Devan S.

A couple trout......We spent most of our time trolling cranks looking for walleye.

The fog...the darkness...the bats....the rocks......the noise of the birds......fairly sure we even heard foxes......its all disorienting and keeps you on edge. Add in leaky waders and shivering cold in August and 10/10 would do it again. There is a really nice pack of bucks hanging out at the ponds between hatchery and boat ramp......

Fished Saturday between Beaver town and spider creek up the white........5 ski boats above beaver bridge. An entire crew of jet skis at and above houseman......and what looked like a smaller catamaran/outboard style speed boat.....get this ABOVE the big pillars past the HWY 62 bridge.

Good Luck.....we slung em Friday night....Buddy caught a 23" brown, 21" brown, 18" rainbow, and I hooked and had a rainbow bigger than the big brown pull off right at the net. First time wading down there and first time night fishing too....needless to say we're hooked.

Chemistry was the bane of existence for me. Physics, math, statics, dynamics, all made sense. Heck even thermodynamics while hard made sense.....chemistry just never worked in my brain.

Engineering Management is a good route. I was given a lot of flack at Rolla for taking the "easy" way out between 2008 and 2012 probably still the same stigma today. The hardcore mechanical/electrical guys all said we weren't real engineers. The benefit is you aren't at all locked into anything specific. I use my EMAN coursework 10 to 1 in the real world vs. sitting behind a desk doing true core engineering work.

I floated that stretch on the 25th of July just under 100 cfs. We bumped and banged a lot but only really had to step out a time or 2. now 90cfs vs. 100cfs doesn't seem like much but it is 10%ish.

For me home is hard to beat....I've always said it was God's Country but Canada and the fishing a so gosh darn close its not funny. Would go back in a heart beat.

We caught one of those stripers Sunday below river of life. Weighed 7lbs......I'm certainly glad I didn't hook it on my 3 wt. I'm 100% sure it was not the biggest one in that hole either. Probably took 5-10 minutes of chasing it while wading to get it headfirst into the small trout net.

Me too. I think the guy is about half looney and exaggerates a bit personally but there is just enough corroboration for me to suspect that he knows something. Although as open as he has been about supposed highly classified information, I'm not sure how he is alive.

Well today I finished the Blue Ribbon Slam....its been fun. A lot of exploring and gave me reason to check out places I wouldn't have otherwise. Back in late June we floated Eleven Point....Caught our trout, caught a chain pickerel, checked out turner, checked our Greer. Neat place but is a long drive from Cassville and makes for a long day. Will camp next time. Floated NFOW today and it was a good day. Caught striper or hybrid, caught my one trout and some smallies. Again its a long haul and not a good way to get there......86 to 160 is a long curvy ride even for people who grew up here. Both these streams fished completely different to me then the other 7. Although the ability to target more species made them a lot more fun and interesting. Plus we got to break out the canoes/kayaks.

Does the gill thing not happen over at Beaver?

Goodness.....that is a nice double. Looks like your having a good time.

To answer your question on how speed plays a factor in it. I think there is 2 schools of thought: 1. release as soon as possible and hope the fish still has the strength to swim down against their air bladder. Assuming they are strong enough to swim against the inflated bladder and can get to depth fast enough it will remedy their problem. It might be like you and I trying to fight against maybe a pool noodle....At first you may be able to get it down but if you cant after awhile you just die from fighting it in low oxygen water. 2. Haul them around in improved condition water with clips on the fins to keep them upright until the air naturally has time to equalize to the lower pressure and then release them. Again this entirely dependent on having good water. Outside of that it is fizz them or people sometimes put them in an upside down weighted clothes basket and send em back down. Also the speed with which they are brought up plays a factor too. The faster they come up the less time they have to adjust themselves......the slower the better job they can do on their own.

Perfect. Exactly why you constantly release "breath" if you have to bail at depth while SCUBA diving.

I'm not sure in 9 days you will be any farther than you are today....especially with the amount of information you have given.

I would say we fished hard the first 2 miles..maybe...by hard I mean we stopped and got out and fished or waded sections. Really stopped getting out and stopping to fish about 2 miles in and just drug lures or tossed here and there and went into more of a float/paddle mode. I could easily see 1-1.5 miles either way from an access there was quiet a few guys wading so I assume those areas get a lot of pressure. Lots of cars in both lots. We probably stopped really fishing about the time we should have really started picking things apart more. Oh well will know better next time maybe.

Thought I would resurrect this.....At the farm in Eagle Rock, its really hot and dry at home in Cassville got a good localized rain yesterday I believe. I'm not sure the farm has had anything significant in awhile....been a lot of close calls. KY3 is showing predicted 2.5-4" rainfall over the next week and lower temps. I sure hope it pans out or I will be feeding hay in August.

Did my first fishing trip ever on Crooked Creek. Have never religiously fished for Smallmouth so take my report for what its worth. Put in at Mark Oliver/Georges Creek and floated to Kelly crossing. Caught probably 10 smallmouth....nothing big mostly 12-14" fish. Flukes and crawdad soft plastics. Fished hard the first half......ran out of time and passed a lot of what looked to be better water on the second half(hindsight I would float the first half and fish the second). Saw a really nice channel cat...and lots of nice carp. Spent way to much time trying to catch a carp. Water was right at 95-100cfs....we floated 2 big guys in a canoe.... only had to get out in a few sections but lots of bumping and banging....wouldn't go at a much lower level than it is for floating.

Going that far though shouldn't one assume that the actual size of the light bulbs plays in if your going to look at every single difference?

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Just free lining live bait? Brooders? Bream? Shad?

Lake was removed around 67/68....To me old times are 80/90's....Again I've never witnessed it. I have seen the stocking truck at the bridges themselves so that does happen but I generally find more fish about the mid-point between access. Probably due to the lower prevalence of the catch and keepers.

Out of the park(below Z3) is stocked albeit seemingly at a random timings. I think usually in late October or November there is a healthy stocking but that may have been slowed/stopped due to the hatchery being in construction. You are correct in that it will generally be stocked in roughly 3 places where road access is easy=bridge. I had heard in old times staff distributed trout throughout the lower section via floating basket but have never witnessed such activity. Likewise when those stockings happen locals have them cleaned up pretty quick like. I actually prefer fishing below the park. You are correct there are fairly large 200, 300, 400 yard sections of wasted water but the actual holding spots this time of year are really small and easy to find. I figure a hole may have 2 or 3 fish in each spot although larger ones have more. My biggest fish almost always come outside of the park(primarily due to how much I fish there vs. the park) . I have caught several browns over 18" outside the park and numerous good chunky bows outside all the way down to the lake. In fact, the largest rainbow I've ever caught was caught on RR outside the park.