Devan S.

I had been planning 2 trips out west this year. I knew plans for AZ/NM were solid but my second options was less set in stone. If the opportunity arose I would go. The wife let me loose Thursday morning pre-daylight and I raced to pickup @Prifish for our 13 hour drive. The weather in Northwest Nebraska looked good so we were off to try our luck at the Nebraska Trout Slam. There is a location in far Northwestern Nebraska in which one could reasonably catch all four required species(Rainbow, Brown, Brook, and Cutthroat). Rainbows are scattered/stocked all over the state. Browns fairly common. Cutthroats are stocked in very limited numbers. Brooks are supposedly the difficult species as they have a very narrow limited range and are not stocked with any significance. I had a very good plan going in but there really isn't a lot of information out on the internet where we were headed. Right before we left I emailed the Nebraska Game and Fish and got bad news. Cutthroat are only stocked every other year and this was the off year so we were looking for a highly limited number of hold overs. He made some suggestions and basically said good luck. When we left, the forecast said sunny highs in the mid-high 50's and lows in the low 40's. We had intended to camp but arrived to drizzle/rain and roughly 36 degrees. We made the decision to skip camping and found a hotel about 20 miles away. Day 1 In this area there is multiple ponds, many mixed stockings(coldwater/warmwater species) I had detailed out several ponds that offered multiple opportunities. When I say ponds many of these are small much less than 1 acre and many down to .25 acre size. The first pond we fished was said to contain Rainbows and Brooks. We fished it and only caught stocked rainbows. No signs of Brooks. While we were both 25% complete after about 5 minutes, I didn't get a warm fuzzy feeling. The rainbows were small and obviously stocked. Off to pond 2, rumored to have Rainbows, a 1 time stocking of Cutties, and Tiger trout. Again we blanked on anything but Rainbows. Here is pond 2. And one of the many rainbows..... This is all in a state park.....easy access as you can see. You drive right up to them. While the park area is relatively remote, I assume these ponds are easy pick-ins for people visiting. I did have a backup plan a little bit more off the beaten path so we headed out to a small stream that required a bit more work. Rumor has it this stream has brooks and browns and there is another set of ponds much more off the beaten path. The creek itself is really a nightmare jungle. Small water and really, really brushy. You can't see the creek in this photo since is goes through a whistle here but it gives you an idea what we are fishing on either side of the path. We suit up and immediately start scaring fish. There is a bunch of them too but they are spooky and hard to sneak in the thick brush. Within the first couple hours I had nothing to show for it but losing about 5 elk hair caddis. I left @Prifish and headed to check out the ponds. 2 people together is just too tough to work that kind of water.

I think the gage reads 1 ft. different in 20cfs vs. 1200cfs. Its a fairly large area either way.

I really liked the 1200 CFS levels. I had no problems wading at that level and liked it more than "no flow"

I'm fairly confident its Roaring River Resort that is building the new place.

FWIW: If its not the foreigners that cant read bait fishing, then its the Amish. If its not the Amish, its the church fish fry's. If its not the church fish fry's, its the giggers. If its not the giggers, then its the otters. Heck we haven't even gotten to the Deer/Elk resources vs. fishing resources yet. Its the same song and dance. Different stream, different lake same discussion.

How do we know these big fish collecting dead in the deep pools are from bait fishing and not playing fish out on 7x tippet?

Yeah the last thing I want is a drone flying around.

You guys are still thinking like the people laws are designed for.

Even if they do check baits and write tickets....what's a ticket costs? $150 bucks? What if you don't pay it?

I would no doubt head to Mississippi (Grenada, Sardis, Enid, Washington, or Arkabutla) I'd feel highly confident in finding a upper 2lb fish. Right now I'm thinking Millwood is my shot sticking to Arkansas.

Right now there is lots. Parker Bottoms both up stream and downstream. At the bathrooms at the campground I think there is a beaten path nearly to the dam and lots of water down river. Pretty good path between Bertrand upstream to the other walk in accesses. Of course generators come on and its all underwater.

