Greasy B

The word from Bro; Fishing was good to excellent, the bite started a bit earlier than a couple of weeks ago when thing didn’t pick up till mid afternoon. He tossed the usual baits but once again the 4” white jerk bait did it. The river was more crowded than you would expect for a week day trip but as usual by the time you get below Rymers you have the river to yourself. This time the stretch from Prongs to Buck fished best. The smallmouth also attacked crawfish imitations and Holschlag hackle flies using the crayfish hop.

Yea, I’m with Cricket, law enforcement has been doing this for many years and the kind of behavior shown in these videos has only gotten worse. I’m not quite sure what the solution is but this hasn’t worked. There are long segments of the best streams in the Ozarks that are not compatible with angling recreation. I think of it as blacked out sections on a stream map that says “Don’t Go here”, what a shame.

Dude, this time of year trout = people. I have an adverse reaction to people and avoid them at all cost. I threw my usual mix of baits, jerk, dog walkers, buzz and rubber. What these fish wanted was a pumpkin baby brush hog with the flappers pulled off. Most were taken by slowly dragging the bait across the bottom in eddies, no retrieve just feeling the bait. I don’t think what I caught them on was as important as when, late afternoon and early evening when the water warmed up.

Great Fish Al. The Brother caught a similar fish on Crooked Creek a few years back. It was eating mulberries and took a bluegill popper. The fish took so long to land we paddled to the take out in the dark.

Thank for the encouragement, we had a great trip on a beautiful river. The Niangua is becoming one of my favorite rivers. Of course a person has to be up on how to avoid the crowds.

The Brother and I spent 3 days floating from Buck Hollow to Bay Creek weekend before last. Water level was perfect or maybe just a bit high because it allowed a couple of jet boats to roar through our normally peaceful river. You probably won’t have to worry about that as the water was really dropping out. Cicadas were all over the water and all the fish had swollen bellies. Very few bass came up for Cicada flies though, mostly Long Ears. I tossed my usual lures and had little action until I used a 4” white jerk bait. As is typical the fish activity is related to the water temperature so our best fishing was mid to late afternoon. They look to be in their summer pattern. By the way I fish quite often from my jet boat, I just don’t run up very narrow streams filled with canoes. For the most part low water levels allow very small windows for power boats on JF, so they really are not a big deal. The Brother left this morning to do Prongs to Bay Creek, I might be able to give you an updated report later in the week. Good Luck,

Yep, Busch can be a real bear, given the intense pressure and the quantity over quality Bass regulations. You did well. I have at times flirted with big bass but after 35 years have yet to land any bass over 3#. I have spent countless evening’s catching decent Bluegills and Red-ears. I love the place and use it as my back yard,

Great report, thanks. 667 cfs at the Richwoods gage looks like just about right, High but fishable. It looks like Smallmouth fishing is ramping up, I’ll bet the hot temperatures this weekend will only help.

The Tunnel Dam stage is at 983 cfs tonight, judging by the gradient on the USGS graph it looks to be in the 700-800 cfs range this weekend. The river is just a bit higher than I normally like to fish, can anyone comment on the current conditions? Thanks,

My fishing buddy on Captiva Island in February, checking one off the bucket list.

I wonder if this high water event will make people think twice about housing development along the river. I doubt it. It’s so sad to see the short sightedness of flood plain development.

Wow that’s a nice fish, Beautiful. I live to catch fish like that. Yes the great drift boat dilemma, “someone has to row the darn thing”.

As I read through the various rivers on everyone list I said to myself yea that one and yea that one too, I pretty much want to see them all. I’ve been fortunate to have crossed quite a few of my list already. As far as the bucket is concerned I have no plans on kicking it for a good long while, I’m just going to keep chipping away at the list and enjoy the hell out of myself doing it.

Good Grief, the weather has gone crazy. I guess I’ll shelve this trip till next year. Thank goodness for flood proof strip mine pits, I don’t think I could take staying home over this holiday weekend.

