Justin Spencer

Let's hope not, by the way I dug a hole put the fish in it, covered it with rocks, got my camera dug up the fish took a picture and released it unharmed, hope that's okay. We were following a fraternity group that were tied together in groups of 6-8 canoes. We even heard them set off a cherry bomb, didn't seem to bother the fish, they kept on biting. As annoying as other people can be on the river, usually the fish seem used to it. BOOYAH!

Took a family float today with wife Amy and 6 year old Eli and 4 year old Molly. Took fly rods along in the hope we might catch a couple fish. Floated Patrick to James, Amy caught 2 before Riverside which is so so, stopped on big gravel bar for lunch and I caught 6 with the first 5 being in the first 20 drifts, all within 20 yards of each other, missing 3-4 others. All but one par marked brown were over 12" biggest about 15. After lunch Amy caught at least a dozen before James Bridge and missed quite a few others. All but 2 were browns. Caught all on rubberlegs size 6. To repay the fish gods at James Bridge I aided a youngster who had been grabbing suckers and had a big treble stuck in his leg. Used the old mono around the hook trick to pop it out, man I hate doing that! Great day with the family, can't imagine how many we had caught if we hadn't been tending to two youngsters! If there is any question as to why fish hit big rubberlegs on the NFoW here is a picture that shows you why. The first rock I flipped there was a stone about like this one, and after showing it off I put it back, and was kicking myself for not getting a picture. Not long after, Eli said he had found a "crawdad or something" I went over and this time got a picture. Just so happens these were right at the head of the island where all those browns were eagerly biting a rubberlegs. By the way river at about 1200 cfs, it is possible to catch them wading, you just have to pick your spots carefully in high water. All of Amy's fish came from the boat, some while anchored. Blow up the fish pic to see the fly. Happy Easter!

I'm sure most of you know the thing that really hurts the fish is when you disrupt their slime coat, that is their protection from fungal and bacterial infections. Just wet your hands when you must touch them, put them on a wet towel or wet vegetation if you must put them down, and put them on a hot grill if you must eat them. I'm out to chase some big NFoW browns, but will have kids in tow so expectations are low. Enjoy your easter weekend!

It seems to me our society is primarily reactive and not proactive. Those of us who are business owners realize that to continue to improve and grow you must be proactive and figure out what you need to do to be successful in the future, not just in the present. That's seems to be a foreign thought to our government officials who seem to be more worried about re-election than what is good for the country. I think if we made our officials work harder and get paid less maybe we would get the type of people who would get some work done in Washington. There are a select few who seem to be doing things that they feel are right without playing completely to the politics, and agree or not I respect that much more than those who always seem to play the middle and never ruffle any feathers. Our country and economy are very young compared to the Old World countries, we need to realize that we are not entitled to anything, and if we don't figure out a solution to many of our problems we may have to sell ourselves back to England (or not!)

Thank goodness for lifetime warranties. I have had several fly fishermen down here break expensive rods and have seen them nearly brought to tears. Their faces light up when I tell them that their rod has a lifetime warranty and usually for 50 bucks or so they can send their rod in and it will be repaired or replaced for that modest fee. All of the good rod companies offer this, I am amazed at how few people realize these warranties exist. They don't care if you step on it or slam it in a car door. If it is a defect they will replace for free, but most of us break it on our own, so we have to pay a little for our clumsiness. I have also had a redington reel replaced for free when it was burnt up by a overexuberant ladyfish. Took it back to my flyshop, he looked at it (threw it in the trash-I'm sure he pulled it out later) and handed me a new reel. I don't buy the most expensive gear but I make sure the gear I buy has some kind of warranty because the more expensive it is, the more likely I am to break it.

Growing up in Fort Scott, I have to be kind of a closet KU and K-state fan, down here in Tiger country. Since I went to Division 2 Pitt State I can switch alligiances to whoever is winning in D-I. Time to get out my purple sweatshirt. For anyone who fell asleep during that game, you missed a great one. Go Wildcats, with Frank Martin I hope they are here to stay!

Non-existant on the river, as you get down to the lake, probably be quite a few around the bridge looking for those whites. Check out my blog for what has been going on with the fishing here. You can access it from sunburstranchcanoe.com.

The White bass can't get past Dawt Mill due to the dam, but they will run up to the dam which is about 2 miles from the 160 Bridge at Tecumseh. I was down that way the other day and went up the Bryant about a quarter mile and found a few males. That would mean they should be up the North Fork also, and with this rain should continue to go up. If you are floating you could do a float on the lower end, hit the red ribbon trout area (which has been fishing very good for browns)and portage around the dam, fish for whites the last two miles, and take out at Tecumseh.