Headed back to the tailwaters pre-daylight yesterday. In my 3-4 trips so far this year I am exactly even. I have caught the same numbers of rainbows and walleye. I had yet to catch a brown until today. My first fish was a nice 15-16" rainbow(for Beaver). I'm not catching many fish in the dark most are coming in that daylight hour but this one was in the dark. Then I must have stumbled into a walleye hole because I caught 3 of these right away. Just short of keeper length. I was working along after this about 100 yards below another fisherman. I casted across and as soon as my jerkbait hit the water a big fish slammed it but missed. It happened so fast it caught me completely off guard. The guy upriver hollered, "Whoa, that was a big fish." I cast again and got my line wrapped around a hook. My next cast to the same spot, I gave it one jerk and again slammed. Fish came completely out of the water and was hooked. I knew it was a good fish but thought it might be a 3/4lber. It was all the way across the river and jumped completely out of the water 4-5 times. Finally got it netted. 24" and 6.5lbs in the net. Really pretty and acrobatic. I ended up with 2 more browns and kept and even ratio of walleye/bows. AGFC should stock browns in the next couple weeks so my numbers on browns are going to go way up as there will be a bunch of small fish. With Table Rock getting lower and lower the tailwaters is getting really shallow. Hopefully these bigger fish are hiding in good spots.

I'm looking for a Crappie Guide in Arkansas. Beaver Lake is out so don't suggest it. I'm looking for big fish....like upper 2lb and 3lb fish. I'm not afraid to drive but want a guide at least the first time. When I search for guides for Conway, Harris Brake, Cane Creek, ect I don't get much so maybe someone knows a local guide that isn't prevalent on Facebook or another body of water that can throw out some good fish.

better yet an agent pulls up and suddenly your running an unmarked trot line with more than the allotted hooks. You either claim the line isn't yours and your breaking the law running it....or it is yours and your breaking the law too.

Is there any such thing as a limit if you advocate for CnR on fish like smallies? I would agree doing it my way doesn't give a realistic feel of the fishery or the river. Based on what I saw, I wouldn't waste my time fishing the SMA's on the Big, Joachim, Tenmile, Gasconade. They might have good fishing or scenery somewhere but I didn't see it and what I did see I'm not willing to go back and float to find it. I would/have fished the Elk, Meramec, Jacks, James on a nice day in the deep off season or with water too low to float by the party crowd. That personally leaves Mineral Fork(which had multiple people at a single access every time I was there), Big Piney(I enjoyed due to the access I used had multiple catches and species), Eleven Point(which I fished a section wayyyyy down a dirt road and caught multiple fish but like the multiple species aspect down river), and Osage Fork(fished a very small section but was secluded) as sections that intrigued me. Again in most cases I only saw 1 or 2 access points except for Gasconade, Elk, and James. The latter 2 I've fished or floated or lived nearby. My opinion only....but the smallie slam isn't nearly on par with the trout slam. There are smallies all throughout the state. There self supporting in every place they are found....bigger fish a lot of places....more fish a lot of places....streams on par with other SMA in a lot of places. I was effectively checking a box and fishing some places I wouldn't normally. It was a lot of driving but I took my car(minus the last trip) so costs wasn't bad. Worst part was by far the waking up super early to be across the state by daylight.

Took off again Saturday to finish off the slam. Started at Big Piney for @Prifish but I only gave him a short time. He couldn't make it happen and there was an otter in the hole we fished so we assumed that drove the fish into hiding. Next up was Meramec. Wasted a lot of time up by Woodson K with nothing but a bunch of creek chubs to show for it. Headed down to Scott and paddled canoe up stream and shortly found fish. @Prifish caught the biggest fish so far. Next we headed to Gasconade @ Riddle and paddled down a bit. Water is just nasty and lots of moss and it was a struggle but we got it done. @Prifish has all the pictures. Here are my take aways: This is really a bit harder than the trout slam. Less wading opportunities and much more floating opportunities. Definitely some trickier access issues in several places. There is a whole bunch of rivers on the list I probably will never visit again.

Well its closing in on time to start fishing the tailwaters again. I went out 2x this past week. Middle of the week I snuck out on a pre-daylight trip to Parker bottoms and caught 1 dink walleye and 1 small rainbow. Higher flows this spring has really pushed some gravel around below parker. Last night I took off and fished the lower restricted section. I got there a bit earlier than I wanted too but wanted to make sure I could cross. Fished all the way around the bend until about 9pm when the fog socked me in. I'm not used to the fog in that area and it made finding my spot to cross back over a tricky proposition. Finished the night with a couple dink rainbows a short walleye and probably a 17" walleye.

