1/14 & 1/16 report

[Brian Sloss]

I was able to get out Sat. and Mon. for a couple hours each day to see how the river was fishing. Sat. I went to the 19 bridge and caught about 10 fish using a North Fork special with an egg dropper fished deep. Most took the egg, but a few fell to the North Fork special. A couple of real nice fish though in the 15-17 inch range.

Today I fished the bridge again, the set up was the same as well, thugh I only landed about six, but one was a hard fighting 15 incher. I saw a 20+ inch fish, but there was no wy to get to him without a boat. I also went to Cane Bluff to see if any trout had made its way up there like they did last winter. I only fished there for 30 mins. with no luck. I was kind of glad I didn't, because if they are up there, when it warms up they probably won't make it.

[Fox Statler]

Brian,

That's why I couldn't find you today, you were out fishing. The sign said you were at the house. Sorry about your map. Were you driving a white SUV down to Cane Bluff Access?? I was the guy stopped in the middle of the road showing his wife that huge buck out in the pasture to the west. We went to every MIssouri access on the Eleven Points today except for Thomasville. How bad is the jet boat traffic in your area in the spring and summer?? That is some beautiful blue water. I plan to bring my bow-mount trolling motor canoe up there and fish the shoals going up and the deep holes floating back. I liked the water at 19, Turner's, and Whitten. I might try motoring up from Turner's first. Do you have a suggestion on that??.

[Brian Sloss]

Sorry I missed you. I was in a Blue van that said Eleven Point Canoe Rental on it. I'd suggest fishing between Greer and Turner Mill. If you go upstream from Turner, go can only go 1.5 miles before you hit Mary Decker Shoals, which a trolling motor is not going to get you through. I'd start a Greer and just float to Turner fishing as you go. Jet boats are not too bad. Mostly they hang out below Turner. They are limited to 25hp and Sat. is the worst time for them. Most are pollite, no where near as bad as lower Current.,

[Fox Statler]

How bad is Mary Decker Shoals. I don't mind pulling the canoe up it.

[Gavin]

Guess you could paddle/troll & drag your canoe upstream over the shoals, and possibly portage Mary Decker on the left, but its a lot easier to float from Greer to Turner. Its only 5.5 miles and it makes a great day trip. Cheers. Brian's shuttle rates are reasonable. Cheers.

[Brian Sloss]

Ditto what Gavin said. You can do that way but it is a lot more work and won't be able to cover nearly as much water and the best fishing in my opinion is from the 3rd island down to Mary Decker shoals, as that is where it gets fished the least due accessiblity constraints (ie you need a boat to get to it easily).

Brian