Greasy B

No surprise here, most folks are clueless about stream access, even folks on this forum who should know better wonder whether the victim was on public or private land, it's all private. The outfitters who are profiting from the tourist should take some responcabilty to educate their clients.

BilletHead (Marty) recommend the creek to me last year but between all the other activities I crammed into my one week trip the closest I came to it was a couple of glances as I passed over a bridge. Note to self; the next trip spend more time at Chico Springs, allow more time for small creeks and spend less time fighting bear traffic in the park.

My early morning efforts sometimes pay off for the first hour after dawn then I usually see a lull until early afternoon when things pick back up. This summer I have been seeing the best bite from mid afternoon until mid evening. I love being on the rivers this time of year, gravel bar camping is much safer, fishing is more predictable and a dip in the water is all that's needed to stay comfortable.

The middle and lower river should be prime for canoes. The river has dropped enough to keep all but the dumbest jet boaters away and the window has opened for those of us with more pastoral angling aspirations.

When most places in the creek are no more than 3' or 4' deep there really isn't much of a difference between top and bottom. Now dredging a large eddie on a river I would say you are fishing for different fish or at least fish that may be less aggressive. Most of my "bottom fish" this summer were caught sight fishing in less than 3' of water.

Thanks for the report Joe, is there a public ramp on lake Niangua?

Great fish! Thanks for the picture and your angling ethics.

This year has been kind of strange. I haven't caught scwat on many of my favorites: buzz baits, walk the dogs and soft jerks but man o man has that pumpkin baby brush hog made up for it. I haven't given up on my tried and true baits so far but if I would have never rigged one up my success wouldn't have changed. We'll see how the rest of the season plays out.

Your not just welcome here, your appreciated.

Yes, some of the differences in latitude, water quality and habitat will always prevent the Ozarks from comparing to northern rivers but when our best streams are filled with 12-13 inch fish and northern rivers are filled 16-18 inch fish its obvious our streams are not even close to their potential. Seems simple to me: Empty rivers + Modern regulations = Quality Fish When you add law abiding citizens to the equation you get rivers that meet their true potential.

Yep, and what's the real difference between the fisherys? catch and keep pressure. Up north is a lake centric angling culture, most of the catch pressure is focused on lake dwelling Walleye. Oh and they do have modern regulation, my favorite Minnasota river had 50 miles of 12-20" slot water.

Welcome Steve.

Nice fish, way better than anything I have ever caught at Busch. I always suspected 38 had some good bass.

Foxfire

I'm a born and raised north county hoosier, some of my best friends are hoosiers. I find the stereotype great fun. I Recommend everyone get in touch with their inner hoosier, it's not a bad place to be. In otherwords find something truely worthy of being offended by instead some goofy urban slang.

The Gage at Big Piney is a long way from Baptist Camp, not much use. The window for most headwater floats closed about 3 weeks ago. Now it's drag and float, for that part of BP probably more drag than float.

Good news, a write up In the Traveler will help greatly to spread the word that poachers will pay a price for their crimes.

Pretty obvious what will become of it. If the house is below the 500 yr level it's toast. If the house is above 500 yr and the improvements are below the house will be around a little while but the river is toast.

Oh yes, many times. Had some pretty good trips, most of the memorable days were in terrible weather though. At least it kept the coffee sippers in their houses rather than gawking at me as I struggled to find I tiny bit of privacy to pull my waders down to relieve myself. You know Im not really against development. Im just so disappointed that our society could give a darn about the natural landscapes and riverscapes that I so treasure. If you think about it the only reason most of our Ozark stream remain relatively undeveloped is not because good land stewardship, wise zoning or a societal desire to preserve the streams, nope its because the topography does not allow building roads along stream valleys economically, in other words its happenstance. That's a thin line of protection.

When I first started to fish White River I was stunned by the incredible beauty of the river and heartbroken that it was being urbanized. In those early years I spent countless days at Buffalo Shoals soaking in the wind, water, and wooded hillsides, thinking that whenever the first house came in I would never come back. Well the first house came in, then another and another. I still go back to Buffalo Shoals a couple of times a year but it’s just not the same. As time goes on I guess I’ll have less and less tolerance for traveling 300 miles to fishing in someone’s back yard. The flip side of this would be for me to say the hell with my pastoral longings, to hell with saving a rural riverscape for our children’s children, maybe I’ll just buy up a lot for myself, build a green roofed Mc Mansion of my own, strip the bank of vegetation and rip rap it to protect my investment. Heck with minimum flow now in place I could even get one of those rock stomping UHMW hulled boats and tear up and down the river enjoying the roar of my big block echoing off the bluffs. I know this river is lost to urbanization; there is nothing I can do but except my broken heart.

E Green's eyes are what you and I both need.

It’s time for an intervention; Scott, dude, it’s going to be ok, in time society will advance ever so slightly, with help from above and generational change the idiot poaching culture will be a memory and Smallmouth Bass will again have the chance to grow to adulthood. Be it ever so fantastical we must keep the faith.

Thanks JC, I figured on taking a couple of light trout rods so I’ll look into the Elk. My plans were coming together; I have accommodations picked out, maps, books, some serious enthusiasm but sure enough the river just crested about 10X the ideal flow, not sure how this will play out.

Gar, even though I haven't hooked one in years I can't help but toss my bait in front of the darn things when they swim by. Usually they snap at the lure, give a brief tug are are gone.

I wonder if he's read what was written about him on this or other forums? Is it possible that this "Poster Boy of Poaching" is having second thoughts about his behavior? Could he now be realizing the passion others have for these wild fish and the gravity of his offense?