Johnsfolly

Starting to see the daffodils coming up from the bulbs I planted last fall. So the ones I planted just about doubles what I had from previous years in each of these photos. The early bloomers are up (about 1/2 to 2/3 of the total) and the others are still coming up.

Tonight my betterhalf made a shrimp and pasta dish. Kind of a version of a shrimp in an arrabbaita sauce, but she did not feel well so left out the red pepper flakes. So it was flavorful, but not spicy. The sauce included shrimp, s&p, oil, yellow onions, peppers, and mushrooms. Topped with a bit of parmesan.

Spoken from a guy that takes a lot of picture worthy fish ! I also take a lot of picture worthy fish. I happen to like taking photos of minnows!

Great post! Congrats on finding a good multispecies bite! Enjoyed the photos. Next time you need to show a little excitement in your photos.

How about sauger in the lower Meramec? Can they be caught around St L. and if so consistently? I would assume that they have a similar spawning cycle as walleye and run theriver late winter or early spring.

We did trim them down. The points were pretty nasty.

We definitely are hobbie chicken owners. Love the variety in the breeds that we have and the different types of eggs that we get from each. When we first started out we lost on straight run chicks and ended up with 5 roosters and 5 hens. Our little Japanese black banty rooster is the only one we still have. He's feisty, but thank goodness he doesn't know how to use these hooks. No fried chicken from any of our hens. Too much laying makes them only good for chicken stock. Too tough to eat any other way.

Sounds like you guys are having a great time! We have been hitting the local crappie pretty hard. You got me thinking about some park fishing! May have to get down there sometime soon. Keep up the reports as long as you are down at the park! Only thing missing are the photos!

RPS inspired I decided to make my own tartar sauce for the fried crappie. Now we normally make our own tartar, but today I followed the recipe link that RPS sent and made the mayonnaise as well. I did not deviate from the recipe and was pretty happy with the results. Very easy to make. BH - don't worry we are very familiar with our chickens here at Follyfarms. Each are handled with care. So not worried about the raw egg in the mix. So I chopped capers and the Betterhalf's homemade sweet pickle relish and added that to the mayonnaise. I also added about a teaspoon of powdered mustard, tsp of rice wine vinegar, and tsp of garlic powder. Mixed well and ready to serve. We ground bread crumbs and I mixed in oregano, s&p, and garlic powder. So I breaded the fish, seasoned flour, egg wash (more follyfarm eggs), then coated with the Italian syle bread crumbs. Does anyone remember Gordon Elliot's Door Knock Dinners show on Food Network where he and a chef would go into someone's house and make a gourmet meal with what they had in their fridge and pantry. Well I have no claim to be a chef or that this was a gourmet meal. However, I dug around in the freezer and pantry to find what to make with the fried fish. I pulled out a can of black beans and a can of chili flavored kidney beans. So I mixed the two beans, added Dijon mustard, dried onion, a spoon full of bacon grease, ketchup, brown sugar, dash of liquid smoke, and then added, possibly a little crazy, but diced black mission figs. I cooked this as long as possible to allow the "baked" bean flavors to meld. I found some frozen spinach. I cooked the spinach with garlic powder (again) and a mixed vegetable spice mix. The last piece to the meal was heating up leftover asparagus.

Great report chief! Thise are some nice fish! Congrats again!

They also fight pretty hard on thsee light rigs we use for panfish. It was fun catching them. We didn't have a tape with us, but I would estimate my second one was over 8 inches long. I marked it's length on my rod. So can get a better estimate.

The Current has been by far my favorite river for many years. Over the years I have fished other trout waters across the state and each have there own fascination, but I always return to the Current. Actually I have fished all of the other MDC designated trout waters across the state. However, I make it down to Current as many times as I can each year.

