eric1978

That makes two of us my friend.

Oh, son! Like that pompous snot? I agree totally. Who needs big fish when you have Ozark fish?

You're not talking about the one in your pic, are you Mitch? That one looks like mostly smallie to me, definitely not worthy of destroying...at least IMO. Plenty of smallie genes there to pass on.

Couple points, Wayne. C'mon buddy, you know there's more room for gear in your solo canoe than in your Tarpon. My solo is a foot shorter than yours, and I can very comfortably carry all my fishing gear, camping gear for an overnight or extended trips, and more than a case of beer, plus water and food for several days. Also, if you have shorter rods (which I prefer for canoe fishing), all the tips can remain inside the bow and under the gunwales...mine do, and I have no worries about snagging them on brush. That's always going to be a problem on a kayak. As far as weight, yeah the 10' sit ins might be as light as Royalex solos, but they're very limited in gear capacity and they track horribly and spin like a top. Plus they paddle upstream or through slack water as poorly or worse than most solos. When I say "long and lean," I mean long and lean for a recreational canoe, like the Vagabond. I'm not talking about a touring canoe that has very little initial stability.

Good plastic solo canoes are nothing like the aluminum beasts you've experienced. Gavin mentioned the Wenonah Vagabond, the solo I wish I had, but they're around a grand. Old Town makes a couple solos, the Guide 119 and the Pack, which are both cheaper. And there are others. It's an endless debate...which is better, canoe or kayak? And it always boils down to a matter of preference. But for me, a canoe is a better choice first and foremost because of its versatility. If you decide you want to do an overnight and pack the necessary gear, you can. You'll be hard-pressed to do that with any kayak, unless you're an extreme minimalist. Also you can take more rods and tackle than in a kayak if you are so inclined. Don't forget dry bags and all the other incidental stuff that's convenient on the river. No problem finding a place to put it in the canoe. They can be as light or lighter than kayaks, especially if you pay the extra money for Royalex. They're more comfortable to me. You sit higher and have more ability to move your legs around. You have a better line of sight for fishing and for navigating tricky spots on a river. Some canoes are faster than others, so if you plan to do a lot of upstream paddling, you should consider that, and look at longer, leaner canoes. Some canoes cut through the water nicely, some paddle like barges. Some canoes track better than others, some are more maneuverable. But for any kayak you are considering, there is most likely a canoe that will paddle as good or better...at least if we're talking about crafts that are appropriate for angling and taking it easy on our small rivers. Yes, of course most kayaks are going to outperform most canoes in whitewater, but that's not relevant to most Ozark streams. You stay drier in canoes. That doesn't matter much in July, but in March or November it's important. Canoes are easier to modify. If you don't like the seat position or the seat itself, yank it out and put a different one in. There are other considerations, but I'm too tired to think of them right now. I'm sure someone will chime in soon and start giving you reasons why kayaks are better.

Just curious...why do you want a kayak instead of a canoe?

Another great report, Al. 3 20" LM? I'll take that any day. Guess you're having spots with a side of tailings for dinner tonight, eh?

I agree with that, and that's as far as I'll take it. There are a few rappers that have some brains and write lyrics with socially relevant and important content, no denying that. But the vast majority do not, and the problem with your analogy to Dylan and Neil Young is that they write about what's wrong with society and what we should do to change it, and the rappers, generally, embrace and glorify all the disgusting aspects of their (our) culture. Much of rap and the rap scene is based on anti-intellectualism and caveman behavior. That's a huge difference, and it can't go without mentioning. You seem to have a pretty solid musical foundation OB, and if I had the energy I'd respond to every one of your points in great detail. I agree with some of what you said, especially about where R&R came from...you're absolutely right about the influences. But I have to say a couple things. The Beatles didn't get weird because "they knew people would buy millions of their records no matter what," they got "weird" because they started smoking pot and eventually doing acid, and their music evolved accordingly. It just so happened that what flowed out of them was tantamount to genius and they revolutionized music, so people bought it. By the way, Yellow Submarine was written for a cartoon...for kids. It was their weakest album by far for that obvious reason. I hate that song, but it's one of very few that can really be slammed. Nice choice for your purposes, though. I can take or leave the Kinks...they were mediocre anyway. Elton John had nothing to do with Tommy when The Who wrote it. Dark Side of the Moon is one of the greatest albums ever made and still sells hundreds of thousands of copies per year, almost 40 years after its release. How many Nelly albums do you think will be sold in 2050? (I hate when people use "copies sold" to try to convince others of an artist's greatness...hell, how many albums did Britney Spears sell? But the point is that Dark Side of the Moon is still relevant today for a reason.) People who think Born in the USA is a patriotic tribute to our country, the idiot Hell's Angels at Altamont, the screaming 14 year old girls at the Ed Sullivan show, and the phony hippies that were following the Dead around until the 90s...yep, they're zombies, too. There are plenty of stupid people to go around...it's not limited to rap. But you have to admit, when you're driving around and you hear a rattling trunk you tend to think, "there's a stupid person next to me" before you even look. And chances are, you're right.

You're exhausting. You should get back on your Ritalin.

Too bad he won't be around long if he keeps eating that crap out of the MS river.

That fish was caught out of a bowl of gravel, where apparently it had no place to run and hide...kinda like hooking a fish in the middle of the ocean. Plus I seem to recall that fish died...eh?

