Johnsfolly

Very funny! Had me til the end. Hook line and acorn.

Was able to get away to fish a couple of rivers in SW Missouri on Saturday. I had a plan to target catching a brown trout in Roaring River, a redspot chub in the Spring river, and an assortment of minnows and darters species that are only found down in that area of Missouri. Due to travelling out east later in June, my wife conceded to allow for travel expenses but no overnight stays on this trip. Left the house around 2:45 am and headed for the Roaring river. I fished outside of the park and was targeting brown trout using jigs and a Rapala UL minnow jerkbait. The water the running clear and the large limestone flats were really slick making wading a real challenge. I haven't fished this far down from the park before. So I looked for traditional brown trout habitat, deeper runs where boulders meet gravel, large deeper holes around root wads or large boulders. The first trout came out from under a tree running parallel to a boulder strewn run. It was a healthy fish, but the coloration was wrong for a brown. I landed this 15" rainbow. Since I prefer to fish upstream when I can, I continued down stream trying to read the water for potential holding areas and skirting the water to not be seen by the fish in those areas. I finally got to a section of the river below several potential fishing spots and turned to head back upstream. The bottom in this section of river was fairly uniform gravel and not likely to hold many trout. However, I did see a bunch of darters and several minnow species. So I got into my microfishing mode and went after those fish. I caught several darters that were no longer in their breeding coloration and I really could not id real well. It's possible they were rainbow darters. Will have to do some more research. I did not have any trouble identifying this southern redbelly dace. I caught several of these minnows. I had put them on my list as being caught in the Current many years ago before I had the identification guides that I have now. So I recently questioned if the fish that I caught those years ago were really this species. So these few fish confirmed this species on my life list. My bag kept fogging so these pictures are not as good as I would have liked. I also caught central stonerollers in this section. This duskstripe shiner was a minnow that I had hopes of catching on this trip and is a new species for me. As I headed back upstream I switched back to trout fishing and put on a 1/16 oz tan jig. I spooked a nice fish in one run that may have been a brown trout. It headed upstream into a deep hole with three really large boulders. I cast into the hole and landed another nice 12+" rainbow trout. I had another follow, but it did not take the jig. As I headed to the head of the pool, I hooked into this chub. Later I had to recheck the distribution maps to determine that this was more likely a hornyhead chub than the redspot chub I had come to this corner of Missouri to find. I caught two more nice rainbows on the jig, but no browns. Since I was planning on fishing the Spring river as well, I headed back to the car instead of heading further upstream. I left the Roaring river with this shot. The next leg of my trip had me heading up to Stott's city to fish the Spring river. I met up with OAF member Dan Hufferd to discuss this section of the river and strategies to catch a redspot chub. Dan provided me with several of his go to jigs and mentioned spots to fish that were likely to hold this fish. He headed to Stockton with his sons and I headed upstream looking for chub. I found one of the holes that Dan mentioned and had some taps on the jigs, but I just could not get a hook set. Probably not patient enough. I even switched to worms and only caught cardinal shiners and no chubs. After a couple of hours, I decided to head much further upstream where hopefully the water is clearer. It was great meeting Dan and I hope to get back and have him show me the magic with his jig fishing for these chubs. I found a bridge crossing the Spring river that flowed crystal clear. I immediately set to minnow fishing with worms and small hooks and got hooked up with more cardinal shiners and southern redbelly dace. Lot's of darters, but I could not get a hook set in any. In a deeper run I saw a larger fish that I thought was a smallmouth bass take the bait. Even as I was reeling it in, it seemed like a 7-8" smallie. When I landed it I was shocked to see what appears to be a very wild stream bred rainbow trout, parr marks and all. I had no idea that this river even held trout and would not have expected a breeding population of trout. This fish headed upstream towards the bridge after I released it. Around the pilings I saw at least one more trout. At 4:30 pm I called it a day, changed out of my waders and started the 4+ hour trip home. I didn't catch a Roaring river brown nor the redpspot, which means I will have to go back again soon. However, it was a great day, I did get to meet a great guy, and caught a confirmatory and a new fish species. As my wife says, I will always have a reason to head down to that part of the state. Next time will include a little overnight time at the Super 8 in Monett and possibly some gumbo at The Bayou.

Dan - looks like a great time with your son! Keep the videos coming. Nice to get a couple of firsts fish. I hope to see a post form your Stockton trip from Saturday.

I have not had much success at Tan Vat. I do much more Current fishing downstream and focus more on brown trout. Sounds like the soft hackle is what they wanted. Those little guys have great color.

I have always heard about trout magnets and I thought they were a jig system. It turns out the trout magnet is Eric82. Great job on the stream bed fish! Any larger fish on your trip? I fished Roaring river and caught four rainbows, which I will post about tomorrow. I also caught what appears to be a stream bred rainbow trout from a river system that I did not know even had trout (that's the teaser!).

Great rainbow!

I know that MDC is currently running a two year tracking study on bears in MO. They are gathering information for management purposes so that they can really get a good feel for the population size, young recruitment, and mortality. Seems a matter of time before they institute a hunting season for bears. I read a report that the genetic work that they have completed found a lineage from Arkansas, but more surprising was possible lineage from bears not from outside of MO. It's possible that a small population has been in MO all along.

Tonight's dinner; Grilled chicken and shrimp with a sweet chili glaze, garlic zucchini spears with Vidalia onions, butter lettuce and mixed green salad. That was followed with grilled peaches with or without (mine) cream. Really enjoyed that while watching the end of the Indy 500.

Its pretty likely a stream bred fish. My first trout in the LP wasn't any bigger than that one. Pretty fish!

