanna fish all night. Action has definately slowed from what its been last few months, but u can still go out and get a limit if ya know where to go!

im pretty positive that the charge will be dropped,, i left when asked, i parked and entered the river on county property, and the sheriff that responded didnt give me a citation. he was actually on our side and said he would try to talk to the landowner to calm him down. didnt work i guess. i will be so amazed if judge schoeberl actually convicts me of tresspassing. What i would like to accomplish is getting these streams designated. it was my understanding from what the local MDC agent told me that in order for a stream to be classified it has to go to a state court by someone.. im sure we all remember the court case involving canoers on shoal creek., but why does someone have to spend a fortune on attorney fees to get a stream classified? Isnt that what the MDC is supposed to do? Shouldnt this already be done? I want answers. I also want rights to be able to wade and float my creeks... agin the point was made earlier that morons that trash and party have ruined it for a lot of "true fisherman". but arent the laws there for this purpose? shouldnt partying and littering be a separate issue from fishing, or even swimming in some places? I iss the days of low water bridges and rope swings and day long wading trips for smallies..... where is the justice? anyway, its time someone stood up for Missouri fishing rights. I just might get an attorney and go the distance if possible. the manner in which the landowner treated us was also an issue i am beginning to think. This is what happened.... he came from across the river on a high bank(above a hole that was very deep i might add) he yelled down and actually startled me,, he said" GET THE BLEEP OFF MY BLEEPIN PROPERT RIGHT NOW! i said in shock " excuse me"? He said, WHAT PART OF THAT DONT U BLEEPIN UNDERSTAND U BLEEPIN BLEEPHOLE! GET OUT NOW OR I CALL THE SHERIFF! My brother told him that we were in a stream and that he knew his rights and we were not on his property nor would we get on his property for any reason. the man then says " THATS FINE! U BLEEPIN BLEEPERS CAN JUST GO TO JAIL! and he opened his cell and made the call. I told my brother, lets just go there are plenty other places we can go to fish. we then left. we waded back to the bridge and waitedfor the sheriff but none came so we thought he was bluffing us. anyway we just left. went to another bridge and was preparing to go when the sheriff arrived and said he was sorry but we couldnt go down there and fish either because the same man owned that as well, the sheriff took our info and told us he has alot of problems with that man over same issues, but since we left it shouldnt be a problem.... seems like no one had a problem but that landowner.