Put in at Tecumseh at the top of Norfork lake yesterday. Went down toward the stump hole and ran in to a fleet of boats. Like everyone else who came along, figured this must be where the fish were. Fished about an hour there and caught 2 nice whites. Didn't see anyone else catching fish so we decided to run up to Bryant Creek. At the confluence of the Bryant and NFoW there were about a dozen fishermen so we continued up the first hole on the Bryant side. Went to first riffle and drifted down. Caught one decent male right off the bat, then one big male a while later. White swimmin' minners, white and chartreuse maribous all caught fish, but couldn't find any big groups willing to bite. Took out about 6:30 so might have left a little early. All males are ready to spawn, the one female we cleaned was full of eggs, but not very developed. A little more rain and warm temps and they should really be heading up the Bryant along with the walleye and stripers. Wonderful afternoon to be out, and came home with enough for a meal, life is good!

Beautiful boat! Is it pretty stable?

Don't forget from Feb. 28th to May 22 black bass (includes smallmouth) season is closed on many streams in order to protect spawing fish.

Good info ness! I think what is cool is that these little wild streams no have their own "strain" of rainbows that continue to evolve to best meet the conditions they encounter. Survival of the fittest should mean that these strains will continue to improve and get stronger the longer they are present, no one can argue that these "wild fish" are more fun and rewarding to catch than stockers.

We (living in a river valley) lost all free TV when we switched to digital. Can no longer get any signal whereas before we had at least a few stations, and that is with a 30' aerial. I know in our area digital cable has screwed alot of people. I looked on the national map and it says that we might get one station on a weak signal in our area. I'm sure broadband would be the same for us. We are just hoping DSL will make it out here someday. I'm too lazy to read the article, but unless they can make the signal more powerful it won't matter to those of us living deep in the hills.

For no frills fishing where technology does you little or no good grab a canoe and head to one of the float streams. Whether a fly fisherman or spin fisherman smallmouth, goggleye, trout, white bass, even stripers, hybirds and walleye in some streams are all available within an hour of most of us. No gas bill, no fish finder, no noise, only advise and experience can help you when you are river fishing. If you know what you are doing you can even catch big fish that seem even bigger when you catch them in moving water. I enjoy fishing lakes as well, but when I want a relaxing day back to nature, nothing beats floating down an Ozark stream catching fish along the way. As the water warms every species of river fish is starting to bite, now is the time! Stream fishing levels the playing field for everyone, and a person on any budget can do it.

Definately have some back up plans, that time of year floods are common. With good float streams streaching all the way across Missouri and Northern Ark. oftentimes some might be flooded and some not. Do your homework on streams across the state so if the forecast or waterlevels for the buffalo are not good you can move to a different river and still have a good trip. Most outfitters have a pretty good idea a week in advance as to what the water is going to do depending on the forecast. Keep this in mind and you have a better chance of a succesful vacation. Happy to hear you are passing along a wonderful pastime to a new generation.

Hope there was a good turnout. If you live close to Springfield and missed it you should be ashamed of yourself. Hope you didn't give away all the secrets Brian.

Bluegill are what got me hooked on fly fishing. In the spring couldn't wait to get out of school and home, jump in the leaky johnboat and catch dozens of hand size bluegill on wal-mart poppers. Glad to read this thread, I'm teaching my 6 year old to fly fish, and with the NFoW in my front yard had nearly forgotton about the fun that can be had in nearly any body of water bigger than a puddle. Great way to get a kid hooked on fly fishing and great fun for anyone wanting to feel a tug on the line, or put some fish in the frying pan! Thank you for reminding me of it.

Well put Steve. It seems as if our only reactions are kneejerk anymore. When anyone tries to be proactive instead of reactive it is thought of oftentimes as over regulation. Common sense and looking at the big picture seems to be a lost art. I understand people looking out for #1, but society is too interconnected for that to work, whether it is fishing, hunting, the environment etc. Our economy is built on growth, and unfortunately unless we start producing most of our goods here at home, this growth is unsustainable. Most of the problems in the world today in my opinion all lead back to one thing, overpopulation. Certainly not a subject polititians can even think about addressing, but in everything but human population you see exponential growth followed by a population crash, we have gotten pretty good at preventing this but it can't last forever. Not exactly where I was planning on going with this, but there it is. Happy fishing!

Good point. There are already marine sanctuaries in place of the Florida coast and the Keys where recreational fishing commercial fishing etc. are prohibited. A good plan to allow areas that are traditional spawning areas a chance to thrive. The hope is that if there are a few good areas for reproduction these will effectively stock the other areas where fishing is allowed. I lived in Florida for several years and if you have ever fished a reef there it is easy to see that recreational fishing can have a huge effect on fish populations, boats everywhere. We don't want our coasts to end up like other third world countries where you can't find a fish. The simple fact is when you have the number of fishermen that we have in this country regulation is the only way to keep the resource from being exploited. I would guess that most inland fisheries will never have to deal with strict regulations as they are propped up by artificial stocking, or closures during spawing times. Hard to believe that a news outlet such as ESPN would have an article that is not entirely factual. Don't tell me that FOX news and MSNBC also run stories that aren't completely true, I think I'll just get my news from the Enquirer.

