creek wader Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Fished a boarder Ozark stream yesterday. It has the characteristics of both a northern and an Ozark stream. I'm still in search of smallies on this stream. I've caught spotted/smallie hybrids, but no true smallies, yet. I put in at a slab crossing. It looked better down stream but, upstream had a long slow pool, that I thought I'd hit first. Turned out, that I never made it downstream. I'll save that for next time. The stream was up a little and murky from the recent rain. Anyway, I put my yak in and headed up. I covered both sides of the pool for a good 1/4 mile, throwing a spinnerbait. Only caught a few sunfish, no bass. At the end of the pool, where it narrowed into a stream, I threw a roadrunner. First cast I hooked into a monster of a gar. He spooled off quite a bit of line. So, I tightened up my drag and let him pull my yak around for awhile. I finally got him to the boat, then realized that he was the size of my leg. He wasn't going to fit into the trout net. Even if he did, I didn't want a 3 plus foot long gar in my inflatable yak between my legs. So, we had a bit of a standoff, after a few minutes I started to get my clippers out of my box, to cut my line. He made a nose dive under the yak and snapped my rod. Rats! , it was my Pflueger rod. Then of coarse he came to the surface and just floated there like a log. I grabbed the slack in my line and bit it into. He swam off and there I was with a broken pole in my hand. .. Ok, this wasn't going too well. I grabbed my other pole and started throwing a 3" yum Dinger. I caught a few small spots and a hybrid smallie/spot. Then I caught the biggest spot that I've ever caught. No it wasn't a monster but, a nice fat 15" fish. A little later I caught a 13" largemouth on the dinger and a 12" spot off the spinnerbait. All together, I only caught 8 bass, a couple sunnies, and the gar. I spent too much time fishing the long pool with no success. Not a great outing, should of went downstream. I will next time. This stream holds a solid population of largemouth and spots. So, I'm not disappointed when I catch spots because I expect to. There's quite a few accesses on this stream so, I plan on hitting quite a few of them this fall, till I find the "elusive" smallies. .. wader two small ones look like smallie/spot hybrid .. wader Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric1978 Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Stupid gar. That's a drag about your rod, but I'll bet you had fun for a minute before you knew what he was. Nice spot. I could spend a whole day catching spots that size. I think they're prettier than largemouth. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RSBreth Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Great report, too bad about the rod. What model spinnerbait was that? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smallmouthjoe Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 Man that is a nice spot, I hardly ever catch ones that big out of streams. Sorry about your rod, good story to tell anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 deleted Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric1978 Posted September 30, 2009 Share Posted September 30, 2009 That is a really nice spot, looking at the picture I could see that it's fins are full of yellow grubs-is that something you see quite a bit? Those little parasites are nasty. I don't usually see them in the fins or tail as bad as that, but often in the gills and the meat if you cut them open. They are what really deters me from harvesting spots, and I bet a lot of others feel the same way. Where's Bear Grylls when you need him? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creek wader Posted September 30, 2009 Author Share Posted September 30, 2009 The spinnerbait is a Booyah Pond Magic, I think 3/16, not sure on the size. I've been seeing the little grubs/worms on the fish in this stream. This stream is a muddier slower stream. I think that has a little to do with it. Although, I have seen a few of those ugly little parasites on some fish in the clearer streams. Bad thing about the spots is I usually only catch one keeper size a trip, the rest are dinks. Yea, that kind of sucked about my rod. Ironic thing is, it's the pole that I lost in a different stream (last month) then snagged it a few days later. I guess it wasn't meant to be. The gar-driven boat ride was kind of fun. I figured it was either a large gar or a big cat. But, I was hoping for a lunker largemouth. lol. ... He was a big un'. I've seen bigger. But, he was the largest that I ever caught. When I realized that I wasn't going to put that thing in the yak with me, I was kind of dumbfounded, for a minute. ... Always an adventure ... wader wader Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
podum Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 it's the new "Missouri boat ride" for you Outlaw Josie Wales fans. I wish I had more time more than I wish I had more money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Al Agnew Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 Those hybrids can also be very pretty fish. Yours are. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eric1978 Posted October 1, 2009 Share Posted October 1, 2009 The spinnerbait is a Booyah Pond Magic, I think 3/16, not sure on the size. I've been seeing the little grubs/worms on the fish in this stream. This stream is a muddier slower stream. I think that has a little to do with it. Although, I have seen a few of those ugly little parasites on some fish in the clearer streams. Bad thing about the spots is I usually only catch one keeper size a trip, the rest are dinks. Yea, that kind of sucked about my rod. Ironic thing is, it's the pole that I lost in a different stream (last month) then snagged it a few days later. I guess it wasn't meant to be. The gar-driven boat ride was kind of fun. I figured it was either a large gar or a big cat. But, I was hoping for a lunker largemouth. lol. ... He was a big un'. I've seen bigger. But, he was the largest that I ever caught. When I realized that I wasn't going to put that thing in the yak with me, I was kind of dumbfounded, for a minute. ... Always an adventure ... wader Your story about that gar reminded me of when I was a kid... A friend of mine and I would go crappie fishing on some river north of the Missouri. I don't even remember the name of the little river, but it was LOADED with gar. My buddy's grandpa would haul us around to catch crappie with cane poles out of heavy brush with live minnows, and just about every third or fourth fish would be a gar. Now grandpa had a real distaste for gar. You think some of us are crabby about spots...Anyway, years later we still laugh about how we'd hear him say in his gravelly smoker's voice, "whatcha got Scotty?" Grandpa would look down over the boat at the fish. "Ah, sonofabitch! Scotty, getcher BB gun." He'd pop the thing right in the head and unhook him. Sometimes if we didn't have the BB Gun, it would be, "Scotty, get your pliers," and he'd just rip the poor thing's mouth off of him so he couldn't eat. Pretty brutal to me now, even for an animal as ugly as a gar, but seemed pretty normal and comical back then. Ah, the good ol' days. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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