Livie and I got out again going for crappie. This time we were fishing a MDC lake near our home that we fish regularly. We got out around 4:30 pm and started fishing 1/64 oz jigs under floats. I had on a white and chartreuse and she was fishing a black and yellow jig. I caught and landed the first crappie of the evening. This was a 9-10 inch black crappie. I caught another crappie and a couple of bluegill while Livie wasn't getting many bites and landed only a small bluegill. She switched to the white/chartreuse jigs and started catch both crappie and bluegill. Then both she and I caught the unexpected, a few golden shiners. I had caught some in this lake a couple of years ago and hadn't caught one since then. Livie has never caught one before. So I was really excited catching this species and having both of us landing them. My second shiner may be the largest that I have ever caught.. But we came to catch crappie. Between 5:15 and 6:00 pm was when we got the most crappie bites. Livie became the CRAPPIE MONSTER!!! As she landed several bigger crappie. Once the sun began to set, the crappie bite slowed and most of the bites were bluegill. At that time we packed up and headed home. So the ones we kept ranged from 9.25 to 11" in length. Livie wanted to learn and she got to fillet three of these crappie. She didn't do too bad a job. I got the rest of the fish cleaned and am looking forward to a couple of fresh crappie meals. If the weather is like tonight, we may even try to get mom out with us tomorrow evening. Probably won't keep any if we do get out again.

Since we are now getting more day light, the ladies below are producing many more Follyfarm fresh eggs. I decided that omelets would best use the fresh eggs. I mixed two whole eggs and two eggs where I separated the whites and mixed with the whole eggs to reduce the cholesterol. I diced some yellow onion, sliced white mushrooms and fresh tomato. I sauted the onion, then added the mushrooms, followed by the tomato. I also added leftover ground venison taco meat and oregano. Once cooked, I put aside the cooked meat and vegetables. I mixed the eggs and whites. Then mixed the egg mixture with s&p, and garlic powder. I cooked half the egg mixture and when almost set I added the filling and a mixture of cheddar and asiago cheese and finished cooking the omelet.

Sounds like a great trip regardless of the size. Catching wild trout is the reward of fishing streams like LP or BSC. If you catch a big one all the better. Great job! Just wished I had seen this post back Oct. Would have likely shifted some plans to make a trip down that way. You and Eric82 have got the wild trout figured out!

DWS Sorry that I missed this.post earlier in the year. Sounded like a great trip. Glad you were able to ID the meanmouth. Would love to catch one of them. Congrats on a great multispecies creek trip!

