Johnsfolly

I'll have to send you a PM before I head down that way to find out what baits would be productive.

Purefish - If we get tired of hunting, we would likely fish the N. Platte between Saratoga and the Colorado border. Ham - that sounds like the advice I gave Billethead before he headed out West this summer. I'll have to see if the N. Platte has the Paiute sculpin or flannelmouth sucker. I don't think that cutthroat would be prevalent in that river based upon the distribution maps I looked at. I wanted to get a start on the Wyoming Cutt Slam.

Eric82 I haven't fished that section of LP in years. I have been spending more time near Newberg and Mill creek. Now every time I pass over the LP I going to be thinking of you. You keep bringing those wild trout to hand. Congrats. I going to have to stop and get in the water again at Lane to see if I can get on some of those beauties.

That was an awesome story. I may get to fish the North Platte in Sept. I would love to catch a fish a 1/4 of that size while I am there.

Ham Maybe if I wasn't using that lighter jig, I would have caught a shadow bass on that first bluff run and I could have put on and fished a jerkbait for the pickerel. Would not have surprised me if there was another one back in that backwater where you called the shot. Though I did finally end up catching a shadow bass using the PBJ ned rig at that first bluff before we pulled the boat out and headed downstream. It was right where you said I should have hooked one when we first started the days fishing. I would love to do a micro/mini trip. I never did get a chance on a whitetail shiner on this trip. Maybe looked over several, but without their gaudy breeding colors makes it hard to tell one minnow from the other. I also have the Current river darter and brooks darter on my to catch hit list. May have to get over to some tributaries of the Black river for the brooks darter. John

Al - You were correct Sir! I was able to confirm the minnow as the southern redbelly dace. Thanks again for your insight.

Good luck on the kayak justifications.

With all of my food and prep work for my wife's birthday yesterday, I haven't updated my fishing log and originally missed the striped shiners I had caught on this trip.

Al You may be spot on with the southern redbelly dace. The fin coloration would be right for that species. I am used to a thicker body based on the dace I have caught in the past as well as their breeding coloration. As you said a nonbreeding fish looks a lot different. Thanks. That gives me a great start on getting it keyed out.

