eric1978

Windy's and Harvey's are both huge liveries and will have whatever you're looking for. I'm sure their rates are comparable. I've used Harvey's for a shuttle once, and the truck was where it was supposed to be when we got to the take out. Never rented from either of them. If you're planning on going on a weekend in the next couple weeks, you may want to consider reservations. It'll be packed.

Sounds more like the best kind of bad luck to me, but I'm a glass is half empty kind of guy...unfortunately. You're not making my transition to copoly very easy.

A recent thread at RS has me once again scouring the earth for the ideal wet-wading shoe. I've been looking at a number of options, and just can't find the end-all absolutely perfect shoe...so I'm gonna have to settle. I'm looking for something specifically for wet-wading small creeks in summer. I have felt-soled Simms sandals (thanks Wheat), which are perfect for floating and ocassionally getting out and dragging over some riffles, and even a little wading isn't bad. But they take in gravel like nobody's business and they're not all that protective around boulders and other tricky footings. I also have my good ol' wading boots and wet socks, which are very protective, but are like having anchors strapped to your feet all day. I want something light, well draining and supportive. They HAVE to have some kind of at least decent barrier around the ankle to keep out the gravel, and felt soles are preferable. I think I've got the search narrowed down to three options. Any of you guys have opinions or experiences with these? Korkers Torrents...$100. These come with interchangable felt and lug soles, which I like. But the cuff around the ankle looks like it wouldn't be very good at keeping out small gravel, which is a big problem. There are some gray ones that otherwise look the same on sale at Cabela's for $60, but they don't come with the felt, although I believe you can buy the felt soles for $20, so that would be 80 bucks...not bad. Simms Pursuits...$120. The ankle cuffs look much better on these, but they don't come with felt soles...if they did my search would be over. Hard to go wrong with Simms. Keen Cimarron II...$100. They look closer to the Korkers to me, probably a little better at keeping gravel out, but not as good as the Simms. No felt soles. I went to BPS the other day hoping to try on at least two of these three shoes, and they had exactly ZERO models of wet-wading shoes in stock. Good job BPS.

I think it's absolutely valid. So if (yes, "if") I took next summer off, and camped out on Dylan's favorite small creek for three months and made myself a six-smallie-supper every night, you wouldn't have a problem with that? Actually, I'd get pretty lonely, so I think I'll bring three of my buddies with me...let's see...that would be 24 smallies per day for 90 days...that's 2,160 mature, spawning fish no longer swimming and reproducing in that little creek. Is it really fair then, that you and your boy roll up for a nice day of smallie fishing after we're gone in September, and all you can catch are 11 inch fish? I think not. I think it's totally unfair and unethical...but perfectly legal. And that's the gray area I'm talking about. MDC is not God, for lack of a better analogy...they might make the rules, but that doesn't mean their rules are good ones. By the way, I love the name Dylan. It was on our short list for boy names. Eh, not really...not in my opinion. They were half-assed from the get go. Too weak and not enough of miles of them on enough streams. And besides, as we've discussed a million times, they don't make the effort to educate people of the regs anyway, and on top of that they're hardly enforced. They wrote down some words in a booklet, threw up a couple little signs, and expected miracles to happen. Can't imagine why they haven't. Oh, and about smallies being the most cherished native sportfish...I don't see these heated debates taking place about any other species, so maybe... LOL! Oh man, you kill me.

I use #6 Gammy circle hooks to wacky-rig or nose-hook Senkos. They work well, but that's about all the use I can personally find for them. I look at this issue from a conservationist perspective only, and I'm not on any high horse or holier than thou...trust me, I'm full of flaws and I readily admit it. I don't think I'm "better" than anyone because I don't bait fish and I strictly C&R smallmouth. However, there's a pretty strong argument to be made that I'm easier on the resource than folks that fill stringers of smallies with live crawdads. Hard to deny that. My behavior has little to no impact on them, but theirs has impact on me...so I'll continue to point that out and make my opinion heard. I didn't know you were an anti-baitite until today.

Gotta say, he got you there JD. Nice detective work kirchmer. There's a lot of gray area between what is legal and what is ethically correct or best for the fishery. Just because you can do something, doesn't mean you should. You can legally keep six smallmouth over 12 inches per day on most any creek in the state. One guy, over one summer, could bankrupt a creek of mature smallmouth...and do it legally. Does that make it okay? The thorn that really pokes at me is that MDC is willing to stick their neck out to establish Blue Ribbon sections for trout streams...for non-native fish...that are stocked...and restocked. Yet they seem nothing short of ambivalent about protecting smallmouth, the most cherished native species of sportfish in the Ozarks. Don't get me wrong, I fully support Blue Ribbon sections...I wish there were more of them. But it drives me nuts to see MDC's priorities so far out of whack. Chief's right that the only way to completely eliminate fish mortality is to stop fishing. But we know from other realms of society that preaching abstinence doesn't work...teenagers will continue to fornicate, and fishermen will continue to fish. So how about some protection? er, for the fish that is.

Would it be a reasonable stretch of water to paddle/drag upstream from the Kingston access and float back down? I read some old reports of lots of logjams and other obstacles to deal with around there. How's the depth on that stretch at normal levels?

King of MSP? Blue Ribbon, top to bottom. Add lots of big browns. Not so sure about the concrete thing...I don't know if I'd want all that crushed ugliness. But since I'm king, I have plenty of disposable cash laying around so I would get rid of all the concrete completely and add a bunch of boulders and rip-rap to the banks. The only other rule would be if you littered you would be shot in the face and turned into fish food for the hatchery.

