fishinwrench

Nice ! That 3rd fish looks to be a bit of a hybrid.

OTF, I didn't mean to imply that I had a problem with the way anyone fishes, cuz I don't. And I was just suggesting that maybe it wouldn't be a bad idea for us to give the fishery a break for awhile...out of kindness. Ya know, kinda like helping a friend when he's struggling. I only included zone 1 and 2 in that suggestion....which would not effect your bait fishing at all.

You couldn't handle it "temporarily" until they got the numbers back up a bit ? aw c'mon.....catch some crappie, catfish, or buy some salmon or Mrs. Pauls cod sticks. Any of the above are just as tasty as a liver fed stocker trout.

True that !

Chris, Yes, but they are still reportedly stocking 2 /per est. tag. And I'm fairly certain that WAY less than 1/2 the people fishing are taking home a limit each day. If that's true (and I'm pretty sure that it is) then there should be an increase in fish density as time goes on. Think about it, if that many people were taking a limit every day the streambed would be covered solid in guts and heads, and everyone you saw would be attached to a stringer....but it isn't and they aren't. Personally I think there are plenty of fish in the stream regardless. No complaints here as far as being able to catch fish within Bennett Spring State Park. But bogus reporting and claims from government based agencys is a major pet peve of mine....and I suspect the numbers have always been questionable, even before the loss of Trout due to floods ect. What good are tax funded studies and reports if the resulting information is no more useful than a guess ? ya know, why even bother ? LOL If they are truly hurting for fish, then why not temporarily declare zones 1 and 2 catch and release only until they get back on track ? I doubt that the majority of anglers would have a problem with that.

I've suspected some "number fudging" going on for quite awhile, especially with what they claim to be stocking in the river. But even in the park if they stocked as many as they claim they do then there would almost be too many fish, in my opinion. You just don't see THAT MANY people carrying out stringers of fish. Some are being kept for sure...but not as many as they claim to be stocking. In all fairness I'd say that only 1 in every 10 people you see fishing at Bennett (on a given day) will have a stringer dangling off of him. So if they estimate a sale of 100 tags, and stock 225 fish, but only 50 fish get taken, and this pattern continues.....then you'd have a rapidly increasing density of fish in the stream. I may be totally full of crap, but this is what I see and percieve.

Too short ? Bennett has plenty of water for everyone: Zone 1 for those that don't wade so good and wish to be close to their car and a potty, Zone 2 for those that don't mind bustin' brush...and their butt for more natural settings, The Johnson county hole for those that want to socialize and catch 80 fish per day, Zone 3 for cheese-chuckers, And zone 4 for the hardcore skilled and adventurous types....and hardcore wannabes.

John is a super craftsman and a great fisherman/fly tyer. It's good to see some of his work here. Have you seen his "rotary crank" and portable light ? Pretty slick !

Hi Jim, Yep still kickin', thanks. Hope all is well on your end. Send a nice cooling thunderstorm this way will ya

There are a few dependable patterns that I know are working now: Deep cranking brushpiles early and late,or all day if there's cloud cover. (Norman DD22) Carolina rigged Zoom centipedes with a slow steady drag, on the long points and humps. (you'll catch a few catfish doing this also) Worming the 12-20ft. brushpiles at night. And my favorite... flipping and swimming big (10") worms in the shady spots in the backends of the bigger creek arms. (1/4 oz pegged texas rig, Tequila shad Culprit is my choice) shoot for the "impossible" places like between hoist arms, ect. Get 'em stuck and pinned quick, then go in a grab'em....or stick'em and swing'em. Pretty macho fishin'...but definately effective.

No I'm at Lake O. They were catching cats real good up shallow when the water was way up in the bushes ....but that appears to be over now. I was tied up on a big job and totally missed out on it.

How was the crowd ? more or less than usual ?

I've been playing with a tiny Torpedo in the creek near my shop, several evenings this week. The water is extremely warm (90's)and the fish are really sluggish, but these tweeked Torpedo's are getting some serious action once the sun goes behind the trees. I added some calf-tail and krystal flash to the rear hook, put a little extra twist to the blade, epoxyed the screw eyelets so they couldn't back out, and added a split-ring to the eyelet. Tonite I swiched back and forth between my tweeked ones and a standard out-of-the box torpedo and I'm convinced that the mods are a definate improvement. So I thought I'd share.... I thought about upgrading the hook to an excaliber....but I'm not missing any bites at all with the sharpened stock hook.

Is their server down again, or is it just me ? That site (however awesome) has more bugs than a stray coonhound.

Sounds plenty deep enough to hold fish all Summer. Is anyone else putting pressure on it or have you had it all to yourself ? Also sounds like a good spot to get a mess of FROGLEGS !

