Smallie with live crawdad

I love that picture! And, that was only one of the nice smallmouth that was fed that day.

I wish I knew who the Canadian was that was looking at our blog. They're so exotic. Here two Canadians are enjoying a nice Spring day.

Hello World!

I use Google Analytics to track traffic to our humble home on the web. It's interesting because our page has been viewed from as far away as Canada and Argentina. Someone in Canada stayed on the site for six minutes. Probably astonished by the courages exploits of our noble, fraternal association, or perhaps they were quaking with fear at our displays of bold piracy.

Anyway, I thought it was kind of cool that someone besides us had checked out our blog.

She'll fly again, mateys

I agree with Ed

The 3rd installment of the annual OMRPASSSJFCF is well on it's way to being one of the greateest fishing adventures of all time. Cassius Clay told me that...JB

Pirate Portrait

There are all some pretty cool pictures. You know, when I was driving back I couldn't wait to get home, and now I can't wait for the next trip. And, I guarantee there will be fish involved in the 3rd Annual Ozark Mountain Pirate Association's Spring Smallmouth Spawn Jack's Fork Canoeing and Fishing Adventure.

Into the Sunset

...through the eyes of a Jeeper.

Nice Pics!

We got to get some of those framed.

Ridgeback shot, BAM!!!!

Ozark Mountain Folk Art

Stay tuned for more pictures and some video. I'll try to find a high speed connection tomorrow so I can upload video. We folks in BFE don't have all the modern conveniences and are relegated to dial-up. It's like we're living back in the 20th century or something.

I Got My First Deer

As I was heading back toward Alton, I saw some more deer in the same spot where I hit the unlucky one on Friday.

Riverton, Missouri

I think we should move to Riverton and build our own compound.

It's A Fixer Upper

This is the sort of place we might be living if there were no women on earth. The lawn isn't manicured, but hey look at all the canoes.

Had fun

Hey guys, had a blast but weird without a river experoence:( The jeepin was fun. Russel post the pics and videos of the carnage.

Mikey says float it!

I'm not too worried about it, I've floated in Montana and Wyoming in much worse conditions. I may leave the dog @ the cabin though, not sure if she'll jump in or not. I don't want her to have a bad memory on her first float.

Mike is the Man

I think you're right. Mike will know what to do. We'll ask him.

Fishing Trails

I think we should watch the weather and hope it warms up. If it doesn't then I think we should consider hiking and fishing. I don't want to spend more time worrying about getting shipwrecked than time spent fishing.

At the same time I really want to catch some fish. I don't really care if I do this from a canoe or the shore. Perhaps we could check with Mike at Hufstedlers and see what kind of information they have.

This is cool. Thomas Hart Benton's Fishing In the Ozarks. Look Familiar?

Eleven Point River Trails

The local weather forcast for Saturday calls for a low in the teens and a high of 30 degrees. That's pretty darn cold when you're on the water.

If anyone ends up in the water, hypothermia becomes a real threat. The Eleven Point is a remote river and even moderate hypothermia requires evacuation to a hospital.

I thought hiking along the river might be a possible alternative to floating. Here's what the GORP website has to say about the river trails, "The McCormack-Greer Trail and the Whites Creek Trail are both adjacent to the river, and maps are available for hikers and backpackers. The McCormack-Greer Trail connects McCormack Lake and Greer Crossing, with several scenic overlooks along the Eleven Point. The Whites Creek Trail is a scenic loop trail between Camp 5 Pond Picnic Area and the Eleven Point River. This trail is 18 miles in length for the total loop. It goes through the Irish Wilderness."

Let me know what you guys think, unless you think I'm being an alarmist or a little girl about this. In which case, you can shut your cake hole.

AFRICAN LION HOUND!

If I had an African Lion Hound, and I wish I did, I would name it Iron Tooth Musket Blitzer. I would call it Tooth for short.

Weather

Yeah I flew in from Denver and landed in that storm in Nashville the other night. The pilot was a stud, thank God, one helluva ride! Another one just rolled through and it hailed for like 3 seconds and i was freekin aas the Jeep was outside. No damge though, again, thank God!

Looks like the weather next week will be 40's day, 20's night. I see good reports on the Greer section, 25 fish/day, all of the bottom. I think the 1st 5 miles out of Greer would be good and it would keep us from rushing.

p.s. the Jeep is definitley coming! I'm also brining my new African Lion Hound:)

I smell a Josh

I think Josh has been here as there is a hellbilly under contributors. He didn't leave any other sign though. He is a sneaky one.


I think he is bringing two friends, Rob and his brother in law, a former co-owner of the Bar Next Door, which is no more. This I believe brings our count to seven if Jeff is bringing someone. In addition, I believe we have two canoes and a kayak coming from Springfield.


Blam! 4Runner Picture!

Ed's River Blog

“A river does not just happen; it has a beginning and an end. It’s story is written in rich earth, in ice, and in water-carved stone, and it’s story as the lifeblood of the land is filled with color, music and thunder.”
-Andy Russell

I stole this awesome quote from Ed's page.

