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mhall02

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Posts posted by mhall02

  1. It was right upstream where Hwy 60 bridge goes over the river (upstream from Verona). Went over there and looked around as a kid, they had some kind of white/yellow/golden rainbow trout strain in there with the regular rainbows.

  2. Well, here I am in the St. Louis area. Grew up near Monett/Freistatt area, caught my first trout at Roaring River around 6-7 years old and was 'hooked' ever since. Fished surrounding streams like upper Flat Creek, Capps Creek, Shoal Creek, Spring River, Roaring River, Benett Spring, Taneycomo, loved it. Started college at C of O in Branson in Fall of '88 till Spring of '91 and grew to love the trout right below Tablerock Dam. Biggest was a 28 inch rainbow, what a blast!! Then moved to Columbia to finish school with a fisheries and wildlife degree. Finished in the fall of '93 and worked with Bill Pflieger and Mike Kruse on various odds and ends as an hourly employee. Summer of '94 worked for MU as a reseach tech but realized the hope of finding a saleried position w/ MDC was futile. Got married, moved to the St. Louis area and became an environmental consultant, but still love to fish. Enjoy some winter trout fishing out at Busch Wildlife area and still and occassional trip to Roaring River or Benett, but really busy now raising a 4 year old daughter (who enjoys fishing) and 6 month old boy!! Hope to one day soon introduce both to trout fishing and the joys it brings. Well, that is me in a nut shell.

  3. I guess as Jeff Goldblum said in Jurassic Park "Life finds a way" -

    JS

    I was just thinking the same thing!! Anyway, here is a link to the streams I was referring to, if you were wondering, it is public information :)

    http://www.mdc.mo.gov/fish/watershed/sprin...er/370agtxt.htm

    As you may know, MDC knows where a lot of the little areas are that have trout, after all they sample a lot of streams and springs. Fish below any private trout hatchery present or past and there is a good chance you will catch a trout if you know what you are doing.

  4. The areas that I am referring to are very small headwater streams that at one time had a private trout hatchery in place, so yes the land I fished is private (it is good to ask land owners). The hatcheries are gone, but the trout are not, humm... I grew up in the Monett area and worked for Mike Kruse for about 6 months in my former life as an MDC employee. I throughly picked his mind on this subject and informed him of my findings, and he confirmed one stream and checked the other out for himself (hook and line sampling method don't you know). There are not a lot of fish in them and the population I'm sure could easily be wiped out, I've never kept a single fish out of them. Yep the Current supports NR as well, I have caught a beautiful brown about 2-3" long, the browns stocked are not this small, and the browns stocked are from Tany, not the Montauk hatchery.

  5. I've seen a few little guys like that down at RR in years past (fly zone) but did not have a net or digital camera then to document. There certainly some streams in SW MO that have natural reproduction going on, one or two in particual that are not listed on this forum!! Any guesses as to which ones?

  6. Yep, I have one of those limber yeller Eagle Claw rods and they work great for jigging. However, when the water is up and murky my graphite Lightning rod detects strikes much better. The main thing with jigs is to keep them off the bottom and keep the moss off of them and work the rod tip as you bring it in. 2-lb test helps as well for further casting, better jig action and lower line visibility, but keep that drag loose or you will snap em off.

  7. Reading this and other posts have gotten me thinking about my Thesis for grad school. There is a sod farm near Mt. Vernon that takes a lot of water out of the Spring River and was thinking abot doing a study above and below and see how much this is influencing the Centrarchid population.

    I haven't caugh too may Centrarchid's in that upper stretch but some very nice O. mykiss in the late '80s early 90s!! (MU BS FW '93, go Tigers!!).

  8. Correct me if I'm wrong but it almost looks like some female trout is rubbing on the camera, discharging eggs and the others are feasting on the eggs? What is up with that? Is this being documented/taped?

  9. I keep threatening, but just don't seem to get around to it. My past experience has been that an oily fish is probably the most consistent bait. There is a White River basin Crawdad that is large, thats for sure, but the name escapes me at the minute..

    Orconectes longidigitus or the long pincered crayfish. They do get big 6" or so, maybe bigger, found in the White River drainage.

  10. Jigs are great, I have fished for trout w/ jigs since I was about 7 or 8 years old and now, nearly 30 years later, I still use them. I have learned how to fly fish and enjoy that, but jigs on a spinning rig are deadly. I have used marabou jigs from Bass Pro or event the 1/32 or 1/16 oz white or yellow crappie jigs from walmart (97 cents for 10 of em). I started fishing them at Roaring River as a kid, using 2 lb test and 1/64 to 1/100 oz during low water in the summer. Large waters like Taney and Benett use larger sizes like 1/32 to 1/16. My biggest fish to date was on a black 1/64 crappie jig (28" rainbow) and 4lb test. The key is to know when your getting a hit vs hitting the bottom of the stream. I don't use a strike indicator, just throw it out and reel it in slowly, work the rod tip a little moving it up and down and get ready for a hit.

  11. Sounds like fun, I live in St. Charles and have ventured to MS a few times in the regular season and hated it (hardley any fish in the afternoon and no Fly Zone). The catch and release sounds promising, especially with the big brown opportunity. Have you fished any of the trout lakes out at Busch Wildlife Area this winter? I want to get out to the catch and release lakes and give it a try ASAP.

  12. Well, I have ranted to Phil before of my disgust in the outlet #3 issue. Having watched a guy come down there right at dark with nothing but a spinning rod that could have brought in a sea bass and a stringer. I was 30 yards away and it was about dark, but before long he had a big brown flopping on the bank, and then left. It is so frustrating because if you are there fishing yourself you can't be watching others all the time - so it makes it hard to "prove" what you know is happening - meat-hunters.

    I have a few questions on this comment. Was the big brown of legal size to keep, was it captured on a legal fly/lure, and was it snagged? I don't see your point if the answer is yes to the first two and no to the third. Please clairify when you can.

  13. Biggest was back in the summer of '90, a 28" rainbow just below Rebar, I was at C of O at the time and went down there more than I should have as a student (but the oh the memories). Caught it on 4 lb test on a spinning rod using a 1/64 oz black jig. Took and pic and put it back.

  14. In the fly area at Benett, there used to be some big gut eaters. My dad caught one after a rain quite a few years back on a 1/32 oz white crappie jig (they still work great) that was around 4 pounds and had a gut like that big 'un.

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