Kayser

Is there still room in this swap? If so, I'd like to tie a #18 orange softhackle or a #14 straw-wing caddis dry. Let me know what the preference is if there's an open spot. Rob

From what I understand, the portion at 44 is only warmwater, and it takes the spring in the middle of Waynesville to turn it into trout water. But it's white ribbon in town, and then red ribbon at about the start of the CA. I would say go for it, but I would also see if you could park along 17 to fish- 17 follows the red ribbon water almost to the Gasconade as far as I can tell. And then there wouldn't really be any bushwhacking involved. Or poison ivy... Rob

After going stir crazy in my room, I started looking online for somewhere to fish. Finally settled on Roubidoux because I heard a rumor of there being browns (as well as rainbows) in the creek, so it was off to Waynesville after class let out to chase big fish. Get to the Conservation area, only car in the lot- cool. Can't see a trail to the stream, or a stream. Just fields of poison ivy and blackberries- not cool. Bushwhack for a couple hundred yards in 90 degree heat, and finally find the creek! Appeared to be where 17 left the creek at a bend in the creek. But I've never been so happy to find cold water to jump into. Slide down the bank, and see fish rising, so I put on a cicada and start fishing. First drift- I get a hit, but the fish missed, so I throw back to him. This time I see him rise off the bottom, smack it, and just kinda hang there with it- definitely not a trout with that short body, but now I'm curious. So I set the hook and haul in a 8" goggle eye! Definitely my first one of those on a dry. Forget trout- new target species! After another 4-5 goggle eye and several empty hooksets, the action dies down and I switch to a #10 olive slumpbuster that's been taking up space in my box for a few years. Cast- strip, strip, BANG! Not a goggle eye, too big. Maybe a smallmouth? Nope- I bring a 12" stocker rainbow to hand, my first Roubidoux trout. Another 5 trout and a couple goggle eye later, I should probably start moving downstream, see what there is. Keeping with the slumpbuster and hard, fast strips, I get another 6 rainbows. Not quite the colors I had hoped for, but still aggressive and hard hitting. Now that I've got a Roubidoux trout under my belt, and decide to start chasing big browns and/or smallmouth- whatever wants to hit. After a couple hundred yards of hitting rootwads and seams with a big streamer, it's back to the cicada for some fun. Couple more goggle eye, and then in some flat water I had no faith in, a tan-looking trout leaps out of the water to take it! So as I bring my first topwater trout from Roubidoux to hand, suspicions comfirmed- first brown from the creek, all 8" of gold sides and black dots. After a couple more misses, time to start nymphing. Three more rainbows, and then get a call saying I needed to go back to Rolla. And now the evening takes a turn for the worse- I'm in new territory, don't know where I really am, and definitely don't know of any trails back. I start back upstream, walking gravel bars, then hop onto the bank and start walking. Happen upon a set of 4-wheeler tracks and start following them. Although easier walking, I don't like all of the tall poison ivy I'm going through. After about 10 minutes of hard walking, I'm at the car and afraid to even touch my waders or boots. So it's back to Rolla with waders at half mast, rolled down to the boots so my legs can dry. Overall- As much as I loved the creek and catching warmwater fish alongside trout and keeping me guessing about what I'll hook next, I cannot bring myself to go back in the near future due to the poison ivy. But for those that don't have to worry about it and need a quick fix, I'd definitely give it a shot. Rob

If you're chasing trout, downsizing seems to be the way to go. It looks like there are two different sized cicadas buzzing around, and out of the 4 sizes of flies I tried, the smallest one got the most interest and the best hookup ratio. Was about a size smaller than the bugs, and the same size and bigger flies were pretty much left alone (bigger=worse). Also, a perfect dead drift always drew a hit, but moving the fly at all would barely get noticed. Rob

I would almost think a bomber pattern- atlantic salmon dries tied with bucktail, deer hair body and hackle. Also, they're tied big. Black tail, purple body, black hackle, white wing. But it sounds like you got the catch of a lifetime there, so Congrats! Rob

Are you fishing a feeder creek of the Missouri or Mississippi? I don't know where else you could get a nice channel, a nice blue, and grasscarp in the same spot. Rob

18" minimum, 1 fish/day in the Blue Ribbon water, any trout species. In the white ribbon, any size on rainbows, 15" min on browns (statewide), and 4 fish/day. Not sure if there is a statewide creel limit on browns, though.

