Johnsfolly

Love the video. Look's like the season has begun. We are going to get warmer weather, but more rain would also be helpful.

Nice job and great fish!

Oneshot - did you ever get into any redhorse on the Niangua this year?

There was a huge number of caddis flies all along the river. I also saw a bunch of small mayflies flying around. What was strange is that I did not see a lot of surface action.

Looks pretty convincing that this is the same fish.

I was able to get Friday off from work and with hopes of finding and catching a current river darter and a knobfin sculpin I headed down to fish the Current. I figured my best bet for the small fish would be Ashley creek. So I hiked down from Baptist to Ashley. I stopped to fish the big S bend below Baptist with no luck other than one brown trout follow. I did see what I'm pretty certain was a 5" lamprey attached to a rock in the riffle as I was crossing the river. Instead of using my waterproof camera to take its picture, I tried to catch it with my big holed net. Needles to say I did not catch that fish. I saw in the "Fishes of Missouri" that the least brook lamprey has been collected in the upper Current previously. Still have a bad feeling about seeing this type of fish in this river. I got down to Ashley and was greeted by 50 head of cattle. Really not happy about seeing cattle along this creek and the river. Some damage to the banks was evident. I fished Ashley with no luck on the current river darter. I caught several rainbow darters, stonerollers, and bleeding shiners. I then focused on fishing the Current below the confluence. The water was running clear. I have caught good trout and some smallmouth in this section in the past. I tied on a 1/16 oz tan marabou jig and landed five smallmouth bass (first ones this year). The first one must have been feeding heavy or thinking of spawning looking at the size of its belly. Kept fishing the jig while heading back upstream. I wasn't seeing a whole lot of fish following my baits. I got to one of the better holes. There was a lot more sand and less rock on the bottom, but still a lot of large structure, i.e., boulders and laydown tree. I did have a couple of fish follow the tan jig including one larger fish after casting between two of the large boulders. I switched to a 1/8 oz chenille body and marabou tail jig and cast right back between the two boulders. That larger fish hammered that jig. I thought I had a big brown, but it was a 15" smallmouth with a blocky body. This was the heaviest smallmouth I had caught in the Current to date. Still no trout. I lost that jig in a root wad further up the river. There were some deeper runs just upstream and I switched to a float and fly/microjig combo. I did not have any follows in the two runs that I fished. I did end up catching a knobfin sculpin before I got to one of the deep bluff holes. Again there was a fair amount of sand on the bottom. I made a couple of casts to the head of the bluff hole using a John Deere microjig. I missed one strike and then caught a longear sunfish. As I was reeling that fish in, there was a giant brown trout (24+ inches) following the sunfish. I switched to a rapala countdown in rainbow trout and got the trout to follow it twice. It just followed and circled the bait and never contacted it. No other baits that I threw into that hole even got noticed. Further upstream where it gets rockier and shallower, I put on a Rapala UL jerkbait in brown trout pattern and fished the fast water. First cast into one of the current seems, I caught my first trout of the day, a 18" brown. I got it revived and back out in the river. I caught one other 13" inch brown trout that was really dark orange. After that I had no more looks for the next 1/4 mile of river. Worn down by the cold wind and water temps, I called it a day and headed home. Not as many fish as I would have liked, but I caught a one new species and several nice fish. This was much better than a day at work.

Just the upper Current below Baptist access. I was trying to find the current river darter, but only got into more rainbow darters. I caught this one in Ashley creek after I chased the cattle out of the area. I kicked up a madtom that was desperate to find some cover and did not want anything to do with me. Also saw a fish that I am pretty certain was a lamprey in the Current. It was about 5" in length. I don't know why I did not try to get a picture, instead I tried to catch it with my net with the large holes.

Was able to add three new 2016 species on Friday. Largescale stoneroller, smallmouth bass, and a knobfin sculpin (new life list fish) from Ashley creek and the Current river. This stoneroller is ready for charming the ladies with his nuptial tubercles.

Great fish. My largest largemouth is only half this fish's weight. I have been trying to top 7 lbs, but have not fished for bass that much over the last couple of years. Too many trout and oldball fish to catch.

Another awesome and fat rainbow. Congrats.

Flysmallie - what type of flour do you use in your dough? We don't seem to get our crust right in our home pizzas. So any help would be appreciated.

I agree sounds like a great trip and the bonus was awesome.

Thanks BH. I had seen these darters when I fished this section previously. Now it get's harder. I am going to have to find different darters in waters that I have not seen them before or have never fished but need to target based upon previous collection records from those water. Should be fun.

Al - that is not so strange. Instead of a minnow trough, it's the small headwater stream or overlooked section of "unproductive" waters that I am fishing with microhooks and tuffs of fuzz or worms to catch unglamorous species like darters, topminnows, sculpins, etc. and am enjoying what is good about fishing. The hunt, the presentation, the hook set, and the landing. The bonus for me is reading through the field guides or scientific papers to determine if this fish represents a new species that I have never caught or maybe even encountered before. Most of the fish that I will catch this year are those that others overlook or ignore and I am excited about the possibilities.

ham - I think we ended up with 18 to 20 for four of us. MoPanfisher - You know what they say about large hands. It means if's harder to find gloves that fit. Just ask OJ.

Actually the worst thing for that brookie was the flour and hot oil. After 6 days of elk hunting, we were glad to have some fresh fish.

Here's a picture of a 24 inch brook trout not a 5 inch fish. Just a matter of perspective and don't look at the size of the fingers..

The problem that I have is with parents teaching their kids there own selfish bad habits. I don't recall how many times a dad and his kid walked right through the section of stream I was fishing at the time. Just because you have waders doesn't mean that you own the creek.

I added longear sunfish, hornyhead chub, bleeding shiner and rainbow darters (new life list addition - see Niangua post) on Sat. Up to 14 species this year.

Glad to see you get out with the Tenkara rod Ham. I've been looking at Tenkara rods, but have not pulled the trigger on one. Been doing all my microfishing with UL spinning tackle.

Nice fish and photos.

I fished the Niangua River at the Rt 64 Bridge access looking to catch some fish that had eluded me last year. I was fishing worms and was able to catch the fish that I had been thinking about for some time. I was able to fight the current and place my baits just where my target fish could take the bait. I let the fish take the baits before setting the hook. Once I landed them I took their pictures and released them back into the river. Here are the male rainbow darters that I caught yesterday. I did also catch a few 8-10 inch rainbow trout on this trip as well. I also tried for some of the suckers, but kept catching the more aggressive hornyhead chubs. Will have to go back again for the suckers.

MJK - I agree about bluegill. If they got to be over 10 lbs, you would never be able to land one. I have been fortunate enough to have caught Oscars down in Florida and they are bluegills on steroids. Great fun on medium light tackle. Last time I was down in that area they have "cleaned" up the waterways and there are very few fish in them anymore.

Great report and photos. Congrats on your trip and thanks for posting.

Poaching a fish is a great skill to have mastered. Then there is poaching an egg or pears. The list is endless.