I was up at 3:15 am Friday Aug. 5th. Even though I couldn't get a motel room in Eminence on Thurs. night to save a 3 to 3.5 hour drive to meet Ham at 9 am I couldn't sleep. It has been several months since Ham and I set a date in May to take this trip. That got flooded out. Then we set a date in July and that trip got flooded out. It had been raining in Columbia since Monday, but no rain down south and the water gauges were stable through the week. We may actually get to fish on this trip. I packed my last bit of gear and food/drinks in the car and pointed it toward the Current River and was on the road by 4 am. As I turned out of my neighborhood the sky opened up and it just poured on me for 15-20 miles. Once it stopped, I didn't see any more rain on the way to the Current. I was introduced to trout fishing in the upper Current over 15 years ago and since that time have only fished the upper Current and have waded many times up and down the river from many accesses between Cedar grove to the Montauk boundary. I have fished mostly for trout and now lately for minnows and darters this last year in the river and its small tributaries. Now I was headed to meet Ham and to fish the middle and lower Current for shadow bass. This would be a new life species for me. The shadow bass is one of three species of rock bass in the state of Missouri and one of four total species throughout the US. I caught my first Northern rock bass when I lived in Connecticut and have caught many here in the waters throughout the state south of the Missouri. They are common in the Gasconade, Maries, Meramec, Little and Big Piney rivers. In a tributary of the James River I have caught a couple of Ozark bass, the species that inhabits the White River systems in south west Missouri. I felt pretty good about catching a shadow bass using similar techniques that I have used in the past to catch the other two species while wade fishing. Knowing that the middle Current has a variety of fish species, including smallmouth, largemouth, suckers, plenty of minnow species, I knew we would be able to catch a bunch of species on this trip. So I brought marabou jigs, Ned rigs, bass tackle, #12, #20 size hooks, redworms, mightcrawlers, etc. I was making good time to meet Ham and determined that I had time to take a side trip to Akers Ferry. I had never been there before, so I wanted to check it out. The Current was running clear at Akers. I headed back to Rt 19 and passed over a small creek that I could not pass the chance to fish and rigged up my #2 lb ultralight with #20 long shank hooks. I caught a couple of minnows like the one in the photo. It's likely that they may be Ozark minnows or a fish that I have not caught before. One of the fish got into the sand and didn't look like it would survive. So I have the fish to id when I get back home. I did catch a silvery minnow that I could not id, but I let if go unharmed. Saw a rainbow trout and a couple of chub like minnows, but got my bait stripped. Didn't spend too much time to get a new bait on, since I still had a good drive ahead of me. Got to the meeting place around 8:20 am a bit ahead of schedule. I was getting my gear ready when Ham rolled in. It didn't take him as long to get to the meeting place as he thought it would either. So we got my gear into his truck and we headed out to get on the water. Before our first drift along a rock bluff, I put on a 1/32 oz olive and black marabou jig. We drifted along and I was getting no strikes. Ham was catching fish and I just wasn't getting any strikes. We drifted again. I switched to a green pumpkin 1/8 oz Ned rig and caught two largemouth and no shadow bass. We moved downstream and a couple more largemouth under my belt and no shadow bass. Ham caught a chain pickerel on a hard plastic jerkbait and several shadow bass on his ned and Zig Jigs. Then finally the bite came and I landed my first shadow bass on the green pumpkin ned rig. It seemed that my 1/32 oz jig just wasn't getting down to the fish. This fish represented my 15th new life species for this year and the first that was not a minnow or darter species. I was able to achieve my new species goal I set for this year. It was also my 40th different species that I have caught since March of this year. Ever since I saw Ham post a picture of a shadow bass on OAF a year or about two years ago, I have been waiting to get my hands on one. He and I have been in contact since that time about this fish. I was really excited and it still was early in the day. I was hoping to still catch one with the classic dark barring and it didn't take long to catch this one. By this time Ham had caught largemouth, smallmouth, and shadow bass and a chain pickerel and I had only caught largemouth and shadow bass. With the shadow bass on the list, it was time to focus on other species. We pulled onto the shore to get in the water to cool off. All around the boat were several minnow species, sculpin, and darters. I got out the #20 rigged for minnows. Ham took the rod and caught his first banded sculpin of the year (Ham will have to supply a photo of that one). I got several rainbow darters up out of the water, before I got this one into my photo bag. The hot air temp did not do the picture much justice by fogging up the bag. Then Ham was after the darters and landed his first rainbow darter. After cooling off and catching these fish, it was back for bigger game. One of our drifts went over a deep cut near a big log pile. At the bottom were several large drum. Ham had been mentioning how spooky these fish can be and that they rarely go after his artificials. I borrowed one of Ham's rods with a bait rig and gradually pulled a redworm over a log on the bottom and a large drum followed and took the bait. I was able to land the fish, which was my first drum of the year and by far my largest ever. I had built a plastic view tank that was 24 x 12 x 6 inches with 1/4" plexiglass just for taking pictures of large fish like this one and we put it to test. Unfortunately the box developed a leak in the lower corner after we landed the drum. So it came home for me to fix. I finally caught a small smallmouth. So far up to this point I had caught largemouth, and smallmouth bass, shadow bass, rainbow darter, a silvery minnow that may have been a bleeding shiner, and a drum. Ham had caught a largemouth and smallmouth bass, shadow bass, chain pickerel, banded sculpin, and a rainbow darter. With all of the suckers and drum throughout the river, we tried to bait fish for suckers. We spent some time and had little luck. I caught one northern hog sucker (my first for this year) and Ham got many hits but no real strikes. We decided to head much further downstream and headed the boat back upstream to the access. We had an exhilarating run upstream that both Ham and I will remember for some time. Also the nice older women at the boat access will be remembered for her observant nature. After we got the boat into the river at the next access point, I did catch a couple of bleeding shiners while Ham parked his truck. The shiners were swimming over a chub nest. They would have spawned in this location earlier this year and must still relate to that type of bottom feature. These shiners still had a slight red tinge to their lips and the characteristic dark stripe behind the gill covers. Ham grabbed the rod and was also able to catch his first bleeding shiner fishing in this same location. Ham also caught his first northern studfish before we got back in the boat to get back to fishing ned and Zig jigs for larger species. We drifted through some great water with depth, current, large rock and boulders, and wood cover. We pulled a lot more smallmouth and shadow bass from this cover. On one pass I got a big strike on my 1/8 oz PBJ Ned rig and this fish felt different with some real weight to it. Then we saw the fish. As I fought this fish I knew that this was my largest smallmouth bass that I have ever hooked into with the hopes of landing. I got the fish to the surface and Ham netted the giant. This is my first 18+" smallmouth. Not only was it big It had the great markings that I love with this species. What a great river smallmouth! Then came the OBSESSION in the form of aggressive skipjack herring. We passed by several holes that held active skipjack and we threw a bunch of baits at them to no avail. The fish would follow the baits and flash on them. Most did not take the bait, a couple did pull back and they stayed unhooked. We spent a lot of time trying for these fish and just could not land any. We caught and landed several longear sunfish that hit our baits during these drifts. Before we made this trip, I told Ham that we could catch ten different species each during this trip. I ended up this Current river trip with 34 total fish and with ten confirmed different species (forgot about the five striped shiners that I caught) and one unidentified silvery minnow that may or may not have been a bleeding or a young striped shiner. I also caught three new species for this year, with one new life species. I also caught my largest drum and smallmouth bass to-date. I enjoyed fishing with and learned a lot from Ham about how to drift these jigs and ned rigs downstream to catch fish. I believe that Ham ended with 47 total fish and 11 different species. He can make any necessary adjustments to these numbers to cover my failing memory. It took a long time to get this trip together. I knew it would be a good trip and it turned out to be a great trip! Oh and it poured on me again as I traveled between Salem and Licking to my motel room for the night!

