Johnsfolly

My daughter would think that this one is one or the worse pictures. Though this one may get censored. I don't know if she was trying to tell me something about her catching her second fish to my none. My wife said "Don't worry I have both you and the fish in the picture."

After an agonizing summer of floods, work, and other obligations, I was finally able to get away and fish the Current. I haven't fished the blue ribbon section of the Current since Jan 2013. It felt good to be back on the water even during a holiday weekend. Apparently Montauk was having a fall tagged fish event and the trout park was absolutely packed, but I just kept driving downstream. I was still planning on going further downstream to stay ahead of potential canoeists, but pulled into the Tan Vat access just after 7 am to see what was going on and there were 8 cars with guys in various states of river fishing preparedness. I figured that Baptist access would also be full and didn't bother to stop there. I pulled into Parker access and there were no vehicles at all. Still in the back of my mind there was going to be a bunch of people eventually hitting the river. Because of that thought I decided against making a 2-3 mile trek downstream to begin fishing. I would go just far enough downstream of the better runs and pools and then fish back up stream until I was out of the productive water. Then I would proceed down to the next favorite spot and repeat the process. I was fishing with spinning gear using a variety of baits. In the first deep run, I had one brown that just got hold of the bait and then let go then had another jump and throw the bait. There were a couple of weak follows. So I moved up to the deep hole above the run. No fish were showing themselves in the lower or middle sections of the pool. I made a long cast to the fast water coming into the pool. I cast the bait into the main run and had one fish flash on the bait, another small fish grabbed the bait but dropped it as I went to set the hook. Then as the bait was heading just out of the current and over a gravel bar, a 17" brown hit it hard. I got the fish landed and a couple of under water pictures it was back out into the flow. I love the fall colors of these fish. I fished a couple of more spots and ended up fishing a big deep hole. I landed a small brown and a 15" rainbow on a Johnson thinfisher blade bait. There were lots of minnows that looked different that what I had caught this year. So I switched out the ultralight reel and 2# P-line and microjigs and nymphs to fish that same hole for minnows. There was a undercut tree that I had to cast to with a 1/125 oz white microjig and landed and released this 12" rainbow. I did end up catching at least one new minnow species, a striped shiner, and another minnow that is pending ID work (see the variety pack thread for picture of the shiner). Over this hole was a massive cloud of mayflies and the picture doesn't do it justice since it only captures about 20% of the cloud. Maybe because it was midday, there wasn't a lot of surface feeding. With the holiday weekend I didn't know what to expect in terms of crowds both in and on top of the water and how that would affect the fishing. I never saw another fisherperson and it wasn't until after noon that the first kayaker went by me. Even after that I was only passed by 6 boats before I left at 2:30. I spent nearly 6 hours by myself on the river during a gorgeous fall day. I caught seven brown trout and two rainbows without really fishing an extensive stretch of the river. I caught several minnows and added at least two new fish to my 2015 total. It was great to out on the river and I can't wait to get back out again.

Sounds like a good trip.

Its been a while. I'm glad to be done with floods every weekend that kept me off of my favorite streams. So I haven't added any new fish to the list for this year until this last couple of weekends. So time to dust off the new fish listing. My daughter recorded her tenth new species caught this year with this northern rock bass that she caught in the Maries River. This was a new species to her life list as well as for the year. I finally got down to one of my favorite brown trout haunts and caught this 17" brown trout (number 23 for the year). With the number of minnows swimming around me I had to put on a #16 hares ear and caught a striped shiner, my 24th species of the year. I did catch another minnow species that may be a new one, but have yet to fully ID it yet and was not able to take a good picture.

I bottom fished for carp using worms and some dough bait that I made myself. I got a bunch of light bites, but only hooked one fish. For the most part I have transitioned into a mobile fisherman using artificial baits. I found that I prefer to walk to find active fish than to sit and wait for them to come to me. Even when I have gone catfishing with a friend of mine, we tend to toss out the baits with light wiehgts and drift across the lake. So sitting waiting on the bite was something that I had not done in years.

Scott - Welcome to the forum. Most of the folks on here feel the same way that our best fishing is going to be on the next trip out.

Marty - Fantastic thread. What a great trip! I am totally envious. I missed this thread before today. but was able to follow the whole thing in one sitting. I will go home to share with my wife. This is the kind of trip that I dream about and I want to put the fire under her as well. congrats on the 38th anniversary. My wife and I have been together going on thirty years this September, but only twenty of them as a married couple. I hope that my wife and I are having similar trips when we hit 38 years.

Phil - I'm thinking about those giant rainbows being caught up in Canada. I thought that the IFGA all tackle record was one of the triploid rainbows caught at Lake Diefenbaker (SP?). I don't think that those fish were distinguished from normal diploid rainbow in the IFGA record keeping.

Phil - how do you feel about triploid fish being caught and presented as record fish? Since they put all of their energy into biomass and not trying to go through several spawning cycles, they just get so big compared to normal diploid fish. It seems to me that there should be two categories with one for diploid fish and one for triploids for certain species, especially trout species.

