Johnsfolly

Nice sucker. Ham is that #27 or have you caught a couple of others since your last tally?

My folks live in Georgia and I found out that at least 6 bass species lived in the state. So in the summer of 2009 I fished all over the state to catch a bunch of new species. Here is a shoal bass that I caught on an Excalibur Spit'n Image topwater while fishing the Upper Ocmulgee River in Jasper CO, Georgia. Here is what the river looked like. I also caught several redeye bass on the Spit'n image topwater in Amicalola Creek in Dawson CO, GA. Above the bridge was a recognized GA trout fishing area to give you an idea of the habitat for these bass. The Amicalola falls is the tallest waterfall east of the Mississippi river. I fished the Wakulla River south of Tallahasee Florida that summer as well using 3" flukes and lost two Suwannee bass right at the boat. It appeared that they were just holding the bait with a closer mouth until the got near the boat. They were both less than 10" long. I just couldn't get them to bite on any smaller lures to get a good hookset. So I still have to go back to FL to try for them again. My wife is going to hate me going onto roughfish.com. She supports my obsessive goals about fishing and hunting until I get to 85+% of the goal. Then I get really obsessed and she is tired of me talking about or planning the next trip. I'm currently trying to catch a trout at each Missouri recognized trout streams by the MDC designations. I have two sections of the North Fork of the White rvier and same on the Eleven point river as well as the section of Lake Taneycomo below the trophy management area to complete the task. I cannot think about anything else at this point. Living in Columbia, I have to plan to stay down that way. So that adds additional costs to the trips. She is ready for me to move onto the next goal. have you caught a grass pickerel? Crane creek in Crane, MO has a fair number of them. I caught my first one back in March on that creek.

Great brown trout.

BBT try to catch them. This guy put up a pretty good fight especially with the 2 lb line I was using.

Seems like some giant smallies are being caught this year. I just can't seem to get out after them. Great catch!

I don't have a boat and wade fish. I would love to try to just fish either the Current or Meramec in a boat to try for the slam in the same river.

Ham. Were you fishing the Current in Mo or in Arkansas? Are you tracking how many different species you catch in a year? I track every fish that I catch and love to catch new species. I'm up to 86 different freshwater and saltwater fish species over my fishing career. I need to catch the guadeloupe and the Suwannee river bass to finish catching all of the black bass species.

Ham, Where did you catch shadow bass? I have caught rock bass (goggle-eye), Ambloplites rupestris and ozark bass, Ambloplites constellatus. So I would be interested in catching a shadow bass sometime.

Thanks for the tips. I let you know later this year on how I did.

Except for Little Piney and Mill Creek, I fished all of those streams this spring/summer as well. When I fished Crane and Hickory Creeks the Friday and Saturday prior to Labor day, I made two stops at Roaring River to bring home trout for the family. However, I have never seen that tribute memorial.

I have had some fishing trips saved by chubs or long-eared sunfish. Where were you fishing?

Several years ago, a friend and i were fishing the Current river and got run off the water by 10 am due to the canoe hatch. We had already caught a few brown and rainbow trout on the trip. So we packed up and headed back north to fish for smallmouth around Vienna. On the way back we came up with the Ozark Slam, which is to catch a brown trout, rainbow trout, smallmouth bass, largemouth bass, and rock bass (goggle-eye) all on the same day. So far I have not done this on the same river, but believe that the Meramac, Current, or Niangua are good candidates. Below are pictures from my last successful slam in 2011. My friend was deployed to Afghanistan at the time and I caught a slam for him in abstentia, ie., caught two of each species. Let me know if any others have caught them all on the same day or better yet in the same river.

Several years ago my wife and I were snorkeling in John Pennecamp marine Sanc. off of Key Largo. I had an underwater camera and was taking pictures of any new species of fish that we found. She thought I was crazy as i swam up to a 7' bull shark just to get a better picture. I would share it but its a paper photo.

thanks for the information. Any lure selections that you would suggest? I typically fish streamers or minnow baits for browns and smallmouth.