Not necessarily. What if the demographic of growth happens to be meat anglers? I don't turn my nose up at bait fishermen...usually. I fished with crawdads all the time when I was a kid. However, I will say that for me personally, catching a smallie on a crawdad is about as rewarding as hunting deer with a landmine and a salt lick. Angling is about challenges, and to me, using live bait is cheating yourself out of some major gratification when you "limit yourself to further yourself," as Cricket would say. At the same time, I have no problem seeing a kid having a blast with a carton of worms and a day full of bluegill, and I enjoy drowning minnows all night and catching crappie on my Uncle's dock at LOZ and pounding beers...but it's really not the same. Smallmouth are valued as a sportfish, and should be treated as such. On a more objective note...as JD pointed out, what's the survival rate of a gut-hooked smallie? Basically nil if you ask me. I know some people claim that they can pass the hook or it rusts away...that's hogwash, I'm sorry. Gut-hooking is very easy to do with live crawdads, and if you spend a day fishing with them, a couple gut-hooks are nearly inevitable. If you're fishing on Jack's Fork, as it seems the author of the article does, is there really a difference between filleting an illegal 17 inch smallmouth and ripping his guts out? Either way, he's dead. Bait is illegal on Blue Ribbon sections of trout streams, and I believe it should also be illegal on SMAs.

I keep my camera in a Pelican under my seat and tethered to a thwart, so I can get it out and snap a quick photo in about 15 seconds...I certainly would have gotten a shot of a 20 incher, but I understand and appreciate your wanting to get her back in the water right away. Very noble. Shame about the cattle. Whadya gonna do? Some people are just scumbags and use the earth as their toilet. If it's not ONSR land, I guess there's nothing can be done. But if 4-wheelers are illegal in streams, cattle should be, too.

Very good points, sir! Hmmm...now that I think about it, forty 16" fish sounds like a pretty fun day! Forty 12" dinks, though, I can live without.

This is my only problem with the article. C&R is conservation, and conservation is not fleeting. It's here to stay unless we want to see the quality of our fishing to go backwards. I'm with G-Rod...give me bigger fish. Funny how the meat anglers and those who support the meat anglers always qualify their opinions by saying how "we already have world-class fisheries" because the Ozarks are so beautiful, or how they don't mind catching nothing but dinks all day long. I guess here we go again. I suppose I'm ready for this debate one more time...it's been a couple months.

Cool pics, but where's the one of the 20" smallie? Did you call the authorities about the cattle? That can't be legal there, right?

Go to your local fly shop or other small gear shop to get your waders if you can...screw the big box stores. Of course, that's not always an option if your favorite shop doesn't have what you want or can't compete pricewise. Good waders are usually pretty universally priced, and there aren't a lot of sales on the higher end models anyway. Most of the time your local shop can order any item for the same price you'll find at BPS or Cabela's. Get boots that feel comfortable and provide good ankle support. You'll get a million suggestions. I prefer felt to all other soles, but you have to be careful about cross-contaminating streams with didymo in certain rivers, so be conscious of that. It's critical to allow your boots to completely dry out, and preferably bleach them, before using them in another stream after wading in one with didymo. It's possible that eventually felt may be banned in some streams, so keep that in consideration, too. I'll be using felt soles until it's illegal.

Why not make the whole thing C&R and put some nice browns in there? They'll lose the bucket brigade, but gain an entirely new set of clientele...I know I'd go there more often. They can charge the same amount to fish and their overhead wouldn't be so high since they wouldn't have to stock thousands upon thousands of fish. Yeah, right. That'll happen.

Yep, Citica. I just bought one, too, and aside from the lower gear ratio, they are just as good as the Curados except for the missing ball bearings...which you can't even tell are missing.

Ditto. Too bad they'll never turn the whole thing into a Blue Ribbon section...then it would be worth something. The place is a joke the way it is.

Nice fish there fellers, especially that brown one.

The Under Armor should do fine as a base layer. With waders you get what you pay for up to about $300, IMO. After that it's just bells and whistles. Also IMO, it's hard to beat Simms. The Freestones are the cheapest breathables ($200) if you don't need a non-typical size. I needed a medium short, so I had to go up a notch and get the Headwaters ($300) because they only make the Freestones in regular or long sizes. Also, right now the Simms Rivershed II is on sale at Cabela's for $200. They are normally $300 and are breathables, but that's about all I know about them. They look like a gray version of the Headwaters to me and they're probably a good deal at $200. Don't know which sizes they come in. Go with stockingfoot and get yourself some good wading boots.

I have the exact same setup...5wt Launch with a Lamson Konic. I use WF5F Rio Gold, and it works fine for me. I'm a novice fly-fisherman, though, so take that with a grain of salt.

No kidding...I think I've dusted about a hundred of the babies this year with the mower. They're all over the place.

Here's my new little poopy-pants in her favorite fishing outfit. She'll be five weeks tomorrow...time to start learning to cast.

I was thinking about trying to hit Mineral Fork in the next few days if I get a chance. Is the Kingston access still available for use, or what?...I'm confused. As far as the MDC Paddler's Guide is concerned, it's still good.

Nope, no smallies in my belly. And fish in eggs? Yuck! I'll stick with good ol' greasy fried.

Yeah Ollie, I tried my best to convince myself the factory seat was good enough, but in the end it just...wasn't. You could of course just buy a web or cane seat and a sitbacker and it would be much easier...but not as much fun.