Missouri Implant

[Jordan]

Good day guys and gals.

My name is Jordan and I will be an implant to the lovely state of Missouri around the middle part of may.

I will be moving from Louisiana to Missouri and chasing the "American Dream".

I am a firefighter and EMT and will be changing jobs from a real estate agent here in LA to EMT around Ft. Leonardwood, MO

Enought about myself---- On to better things such as fishing

I will basically have Mark Twain national forest in my back yard (walking distance). Ive fished the Big Piney river a handful of times in the summer.

Basically what im asking is------------Im wanting some feedback on what I should go spend $ on to fish and what should I avoid ?

I do not fly-fish, but plan on it.

I have normal tackle and no boat.

All information to this post is greatly appreciated.

[Greasy B]

I have normal tackle and no boat.

All information to this post is greatly appreciated.

Keep it simple, your normal tackle is probably fine to get started, get a boat and go fishing. Start with either a john, 16ft or so with kicker or a poly canoe. Keep it cheap until you get a feel for how you like to run and fish the rivers.

[bs1827]

You'll be within range of some descent smallie waters. Grab your wading shoes and get yourself familiar with the Ned Rig and some small texas rigged Zoom Speed Craws. Spool up some 6lb. line on a L-ML casting rod and you'll be good to go.

Just don't get bitten by the fly fishing bug too early- it's hard on the wallet.

[Smallieguy87]

Welcome to the forums Jordan. I mostly wade but recently got into kayaking streams here. You can keep your selection pretty simple. A few crankbaits (I carry mostly craw patterns) any good 4-5 inch curl tail grub(I use pumpkin, avocado, green pumpkin, or smoke colors) pair with a 1/8-1/4oz jig head. Some 2.5-3.5 tube baits( I always have luck with darker Browns and greens with just about any variation of flake) I haven't fished the Ned rig so I can't comment there but for all the baits mentioned above I normally use a medium power rod with #8 line. I could definitely see the need for the light-medium light with #6. I also forgot to mention any football jig 1/8-1/4 works well on most of the rivers and streams though you may want to go up to 3/8 if you're fishing it deeper or there's a lot of current.