Devan S.

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.

Launched both mornings at Indian Creek right at daylight. Its already too hot at daylight. Ran as far as point 5 just running my normal honey holes for top water activity. The majority of guide boats are between pt. 5 and Rocky Branch.....they were all bunched up pretty close in 1 spot today. Had one striper follow and take about 12 swipes at my bait and just would not connect until it got to close to the boat. Did catch several nice smallies and my PB striper so far(I'd estimate in the 12-15lb range). Caught another 4 striper that were much smaller.

I've always wondered if you could chum with liver and maybe pull some browns but never tried it.....seems like way too much work.

Fixed it 🤣

Chumming a hole for a couple days huh.......😁

Is that a liver eater?

I fished there in May. Local fly shop suggested midges and annelids and smaller the better. I asked about jigs and buggers and basically got laughed at. I caught fish on jigs no problem......seen a guy catching fish on a jerkbait too. At the end of the day they are fish.

As one of the positive lone voices on this thread here is my take: Many were negative about the trout slam at the beginning. However there has only been 200 some odd completers of any level for the trout side in 2+ years. Not exactly a number to write home about but not over running even the smallest of creeks. Even if we triple that number to 600 people it works out to 2 people per day. I know the math doesn't necessarily work that way but the smallest and hardest 2 streams on the trout side should at least be able to support that for catch and release angling for those kind of numbers. All the locations are already posted on MDC for both slams so the only real difference is someone like me looking to check a box at least for the smaller streams. The reality however is someone like "me" who is actually interested in this isn't going back to the blue springs creek or the barren fork. We just wont.....its not easy....its a notch in my belt been there done that and would be surprised if I go back in the next 30 years. Heck I probably wouldn't go if it was closer to me. There is far better places to go....If I am being totally realistic I haven't been to any blue ribbon trout stream since, including Crane which is just down the road. Why would I? I have better options in Taney and Beaver TW and I literally cannot imagine someone making those small locations a destination for anything other than the slam. FWIW isn't there a full blown resort of Blue Springs? I might go back to the 11 pt. or NFOW or maybe even the current river but all of them have additional draw. Well above and beyond the checking the box of the slam. In fact, in some form or fashion they were all on my list prior to the slam. It was just the rock I tripped over to get there. Crane is closest to me and I'll probably go back but it wont be yearly and may not be ever considering I have better options elsewhere. To add additional spin, most of the Smallmouth slam streams are larger and thus add some additional options as far as user base(Canoes, rafts, guides, ect.)

I really enjoy their series. @Johnsfolly I think the streams bounce back fairly well after fire. In fact, no better time to "start new" than after a big fire. Kill off the non-natives and transplant some natives. The bigger concern is the lower moisture levels and just not having enough water over time to sustain. The bigger issue is just planning and getting access cut off due to fires.

It was pretty deep maybe 1.5 inches but 100% healed up. You can see the fin was split too.

Yep always hit it going and coming.