Great, thanks for the advice on local accommodations. Whenever I start going to a new destination I always pick an outfitter or resort and stick with them to develop a positive relationship, friends and advice are invaluable when I’m on the road. Judging from my experience this last weekend the gill’s are on siesta until the next full moon. From what I’m hearing Bull Creek sounds like a great place for sight fishing with my fly rod regardless of spawning activity. I would also expect that by mid June the thermal refuge effect will also come into play. I wonder if the main stem of Taney will be stratified enough to provide a thermal refuge in the upper water column in mid June?

Thanks for the comments. Can anyone recommend a place to stay in Rockaway Beach? I’m assuming there is a public ramp in town. Gosh I love bluegill fishing. I’m a little worried most of the bedding has passed me by. I’ve attached a picture of a fine fish caught last weekend.

For many years I have been hearing about the bluegill fishing in the Bull Creek area of Taneycomo. Can anyone give me an update on the spawning activity at Bull creek? On my home waters the first wave of spawning is over and I’m waiting for the next full moon before it will pick up, is this also the case at Bull Creek? Thanks for any comments.

Sunday we had about 700 cfs. Big water!! If you’re floating be aware this river is not an amusement park. There is no one looking out for your safety except you. The split channel above NRO is completely blocked on the left by trees; the right channel has a tree that slumped into the water in just the last week or so. My fishing partner and I ran into some folks that got swept into the strainer in the right channel. They were lucky to come out of it with just scrapes and bruises. We helped them dislodge the canoe from a log jam and warned them about the perils around the bend. I advised them to take out at NRO and call it a day; I don’t know if they did. We caught a few fish.

Yep, see the long winded comment further up this thread. I have a 2 cycle 20hp jet on a 21’ Shawnee. I think it works out well for how I like to float fish. I take this boat through some pretty skinny water on many Ozark rivers. With two fishermen and overnight gear the river john doesn’t really get on plane, it just sort of levels out, when the waters low you always need to find the deepest water in the shoals to get through without eating gravel. That’s not as hard as it seems, if you’ve spent much time canoeing or jet boating and you’re smacking rocks, bottoming out or vacuuming up gravel you can usually look around and see the path you should have taken to get through. A couple of extra inches of water are all you need. Understanding of the USGS river gage flows will also go along toward letting you know what is navigable and what isn’t.

Great, thanks for the info. I have a drift boat project in the works and I think graphite would go along ways to help this boat slide over rocks. On my royalex canoes I slather the hulls with armor all to help me float creeks in low water. Do you think armor all or a similar product would do the same for an epoxy/graphite hull?

Sweet boats and very good work. Do you have an epoxy preference?

I couldn’t point you to an active heron rookery but these birds are more plentiful on the White River tailwaters than anywhere I have ever been. I think herons at a typical rookery are pretty sensitive to any disruption. Maybe digging for the poop at the artificially abundant heron rookeries along the tailwaters would be less disruptive.

Whoa dude not golf. I’ve lost some of my best fishing buddies to golf. Best I can tell golfing is responsible for the downfall of many a fine fisherman. Truth be known, I enjoy the heck out of golf, someday I may go astray myself. I think people show up and catch their 4 fish limit and just don’t want to quit fishing. If the MDC were to do something like hide in the bushes with high tech surveillance equipment just to give out citations it would be ridiculous. All that needs to be done is the posting of some in your face signage stating the regulations and maybe a MDC vehicle left in the parking lot now and then. I had one of those BWL trout for dinner last night, it was delicious.

Thanks, I figured it to be about 24 inches when I first hooked into it, when I got it into the net I was thinking 22 inches, then I unhooked it and held briefly for a picture it was a cool 20”. I’m glad I didn’t measure it, hell it could of have been 18 inches. I would think hold over browns are pretty scarce,this fish was a nice way to break the winter shack nasties.

The brown trout with a mouth full.