Agreed. I really don't like eating fish out of anything but farm ponds on inactive farms or out of the upper reaches of a stream...and even then I still have this nagging feeling it's not really clean. But the garbage we get from the grocery store has some amount of inorganic crap in it, too, whether it be contamination, antibiotics, hormones, etc. I know the Asian Carp are filter feeders and grow quickly and therefore won't build up the amounts of heavy metals that other fish do, so you probably won't grow an arm out of your forehead if you eat a few. But you are what you eat, and the carp we consume is just as contaminated as whatever nastiness the plankton consume, and so on.

I've never caught a 10 pound trout, so I couldn't answer that. But I would contend that a 20 inch smallie caught on UL gear could just as easily head straight into a tangled root wad as a 10 pound trout, and just sit there, leaving you helpless.

5 minutes? I'm not so sure I've ever spent more than one minute. Or maybe it just feels that fast. You fight a smallmouth for five minutes, he's dead.

Good one. I've said it before...the problem I'd have with eating the Silvers or Bigheads is not the fish itself, but where they come from. The MS and MO rivers are just too contaminated and nasty for me to enjoy a meal out of them. That goes for the cats or any other species caught from those rivers, too. No thanks. I'd be just fine with canning it and sending it to third world countries for starving kids to eat, though. Better than nothing for them.

Smallmouth are not trout...they're not line shy. There's no need to use 4 or 6 pound test...8 or 10 works fine. If you guys say you don't break fish off with your UL outfits, okay, I'm glad to hear it's working for you. That stuff is just heartbreak city for me, so I'm sticking with a line that better suits the situation.

It's all about choosing the right tool for the job. If we're talking about smallies on small streams, it ain't an UL with 4 pound test, and it ain't a heavy flippin' stick with 17 pound test. They both have their jobs, but this isn't one of them.

Oh, okay Cricket. And what do you do when they head right back into the rootwad they came from? Curse and slap the water with your lil' limp noodle uglystick, that's what. Get yourself a proper smallie setup boy, so when you hook that 20 incher you'll actually get to hold it.

Yep...spot/smallie, possibly just spot, but either way, what a pig.

The Sam A. Baker hike was a pretty good Missouri overnight. I would compare it to Bell Mountain as far as difficulty, maybe a little tougher ascents. There's a section of horse trail you have to hike that is hell on the knees, but nothing horrible otherwise. The first day isn't all that special from what I remember, just lots of woods and one money shot early on, then you descend. The second day starts tough when you climb a mountain, but the trail takes you up on top a bluff that looks over Big Creek, and it's beautiful. The trail follows the bluff for at least a mile or so, and along the way there are several CCC shelters built back during the depression (or just after it). My grandfather helped build those stone shelters with his bare hands. I'll try to find the name of the loop for you. As always, the backpacking is better in the fall. When we went, the maples were as yellow as bananas and the weather was perfect. Edit to add: Here it is, Mudlick Mountain Loop. We did the hike in the opposite direction it is described here, and saved the best for last. Mudlick Trail Mudlick Trail provides an intimate journey into one of the oldest mountain regions of North America: the St. Francois Mountains. It is a moderate to very strenuous 12-mile loop trail, climbing from 415 feet above sea level in Big Creek Valley to 1,313 feet above sea level at the top of Mudlick Mountain. It is open to hiking, backpacking and equestrian use. Most of the trail is located in the Mudlick Mountain Wild Area, one of the most significant, undisturbed natural landscapes in Missouri. The trail begins by ascending the bluffs above Big Creek where three stone hiking shelters, constructed by the Civilian Conservation Corps in the 1930s, offer outstanding views of the surrounding countryside and the "shut-ins" valley below. The trail then drops into Mudlick Hollow, a narrow rock-strewn valley interspersed with pools of clear water. The trail follows Mudlick Hollow for about three-fourths of a mile before beginning a gradual climb to the summit of Green Mountain. Horses may bypass the rocky Mudlick Hollow on the "horse friendly" Hollow Pass Trail. Hikers may use the Hollow Pass Trail as a return route after visiting the scenic hollow. The view from Green Mountain is best during the fall and winter when the trees in the thick oak-hickory forest have shed their leaves. From the southern end of Green Mountain, the trail descends rapidly, via a series of "switchbacks," into Logan Creek valley. A dense stand of red cedar grows in the valley, providing a cool shaded corridor for the trail. Once through the valley, the trail begins a steady climb to the top of Mudlick Mountain. It then traverses the rugged eastern slope of the mountain back to the starting point.

Why is it that the ugliest women always want to get the most naked? Desperation I guess.

They probably saw you before you saw them, and they were on to you before you even casted. When I encounter that situation in really clear water, I'll usually give them a half hour break or so, or come back later in the day if possible, approach as stealthily and slowly as I can and make a LONG cast with a fast moving bait...small spinnerbait, fast topwaters, flukes, etc. Don't give them a chance to see you, and don't give them a chance to inspect your offering. You're looking for a reaction strike. And as Al mentioned recently in another thread, don't plop the bait right on top of them.

Looks like Colbert and Kentucky have found the answer. You have to get past the razor commercial, and it took awhile for the video to buffer...but my computer is a heap, so it may be faster on yours. http://www.colbertna...ese-burger-melt

Awesome! Neat looking fish.

I slung it around for about ten minutes or so, but I couldn't resist the lure of the spinnerbait's song. I caved. Pat stuck with it and did well with a big ol' bugger. I was fully aware of the double entendre. I thought it might get a few more clicks so I went with it.