The Troutdoorsman

While I agree that it's the experience and not the harvest, it's still nice to get a dove. Which I did not do this morning. It's gotta be the first opening day in 15 years that I didn't get a bird. I've heard similar reports from other area's. I'd be curious as to what kind of luck others are having and any theories on where the birds are.

SOLD Pups are sold now. All went to great homes, some to people on the forum. We had some great conversations about bird hunting too. Thanks to all.

Brittany bird dog pups for sale. They come from hard hunting parents. Dad is an American Brittany and mom is a French Brittany. They are registered and recognized by the AKC. This is their first litter and an intentional pairing. The parents are two of the best bird dogs we've ever seen. They are up-to-date on worming, shots, and have dew claws removed and tails docked. Can send pictures of parents as well if you want see the stock. PM for more information. Whelped on April 3rd and ready to go by May 29th. $200

No doubt wouldn't want to lose the downstream access. Seems like since MDC owns the upstream river, right side and they have a nice big parking lot there a river access would make since. Another bonus would be that it takes the pressure off of the downstream access which can be chaotic at times, to say the least.

MDC is asking for comments on their Patrick Bridge plan. I've spoken with many, and am of the opinion, that an upstream take out would increase upstream availability. Not only that but would also make the river safer, especially in high water.

Great report Phil, Question, What kind of field loads do you use? I think of #5s for pheasant and #7.5 or 8s for quail. But if you never know what you are going to get up. Will the 5s make mince meat out of the quail. Will the 7.5s have the knock down power to take a pheasant out?

What did you catch them on?

The link isn't taking me anywhere. The great thing about quail habitat improvement is it helps all species. This is a large part of why we are seeing so many habitat partnerships now, like Quail Forever and National Wild Turkey Foundation.

Before Dawt breached, when the lake would come up over the dam, it would trap the stripers. The fish had to be caught out. Now the fish can move back out, which I think has less an impact on the trout. The last striper I saw last year was mid June. I think the trout will be fine unless stipers decide to take up permanent residence.

Mine are in the mail.

Come to think of it, they were in yellow canoes. They talked to us. 2 guys 2 gals, all cool. Don't think they would have caught that fish. They were nymphing and it was a meat eater.

Some days big fish just bite. Took my two sons to the "Outdoor Adventure" at Dry Run Creek. This is a fabulous event put on by the Friends of the Norfork Fish Hatchery http://www.norforkhatcheryfriends.org/ . Lots of great things for the kids to do like archery, bb gun shooting and camp fire smore making. The kids even got to fish in the race way of the hatchery. This is my dream. Fish hitting on a bare hook. Well we can't get that close to Dry Run without fishing it. I leave my 8 year old to do his own thing and focus on my 5 year. Big brother starts fishing in another channel directly behind us. Next thing I know I hear "Oh mama, Oh mama" coming from behind me. I turn around and he is standing with his rod bent like a horse shoe. After a great fight he landed a 25" brown by walking backwards and beaching him. That wasn't the only big fish. In 1 hour between my 5 year old and 8 year old, 9 fish were caught including a Cutthroat, a Brown and a Rainbow. The biggest Rainbow was 23", the Cutthroat 18" and the Brown was 25". After all that fun it was off to work. Got a late call to take a hard core streamer addict for a guide trip on the North Fork. We were able to pencil it in for an evening half day after Dry Run. Hit river river at 4 with plans to fish til dark. About 1/2 way through the trip. About 40 yards away from 4 other fly fishers (which is always nice). My fisherman says "I've got a toad on." About that time the water boils and a big Rainbow erupts. Rainbows on the North Fork don't get all that big, but they are super strong and healthy.. A fish over 18 inch's is a trophy and a 15" fish fights like a 25"er. I knew if we got this big boy to the boat it would easily rank on my top ten. We did and it did. On 15 lb test the fight was over almost too fast for such a giant. My fisherman was a veteran steelhead angler and used to bagging trophies. The experience helped him land the big fish fast and fresh. Still this was a memorable fish for both of us. A fitting end to a day of big fish.

Just got a heads up from Lancer and I'm in.

As far as Topaz to Twin the most convenient outfitter would be Twin Bridges. I don't even know if the other outfitters on the river would be interested or have access to take out at Twin. The water is skinny above Indian creek and I've never floated it. Below Hebron it's float-able by canoe until your down below about 500 cfs at Tecumseh. You'll drag some, but no so much it's miserable .On weekends you'll see plenty of people once you pass Hebron. There aren't any trout up that high, but the smallmouth fishing is great.

Sean- There was quite a bit of variety in the sizes and it's hard to be accurate after staring at 3000 wiggling fish, but I'd guess the smallest was around 6" and the biggest around 16". On both ends of the spectrum I thought to myself "I didn't think they stocked them that size. Justin- I've since refined my palette to the sophisticated flavor of Milwaukee's Best.

