Renowned outdoor writer Ron Kruger flyfishes the upper reaches of the Jacks Fork River in the Ozark National Scenic Riverways. Large smallmouth bass lurk here due to a Smallmouth Management Area on several miles of the stream.

I often fish at nearby Maramec Spring Park, one of four trout parks in Missouri. Maramec Spring is the site of the first successful iron works west of the Mississippi River. It operated from 1826 until 1876. It was owned by William James, an Ohio based iron monger. granddaughter, Lucy Wortham James, from New York, spent summers there. An heir to the Dunn and Bradstreet fortune, she purchased 1,900 acres around the spring and set up the Lucy Wortham James Trust Fund within the New York Community Trust to forever keep Maramec Spring Park open to the public.The Missouri Department of Conservation administers the trout fishing program.

I planned to fly fish one of my favorite Missouri Ozarks streams, the Meramec River, for Rainbow and Brown trout in the next couple of days, but heavy rains have flooded local streams. Maybe next week. I live a mere 15 minutes from the river.

Prince of Wales Alaska. July 2015. 2017 trip being planned .Contct the Missouri Trout Hunter. www.missouritrouthunter.com

Monster bluegill are so much fun to catch and great on the dinner plate.

It is almost 100 degrees here in the Missouri Ozarks. I spent the first two hours of the day catching largemouth bass and big bluegill.

Campeche, Mexico, on the Gulf side, is little known to tourists, beause it lacks the white sandy beaches of Cancun. However, it does have an 80-mile long Biosphere Reserve made of mangrove jungles, shallow water and lagoons. It is home to a fantastic baby tarpon fishery. Several tarpon fishing guides are avaialbe in this beautiful Spanish Colonial city of 300,000.