Quiet

That sounds pretty crazy. Des Moines has been very quiet. No storms at all. What did Ben and Sam think about the storms?
Did they move over to Tennessee at all?

"America is a great story, and there is a river on every page." -Charles Kuralt

Stormy Night

Like they say, "If you don't like the weather in the Ozarks, wait a few minutes." It's been strange this week, unseasonably warm. The other day the temperature hit 70 degrees. At night, it's only been getting down in the 50s.

Then last night it got pretty wild. Several tornadoes rolled through Southwest Missouri. They kept coming all night. Between 7 p.m. and 3:30 there was at least one tornado on the ground somewhere in the Ozarks. The town of Strafford, along I-44, had a long track of destruction north of town and another track on the south side of town. One person was killed there and another person died in Marshfield.

Marshfield and Republic were the worst hit. An elementary in Republic lost its roof and many houses were leveled in Marshfield. There were also several houses flattened in Highlandville.

The whole thing ended with a big grand finale. A solid line of storms, stretching from north of Lebanon, Missouri all the way south to the Arkansas border, swept through the area with straight winds of 80 m.p.h. It was like a tiny hurricane.

Eleven Point River Maps

I wanted to put a map of the Eleven Point River on here so we would all know what we are talking about doing. I also just wanted to make another post.

Sharp

That's cool, Jeff. I like how the flenders match the paint job on the Sahara models. The big black flenders don't look as nice on the other '07 Wranglers; I think they're too distracting. That's a sharp color. Being the Sahara, I bet it's pretty nice on the inside.

Are you bringing it up to the Eleven Point? If so, maybe we can get it dirty. I'll probably ride down with Ed in his rice-burner instead of bringing mine. If we get stuck, it'll be up to you to pull us out.

Log chain

Cool, I'll bring a log chain so we can all hook up our new rides togther and have a pulloff! We'll start with the chains completley slacked and just gun it. It should be fun:) I got the cabin reserved, it's a 2 bedroom but should be fine size wise. Mike was out guiding yesterday and today so i told his wife we would wait to talk to him to determine what strech we want to do. The cabin is that grey one you see right as you pull int the campground. Here's a pic of the my new ride.

Route 66

As long as we're showing off our rides, this is the Jeep on our family trip down the old section of the mother road between Springfield and Lebanon, Missouri. We went to the Route 66 Museum in Lebanon. It was a great day.

Updated Head Count

I talked to Josh, and he and Rob, a co-worker from the shop, are both in. I called Luke earlier but I haven't heard back.

What do you think of my mistress? She lives in a tree. But she can't climb. I have to throw her up there.

Russell, I bet you thought you would create a cool website where we could talk about fishing and rivers, and here I spend my Friday nights filling it with crazy crap. Sorry. I'll go to bed now.

My Truck.

No one asked for a picture of my truck, but here it is anyway. And what a cool guy there next to it.

Seriously, is that not some impressive retardation going on there?

Iowa Smallmouth

If you want to know, and I'm sure you do, I caught the one below on a Torpedo next to a submerged cattle trough. The cattle were about a hundred yards upstream. I don't think I would eat this one.

Smallmouth from Upper Iowa

Jeeps?!
You guys drive your "Jeeps" down the river until they break down. Then I'll drive past you in my 4Runner.
I'm only kidding of course. I can't wait to see the jeep. Did you get the 4 door. I'd like to see what those are like.

Jeep

Jeff, that's awesome! Put a picture in your next post. I want to see it. Forget about the canoes; we're just going to drive our Jeeps down the river. I'm going to peel out right in some spawning beds. Then, I'm going to see how many hellbenders I can run over.

Seriously, that's cool. I want to hear more about it.

YEEEEE HAAAAAWWWWW

I just joined the Jeep club!!!!! Can't wait to take a road trip!!!

Head Count

The only head count I have is as follows: Jeff, Josh, Russell, and Ed. I might check to see if Luke would like to go as well. He expressed interest earlier but I haven't talked to him since last semester. I'll contact him.

Definitley down deep

From what I have read we need to be down deep. One outfitter said if you don't loose a few lures you aren't deep enough. He also said the little trout (from hatcheries) are the only ones that will hit on top or near the top. They have plenty of food on the bottom in the 11pt so you gotta trick 'em. Anyone got a head count on who is coming, I'm trying to get hold of Mike @ Hufsteddlers to let them know our plans. I'm not going to bring the fly rod, I'm gonna use my UL spinner w/ some Marabou jigs, specifically, white, black & hot pink. You can use these on the blue ribbon section they are considered flies:) I also read that in winter above greer is smokin' hot.

Fish

Do you think we'll catch some trout? I bet we can if we fish deep enough. I'm sure there won't be much competition from other fisherman on the Eleven Point in January.

I've been hankering to fish lately but haven't found time.

Scary,

this blog be.

We are floating in January, but we will be sleeping indoors, safe from the depredations of nature.

Arrrgh we Floating in January?

I've never floated in the winter. It was 9 degrees this morning. Sounds fun.