Mitch It was fantastic. Everything turned out like I had envisioned.

After fishing the upper Current river, I found a patch of golden chanterelles that yielded about 1.5 to 2 lbs of fresh mushrooms. I carried them in my fishing net. These were a fair number of large mushrooms. As I got into some cedar groves with moss beneath and saw a number of red items. Turns out there were cinnabar chanterelles under the cedars. Then I found another patch and then another patch. Since these mushrooms small enough to fall through the holes in my net, I didn't pick that many after the third or fourth patch. Also fighting spiders everywhere I went, I just stopped going after any red or orange patches. With enough fresh mushrooms, I was able to make wild mushroom ravioli. (see the What's cooking thread). It's been my best summer for mushrooming and it may continue. We just keep getting rain, which should keep them popping through the fall.

Today was my wife's birthday. I picked up a couple of thick T-bone steaks and a bunch of fresh asparagus. I had a variety of fresh golden and cinnabar chanterelles that I picked yesterday. The last of the our previous batches of chanterelles were pickled and we haven't had them yet. Been meaning to make wild mushroom ravioli. So I mixed and cooked chopped chanterelles, shallots, garlic, thyme, and fresh tarragon from the garden. Salt and pepper to taste. Let this filling cool. Since my son does not really like mushrooms, I mixed ricotta with garden fresh basil for the second filling. Had my daughter help make the fresh pasta and we stuffed the ravioli. The steaks were coated with Montreal steak spices and put on the grill. I grilled the steaks to medium rare. quick boil on the ravioli to cook the pasta and into the skillet with browned butter. Served the asparagus with salt, pepper, and ponzu sauce. My wife and I had a nice red wine with the meal.