I would be mistaken then. I only glanced at the schedule about a month ago, so I'm most likely wrong.

Isn't the 17th the Missouri Trout Fishermen's Association derby at Montauk? If so, then camp site availability might be a little hindered.

Are the blues in the deeper water around the old river channel? And would you think that the flatheads move back into the coves at night? I'm headed down this weekend, staying at a place just below Hurricane Deck bridge on the Osage, hoping to get a couple 5-10lb flatheads for the freezer. I was thinking about hanging 5ft lines off the big docks at night, but really don't want to be wasting my time. Rob

Nice fish! Grasscarp are a lot of fun on the fly rod- I've caught about half a dozen while bluegill fishing with tiny jigs, but my biggest was only about 20 lbs. There is no doubt in my mind as to how hard they can fight, but I've never really been able to target them specifically. If somebody wanted to target them specifically, I've caught a fair amount of them while fishing for carp with corn. And if you can fillet out the y-bones and red meat, it tastes great- the ribs are my favorite, though. Rob

Wet wade and fish riffles, or seine some minnows to drop into rootwads or float past logs. At least you can get some panfish for dinner that way. Rob

Yeah, I know. I've caught warmouth here in IL, but also got some out of Lake of the Ozarks once. Green sunnies are pretty much everywhere, and goggle eye are in almost all (if not all) Ozark streams. I'm just curious what a "black perch" actually is, because I've heard people call both greenies and warmouth by that name. Rob

Gotta love the stream gauges. There have been a lot of times I've looked at the gauges and adjusted my plans to hit a different stream. Or told me which flies I needed to tie up- small and finesse or big and ugly. Rob

Thought black perch were warmouth? Or are those called goggle eye where rock bass don't live?

This is the report I've been waiting for since about March. Time for me to head back to Rolla and start fishing cicadas! Rob

I think he's after triploids for aquatic vegetation control. And I think MDC sells them. Rob

Summer = summer class in Rolla = wet wading coldwater. It's gonna be a good summer. Rob

I think that's just the silver carp- I haven't seen bigheads jump. But yes, they are easy to gig (just not the head), and yes, they are tasty. Get a big enough one, and you can fillet the y-bones out of the fillet very easily. Gig a bunch, and then you'll have enough to practice on. And, as with any other fish- cleaner water = better taste. Rob

"River fish" is buffalo, but sometimes they sneak a carp to people who can't tell the difference. And buffalo is one of my favorite fish to eat. Rob

One rule that I would like to maybe see added is a limit to the number of flies used at one time, just to keep people from using a 5-fly czech nymph rig or something crazy like that. I like to use dropper rigs, but would almost like to see a single-fly rule. Rob

Cut the scales off the skin using a knife (known as fleecing), and fillet the fish. Then score the fillet (slits from top to bottom) starting at either the head or the tail, depends on your preference. Make sure to get these cuts all the way to the skin (almost cut through) in order to break apart all the bones. Slits should be about 1/8" apart. Bread the fillets, making sure to get breading into every slit in the fillet so the oil can get to all the meat. Fry it hot, get it fairly crispy to make sure the bones fry out. Not as good as buffalo or other suckers, but still tasty. Rob

Because this biologist shoots back.

I don't bass fish at LOTO much, but I would recommend getting a bow and fish arrow and have some fun. Especially if some of those fish are buffalo. Rob

Well, when appx 90% of hatchery fish are picked off by seals below a certain dam, there seems to be a bit of a problem. At least that's what I remember hearing on the subject.