Flyflinger

WOW!!!! I am impressed, I can't seem to find any good smallies...the search goes on.

Biggest bass i ever caught came from a pond..more like a puddle, you could cast aross it easy. I was throwing a beetle spin catchinf tiny yellow belly catfish. We were trying to clean them out. I ended up landing a 9.5lb largemouth.

I have never fished the Niagua and I am really looking forward to it. I think we are dropping in right below Bennet. What should I exspect? Is the water crowded? Is it mainly bass water with occasional trout? Should I be drifting nymphs, hopper droppers??? I am a total novice on this stream, I kinda got "hooked" into going at the last minute....hopeing to get into a nice brown. Is there a flyshop near by?

I fished hard from 6:00am till 1pm..by that time it was hell on earth hot. The bite was very very sloooooooowwwww. I brought just 3 fish to hand and had 2 shake off. 1 nice smallie and 2 trout. The fish are pradictably holding in the deepest pools close to structure. You have to use the heaviest split shot you can get away with and get those flies to drag the bottom. if you have the percistance to suffer the slow bite, you can catch a few fish. As for me, I won't be goign back until we get a nice cold front to move through. I only had floaters come by at the end of my day...and only a few at that. There was no other anglers...I guess I am the only one crazy enough to brave the heat. I know this water gets alot of bad press....but for me its to close to home to pass up, and i always catch fish. i have never fished it in the fall...does the bite pick up then? I got a pic of one of the trout...he was the biggest one.

At the risk of sounding dumb...what's a rock jetty?

Well done, nothing like a C&R lunker....Farm ponds are my favorite place to go for big largemouth. I used to have a place i called my Hog Pond. Every bass was 4+ Lbs, and I am not kidding. Durring the summer it would have so many tadpoles in it that the water was black with them. The bass would just have to sit there and open their mouths and the tadpoles would swim right in. Needless to say this made them as fat as can be. I miss that place, it was sold and I lost pemission to fish there. Oh well...

Three weeks ago I was fishing the Meramac at Cardiac Hill. The fishing was pretty slow, I got into only 4-5 trout all day. After a wade up to the Piles and back to the trail that leads back up the hill, I was fishing in that first set of riffles at the trail end. I was in the process of changing flies...I had let my fly line drift down behind me while I pulled up my next fly selection. I pinched the new fly in between my lips and began reeling in the line for the change up. Wouldn't you know it I snaged a rock, and was going to loose my nice brand new wooly bugger.....well not really a snag..my wooly bugger was lodged in the upper lip of a 4lb small mouth. He jumped exactly once and spit that fly right back at me.....shortly after I threw up. Biggest smallie of my life...never even seen one that big before... I guess the moral of the story is: ALWAYS WATCH MY LINE!

If I was king of the Meramec Spring Park I would: 1. Remove the dam at the end of the park. 2. Remove the sidewalk, crushing it into pieces and useing it for river structure. 3. Make below the bridge a Blue Ribbon trout area. 4. Make above the bridge all C&R 5. Stock more browns 6. Stop mowing the grounds and let the wild grasses take over. Am I missing anything?

Thanks, I'll check it out.

I am looking into buying a hook sharpener. Any suggestions?

You know its a darn shame....they have a great healthy cold spring and they go and put a sidewalk on one side so the water is chanlized. There really are only 3-4 places with good water to fish in the whole park (not counting above the bridge). I live like 30 minutes from there and have been there quite often in the past few weeks with the kids. It has been a disappointment everytime. I mean how many lawn chairs can you stack up on one hole? I wish they would break up all that sidewalk and throw it in the water to give it some structure and for heavens sake get rid of the dam at the end of the park! It might give these trout the opprotunity to become more wild and God forbid breed. I don't even want to get started with the none exsistant C&R area. This place reminds me of those pay lakes where the trout are stacked up in a 1 acre lake and people pay by the pund caught, its very depresing, because it could be so much more. I will probably go back for the C&R season with my fingers crossed.... I wonder if its a management problem? I can't imangine whoever runs the place is a trout fisherman.

I have no doubt that the stock fish do spawn....but I think the eggs die quickly. I'm trying to find our why? Why do rainbows survive wild in the Blue Springs Creek...but not in the larger waters...as far as I know.

I think I am going to have to put the fly rod down for a day and get the spinning gear out. That looks like to much fun.

That's one of dim dare thinkin chairs

First of all thanks to all who supplied me with the information needed to make this overnighter a good one. The directions on how to get there and where to fish were spot on and helped with the success of the trip. I was originally planning on going down to the Current alone and really try to get into some long wades...but as the day of the trip approached I just couldn't help but wake my 9yr old up and take him with me. This ultimately limited my moblity, but increased the fun 10 fold. We arrived at Montauk at 6:30 am and after a bit of driving around we made our way to the end of the camping area. Stopped at the first good hole we saw and within 2 cast my boy had his first trout. It was a nice plump 16 incher caught on a glow ball. He was very excited. I fished a Hopper dropper the entire first day. With a large foam hopper #10 and a grey scud #16 hanging about 18-24 inches below. As long as the drift was good I had great success, the fish took the scud and the hopper greedily. They split time with the hopper 20% and the scud 80% which can be exspected. I got into a couple of real bruisers with this rig, I know one had to be around 4 pounds. I got him to the edge of my net before he spit the scud back at me....thus is fishing. The majority of the fish I caught between the hours of 10am and 2pm, with little action in the early morning and late evening..I found this strange. The trico hatch in the am was huge! I cleaned about 50 of those little bugs of my rob when I got home victims of the cast. I saw little top water action when the hatch was on...this supprised me as well...most of the hatches I have seen have been western may fly hatches and the fish go crazy when the hatch is on...this was not the case down at the current. I tryed various other rigs and drys...but the hopper dropper preformed the best by far. We had a great time and I can't wait to go back. The water was not crowded but I was suprised by the number of people in the camping area for a Tuesday/Wednesday. I can't wait to get down there after school is back in session. FYI: 99% of our fishing was done below the cable separateing the park from the trophy water.