Well I'll give ya credit for stickin with'em. I assume that when the river is rising or falling that there is a bit of current at the outlet of that backwater slough. I haven't seen the area (obviously) but I have a mental picture of what I think you have there, and I'm thinking if you concentrate on the flooded wood cover that is close to the outlet, where there is a bit of current, and keying on shade, you'd be in the best position possible to get lucky. How deep would you say it is at the channel of the outlet ? and how wide? any rocks...or just mudbanks?

I'm with you Bobber....That looks extremely Old Town, regardless of whos name is on it. Never heard of Future Beach, are they an actual manufacturing factory ?

This is one of those things that a bunch of people will try for awhile...and eventually dump. If it appears interesting and effective then you gotta play with it....it's part of growing up. So go ahead and get it over with so you can get it out of your head. My prediction: A few years from now, if "moffitt system" gets brought up in a conversation you'll say "oh yeah I remember that....it was a waste of time".

Makes perfect sense. It's all out of balance. You can't find a single person that thinks the Lake Ozark experience (or atmosphere) has improved with age. Everyone I know (even the ones doing the "developing") will openly tell you that they believe the area, and the lake itself is going to hell in a handbasket in every catagory that should matter....but yet they keep right on building and developing. Just blows my mind There are all kinds of empty buildings and abandoned lots in excellent business locations that could be renovated...but instead they will bulldoze a point or nice woodlot and spend 10 times more money....just to go belly up and sell at a considerable loss in 3 years or less. Makes me wonder if these hotshot entrapunuer guru's are just creating projects to launder funds through...or if they are pre-planning strategic bankruptcys. Whatever the true intentions are, they are leaving one hell of a mess behind them. ok, rant over. all better now LOL

I understand their position. I live here and make my living off the lake too, so I (as much as anyone) hate to see the area get any bad press...but darn ! LO has gotten too populated for its own good and there really isn't a way to reverse what has been done. Endless clusters of homes, commercial operations, and condos line the bank no matter where you go and the resultant pollution is not going to go away. So although the fishing is still really good (for now) it still sucks that all the beauty of the hills and all the aspects of nature have been lost. Personally I'm not convinced that we shouldn't WELCOME the Zebra mussels. And AmerenUE could drop the lake level 12 feet, reclaim the new shoreline.....and put everyone "second tier". I'm all for it.

Now that you mention it I haven't seen a Cworm in quite awhile. 2 years ago up around Hermann, MO. we searched a stand of Catalpa trees specifically looking for worms before a catfishing excursion on the Missouri river.....didn't find any...not even one. At the time I just assumed we were looking for them at the wrong time of the year (it was September). But now I'm wondering. When I was a kid up around Mexico, Mo. we used to search the mulberry trees for blacksnakes and then terrorize the neighborhood girls with them. Catalpa worms were always thick in the mulberry trees even though catalpa trees were everywhere. catalpa's. The blacksnakes climbed the mulberry trees to ambush birds, so we were told, ... but they probably ate more catalpa worms than birds.

a big gangly-legged stonefly nymph tumbling along the bottom at the tailend of a riffle is just something yummy to eat and easy for the fish to notice in fast turbulent areas....I don't think it matters that a fish has never seen or tasted the real thing before.

There is a gage above and a gage below Tunnel dam. The one below is of no use when trying to determine the river conditions above. I see no use for it unless you are fishing the "Edith stretch" below the dam. The windyville readings are the best indicator we have of river conditions from Moon valley to Prosperine.

I do a considerable amount of upstream paddling. Mostly because organizing shuttles on the rivers/streams I fish is a pain, and secondly because I notice more stuff and catch more fish when I am working my way upriver. I think it's kinda cool figuring out ways to get up through tricky fast areas, but sometimes it is more of a workout than it is worth. My average solo push is usually 3 miles or less in a OT Guide 147 with lots of fishing and plenty of stops along the way. I could add a mile or so easily if I was paddling a lighter, narrower canoe. I'm not familiar with the James, but on any river with a decent flow I wouldn't count on traveling more than 5 miles per day.

Yeah..."There were HUGE flocks of Geese at EVERY single testing location". OMG ! It blows my mind some of the dung they say when trying to cover up something. My kids come up with better alibi's than that. And how much you wanna bet that the 2nd of the 3 reported testings at PB1 ... never really got done ? My guess is: Someone assumed it was ok... and entered a sample reading without even driving out there......but OOOPS, it wasn't ok. You can't depend on the science of this so-called testing if the data is inaccurate...or bias. (and you know darn well it is) So why even bother with testing it ? Man I dispise community politics, it's so stupid and childish.