Devan S.

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.........

I wouldn't worry about the walleye in the summer....far more taken out earlier in the year. I swear a game warden could support the entire department for Missouri and Arkansas if they would check limits and possession on walleye in the spring. Its the same boats over and over and over again and they look at you like a moron when you throw back keepers.

Big day today. Knocked out all the streams along HWY 60. Started at Jacks Fork about 7am....Run and gun deal will come back later and float w/ @Prifish. Took about 30 minutes to finally find a fish....water is low...low never got wet over my knees. After this headed toward Tenmile creek, I had very little to go on except confirmation from Sheriff I could be where I planned to be. On my 3rd cast I hooked into a really nice smallie. I would guess 16".....he took off downstream on loose drag. I tightened the drag and he pulled off. Then the grind began. After 2 hours and giving up, I was wading back downstream and hooked a baby. Thankfully done. Then I headed back to 11pt. quick and easy....took longer to drive down the dirt road in my car.

Also keep your attention up when your doing things like fishing/landing fish/re-tying/ect. There is a handful of rocks/stumps scattered about that hitting with a boat under generation will quickly put you into cold, swift water. I wouldn't say its dangerous as they are all easy to get around and very obvious but when your in swift water and focused on other things they come up fast.

If you float from the dam to spider creek it will be 99.99% trout. There has been some nice smallies caught up closer to the dam but they are spill overs from open flood gates this spring and have most likely moved down or been removed. I wouldn't waste my time even trying for them specifically. If your looking for smallies I would go up to Beaver lake above and fish any long gravel run out point in the dam area. Dam site and Indian Creek both have areas easily accessible. For trout any option you have listed will work just fine. Be cognizant of the special regulation area you will float through. Once the water is on that float will go pretty quickly. The area around Parker bottoms and the big pool right at the Spider Creek will hold lots of trout.

Had some business in Springfield yesterday so took a little detour on the way home and knocked out James River too. The weekend mafia was already at Hootentown so I just kept going on down to HL Kerr. Ended up with 3 smallies, 1 longear, and 1 green bass.

Just a spot to drop some photos of panfish as I catch them. Still looking for that mega-jumbo. First up is a 9" pretty greenie. Still only weighed about a 1/2 lb. Bull gill. Again about 1/2 lb.

We did beat the herd but did not beat the trash....its everywhere.

@Prifish and I took off and dipped our toes into starting the smallie slam. We decided to start with the Elk river on the 4th of July weekend. We were shocked to find people everywhere. Just kidding. I lived in Anderson for a couple years and would rather pull teeth than float over there. We showed up at daylight and fished 2 spots about 20 minutes each. Both caught a couple dinkers and then skedaddled before the river turned to pee and beer.

10-15 years ago we use to go down in the spring and catch them by hand "moving up" by the cooler full and have a boil. I started running traps and never did any better than we could with a butterfly net and wading.

I fished this morning....I'm still seeing some topwater but its really spread out. Did get a small little bit of close activity for a couple minutes but couldn't get anything to commit. 2 striper and 1 smallie was my tally. Both stripers combined wouldn't have weighed 8lbs and the smallie wasn't over 15" so no pictures. If I had a second person in the boat I think I'd catch more. If I just start blind casting 90% of the time I'll have activity nearby but you have to get right on it. No time to reel in 50 yards of line and cast at a swirl 15 seconds late. If you have a second person in the boat and they get a half cast offset then you have a better chance of getting on those active fish. Once the sun got up I spent about an hour trolling a big umbrella rig. No luck but have zero idea what I am doing there.

Anyone ever fished in Fort Robinson State Park in Nebraska?

Here is my updated list: Gila Trout Apache Trout NM trout slam Additionally picked up a Master Angler here. 1 level of Arizona trout challenge Actually completed both levels. 2 more Arkansas Master Anglers-I've actually caught 1 smallie that met the requirements but my original goal was for a new category(hoping at this point for Striper, Catfish, Trout, or Bream) 1 trout park lunker(not RR)-This just probably isn't going to happen this year. I've got a couple more want-to's on the list but I'm not sure how travel will work out.- Still TBD

Forecast isn't looking good.

Did they let you handle the fish at all or would they have? All their pictures on facebook shows the guide holding the fish which is fine but I'd prefer to at least have pictures of me holding it if I stumbled into a good one.

I've actually been pulling out closer to 8 and nearly 7:30 this morning. It's 99% over by that time. There was 3 boats just sitting waiting Sat AM at the ramp so I skipped even fishing there going and coming back there was still 1 there.