Great post and photos! That water looks awesome! Glad you had a great time. You need to fish that creek again.

Como Bet you just can't wipe that smile from his face. Tell him congrats on his fish. Where do you fish for gar? I have tried some of the pools at Eagle Bluffs but no luck yet. I have some out of town trips planned already and would like to find some local spots for gar. Any help would be appreciated.

I caught a surprise rainbow in a river not too far from Shoal creek back in May. I would love to find a couple of more spots down in the SW like Shoal creek that have resident wild trout.

I was still waiting on the water to clear at Bennett's from the recent flooding. Couldn't wait much longer and went down on Sunday. I have been trying to catch a brown trout in the Niagua. So My daughter and I wen there first. I have only fished up near the 64 bridge. So I decided to try down at Barclay access. When we got to the river, we went to the water and it was pretty cloudy. That would make trout fishing a bit of the as challenge. Figuring the fish would be close to the bottom and in the dingy water wanted to fish baits with some action to create some water disturbance. I tried a rattle trap and my daughter had on a rebel craw crankbait. Nothing! We both switched to countdown Rapalas in rainbow and brown trout patterns. Finally got a smallmouth on my line. Then my daughter caught one and I finished with another. All of these fish were about 8-9 inches in length. Not giants, but definitely welcome fish in poor water conditions. Just after 9, we left the Niangua and headed to the park. When we were on the river, my daughter asked a couple of times if I heard thunder. I thought it was someone pulling a canoe down to the river. How wrong could I be, we found out on the way to the park as we drove through heavy rain. I picked up my day tag at the park and my daughter did not want to fish anymore. So she pass on the getting a tag. Her job was to net any trout I caught and to try to stay dry under her umbrella. The water in the park was still running a bit cloudy. I like to be able to see the rish respnd to my baits and anticipate the strike. Couldn't do that real well on Sunday. I caught a trout on the third cast while drifting a 1/125 oz white microjig under a float. Several casts and no more strikes. I took off the float and caught another trout while fishing a jig and pause retrieve with the microjig. It was a day when you had to switch up baits just to get one or more fish interested. After that second trout, the sky opened up and just drenched us. Just when I thought It couldn't rain harder, it did. After being completely soaked, fished for about 40 minutes more. Caught two more trout, one on a green John deere microjig and another on a 1/64 oz olive/black marabou jig. At 11:30 called it a day. In total we caught three smallmouth and four rainbows. Would have loved to have caught more and in particular to catch a brown in the Niangua, but was happy with the ones we caught under less than ideal conditions.

MOPanisher All of those meals sound great! Keep it up.

Great to see three generations out bass fishing! Great fish! Love to see the smile on your son's face. Keep taking him out on the water.

Thanks RPS. I appreciate the compliment. Now I wish I had some lobsters to make some stock!

That's a great surprise fish. Great catch!

Awesome fish! great job with the spoon!

Inspired By RPS' vegetable tian, I picked up yellow and green zucchini, purple Cherokee tomatoes, heirloom roma tomatoes, lemon boy tomatoes, white Japanese and standard eggplant. We picked lavender and sage from our herb garden. I went a little off recipe and also sliced the remaining 2/3 of a cauliflower that was in the fridge. When I sliced the cauliflower, there were floret crumbles and I carmelized the crumbles with the onions. I added chopped chanterelles with the onion and cauliflower. I served this tian with grilled pork steaks. Again Olivia gives me a hard time when I take pictures of our food, but yet she always takes her own photo and then my own dish. Turned out great! Thanks RPS for the inspiration.

Great information Phil. Wife has a conference in Branson in mid Oct. Planning to get out on the lake when we get down there.

Looks like you're loving the kayak. Always love to catch fish no matter the size. Tell us how you do fly fishing those bass.