I have been on a mision to catch a trout in every recognized trout stream/river in Missouri. I am now down to the North Fork of the white river and the eleven point. Should I target fishing this river in mid- to late October when the brown trout may be active prior to their attempted spawning in early winter? Wait until January/February after they recover from their spawining attempts or would anytime be a good time to catch browns and rainbows on this river?

2Sheds- Thanks for the comments on the North fork and 11 point. I will add a post onto those forums to get some advice for fall / winter fishing on both rivers. In terms of the logical order, the pictures appear to be in numerical order going from the North east starting with Blue Springs down to the south west and appears to be ending in Roaring River state park. You have also gone from colorful juvenile and adult wild trout with parr marks and vivid colors to what appears to be a hatchery raised fish with no real coloration.

2Sheds - still have to fish the Eleven point and the North fork. So unlikely to get to the LP. Should I wait until mid- late October to fish the North Fork when the browns might be more active or would anytime be just as good?

I have only fished it a couple of times. Living in Columbia, travel to the Roubidoux is a lot more manageable than to some of the other streams. I used to only fish the Current for trout, but now have an appreciation for Mill and Spring Creeks and the Roubidoux. The Little Piney still seems to be hit or miss for me. So I don't fish there very often.

I find that the fish do tend to be line shy at Bennett's. The fish are able to see your bait and most likely the line as well as it passes by them. Once I switched to 2 lb fluorocarbon line from 4 lb mono (I use P-line Fluoroclear), my strike rate tripled. I don't bait fish at the trout parks, but fish in the artifical and fly sections relying heavily on globalls, San Juan worms, small marabou jigs, and microjigs. I would suggest a stop at Weaver's Tackle on the way in from Lebanon and pick up a couple of white and cream chenile bodied microjigs, John Deere microjigs, and pink, yellow, orange or white globalls. A lot of people fish the globalls, SJ worms, and microjigs below a float and don't add much movement. I personally haven't caught many fish that way, but others catch them. I like to fish these baits without a float and really try to twitch the rod to make them jump in the water a couple of times and let them fall towards the bottom. If you see a fish follow the bait down, set the hook when you anticipate the fish taking it not when you feel them take the bait. These fish will suck in and spit out the bait often in the same motion. I find the areas that have deeper water, like above the Whistle bridge and above the spillway are more conducive to this type of fishing because you can a longer drop to get the fish interested in taking the bait. When folks are cleaning their fish at the whistle bridge you can't beat a 1/32 or 1/64 oz white or white/pink marabou jig cast right into the mix of fish fighting for the scraps or just let it sit on a clear patch of bottom. The feathers will move around in current and should attract the fish. Again don't hesitate to set the hook when you think the fish has the bait. if you catch a couple fish using one type of bait or color, don't be afraid to switch to a similar bait in a different color. That can get the bite going again. I have used these same techniques and found they work in all of the trout parks and not just Bennett's. Hope this helps and good luck.

Give the man a cigar.

1) Blue Springs 2) Barren fork creek 3) Little Piney 4) Little Piney 5) Mill Creek 6) Spring creek 7) Crane Creek Great pictures. I don't have any photos from my trips to Blue Springs or Little Piney. I haven't had my "wife's" waterproof digital camera on those trips. From my own posts, you can see that I also like to capture my trips with photos. Here is a location photo and the trout that I caught from that location at another MDC designated trout stream that I believe would fit between photos 5 and 6.

Were there a fair number of fish at Tan Vat? Any browns around or just rainbows coming down from the park? I typically don't fish that far upstream on the Current. I haven't been on the Current at all this year, but might be looking at a trip this October.

I would figure that the park fish are pretty well educated or spooky especially one that size. 2Sheds I wonder if MAD outdoors would provide royalties if I introduce their products to trout fishermen as trout blinds.

What I didn't mention was that due to circumstances that morning I was not able to get onto the creek until just after noon and fished until 3 pm. I saw a lot of trout and other fish in feeding lanes in most of the runs and holes that I fished. There were many more visible trout than when I was there last time. It's possible that I spooked less due to the high vegetation.

I did see a monster trout in the city park water near the walking bridge. It had to have been 18 to 20" in length. I did not try to catch this fish, but just admired it swimming away as I was walking along the stream.