dnj21

Is there anyplace to get minnows close to Bagnell at this time of year coming from Jeff City side? Getting cabin fever.....

Did you happen to get out last week before the snow hit? I am geting cabin fever and this is only our first snow and cold of the year......

The extent of my Walleye experience is almost all on Lake Erie, probably only caught a dozen total on rivers and all were caught trolling crankbaits for Pike, Smallmouth or whatever I could find that day. Been a looong time, there will be a learning curve this year :). I have caught far fewer Hybrids and all were up below Bagnell. Had friends that poured & painted their own spoons they lost so many. That was a LOT of fun, but again, going to be a learning curve. Dr Bucketmouth makes it look so easy, but I am sure he has spent a lot of time and effort figuring all that out....... If anyone wants to share reports down out of Mari Osa, I will try to get mine up when I start getting out. Thank you!

In a normal year, when do you start to see the Walleye, Hybrids, etc start showing up below Bagnell? How about farther down around the Mari Osa launch (half the drive for me)? In looking at old threads, seems like mid Feb is the norm most years. One of my New Year's resolutions, learn the stretch of river around Mari Osa this spring. Mainly a LM Bass fisherman, but would like to try the Walleye or Hybrid's early..... Thank you!

Fishing right around the I-70 corridor mid state area this weekend, only thing new on the lake was some Coots! Not seing the Wood Ducks like we do most summers while fishing, hoping it is just an isolated thing. Organizing the decoys and putting the boat blind on, time to think about orange feet down in the decoys!!

Lot slower for me this morning: went out later and only fished a couple hours. Hooked one right off the bat that just turned downstream and kept going. Would to have liked to have seen him, broke right at the leader tippet connection. One guy right in the chute hooked a big one that was a standoff for about 5 min before it broke off, never saw it. Guys seemed to be doing okay right in the outlet chute, couldn't see much else caught. Started with #16 grey scud with #20 grey scud dropper. Kept changing dropper out to try San Juan worm, egg and several zebra midges, but must have used all my luck up yesterday. Wont be be back until annual trip in Feb. if duck season wasn't starting in a couple weeks I would be back.....

Lol- would love to see the look on your face when you spotted the Gar coming at you!! Started a little after 500 throwing big Streamers on the 8wt. Nary a nibble on several different choices. Switched to 5wt and Scuds around daylight. Did better today after I added a Scud dropper. Fished that for an hour, caught a few. Changed to smaller olive scud dropper but no luck. Finally switched to #18 black zebra midge and caught another before heading to breakfast. Only a a few boats all the way up, but outlet area got crowded after daylight. Hope everyone else is doing well!!

Fished last two hours of daylight in trophy area, pretty slow. Saw the guys right in the outlet doing okay on what looked like Scuds. No one else did much, little more water running than I expected limited wading. A couple spin casting with floating jointed Rapalas was catching a few off shore, just getting going at dark. Was fishing a #18 grey scud under a San Juan worm, few hook ups, nothing interesting Anyone other than Jester down this weekend? Let us know how you did!

What was the Australian Fisheries biologist there for? Do they have similar tail waters over there? You hear and read a lot about the Brown fishing in New Zealand, but don’t remember anything about Australia.... Pretty cool you were able to take them out.

JestersHK- Will do, not sure what time exactly yet but once I get the 4yr old down to sleep I should be able to sneak out. I have been told I am easy to recognize on the stream: fat old bald guy with a casting techinique described by friends as "a man fighting off invisible attacking insects with a long stick". Great friends huh?

Great pictures, thank you for sharing. Speaking of "spawning" Browns, does anyone ever try throwing egg patterns at this time of the year?

Headed down Fri-Sun and definitely plan an hitting it at night a couple times. Generation looks consistent, hopefully they dont run too much more than the 40 they are predicting. Best Brown I saw caught this time last year was on a #18 grey scud right at the outlet maybe an hour before dawn. I was throwing big knarly streamers on an 8WT and he caught that on a 5WT with 5X tippet.......