Awesome trout! Did you weigh either of them? The first one looks to be 4+ lb.

I didn't know that they released triploid trout into Taneycomo. Do they release triploid brown and rainbow trout? It's still a heck of a fish to land on 2lb test line.

It seems like I missed one of my favorite times to hunt squirrels. That time is when they are feasting on shagbark hickory nuts. With the break in temperatures yesterday, I finally got out to hunt. I have a couple of hickory trees that are on public lands near my house that I hit this time of year. When the nuts are there, the squirrels literally come out of the woodwork to hit those trees. The hunting can be like a video game. You shoot one or two and the others disperse, then a couple of minutes they are back in the tree. I like to target hickory trees that are within heavy low story cover, particularly cedars. You can sneak into shooting position without spooking the squirrels. Also there are usually adequate rests available. I know a lot of guys advocate using a shotgun at this time of year because of the leaf cover. I just don't like bringing down a squirrel skin full of shot. So I use my .22 mag rifle and just wait for a clear shot. When they are cutting a hickory nut, the squirrels usually find a notch in the branches to sit. So often they are not as likely to be covered by leaves. So I went out yesterday hoping to shoot a couple of squeals for dinner. I refer to the young squirrels as squeals, because they are often the ones you hear in the evenings making a high pitched squeal call and also because I think of them as the veal equivalents for squirrels. Nice and tender, at least for a squirrel. I got out to a couple of my favorite hickory trees and found no squirrels. I did find a bunch of hickory shells and discarded nuts in the leaf litter. It looks like I was about a week to 10 days past the prime time for the hickory feast. So I adapted and hunted the thicker wooded areas along some dry semi-dry creeks on this property. There were still a couple of hickories holding some nuts, because I found a few squirrels by hearing them cutting the nuts. I ended the evening with three squeals in the game bag. As I was walking out of the woodlot and across a wide grass land, a young coyote started barking at me from about 100 yards behind me. It turned on a dime and ran off when I turned around and looked at it. I had never had that happen to me before. I'll have to go out this weekend to get at least two more to make a meal for the family. But that's hunting.

That's a mess of crappie. congrats.

Congrats on your catch. Those fish can be spooky. So you should consider catching three a major success.

Great Pictures. A friend of mine is out in Wyoming/Colorado fishing and scouting for elk. I wasn't jealous of him until I saw your post..

I typically find oysters from September through the end of October while out squirrel hunting or early season archery. Chicken mushrooms are really simple to ID. So I try to find those. Not a strong mushroom flavor, but stay meaty. I like them as a chicken substitute for fettucine alfredo. I have access to a property that has both Bearded and comb tooth mushrooms. Both show up sporadically. They both have mild flavor if picked early after they emerge. Once the bearded tooth fungus start to yellow they are bitter. Anyone find any black chanterelles (trumpets)? I found some on public ground many years ago and have not found a patch recently. Since they are very thin, I like to dry them and add the pieces/powder to soups or stews. They have a real good mushroom flavor.

Jerry, What have you been using when you have caught them? I would love to catch one. They look like a pretty cool little fish.

My daughter and I finally got out to a spot to hunt for the chanterelles last week. We found a couple of dozen, but that pales in comparison to what everyone else on this thread is finding. We did use them in a white wine sauce and put that over venison backstrap medallions.

Good Luck. Post pictures when you land it. I want to get down there, but with my family going out of town next week I'm sure to have a large honey-do list.

Haris - It all depends upon how appreciative your girlfriend may be after catching more and bigger fish than you did. I don't mind my wife catching bigger fish, because it keeps her interested in fishing and thus we (I) get to go more frequently. I've been known to fish "less intensively" if she is giving me a hard time about how much she is enjoying beating my buns in numbers or size of fish. It's been working so far after 30 yrs. of being together.

Seth was that your shirt he used as a cutting board to filet those trout?

That's a great fish!

Last year when I was fishing most of the trout waters in Missouri, I was most disappointed in the white ribbon section of the Current river below Cedar grove. The crowds were one issue. There were people in most areas that should have held fish. However, you can put in the work and get beyond the crowds. So what really bothered me was the lack of fish life in the river. I understand that as a white ribbon section this is a everything goes type of fishery for trout, but I wasn't even seeing many suckers or minnows in most of the holes and stretches that I fished. I hardly had any follows from any kind of fish. I did end up catching a stoneroller and one rainbow trout in 5 hours of fishing. Blue Springs Creek was difficult to fish, but at least there were fish in most places you would expect to see them. Problem for me was they typically saw me first and I saw them as they were swimming away. I still caught a fair number of minnows and one nice rainbow in about the same amount of time I committed to the Current River. I'm sure that there are times when this section of the Current will fish better, but I really don't think that I would go back to fish that section. I catch plenty of trout and other fish in the blue ribbon section upstream. No need as Ham put it to keep beating my head against the door.

Any one know how the creek is flowing today? running muddy, just high and cloudy? Any observations would be helpful. Been thinking about a trip down that way after the 4th, but want to get some opinions before making a commitment to the trip. Thanks.

Glad that I got down there last weekend.