Spring River Weekend, And Some Dredging.

[jdmidwest]

We went to the Spring River this weekend for one of the 3 annual get togethers. Floated Sat from Dam 3 to Riverside and had a blast making a 3 hour float into 7. River traffic was light and we had the river to ourselves after 3. Fishing was excellent. First trip in the last 2 years that it was not up and muddy. It was normal and clear and fishing was hot. Fish were on small side as normal since the new 11 inch stock size, but did manage to dredge up a few in the 12-15 inch range. Early morning fly fishing produced 30 fish hours both Sat and Sun. I wade fished all day Sunday, starting out at Riverside till noon, then Lassiters, and ending up at Dam 3 below the island.

What shocked me was all of the instream work done 2 holes down from the Island at Dam 3 along the swift run on the west side of that island. Heavy equipment had dredged and shaped the channel, added wing dikes, and tore up one of my favorite flyfishing holes. Stream bank had been cleared off all the way down from Dam 3 island to below this spot. Steel posts were sunk in concrete along the bank awaiting a chain fence I suppose. I took a few panoramic pics with the new Kodak Z915, it automatically stitches 3 pics together.

When we started going to the Spring in the late 80's, it was mostly undeveloped in this stretch. In the past, the upper area had been dammed for Hydro Power, then most blown out. Timber was stripped off. When we found it, the area from Dam 3 to the Mammoth Spring Canoe pullout was undeveloped. There was camping at town, Cold Springs (gone now), primitive at the Bayou Access and at MSCR areas, Spring River Oaks, and Many Islands. You had to pay to fish Lassiters and screw with the gates and the cows.

Now days, All the land is private and being sold for lots. Riverside Campground and lots appeared which I tend to enjoy as Sonny does a great job. River traffic is horrible on Saturday during the summer. It was a shame they did not adopt it into the Scenic Riverways with the rest of the Ozark Streams.

[jdmidwest]

I guess nobody cares about the dredging of the Spring River?

[Ham]

The dredging is just another insult to a nice river. Bad in the short term, but most likely no big deal in the long term.

The young drunk and stoopids are a much bigger problem and reflect the attitude the locals have about that river. If the locals don't care enough to change things, then I'm not going to lose sleep over it.

I'd like to get over there and fish again, but I won't fish it any where near a weekend from May through September. PLUS, I've got lots better lots closer.

[jdmidwest]

Fishing was excellent this weekend. Kids are back in school and campground was lightly filled. Not many boats on the river and most were calm. Summer is over, except for next weekend.

I assumed they applied for a permit to do what they did to the stream and bank. DNR would have to approve that kind of change in MO. Nothing like floating and being watched from a porch swing.

[gotmuddy]

I intend to float part of spring river before it gets too cold this year. who do you recommend I rent from(kayaks)

[Jump n Fish]

Floated the Spring in June and I love that river, but its a shame what they've done to that river. If that spring and river was left in its natural state without all the dams and development, we'd have 8 wonders of the world instead of 7. You think if you were going to destroy a river and turn it into a party resort, there could have been better options.

[jdmidwest]

I intend to float part of spring river before it gets too cold this year. who do you recommend I rent from(kayaks)

Riverside Resort rents kayaks, canoes, and rafts. If I was renting, I would choose the canoe as the kayaks are the simple sit on tops that are not made for fishing. There is a float camp that is renting Tarpon 100 and 120 which are great fishing Kayaks but I can't remember which one it was. As far as cold, winter is the best time. I have fished Lassiters in a blinding snow storm about 10 years back and caught fish.

[jdmidwest]

Floated the Spring in June and I love that river, but its a shame what they've done to that river. If that spring and river was left in its natural state without all the dams and development, we'd have 8 wonders of the world instead of 7. You think if you were going to destroy a river and turn it into a party resort, there could have been better options.

I have always wanted to time travel, go back and see what things were like before man screwed it up. But I want to do it with today's technology and luxuries..... I have seen pics of it with the dams and all of the hillsides stripped of timber back in the early 1900's and the old mills, it actually is better now than then. Stop by the visitor center in Mammoth and look at some of the old pics and tour the park.

There was an action of the land this summer and I think lots were going for around 90k. From the looks of the stream, somebody was paying dearly to manipulate the stream for some reason or another.

[Coldspring]

Several years ago, there was a local man that used a bulldozer to reroute the river around the new development area you speak of. He got into trouble over that, I'm not sure what ended up being done for his actual punishment.

There were several hundred acres for sale for a long time. If you liked the scenic qualities of the river so much you could have bought it and preserved it.

I am sad to see the old 13,000 acre Pigman Ranch on Eleven Point River divided more and more. You can still buy 6472 acres of it of for onlty $925 an acre if you'd like to not see cabins built up against the Wild and Scenic Riverways property boundaries.

When I go to the Spring River I get disgusted. There is soooo much trash and litter at the accesses. Dam 3, the Bayou, and even some accesses on the Warm Fork up in Missouri. It is the most trashed up river I know of. The locals don't give a ____, they are a low caliber of people is a nice way to put it. I used to try to pick some of it up, but I just gave up after a while, The trash just kept returning, and, this year, it is worse than I can remember it

[radiatorman]

Several years ago, there was a local man that used a bulldozer to reroute the river around the new development area you speak of. He got into trouble over that, I'm not sure what ended up being done for his actual punishment.

There were several hundred acres for sale for a long time. If you liked the scenic qualities of the river so much you could have bought it and preserved it.

I am sad to see the old 13,000 acre Pigman Ranch on Eleven Point River divided more and more. You can still buy 6472 acres of it of for onlty $925 an acre if you'd like to not see cabins built up against the Wild and Scenic Riverways property boundaries.

When I go to the Spring River I get disgusted. There is soooo much trash and litter at the accesses. Dam 3, the Bayou, and even some accesses on the Warm Fork up in Missouri. It is the most trashed up river I know of. The locals don't give a ____, they are a low caliber of people is a nice way to put it. I used to try to pick some of it up, but I just gave up after a while, The trash just kept returning, and, this year, it is worse than I can remember it

I'm sure there are several of us that, if it were financially possible would love to "buy several hundred acres" and preserve it. Unfortunatally, owning river frontage, especially hundreds of acres, for the most part has became like the classic car hobby in many respects, reserved for the wealthy. I'm definatally not in that category, but I do love my cars and my river and will never give up on either.

I too get disgusted at times when I'm there, but I have to tell myself that my little bit can make a difference, maybe some kid will see me picking up beer cans floating by, remember it and pass that on to his children, or make the jackass in the canoe who threw it out in front of him feel like enough of a turd that he wont do it again.

I'm no politician, radical conservationist, or anything like that, just a regular guy who loves the river and will do my small part, so that hopefully myself and others can continue to enjoy it.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with one step, think of the differance that could be made if those of us that care, would join and make our voice heard more. If in the end it produced no result, at least we would no we tried.

Look at how much of a mess (at least in my opinion) our country is in because the majority has sat on their butts and kept their mouths shut, while a few of the minority screamed,on any given issue, until they got their way. While the majority tried to convince themselves either that their opinion didn't matter or the problem would simply fix itself.

Problems seldom fix themselves, my opinon does matter, and my mouth expressing that opinion over the years has caused me some discomfort, anyone who knows me can attest to that, but will never have any doubt as to where I stand on any given issue.

Please don't ever give up, what small part you do, does make a difference, to both yourself and people like me, letting me know I'm not out ther alone fishin out beer cans and sunglasses. Sorry for the long rant, just had to get it out there and let everyone know there are lots of us out there "doing our little part" and it does make a difference, think of what it would be like if we weren't doing something.