Greasy B

Good luck fellows, I’m looking forward to the fishing reports. Last weekend the river was in perfect shape. It’s getting pretty bony for jets above Piney; I only saw three big boats above 28 hwy. This might be the beginning of the quite time on the middle river. If you see a long green boat with a couple of beer bellied, sun burnt schmucks aboard stop and say hi.

Last weekend on the middle Gasconade River a ferocious half hour downpour brought the river up just a couple of inches but lowered visibility from three foot or so to two inches. The next morning visibility was about a foot and a half in front of our camp, traveling up stream we ran across two large eddies that held water as muddy as chocolate milk. The water in these eddies was slowly mixing in the main stem which was quite clear. On our long boat ride back up to the ramp the rivers tint changed a couple more times from clear as normal to slightly murky then back clear again. Maybe something like this happened on Meramec. Hydrology is terribly interesting and can be quite complex, especially on our Ozark rivers. On one memorable trip my fishing partner and I put in a river that was up about four feet with zero visibility. In the course of our three day float I fully expected the high water and mud to travel along with us. As it turned out the water level dropped and cleared up over the 24 mile float to the point where it was dead low and crystal clear at the take out. I figured the sediment and volume of water was slowly absorbed by the much greater volume of water held in each pool of the river. I call that trip The Amazing Disappearing Flood Float.

I wanted to vote Wyoming because it’s my favorite place to fish but I can’t because the stream access laws. Like Colorado, Wyoming law states that I cannot touch or walk on the stream bed despite the fact that the stream is deemed public. These laws excludes enormous stretches of rivers from the general public; they create a situation much like Europe and United Kingdom where only the gentry has stream access. As an angler/tourist I don’t feel welcome in these states. After several years avoiding Wyoming as a destination I spent a week on a River that flowed mostly through private ranch land. There was a lot of uncertainty about the trip, is there enough water to float without touching the stream bottom? Can I sit in a boat all day without standing and stretching on dry land? How do I take a pee? Will there be ranch hand/ goons following, filming, and threatening us? After our guide trip the first day it was clear as to how this was going work out, we simple violated the law repeatedly all day every day for a week. Even in areas that had adequate water to float smacking into rocks was impossible to avoid, we had to get out of our boats to pee and back pain problems forced us to get out and stretch now and then. We never did wade fish or loiter on Private land and did no harm other than leaving a few foot prints. There was one stretch where we were eye balled and tailed by someone in a pickup truck but most of the folks seemed to have better things to do than to worry about a couple of schmucks floating down the river banging into rocks and peeing. I voted Montana because it’s a little better cared for, equally beautiful and trout filled. I feel more welcome, that’s where I’ll spend the majority of my angler/tourist money.

Great Fish! Can you imagine the quality of fish if the river was actually managed for put grow and take rather than put and take? The current Arkansas version of put grow and take actually end up being put grow, gut hook and release to die. Or take a limit in the morning for shore lunch, then take a limit in the afternoon for home, then go ahead and take a the guides limit home too. I’m sorry I had to vent a little; I’ve spent half my life fishing this most beautiful river in the world only to be disappointed over and over again at the behavior I have seen, both legal and illegal, so much unmet potential.

Congrats F. Sam on your new found interest in river fishing. Moving water is so much more interesting than still water. Gavin’s correct that finding fish in moving water might be easier than in lakes but I might add that reading the water in streams can be much more complex than reading still water especially when navigating a boat. Current speed, boat speed and lure speed are in constant flux creating situations where you never can make the same cast twice. Another thing to keep in mind is the scaling down of fish size expectations, just the fact that river fish are constantly swimming against the current bring growth rates way down, maybe half that of lake fish. The trade off of fish that are a bit smaller on average that lake fish is by far offset by the beauty of rivers.Good Luck!

I once walked up on a decent rainbow holed up in cool seep pocket about the size of a kitchen sink under the hwy 19 bridge at short bend. That fish strayed about 25 miles from where it was stocked. Over the years I’ve caught bunches of trout above hwy 8, I can only imagine how many stocked trout follow their instincts to disperse during high water events only to find themselves trapped in the warming water of early summer. I’d bet this behavior contributes to the marginal quality of fish in the short section of Meramec that will sustain trout year round. Oh by the way, If your comfortable with your angling masculinity a rooster tail is by far the best bait to throw for these wayward trout.

Yea, nice mix of fish. With the water warming up I would guess any rainbows in the stretch are holed up below what’s its name creek. I’m a little disappointed the river is not more blocked up with trees. Some look at down falls as portages from hell, I tend to look at them as obstacles from heaven. Last year things were pretty clogged up, it keeps the disneylanders out.

Except between me and my buddy’s fishing is not a social activity. I have given up on all streams that do not give me the opportunity to fish in seclusion. Rest assured there is are many streams where you can have quality fishing and not be within a 100 yards of anyone. When it comes to angling “people are the enemy”.

Yep, the trick to having solitude on any river is to go to the sections are not served by an outfitter, require long shuttles or are otherwise a pain in the butt because of log jams, portages and limited public access. I do want to thank the one landowner who did not bother to put up no trespassing signs on one particular gravel bar. This campsite was pretty much the only one that was not posted and had just a bit of elevation. Thank you land owner, rest assured we left nothing but foot prints and took nothing but pictures.

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.