Johnsfolly

I have been trying to get a trip down to Bennett's and the Niangua to fish the catch and release for trout and try to get a couple new species for my 2017 season, particularly rock bass or redhorse suckers. I was also hoping to catch at least 15 fish in order to finish 2017 with over 900 fish caught. I knew that it was going to be a bit cold. Instead of leaving by 5 am and potentially hit ice, I left my house at 8. I hit some flurries between Camdenton and Lebanon. Didn't know what to expect in terms of the number of fishermen. I drove through the park and down to the Niangua to see where folks were fishing. Only saw about 6 or 7 people, a couple above the spillway and four or so around the hatchery outlets and none between the whistle bridge and the confluence. As I headed back into the park, I met two fawns feeding. This one was only 20 feet from my car and the other was even closer. They didn't seem to care as I stopped and took their pictures, even the radio noise did not deter them from putting away some grass. I hit the water about 10:30 and fished downstream of the spring. I was spin fishing and using mircrojigs mostly. I typically sight fish with these microjigs, I watch the response of the fish, focus on those that are tightly turning around or following the bait on the drop, and set the hook as I anticipate the strike. With the snow, fog, pipe smoke from the flyfisherman upwind from me, and wind disturbing the water surface, it was hard to judge when a fish had the bait and get a good hooks set. I caught one rainbow and missed two others on white, then lost one on a salmon colored microjig. I missed two, lost one, and landed one on a John Deere microjig. I switched to a 1/64 oz cinnamon marabou jig and lost two rainbows on that jig. I put on a tricolored egg and missed at least two strikes. On one drift I kept the egg high in the water and had a rainbow come from 8 to 10 feet determined to take the bait. She was about 15" in length and thin. It was the largest trout that I caught. I moved downstream and fished above and below the whistle bridge. I caught one other rainbow on the John Deere and got a couple of more misses. I wasn't seeing more than 8 to 10 trout at any one time. I switched to a yellow chenille grub microjig. I missed one or two trout strikes, but did start getting the attention of the local sculpin population. Since I had only caught 4 fish thus far, it was not hard to switch to microfishing to get a few more numbers. Lots of sculpin were interested and I landed four above the bridge and three large ones in the deep pool just below the bridge. I was fishing from a sycamore root wad and got the attention of two of the large suckers but missed getting a hook set one either of them. Those two moved downstream and the others did pay my hopping grub any attention. That hopping got the attention of a fish up under the roots that darted out and grabbed my bait. I was able to hook and land my first rock bass for 2017. I moved again and started catching striped shiners on the grub. A few of these guys were over 6" in length. I moved again down the confluence spring branch and the Niangua. I caught a bunch more striped shiners on the grub just above the bridge. I ended up with 13 striped shiners for the day. I didn't see any sculpin near the bridge, but did have some darters interested in the grub, but that jig was too large for them to bite. I left the park and fished the Niangua below the bridge. I was trying to drift a worm under a deep undercut below a large sycamore tree. I didn't get any strikes, but when reeling in my line I had a sculpin holding onto the worm. I also caught another on the grub bait. I am pretty certain that it was a mottled sculpin, which would be another species for 2017. From my position I just could not get a good drift and decided just to fish from that sycamore. I saw a couple of suckers in a log jam below the sycamore. I could not get a bait positioned where it would be upstream of these fish and I could actually pull it out if I got bit. I made a cast and positioned the rod in amongst the roots as a rod holder and was going to fish the grub in the rootwad. As I picked up the grub rod, I had a big hit on the worm. I picked up the worm rod and got hit again. Unfortunately I broke off just as I set the hook. I had moved the fish and could see it in the water. It was either a large trout >16" or a sucker. I retied and fished a while longer. I couldn't get another substantial bite. I did catch a couple of hornyhead chubs and two more sculpin. I ended the day around 3:30 pm. The temp was dropping and was in the high teens as I left the water. I caught one of the two species that I had hoped for on this trip. I will determine if the sculpin that I caught in the Niangua were mottled sculpin and that may be another species for the year. I also landed 30 fish to end 2017 with 915 fish. Not a bad day. This post has been promoted to an article

I'm not turning in my man card yet. Fished for five and a half hours yesterday. Temps between 18 and 25 deg.