List of things not to volunteer for: Help a friend move, cosign on a loan, take a cross country trip with your mother-in-law. When given a chance to serve as an official volunteer with the Missouri Department of Conservation, say yes. A fisheries biologist buddy, asked me if I would be interested in going on a stocking trip on the North Fork of White. Ok so: in a boat, on my favorite river and involving fish. This is everything I’m about, although it’s different putting fish out of the boat rather than into it. Blair in the snow So, I showed up at Blair Bridge at the prescribed time. It had just begun to snow. About a minute later, here comes the stocking truck. They backed it down the ramp and got a big hose out, opened up a trough and water, and fish shot out like a fire hose. The fish were shot into a tube with netting and a wire frame around the bottom. 3,000 brown trout in all, the rainbow trout in the North Fork or wild stream bred. The average length was 13 inches. Stocking truck unloading Of course as a volunteer, I was put to work right away. These guys had the operation so down pat that it was easy to fall in line. I would sit in the front of the boat and dip-net the fish out. I quickly learned that with about 10 or 12 fish wiggling around in the net you can’t just dump them all out at once and then try and count. You have to put the net in the water and try and shake them out one at a time. I asked if there was a specific part of the hole I should put the fish, riffles, runs, deep slow holes? I was asked in reply "Where do you want to catch them?" Every stretch had a specific amount of browns to be placed. If you had more or less fish in your tubes, then you thought (easy to do when you’ve got fish shooting at you at a rate of dozens per second). You would have to adjust and notate what was actually placed. We released about 1,000 above Patrick bridge where the regulations only allow one keeper 18 inches or larger. Below Patrick, we released 2,000 until our take- out at James. The stocking truck at Patrick was crazy. It pulled up on the bridge, several feet above the tubes and the biologists. So this time, the fish were shooting down and had a five foot drop before they hit the water. The guys holding the inner tubes that the fish were landing in were getting showered with fish water. Not a popular fragrance with the ladies. Brown trout in a stocking tube Stocking from Patrick Bridge The water was just high enough to be able to get the boat through the skinny stuff. The fish tube would have to be taken off and walked through the riffles. This was quite a chore. Imagine the current pulling a tube with 200 pounds of brown trout in it and having a tube in each hand. When it was all over, I would have to say it was one of the most interesting days I've spent on the river. Perhaps most amazingly: after being loaded into a tanker truck, transported over 100 miles and shot through a water cannon, I only saw one fish that I didn’t think was going to make it. I couldn't help but think back to something I had heard my friend’s wife say. She has a job where she is responsible for a certain amount of people. But she always points to the difficulty of her husband’s job saying, "Fish are harder to manage then people." Now I know what she means. Fish Shooting From Stocking Trough Rusty Stocking Brown Trout

Lizard, I have found on the NFoW that anything bigger than a 1/8 oz jig gets hung up behind and between rocks and gets broken off. Usually the fish are in either lazy mode and like an 1/8th or 1/16 oz jig (the lightest you can cast for about 50 to 75 ft) bounced off the bottom. Or in pursuit mode and like a rooster tail or a small crank like a rebel craw or a flicker shad. Either way if the water is off color yellow seems to work, if it's clear natural colors like brown and olive seem to work. Your gonna love Trout Island.

Have they wrapped up construction at Patrick? Do they have a ramp all the way to the water now?

Thanks QB. One reason I'm looking in Arkansas or Oklahoma is the season is longer. Once January 15th rolls around Missouri isn't an option. Also they are doing a pine restoration in the national forest near where I live in southern Missouri. From the sounds of things it's going to resemble the pine/blue stem restoration that is taking place in the Ouchita.

I would like to quail hunt some good examples of the pine/blue stem restoration that is taking place in the Ouchita. For proximity the eastern portions of Arkansas would be less travel for me. I would travel further west though to find a quintessential example. Does anyone know of some areas that exhibit this type of habitat and maybe hold a few birds? Rusty

Thanks for the write Ness. Keep up the faith. If we can bring back the habitat the birds will follow. Our boys will appreciate us for it. Nothing like catching fish, on flys, tied from feathers of birds that you've harvested.

River of Life Farm and local guide Rusty Doughty will be featured on Outfitter Showcase on the Outdoor Channel. Dates and times are as follows: 9/2 at 5:30 am 9/3 at 11:00 am 9/7 at 4:00 pm all central time Don't know what will hit the cutting room floor. There was one interesting segment on the last day of filming. There was a massive rainstorm the night before. Rusty is teaching fly casting as the river is blowing out and something neat happens. No spoilers.

I would be concerned about not having a lower impoundment to the river. Previously when lake levels have risen above the dam and stripers and hybrids have come into the river it's been a limited engagement. The levels go down, the fish get caught out and it's a few years before another flood comes to repeat the conditions. It's fun while it lasts, but it doesn't last long. I'm sure that it's true that their main forage is crayfish. We heard many say that when gutted the bass spilled out crayfish, but that is also an important trout forage. The Easter flood, of two years ago brought stripes and hybrid into the river. We were seeing schools of 20, ten plus pound fish. That can put a real dent in the available food supply. If this can happen at any and all times I could foresee a problem. Nature is a delecate balance and right now "it ain't broke so don't fix it." Or maybe I should say that it is broke (meaning the dam) and we should fix it.

On average, as I'm sure it's different for each individual fly, how many flies can you get out of one brush.

I'll go