The North Fork has some good smallies in it, is it hit and miss. The upper North Fork is better (or so I've heard) than the trout areas, but where you find good holes in the trout area there are some good smallies. There are areas where they stack in the wintertime and you can usually catch a few. We had a guest catch a 19" a few years ago right in front of our riverhouse, it's probably 25" by now! Bryant Creek is better for smallies, we take people over there as well. It has longer deeper holes. The trout area of the north fork is a lot of runs and riffles with not too much deeper water. We had some fishermen the other day in the Blue ribbon area catch quite a few smallies, but they were in bunches, not in areas you would normally fish for trout.

For reference I fished on Monday for about 1 1/2 hours and lost about 4 flies. I also caught 6 fish so I think you have hit the nail on the head about not being deep enough. I was fishing some moderate current with a heavy fly, only a couple feet deep and still added at least a BB, and sometimes a AAA, most fly fishermen don't even have those sizes in their box. BB is .4 grams, AAA is .8 grams (big sinkers). You have to realize even with the weight it takes a few seconds to get to the bottom, then you get a few more seconds of good drift then swing, then recast. Most people lucky to get 20 feet of good drift at good depth in fast water, if you don't use enough weight you might get 5 feet of good drift (what are the odds a fish is in that 5 feet of river, probably not good) then as it swings it doesn't stay down very long, once again above the fish. If you are down deep enough you will catch fish on the swing, and even as you lift your rod, take up a little line and get ready to re-cast, don't be surprised if you catch fish (you will luck in to several fish a day just getting ready to cast). I think Kyle is better at catching fish with less weight than most of us, but for me weight works!

If the dog was running a deer how did the ranger get close enough to shoot it. I would guess he shot it with a handgun, unless our rangers now pack rifles with them wherever they go. I agree that dogs loose are a problem, but it seemed as if the owner knew his dog was lost and was trying to find it. Most owners in the Ozarks, including myself just let their dogs live unkenneled. This works as long as they stick around, mine stay right around the house unless I go somewhere with them. When I leave I pen them up. I have a herd of 7 deer that I see in the front yard several times a week. When the dogs see them, they bark, and I have one that always chases them off. They are usually back within 15 minutes. I think deer know when they are really in danger, and I doubt they feel terribly threatened by a beagle.

After watching the river flow by while doing a little cleanup at the riverhouse, I decided to put on my waders and explore some water I really had not fished much. I started with a brown Zonker, and since I had forgotten my sunglasses the glare made it too hard to see this fly. I stumbled across a little run that I truthfully didn't even know existed (pretty sad as it is along my own property). It is tough to get to by shore but turned out to be well worth the effort. A few fish were rising to midges, and naturally I had nothing even close. I put on my old standby stone imitation and picked up two 13" browns on back to back casts. I then found I could go above the run and wade around to the other side where I had seen numerous rises. Over there I picked up a small bow on the same fly and then switched to a white scud. I caught several more small bows on it and lost several others. While I didn't have the social aspect of opening day at a trout park, it was nice that the only shoulder to shoulder were my two skinny ones next to each other. Also refreshing to find a new place to fish, it always amazes me how many places there are that hold fish, all you have to do is explore and be willing to try something new.

If you have hunted with dogs then I would bet at some point your dog took off and chased a deer. Unless you always have a shock collar on a dog even the best trained dogs can sometimes be overcome by something that enticing. I would like some tips on 100% compliance when your dogs jump a group of deer. I have never hunted with beagles but I think they are even harder to control when they get on a trail. While hard to control they are also used because they are too slow to catch a rabbit. I would bet a deer can easily outrun a rabbit. I have shot several stray dogs (and absolutely hate to do it) that I could not catch and were killing our chickens, I have also caught several and taken them elsewhere. Sometimes feral animals must be destroyed, but this was not a feral dog, it was a dog with a collar that probably would have come to the ranger had he tried to catch it, then he could have called the owner, given him a ticket if neccesary and maybe a lesson would have been learned. Now a black eye once again for law enforcement and the government. I'm sure this guy didn't expect to ever have to tell anyone what he did, but now he (or she) is in a lot of hot water, and hopefully this will open up a position for someone with a little common sense, and maybe some people skills.

I should be around this weekend, if you want to float from Sunburst to Patrick I could follow you down and you could leave your vehicle and I could bring you back here to start your float. It's less than a mile by road so no big deal.