I went down and fished the Blue ribbon section of the Current on Sunday the 26th. I was looking to catch brown trout to meet a personal goal I set for the year. I just needed five more browns to meet that end. As I was heading through Montauk, I had really no idea on how many people would be camping in the park or fishing in the blue ribbon section three days prior to the trout park opener. I really didn't see many camp sites full as I drove past. There was just a single car at the access point when I pulled. I decided to head down stream about a 1/4 to 1/2 mile and fish a couple of decent pools and runs before I headed upstream. I was committed to stay on the water to meet my goal. I started with 1/8 oz zig jig and fished the fast water heading into the top of a pool that I knew held fish. The only action was when I sunk the point of the jig into some of the wood lining that run. When you are wade fishing you don't have much option if the water is too deep to really change the angle on a hung bait. I didn't break my line, just the hook point. I switched to a 1/16 oz jig and then a 1/32 oz to fish the main body and tail of the pool. I had fish follow the jig, but not commit. I went further downstream fishing the jigs in the runs as I went along. I got down stream to one of the deeper holes. The last time I fished this hole, there was a blow down on the bluff bank. Now there was that same tree and two other blow downs on the near side of the hole. It made for an interesting wading situation. With the deeper water, I put back on a 1/16 oz jig and cast upstream in the open water between the trees. I hooked and landed a 10" male creek chub. He was colored up and primed for breeding. I didn't get any other hits on the jig as I made casts closer to the big rocks that I have caught large trout from in the past. I switched to a rapala countdown and got bit by what would be the largest trout I would encounter that day. It came to the surface where I could get a good look at it and then got off. Though I knew that it was not likely to get this fish to bite again, I switched to a couple of different baits and had no other hits. Disappointed, I made my way back upstream. I put back on the countdown and fished a run that I seem to catch a fish almost every time that I fish it. I made an upstream cast to the far bank and ran the bait just in the seam between the deeper water with the rock bottom and the smaller gravel/sand bottom. I would change up the speed of my retrieve and just as I slowed it down - FISH ON! I got my first brown of the day in the net. I kept with the same bait and the variable retrieve and cast up near the head of this run and hooked the largest brown that I would land that day - 17+" and probably 2.25 to 2.5 lbs. Took off as soon as I let it go. As I headed back upstream I ran into fresh boot prints, but did not see any fisherman. Not surprisingly I also did not have any bites in the obvious runs and pools until I reached one of the larger pools in this stretch. It's hard to fish this pool effectively. I saw a large splash near the large boulders that I was going to run my baits past. I cast first just below the boulders, Nothing. Then the money cast which landed 10 to 15 feet above the splash that I had seen. The fish hit as the bait passed the splash zone and it felt heavy, unfortunately it came unhooked. At this point I had been on the water for about 2 hours and covered about 3/4 miles of water and only 2 fish landed with 4 trout bites. I went back to the access and got a drink. There were now two new vehicles and the one there previously had left. Also another car came in with three guys. I headed upstream and followed new boot tracks. Even though I knew at least one guy was up ahead of me and three guys were coming up behind me I still fished several of the traditional holes an runs that I have caught fish in the past just in case one was willing to bite. After fishing several spots I had no bites, which was in line for what I had expected. Several of these holes had much more sand and silt built up covering the preferred rocky bottoms that I normally find these trout. Maybe we need a good 2-3 foot flooding event to wash out some of this material. I finally met up with one of the fishermen. I could see his buddy well upstream from the two of us. I told him that I would go well up ahead of them through the woods to let them fish without disturbance. As I passed the guy upstream he was headed downstream or at least that’s what it looked like to me. I went another 100 yards upstream of him. Much of the water between us was a mix of boulders, bluff rock, chunk rock, gravel and sand with deeper water along the bluff bank. I wanted to fish the “S” curve just upstream from where I came out of the woods. I was changing my leader and bait when I noticed that he was headed back upstream. He would cast and then walk upstream 10-20 feet then cast again. Just as I was done retying he was right next to me. After a brief discussion, I left and headed further upstream without making a cast. I was now fishing sections of river that I had not fished in years. So it all became nostalgic in a way. I would think about fish that I had caught or lost in these spots in the past or how the water ran past a rock or rootwad in the past. So I knew what cast I would make when I got to a long sweeping bend in the river that has a deep undercut on the outside bank. I had tied on a floating rapala and made the cast and I didn’t get bit until the bait was about 6 feet from me. The brown came towards me and jumped while throwing the bait. Now the dilemma, the leader was past my first guide, so is this a caught fish. I deliberated this for a while and decided that since I had no “reel” control of the fish that it became the third lost fish of the day. The section above this sweeping bend fishes like a pond. So I cast towards the woody cover on the far side. I got to see the fish come out of the treetop and hit my bait. I tried not to horse the fish and got the 15” brown into the net. Now I was three and three on the day. It was just after 2 pm as I was resting I saw a mink up on the bank and watched it as it headed down to the treetop that I just pulled out that last fish. I was just below a section of the river where many years ago I had spooked a giant (>24”) brown while heading upstream. On that trip, after a couple of hours I was able to come back down stream to that same spot and snuck up to position myself for a cast. I made that cast and the fish bit. As she rolled I saw her tail. It looked wider than my hand as it broke the water and then she was off. That image haunted me for years until I finally caught a 23.5” brown trout (still my PB) from this river. I made a cast to that same spot. The cover had changed a bunch. I still got a solid hit on the bait, but this fish did not get hooked. I switched back to the countdown and headed further upstream. I lost another one that hit the bait as it passed through the hole below some bank brush. It threw the hooks when it jumped. Down 3 to 4. 50 yards upstream I caught and landed my fourth brown, a 13+” fish, at the head of a hard “S” curve bend in the river. I have evened it up 4 to 4. I have caught many fish in the past in the next long bluff hole. I felt confident that I would at least get the opportunity to land that fifth brown. Unfortunately due to a couple of laydown tree, the water was too deep for me to wade and fish effectively through most of that hole. I could only fish the tail and then the head of the pool and not the middle. No bites or taps at the tail of the pool. I got up on the bank and circled to the head of the pool. I could see trout and suckers on the bottom near the woody cover. I got some looks on the countdown and then I switched back to the floating rap. I caught my first Current river brown trout in 2002 on an F9 original sliver/black rapala. Now I had on one of my hand painted floaters. I made a cast upstream towards the center of this large wood pile. My retrieve was twitch, twitch, reel then twitch, twitch, twitch, reel and repeat. I could see two trout following my bait. I let the bait pause causing it to float slightly and first trout hit the bait and missed getting hooked, but the next one got caught. This 12” brown was not the largest, but after 8 hours on the water and nearly 5 river miles of hiking and hard wading it was one of the best fish that I have ever caught. This fish represents 14 years of enjoyment on the Current river and the 300th brown trout that I have caught in Missouri. I had to stop several times heading back to the access, sometimes to just take in the scenery and other times mostly to rest. On one of those breaks, a gray shape moving along the bluff top 80 to 90 yards away caught my eye. I watched it as it came into and out of view as it proceeded along the bluff top. This was only the second bobcat that I have seen in Missouri. On one of the last rest stops, I was just sitting listening to the drops of water coming off of the bluff and the soft gurgle of the river as it passes me. Could hear a kingfisher chittering as it flew above the river and a couple of squirrels barking in the distance. I sat and thought that these might have been the best sounds of the day only to be surpassed by the head and tail splashes of a brown trout on the line and the not so silent prayer of “stay on, stay on, please just stay on!”