I have to drive past Bennett Springs to get to Tanneycomo, Would Roaring River be much different? Never been there, may be fun just to go try it. I struggle with the lack of space at BSSP, except during C&R season guess I assumed RR woudl be the same....

Usually spend a weekend for my birthday fishing Tanneycomo while my wife shops and relazes in Branson Unless I fish very early or very late, wading is kind of hit or miss there now. Is there any place in northern AR where you can wade relaibly I could try? Appreciate any suggestions...... Thank you!

We are seeing a LOT of wet fields around Jeff City & Columbia. Not great for Dove hunting, but Teal season could be a riot if everything is still flooded come mid September......

Wow, do they even make those anymore? My Dad's favorite Northern Pike lure 30+ years ago in Michigan....

Hit zone 1 Thur evening for a couple hours, one of those days where everything I threw seemed to work. Just needed to keep changing flies regularly. Caught a couple on dry flies, but broke one off that came completely out of the water and down on top of my Crane fly. I would tell you how big I thought it was, but would be banned from site as a liar (nice fish!). Sat am I was back in the same general area for the whistle and it was the complete opposite. Wasn't too crowded for a summer Saturday morning but it was s l o w. Did have one lady come up about 800 and pick up three fish in short order on a black and yellow jig after 5 of us had pretty much whiffed earlier. Threw everything I had at every depth with only a few bites. Packed up at 830 and headed out, tail between legs. These were highly trained park trout, must have all had PhD’s (yes, tongue in cheek). Hard to believe the difference in just a day and a half.......

I have crossed that river heading to St Thomas many times but never fished it. I read about what the bass club catches out there and just shake my head- hard to picture that avg weight coming out of the river. Lot of places closer to home, but it may be fun to try to learn this stretch of river sometimes. Thank you for info!

How did everyone do this weekend? Web site isn't updated......

Trout cam right now looks nothing like my screen saver from a trip a few weeks ago- man it looks like the Missouri River right now!!

Got down late Friday the 20th, fished the last hour in Zone 1. Pretty quiet and not many people around. Hooked a few on black zebra midge. Saturday morning started in Zone 2 with the little one. She caught a nice one early on with multi colored glo ball below indicator, but the cold got to her soon after. I fished until 10, missed a few but not a lot going on. Found a nice hatch of small black flies at the spring right before dark, which was fun for the last few minutes. Park Ranger was beside me writing tickets for fishing bait to three younger gentlemen as the evening whistle blew. Ton of people, crowded all day. Sunday morning was our best fishing. 3 1/2 yr old caught a smaller one in zone 2 right off the bat on her favorite glo ball, but we could not get anything else to take. Around 9am they headed out and I hooked several on red zebra midge. Nephew and I moved up to the bridge and had a lot of fun for about an hour on small midges in several colors. Went back in to zone 1 after lunch and only hooked one, but watched a family on one of the handicap piers get caught by Park Ranger using Power Bait and had about a dozen fish on one stringer. Glad I am not paying that ticket.

What is a good late March dry? I love the Crane flys in the summer, but never tried dry's in the early Spring. Headed down for 3 day weekend next Friday, should have some time to experiment.

I can't tie on a #28 so that probably isn't going to be the driving issue. Guess I will save it for some Brook trout streams in northern MI where a 6" is the average fish...... Might head down next wekeend to get in one more trip before time to start hunting.

You guys ever go all the way down to 8x when the water is this low and clear? Just picked up a spool while at Liley's last weekend on my Tanneycomo trip but it looks so small I would hate to hook anything with much weight to it. Thoughts?

Sunday morning was a lot different. Started up by 5, no generation to speak of (630-900) and I struggled to find a good fly/presentation. Stripped streamers of all shapes and sizes to no avail. Finally tried a olive soft hackle #18 just under the surface. What a difference this made! The last hour I was there it was constant, lost a couple nice ones and netted several smaller ones. Switched to Grey when it slowed and picked up a couple more before I had to leave. Thowing a 5wt, floating line and 7X leader and tippet (flouro tippet). Now to wait the two months until I have my next trip scheduled......