Wayne SW/MO

I would think that Yellow and Brown would be a great warm water color about now. It would also make a good indicator fly.

Troutchaser, coming from Springfield on 64 its the road on the north side, opposite the lower bridge entrance to the park. The Browns fluctuate up and down the river some, depending on water temperature. In the river they have some freedom to find ideal water and I believe they use that. They also revert to a more typical Brown trout habit of using cover and feeding on minnows and crawdads, IMO.

I wonder how healthy a stream would be,or if it would be worth fishing if it couldn't sustain wild birds? Don't lose sight of the fact that these pellet eating fish aren't the most wary creatures, y'all flock down here to catch them because they are easy to catch, and provide a lot of fun. I'm sure Mr. and Mrs Heron, whether Blue White, Lesser, or Bittern, along with their neighbors the Bald eagles come here because the fish are easy to catch and tasty. Come to think of it some humans come for exactly the same reason.

I tend to agree with Forsythian. Can't forget that Arkansas got a long tailwater and flood free cropland further south. Missouri lost some premium Smallmouth water and got part of the lakes, but most of the benefits end at Branson. I would think that flooding would be a yearly event under those circumstances.

Its pretty simple, but a great fly in my opinion and experience. Basically its a brown hackle wrapped at the rear, a peacock body, and a forward hackle of white. Grizzly will also work for the forward hackle, but its not politically correct.

The McGinty was always one of my favorite, but I think much of that comes from appearance, I don't remember it being very successful for anything but Gills.

My very first Trout fishing trip took place there as well, during a Scout camping trip in 1953, 53 years ago! Its amazing what memories some areas can create.

I can tell you that it appears its a Mottled Sculpin, which is less common, but the information I have only list water temperature as something that can become critical. I have seen people treat them as trash at times, why I don't know, mental problem I guess.

I've had days like that, and not just because of birds.

Spammer

Now that was funny. Where is a Heron going to find room to stand at outlet 1 & 2? You have to get in line if you're a human. I guess if they have to get rid of Herons so I can catch a fish I'll start thinking about golf, they don't steal golf balls do they?.

If you want to know where the Browns hide in the Niangua, hire Clifford Keith to float you down the river. He's west of Clydes on the South side of 64.

I think everyone should point out that: There is evidence that this would disturb the biomass used for food by Trout, That the Trout are there to mitigate damage done by the Corp dam and it would be counter productive to harm their own program. The damage cannot be fully evaluated, nor can it be corrected. Its doubtful that any economic trade off is possible and that the gain of one company could cause large losses to a whole sport fishing economy, Which also could not be reversed if the damage couldn't. I know there are other reasons, but the corp is or should be well aware of, and sensitive, to the damage that can be done by a small change. And the Heron need the food also

I don't change the weight of a buzzbait, just pull it a little slower so that it wakes, kind of like a Footloose. I like a Sammy because its hard not to walk it, rather that working at it. I can also get a little sloppy and it still puts on a pretty good show. They're expensive, so I throw them on braid, and I've even won over a tough Sycamore for possession of one. They seem to be tight to structure, so I would try pulling them away from it rather than go digging.

I would start at least by running the buzz bait subsurface and walking the Spook. I would do this until I was convinced that neither would work. I think they will be very close to a good deeper flow, if you can find them.

I think at times the fish at the tailwater spook off of an indicator, so if I have to use one I like a big fly also. High sticking without any indicator can work real well in this part of the country.

Phil do you have the foam? I was wondering if a Yellow wouldn't also be a good color.

While I was up there they caught a family that had been cleaning up on them. The problem was they were catching them outside the boundary where there was no competition. Quill, if you haven't been to Victoria yet, be sure and go before you leave. Its the only city I've ever been in that impressed me.

No, the Branson population, most of the year, dwarfs the remainder of Taney County. I'm just not sure the powers that be there regard the fishery as that important. There was a time when I believe Branson would be all over this and leading the charge, but that doesn't seem to be the case now.

Is Black the most effective color?

I don't think the Browns like the branch all that well. Over the years most of them come from below the bridge, with the bulk of them below the whistles. Some are illegally kept, but I believe a lot of them hit the river. There have always, at least in the past, been a few that were big enough to eat stockers and sucker who stay. The river is still the best place, but you have to fish for them, and not trout, if you know what I mean.

They go nuts over Chicken Livers. I don't understand the Crawdad lure though. They are primarily a minnow feeder, which is why they are devastating on the salmonoids. We use to catch them on Rapalas regularly when the Steelhead smolts were heading out. We would also catch them at night when we occasionally catfished with liver.

One of the things I wanted to point out was that Table Rock dam protects that portion of the lake and because of that, any damage done would most likely be permanent. Because the area is enhanced to mitigate damage from the dams, it needs an extraordinary amount of protection.

Don't know, but they are slimy and they have a strong smell. I don't believe its the Feds that pay the bounty however, its the power company, Bonneville. They have gone through a lot of things to mitigate the damage to the androminous fish, but nothing has really worked.

Sorry guys, I wouldn't want them interfering with the natural setting of the tailwater, but keep up the hope, maybe some will drown when they open the dam, or choke from eating to many trout when the stocking truck visits.