Zeke Kuehn

Its on like Donkey Kong!!

Andre324 and I fished the last 2 days (3/19-20) and had good luck. The browns that have been stocked are extremely aggressive and put up a great fight. We only caught browns floating this section. I caught a nice bow and a brown from the Bank at Sunburst Ranch and on Fantasy Island. We also camped at Sunburst Ranch and the stretch of river that runs adjacent to the property is really good water. Justin and Amy Spencer of Sunburst Ranch were more than hospitable and I will be back soon. I would make mention of the river level, but as of now it looks like the they are getting 3 or more inches down there right now.

Here by forever banned it has been decided.

I think that I am going to check it out tomarrow. I am going to put in at Micheal Crieghton and kayak up to Hwy D. I was there scouting it out yesterday and saw some Bass, hopefully I can get some on the fly.

That the bridge being could be what has caused a lot of the water loss in the losing section. Water can get trapped by the fist to head size rock that were used beneath the bridges. These rocks are good during high water flow to slow water down but it can hurt during low flow conditions.

The attachment is a paper I wrote on the water losses in Crane Creek. It gets a little wordy, describing the soils in the area and process that transfer surface water into the ground. So if your not into that then skip to the discussion part. OZA.pdf

Branson and Hollister have really treated their creeks poorly. You can tell that the tourist's dollar does not touch the creeks. Unfortunately the condition of the creeks show the nature of the people that live in the two towns. I have lived there my whole life, and have seen to much development and deforestation. Since when did creek-side property call for a trailer park. Creeks and ecosystems are some the most sensitive environments. I would take creeks-side to lake-side everyday.

It is hard to fish down there. All I have caught there are small bass. Keep trying!

Thanks. It is rewarding to tie flies with material that you didn't have to purchase at a flyshop.

Thanks guys.

I am in the process of planning a trip to the norfork and am wondering about camping spots nearby the water. Thanks

I think you might have something wrench. The fish look like regular rainbows to me when I catch one of any size. The small ones look different; however I have never fished for wild trout except for in Crane. So the beautiful colors on the little guys may be just something that is common to all rainbow fingerlings.?

Sounds like a Great Day!

Awesome pic of the creek!

Could you post a pic of your "Crane Creek Caddis"?

Yep, rods to heavy and your tippets to light. With an 6wt I would try not to fish less than 7x. Good luck, make some adjustments and you'll be landing them in no time!

Everybody just fears change. The trout needed these boulders. Due to Table Rock Dam, Taneycomo does not get the sediment load that it should. The dam stops all the sediment, gravel ,and boulders that would have been washed down with the floods anyways. If the area was left untreated by the MDC then it would continue to just get flatter and wider as the years go by. These boulders will slow the water down ,and create great habitat for the fish. The boaters will figure it out, when there is a will there is a way.

I am working on a project to see how much water the stream loses through seepage into the water table below. I'm doing this by taking a lot of different cross sections and measuring the discharge in cubic feet starting below the springs and moving down.

Awesome Map! Very helpful

Went out to Crane this weekend, and Saturday I did some surveying of Crane Creek for Missouri State University. So, Saturday I got to hike most of the stream. Sunday I came back to fish. I started at the city park using a 18 copperjohn caught one trout and some large Creek Chubs. ( Large for Creek Chubs anyways.) As I got out of the park I switched to a size 14 Hare's Ear nymph and slammed about six fish in an hour. The character of these wild fish is amazing, even the little guys fight hard and rocket into the space above the stream. Had a blast, can not wait to do it again. Conditions Sunday: Cloudy 50-60 degrees water was Gin Clear very low, I should have thrown some drys tight lines, Zeke