BH With goose breasts looking like those, the golf course and city park geese better be wary!

BH - everyone knows that hooks catch fish not ties. I never saw you as a tie guy anyway .

Ness - I would have to agree that between Dos Equis Amber and Negra Modelo, I'm a much bigger fan of the Modelo. Used to drink that a lot when I was living in Florida. Negra Modelo was also my favorite brew to braise beef short ribs. Then I moved around and couldn't get it easily and switched to Shiner Bock for braising. Now Modelo is readily available, I may just have to pick up a few and some short ribs . I'll be interested to see what you conclude between Modelo and Newcastle.

Last night I basically made a naked pork fajita. Sliced the pork into thin strips and mixed the meat with garlic powder, cumin, chili powder, and Galena spices. Added a littlr olive oil and about a 1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce and mixed that well with the meat. Sliced green bell, sweet red and yellow peppers, a jalapeno, sweet onion, and white mushrooms (what we had in the fridge). Browned the meat and added vegetables with a bit more Galena spice and s&p. Cooked on high heat. Served this over basmati rice that I cooked in water spiced with curry powder, sesame oil, and a mixed grill spice mix. Added a side of asparagus. No need for the sour cream or pico de gallo and didn't miss the tortilla.

Thanks buddy. Now there is that Taneycomo brown waiting to be caught .

And the 'Eyes have it! Four good looking walleye for sure. Congrats MOPanfisher!

Just sent you a PM with the best photo that I have currently.

Trythisonemv Great trip photos! Definitely a great river to fish. I agree with Ham, these are great healthy rainbows that have never been confined in concrete. They fight hard and look great. I have only fished it twice and now you have me wanting to go back.