Just out of curiosity....Do trout eggs survive in the Meramec? If not, why? It just seems to me that with all of these cold water streams the Missouri has, that trout should be able to spawn naturally and produce a healthy wild population. Of course I am no expert, which is why I posed the question. I know the eggs survive in places like Crane Creek, Blue Springs Creek...but why not the Current or Taneycomo? Any fish biologist out there?

And to think I started this topic just to find out if I could fish the Dry Fork creek close to my house. A very good debate, and valid points on all sides. The big question is navigablity? With no clear list of streams that are the debate will go on and on. It's a shame really. I guess I will just have to rely on my good looks to get me into the choice fishing grounds. On second thought maybe I'll just bring a six pack and a hand shake.

I had no idea thats where the money went. I'm buying mine tomorrow...thanks for the info.

I think the hardest part of all this is finding the land owner. How does one do this? Is there a registry somewhere? I know of several stream where there is no clear house to visit and ask..... As for me, I agree with Ozarks to this extent: I know what type of sportsman I am, respectful and most likely the land owner would never even know I am there. Yet...I always ask permisson. That way everyone is happy, plus you meet some nice folks and gain a friend.

Thanks for the advice, I'm heading down tomorrow.

Understood...and lets be frank. It is not the humble Angler that causes these land owners to get all huffy, its the paocher/meth head that ruin it for us all. I do belive that most people would let us fish if you just ask. Tracking down the owner is hard pressed sometimes though. For instance: I wanted to hit the Dry Fork creek yesturday and I couldn't find anyone to ask. I saw a sign posted that read "no fishing without daily permission" so I respectfuly drove on....but man that water looked good. Oh well....

I had my camera phone on me, but the trout was jumping aroud so much I didnt want to see it damage itself on the rocks. So I let it go before I could get a pic.

Well said!

I am learning alot from this post I started. In fact I didn't even know there are so many diffent canoes/kayaks out there. I must say this is going to take some time to make the right choice for me. A few points I need to consider: 1. I rarely if ever do overnight trips. 2. I pull out and wade alot, hardly ever fish stricly from the canoe while its moving. 3. I will be alone 90% of the time, I fish durring the week when everyone is working. 4. I flyfish 90% of the time. hmmmm....

After a quick and unsucessful jaunt to the Bourbouse, I arrived at Blue Springs Creek around 9:30 am. The water is glass clear, just what you would exspect on this small little creek in the middle of the summer. I have been to this creek several times since moving so close to it recently and have never caught a nice size trout until today. In fact I was begining to think there where no nice fish in this stream. All I have ever caught where those little dinks. I consider myself an accomplished flyfisherman having cut my teath on the challengeing crystal clear waters of the Pacific northwest. I am now begining to uderstand the meaning of the phrase "spooky fish". I fished my normal way, walking upstream from the MDC parking on the left past the HWY N crossing. I worked the first deep hole I saw with a #16 Adams from about 40 feet away, three perfect cast..three perfect drifts...three let downs. Hmmmmmm....there just aren't any fish of any size in here...or so I think. Being completely disgusted I find a place in the shade and have a seat next to the hole I just worked. I was there about 10 minutes thinking about scooting down to Cardiac Hill..where I am sure is still to high to wade....but I might be able to land one from the bank in that first hole off the trail. When low and behold the trout came out of hideing. 1-2-3-4-5 trout all between 12&18 inches. I just sat and watched them resume to their normal feeding activities for about 5 minutes. I tied on a grey scud #18 I think, put on my Thingamabobber (smallest one you can get) and fliped out my offering. The strike indicater splashed a bit but the trout didn't care...1-2-3 passes and wham I hook up with my first official wild Blue Springs Trout! I was very happy to be able to land a fish with such great color, he was in perfect health and about 14 inches long. So the moral of the story here is: 1. These trout are "spooking" to the max. 2. They don't mind a small splash from an indicater. 3. They hate any noise your feet make or any shadows your body cast on the water and will hide untill they go away. 4. I can catch them if I slow way the hell down and wait for them to get comfy. 5. Blue Springs does hold bigger fish. 6. I have to get me a short 2wt rod for fishing here in the future, my 8.5ft-5wt is to hard to manage here. 7. I am truely blessed to have this water so close by. All in all I learned alot today...and was humbled a bit..I thought I was being pretty sneeking, and that this water just didn't hold any good trout...facts are I was probably stomping thru there like a bull moose as far as the trout were concerned. Next time I go..I go in full camo and belly crawl to each hole. Happy Fishing