mhall02

After trying for over 2 years after graduating from Mizzou with a Fisheries and Wildlife degree and working for MDC and Mizzou for minimum wage with no benefits, I moved on. Salaried jobs are few and far in between with MDC and lets just say I wasn't what the State was looking for to fill their entry level positions in the early '90s. The good thing is the degree was useful for other things non-fisheries or wildlife related jobs (i.e. environmental). Some of my visits from DNR inspectors for wastewater, hazardous waste, and stormwater have the good ole Mizzou Fisheries and Wildlife Degree. Somehow that message wasn't translated to the students that particular reality, but anyhow, just my 2 cents worth.

They are elusive. Remember they would come up to a dry fly, circle around it then drop back down or go ahead and take it, not just pounce on it. You could tell they were really pondering what it was they were looking at. Need to get back down there one day.

So where do the big browns come from? I remember when they started stocking stocker size back in the mid 80s, they seemed to really stand out to me. Would be surprised if something that big would last too long in a stream that small. Would stand out like a big ole log I would think.

Was down on Saturday, fished the fly zone from 10am till noon and landed and release 4. My son caught 2, but the fly zone still seems light on fish compared to prior years IMO. Weather was great and crowd was light when we arrived. Grilled some brauts, messed around for a few more hours and I caught one more, my son the sculpin killer had fun along the bank. Visited that hatchery and were on the road by 3:p.m.

Must have been that Great White Shark I've been hearing about on the news that is lurking in the Mississippi Looks and sounds like fun!

Fished Saturday in the fly zone and never seen so few fish since I've been going down there (20+ years). What happened? Did they forget to stock? Interesting note, caught 3 or 4 dinks, way too small to be stocked and they were beautiful. Did they have a successful spawn last winter??

Ok, thanks for the free fishing weekend feedback. Just a side note on this whole topic, typically you know what to expect fishing the parks on the weekend vs. the secluded streams in MO where you may see no one. I don't expect to hit Bennett on the weekend and have long care free drifts with the fly rod, no kids in the water, and the odds are good if I'm catching fish someone is going to drop in with 10' of me and maybe even cast over my line. Knowing what to expect is the majority of the battle with MO trout fishing. This 'free weekend' is a new thing to me, but other than that I've pretty much seen all that has been discussed here first hand (other than that swimming thing in Zone 1...that is pretty odd). Opening day at Bennett is much different than Crane Creek in the middle of winter. Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it is something different.

Heading down tomorrow for the weekend. I didn't realize this was free fishing weekend and from the sounds of things, it may not be that great of an outing, we will see. Anyone ever fish the free weekend, and it is more of a zoo than usual? Maybe the heat will keep the crowds manageable. We went one weekend in June last year and the place was dead.

I caught a 24" brood stocker at RR when I was a kid in the early 80s, it was weighed a the lodge at 6 lbs 13 ounces on one of the derby days, won the kids 1st place trophy! Thick but ugly as all get out, nothing like that fish! One in my sig was 28" at Taneycomo, didn't get a weight but I'm assuming at least 9 lbs? Released to fight another day.

Used to catch some nice Rainbows out of Spring as well back in the late 80s early 90s. Caught them from about 2" up to 20". Beautiful fish, appeared to be stream born, never kept a one.

Biggest trout is in my sig, 28" Rainbow caught just below the Rebar Hole on Taney. Caught a grass carp that was about 3' long at Sunnen Lake (YMCA Trout Lodge), no idea on weight but the 8 lb line on the Zebco 33 didn't seem like enough the first few minutes of the battle. It was a show from the bank and the crowd gathered. No camera, and let it go.

Nicely colored rainbow there! There is a small amount of reproduction in RR, seen some 1-2" long before in there years ago. Rainbows in a stream long enough will color up nicely, gets where they look 'stream bread' after some time.

Went to Lake 28 Sat. and caught one on the dam with an olive woolly bugger on my 6 wt. Had a couple other hits, and was only there for about an hour. Could have caught more if we stayed longer but my son wanted to try Lake 21, where we had no luck at all. Water was murky and high, didn't see any splashing on the surface like you usually do. Bait users may have cleaned 21 out, there were at least two or three there when we were there siting on buckets waiting for a bite .

Flies, Lures and Baits: The following classes of lures are authorized for use, except where restricted. Natural and scented baits—A natural fish food such as bait fish, crayfish, frogs permitted as bait, grubs, insects, larvae, worms, salmon eggs, cheese, corn and other food substances not containing any ingredient to stupefy, injure or kill fish. Does not include flies or artificial lures. Includes dough bait, putty or paste-type bait, any substance designed to attract fish by taste or smell and any fly, lure or bait containing or used with such substances. Soft plastic bait (unscented)—Synthetic eggs, synthetic worms, synthetic grubs and soft plastic lures. Artificial Lure—A lure constructed of any material excluding soft plastic bait and natural and scented bait defined in (A) or (B) above. Fly—An artificial lure constructed on a single-point hook, using any material except soft plastic bait and natural and scented bait as defined in (A) or (B) above, that is tied, glued or otherwise permanently attached. Found here: http://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/huntfish/regulations/regulations-and-permits-definitions I think they would be OK with a single hook Little Cleo. I think the metal used to make the LC falls under the "constructed of any material"', they are obviously not made of soft plastic or natural and scented bait.

Single hook Rooster tails are a good fall back when spin fishing in fly zones, and I guess a Little Cleo with the treble hook removed and replaced with a single hook would meet the fly def. Fishing with flies only doesn't mean fishing with a fly rod only