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[Chief Grey Bear]

Hey RiverRatt, please do. It doesn't get the press that others do, and I really don't mind that but, she has bountiful secrets not easily obtained. One must spend time with her to understand and appriciate her. But ahhhh, what a lovely lass she is.

[Jason Essary]

greybear, toke my first trip to joplin this weekend. Didnt take a rod but spent a lot of time looking over shoal. Beautiful. I thinking about taking my litter over to float it in june when they get out of school. Any suggestions on where to float and with who? We will be fishing and taking our time, with very unexperieced floaters except for me. Maybe a 4 hour or so long float.

[Chief Grey Bear]

I would be glad show you and your litter around on Shoal. I think a good float that would be real easy is Tipton Ford to Gateway(Hwy 175). It is only around a 2 mile float that has some easiest water to float on Shoal. There is only one easy riffle and no log jams or hard turns to worry about. And it has some great fishing. And before you know it, you have killed 3 or 4 hours.

[wily]

chief -- this is a stupid question but what side of the bridge do you take out at gateway.

and what about from there to reddings mill. what's that float like? looks like a lot of logs in the river from the road...

thanks, are you guys doing a spring float?

[Chief Grey Bear]

You can put in/take out on the upstream side on the south side of the bridge. Right there where the house is with the white fence.

From that spot on down to Reddings Mill is really good too. But it can be tricky to float. There are some shoals that can be difficult to negotite. Probably the best way to get over them is to drag over them.

A spring float sounds like a good idea. We did have a fall float last year. We need to do that again too.

[wily]

i'm in for the spring float if the date falls right. i got a tandem kayak over the winter. worked great last weekend at zan's. i put both boys up front and i sit in the back and do the paddling. much better than the gheenoe...i can load it easily on top of the 4 runner.

we might try the tipton ford section this weekend if the weather holds...thanks

[Buzz]

i'm in for the spring float if the date falls right. i got a tandem kayak over the winter. worked great last weekend at zan's. i put both boys up front and i sit in the back and do the paddling. much better than the gheenoe...i can load it easily on top of the 4 runner.

we might try the tipton ford section this weekend if the weather holds...thanks

I'm in for a Spring float too.

[CDC]

I would have to second Gateway to Reddings mill can be tricky. Not too bad really except for the section right above the bridge. Good fishing all the way down but that little rocky riffle above the takeout is about the closest I have come to tipping a canoe in a long time.

On another note, I would be up for a Spring float. Let me know when and I will do my best to make it.

[Knot Head]

I haven't formally introduced myself, but will post in the new members section soon, but I would be in for a float if it happens to work around my wife's work schedule. Also if any of you guys around here ever want to team up for a short local float on weekends give me a holler. I know shuttling issues keep me from getting out as much as I would like. I have a canoe/kayak trailer that will hold several boats.

[markw]

I haven't formally introduced myself, but will post in the new members section soon, but I would be in for a float if it happens to work around my wife's work schedule. Also if any of you guys around here ever want to team up for a short local float on weekends give me a holler. I know shuttling issues keep me from getting out as much as I would like. I have a canoe/kayak trailer that will hold several boats.

Spring float when ?? its spring now- any weekend except may 1-2 is good for me.