smallmouthjoe

Hello everyone, I'm wanting to get on the upper section of the North Fork to look for some smallies this weekend. The problem is I don't know if the upper part of the river is floatable currently. I was hoping that someone could give me some insight. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Joe

I use the watermelon red back, pearl belly, color Zoom puts out and get alot of fish on it. Arkansas Shiner is my second favorite color as far as flukes go.

Nice fish. I tied up a couple of circus peanuts and variations for my next trip. I've seen folks parking on the highway right of way by D bridge. I may have to try it out sometime after finals. Thanks for the post.

I started at delaware town.

Started the day around 7:30am and finished up around 11:00am. Focused on fly fishing and caught a mixed bag of Longears, Smallmouth and Spots, total number around 12 or so. Flow was normal and the water was stained. Nothing doing on top yet, hopefully it will heat up soon. Best fly was #6 wooly, ginger or olive. Fish of the day, 16.5" smallie, came on casting gear rigged with a phantom green crayfish wiggle wart. Good luck and take care.

I would report it if I had any concerns. Wasting a biologists time is a small cost, diease out break and chemical dumping have the potential to do real harm to our resources. It won't do any harm to report what you saw.

Did anyone notice any hemorrhaging of the shin or bulging eyes when they saw these fish?

57! 60 may be just in time for spring break. I'm West bound and truckin.

Why not pull an all out monkey wrench gang assault on it. I'll be your alibi if you need one.

Were you dropped off at D or did you park a vehicle there? I know the fella in the picture, he looks like he can catch fish better than he can ID trees.

I have to agree with Randy on this one. The Rock Bass population between Linden and the park is outstanding and the smallmouth pop. is healthy. From the dam to 160 bridge, the fishing is fair and from 160 to the confluence the fishing is pretty good. A good day at the Ozark park reservoir can yield some very nice LM's.

Hello everyone, I'm looking at fishing a new section of the James this weekend and was wondering if anyone knew if there was access to the river from Owens Bridge? I will be dropped off there so I will not be leaving a vehicle so that is not an issue. Any info would be very appreciated. Thanks

I'm still working on my Missouri water bucket list. I have fished most of the western streams, still need to get on some of the eastern streams. 1) Meramec 2) Upper North Fork 3) Big Piney 4) Gasconade 5) Black River I should get a trip on the upper North Fork this summer so I can mark that one off the list. Any suggestions on other Missouri stream I should add?

It would be pretty tough to paddle back to Shelvin from Hootentown. You could do it but it would take some time. I like to paddle upstream from an access point, fishing it along the way, and then hit all the fishy spot again on my way back down. Nice fish yaknar, thanks for sharing. I need to get on the James soon. Hopefully in the next week or so I can hit it.

I was using a 1/4, tandem, with a gold willow and silver Colorado.

Had the chance to get out this morning. Went to a spot on the James to find that most of the spots I usually fish in this section were still blown out. Did manage to catch a couple of fish: 10" spot, on a white SB and 13" smallie on a wiggle wart, brown scale craw. Great day to be out and cant complain. Now its back to the races for the next couple of weeks. Take care.

Had the chance to get out this morning. Went to a spot on the James to find that most of the spots I usually fish in this section were still blown out. Did manage to catch a couple of fish: 10" spot, on a white SB and 13" smallie on a wiggle wart, brown scale craw. Great day to be out and cant complain. Now its back to the races for the next couple of weeks. Take care.

Nice fish, I wish i could get out there today. What did you catch her on?

I'll need mine until at-least the middle of May.

Nice link, thanks Randy.

It's never the human predator that catches the blame. It's not the riparian clearing or the gravel mining or the groundwater mining or the nutrient addition from us or our livestock, its the otters. I cant wait for the day when I can see a change in the attitudes toward predators.

Education: This is the biggest thing that needs to be accomplished by conservation organizations. The MDC and other agencies, public and private, are trying to get out there and educate the landowners about the effects of riparian clearing at different fishing events (ie the stream trailer). There are cost share programs for restoration of riparian corridors and also cost share programs for fixing eroding banks. It does seem like the MDC only informs landowners of the cost sharing programs if the landowner comes to them with a problem. I wish they had the resources to be a little more proactive and find these landowners that are having erosion problems and go to them to see if they want help. Also available are cost shares for pumping septic tanks which would reduce the amount of nutrient going into our local streams. Gravel mining is another thing I would like to see more attention brought to. I always try to bring it up when working the stream trailer. Many people don't realize how fluid the gravel on the stream bottom is. When a large amount of gravel is taken away from a stream it increases the velocity of the stream forcing gravel from up stream down stream. Over time it can lead to what I've heard described as "a large slug" of loose gravel moving its way down stream choking it. Channelization is a big concern of mine. I don't see it much in the southern part of Missouri but I do see it up north and to me it turns a stream into a sterile drainage ditch. Dams: I've heard that because of the water supply issues that the western part of the state is having, that there will be a new reservoir some where out west. Supposedly, there is a list of potential sites for this new reservoir that include the spring river and shoal creek. Joplin and Carthage were negotiating a deal with Oklahoma for water rights to Grand but that fell through. There are many other concerns i have Including: Access rights, Cattle run-off, littering, thermal pollution, water intakes at coal plants, mercury being shot out of the smoke stack of coal plants, etc.

The same crankbait you bought in Rapala's cray-fish pattern. Good crankbaits the dt series.

I'm going to try to make it down there. Barring any major exams or papers I should be down there. Thanks.