This is specifically what I'm getting at. I think the potential with Browns was well known and it doesn't surprise me that mid-August they are starting to show up. I've always assumed there was some big rainbows around but 2 or 3 in a week is like flipping a switch. Has MDC ever done anything on growth rates? I assume these fish are maybe putting on 3-4 lbs a year to see that kind of change in say 1 year?

So between following all the facebook groups I'm noticing a ton of 27"+ fish showing up almost daily. I suspect browns will start showing up with more frequency as we get closer to October but several of these fish are big rainbows. Just seems really strange for 3-4 of these fish show up within a week like they have at the size they are. Again I'm not talking 5-6lb fish were talking 10lb+ and 30"+ fish. What gives? Is it just suddenly a massive social media run? Did MDC release some big brood stock?

Thanks guys the white tipped tail told me walleye but haven't seen such apparent blotching like that. Either way it was a good fish. FWIW @Prifish and I took off again Saturday and slammed some more. He finally checked off Mineral Fork and then we ran and spent the rest of the day checking off Big River. No pictures as he has them on his phone.

Another day, another trip across the state. Headed out with goals of Osage Fork, Big Piney, Gasconade, and a chance at Meramec. Osage Fork was up first and was getting bites right away at the first stop but couldn't keep them buttoned. Turned out they were gar. Shortly after I hooked up with a smallie and close to the car too boot. Next stop was the pull off J along the Big Piney. Managed to catch a gar that came off trying to land without a net. Kept heading south. Found a spot and hooked a smallie that came off right away then a real heavy hit and pulling drag. Maybe a 5lb drum. No pictures as he came off right at the bank. Then a short time later another big pull. This one will likely give away my location. I finally managed to get my smallie a couple casts later. Headed off to Gasconade by 9:30. I didn't have much plan and it probably costs me. I fished riddle bridge, HWY 28, and down to Jerome. I blanked everywhere except Jerome but it doesn't count because again I caught a non-target. I'm thinking Sauger due to the blotches but unsure. Either way it wasn't what I was looking for so it got put back for someone else. Overall caught lots of non-targets but things didn't go as planned. Currently sitting at Silver with Big River, Meramec, and Gasconade left. I have plans for all but Gasconade.....it just seems to big to wade effectively and lots of what seems to be frog water.

You really think people that have lived 40 or 50 years in a highly organized, civilized, dependent world are suddenly going to hunker down and survive for more than a several months at most. No A/C, no heat, limited fuel supply, no lights at night, no medicine, no transportation. In a true apocalyptic event after the first month or 2, what are you going to do when you run out of or need something? You still have this civilized thought of going to go out and barter with a neighbor using your cash or gold. Bull crap your going to have to go out with limited transportation into chaos and hope you can find what you need and are not killed in the process. Empty homes and businesses will likely already be ransacked and most useful things taken so your likely to have to find someone just like yourself to ransack and pillage from. The other option is you have enough of everything you could possibly even need and really think you can defend yourself and be the last one standing. Its probably a good idea to have a month or 2 of some items for comfort in a pandemic type event but if your prepping for an apocalyptic event your just buying how long you can make it before your morals have to be tested.

I wish we could get a true minimum flow below Beaver. I want just enough to have some current but still be able to wade.

Had big plans today that just fizzled. @Prifish plus me creek hoping makes things tougher for sure. Left in the middle of the night to drive to Joachim. Took about an hour which was faster than I expected. I thought this would be our hard creek. This checks off the bronze level for me. Next up was Big river @ Washington State Park trying to keep things close. We blanked but didn't spend a lot of time. Just fished right at the boat ramp. Water was too high to wade across and we didn't feel like swimming so headed of to Mineral Fork. Showed up to a full parking lot. Cross stream and head downstream and within 300 yards find someone in front of us. Kept going and ran into a group of guys all fishing together.....No bites and not a lot of fish seen. Working back to the car I stumbled into one pitching a ned deep into the brush and had to pull it out over the brush. We just couldn't find another smallie and since we have to go back to Big River we bailed and headed to Meramec River but couldn't find anything easy there so headed back west and south.

Hook trout and play them to exhaustion and then some.........