In my experience, you'll need a net or trap to catch a bunch of these guys. They just don't take bait readily. With a good school, should be able to catch a couple dozen bleeding shiners or around Dan's area cardinals or duskystripe shiners as well as striped shiners.

May have to barter for these guys. I'll help catch bait for a day on the lake using them !

That's a nice looking stream.

It was 13 deg one of the mornings down on the White and we were not going to stay in the lodge when there were trout to catch☺.

Great job on catching a mess of crappie under tough conditions! Nice to see the fish as well describing what worked for you.

Congratulations on the rainbow at the end of your long research trail! That's a very nice fish!

Maybe next year you can give him a drum set ! Bet that would make you real popular with your daughter.

I thought those were to distract the crocodiles by giving them a false target !

"Kilin' carp ain't much of a livin' boy." So said the Josey Wales or it was something like that line☺.

Ok you said crap. I must have misread this at first .

Those would be the ones that I prefer as well. Used to get a number trout each year with that colored flesh, but stopped keeping brown trout. The stocker rainbows that I keep now are that mortuary white. As BilletHead stated early on, its ok to eat fish that taste like fish!

Congrats, she's a good looking doe and a nice bit of freezer meat. Glad you were able to find her. Even with the snow, I haven't seen much evidence of deer in my primary hunting area. May have to decide to hang up the bow or scout some new spots.

You met me right before I caught these fish . You headed off to Stockton to catch some walleye. I stayed to catch bait .

You eat marine species raw. Freshwater ones need a little cooking time ☺!

I don't fillet them. Just gut, bread, and fry them up ☺!

No the fish and spot that I posted are much closer to home. Here are a couple of micro photos near where I believe that Dan's photo was taken. Dan may be able to tell from the bank where the sculpin photo was taken. You know that I am always willing to correct you on your fish identifications ! Glad to hear that you are willing to waive your guide fees. May have to take you up on the offer !

There is a DANG for the chowder and another DANG for the sourdough and gooseberry jam. We are out of Billetheadville gooseberry jam !

Here is one of my favorite spots. This does have smallmouth in it as well as some other fish.

I have an idea where it might be, so I'm interested (don't have to post here). If it is where I'm thinking, there should be some cardinal shiners and maybe some redspot chubs around there ! You know that gets my interest piqued! Have been trying to get out fishing with Dan down around that way.

Timinmo - thank you for posting. This is very sad news. Really was hoping that he would have survived his last bout of cancer. I enjoyed his informative posts. Got to see how he would think about his bait choices and how he would approach his presentation through his posts. I loved his posts when the rivers were really flooded and was catching fish near sliding boards, swing sets, grills, etc. I never met the man and will miss his posts. We will keep his family in our prayers.

I tend to destroy cheap wading shoes/boots. I may have to get a pair of these guys!

I made our Christmas Eve dinner tonight. Since we ate so much soup and cookies on Xmas eve, this dinner got put aside. I made a cauliflower puree with thyme instead of mashed potatoes. Just to lighten things up this year. The cauliflower was cooked/steamed with chicken stock until tender then pureed with a little butter and more chicken stock. S&P and then stirred in the thyme. I took an idea from Griz and made stuffed mushrooms with a hot Italian sausage using white and young portabella mushrooms. Once I stuffed the mushrooms with the sausage, I put some shredded cheese in a bowl and rolled the mushrooms to coat them with the cheese. Cooked in a 375 deg oven until the mushrooms were cooked through about 20 min. I removed the mushrooms when done and turned down the oven. I coated venison loins with montreal seasonings and garlic powder. Seared the meat in a cast iron skillet on all sides and then into a 300 deg oven until medium rare. Not sous vide, but as go as we can make in the Folly household. The last side was steamed asparagus.

Couple of glasses only☺. More likely bad editing than too much wine.