Congratulations! Definitely a keeper!

Great game and the Pens win! Four more wins for the CUP! When they were around .500 midseason who thought they could make it to the finals. Lots of credit for Sullivan to bring the heart and speed back to this team. Thought that Rust could get a hat trick. Great game by the young player. Wife will have to put up with the beard. I am not happy seeing Crosby holding the Prince of Wales trophy.

Or mop them with a Carolina sauce.

That is a awesome colored smallmouth!

moguy1973 - I fully understand your comment about the playoff system. There is a lot to be said about staying healthy especially when they play best of seven series at each round. This year there hasn't been a lot of home ice advantages. So you may have a point in trying to focus on staying healthy than driving for the best regular season records for seeding and home ice purposes. Though there is the fan and money consideration to play more games on your home ice and generate much more revenue. I wasn't happy that the Pens had to face the Caps in the last round. However, this is still far better than how the last couple of years that the Pirates got screwed by having to play in the play in game after having a better record than most if not all of the other NL division leaders.

Is the 4"4" mostly a nymph rod? I thought I saw a nymph in the corner of one of the fishes mouths. Did you dry fly fish and were they rising or just nymph fished?

I agree that there are enough places in MO to fish for trout that are so varied that you can fish with any technique that you enjoy. I enjoy the solitude of some of the wild trout streams and particularly like the strong fighting wild fish that I have caught in those streams. I don't really like creating fly and jig tree decorations in places like Blue Springs, but that just means I have to be a better caster. I also enjoy the memories that I have made with my family fishing the trout parks and seeing who wins the biggest and more often the smallest fish of the day, which usually includes some sort of sculpin. My youngest daughter is now big enough to handle some of the flows in places like the Current and I hope to make memories with her on those waters as well. I have had courteous and not so courteous folks at the parks and on rivers like the Current. There's too much water out there. I hope that everyone can go and enjoy the fishing that suits you.

Eric82 - Great photos and congrats on catching on your new tackle! Love to see those rainbows with the parr marks and the water looked fantastic. Were most of those rainbows from Mill creek? Thanks for the post.

Great post Phil! I wouldn't mind stowing away on one of your boats myself. That 8+ lb trout is a pig. It looks like it has a 3 lb trout head on and 8 lb body. It's been eating well.

Marcus - The way this series has gone neither team can be comfortable with a two or even three goal lead. Which as a Pens fan has been both exhilarating and devastating. A lot like your Miss.river bass experience in Alton.

Malkin said that they would be heading back to Pittsburgh and the team got it done! The two breakaway goals were things of beauty. Reminded me of Lemieux and Jagr. Got to win game 7 to get to the finals. Go Pens!

Pat - I bought my wife a Olympus Stylus Tough a couple of years ago that has performed really well for me. Pictures are decent, but I don't have to worry about dropping in the water or on land and damaging the camera.

Great post! Love to see the smiles on your kid's faces. Keep them fishing!

For the racing fan, Memorial day weekend should be considered the greatest weekend of racing for the entire year with Formula 1 racing the historical Monaco grand prix, the 100th running of the Indianapolis 500, and the Coca Cola 600 in Charlotte. This weekend started with the Indy 500 qualifications and have already set the stage for more 500 drama. Sam Schmidt, a former indycar driver that is now a quadriplegic due to a racing accident set the new speed record for autonomous driving with a four lap average of over 150 mph. Josef Newgarden, sat on the provisional pole position with a four lap average speed of 230.700 mph through most of the day yesterday. The last two drivers to make their last qualification attempts were Ryan Hunter-Reay and James Hinchcliffe. Hunter-Reay was the second to last qualifier and came up short with a qualification run of 230.648 mph. James Hinchcliffe drives for Sam Schmidt and nearly lost his life in an accident at Indy last year. He was the last qualifier and ran a four lap average speed of 230.760 mph taking this year's pole position. There are a lot of competitive drivers in this year's field and I can't wait to see this race. I have my DVR set to record all three races and will likely overdose on horsepower on Sunday. That is if it doesn't rain in Speedway.

Not a hook and line state record, but a big spotted nonetheless. Warsaw angler catches state-record spotted bass Congratulations to Jason Reynolds on breaking the state record by catching a 2-pound, 11-ounce spotted bass on Truman Lake. WARSAW, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) reports Jason Reynolds of Warsaw became the most recent record-setting angler in Missouri when he hooked a spotted bass on Truman Lake on a jug line. The new “alternative method” record spotted bass, caught by Reynolds on May 11 weighed 2-pounds, 11-ounces with a length of 17 1/2 inches. Reynolds was using bluegill for bait to try to catch catfish, but instead caught a state-record spotted bass. “I really can’t believe I caught a state--record fish,” Reynolds said. “I almost released the fish right after I got it in the boat, but I didn’t because it was hooked in the gills and I wanted to make sure it was going to live before I released it.” Reynolds added that once MDC confirmed he broke a state-record he was in shock. “I have fished all my life and caught some pretty nice fish, but I would have never thought I would have a state-record with my name on it,” he said. “I’m so grateful and proud to have caught that fish.” MDC staff verified the record-weight fish using a certified scale in at Lost Valley Fish Hatchery in Warsaw. Reynolds noted he gave the spotted bass to staff at the hatchery so they could help nurse the fish back to its healthy self. “I was hoping to release the spotted bass back into Truman Lake, but the fish didn’t make it,” he said. “So now I am going to mount it and put on my wall.” Reynolds’ recent catch broke the previous state-record spotted bass by almost 1 pound in the alternative methods category. This state record fish is the 12th fishing record broken this year. Missouri state-record fish are recognized in two categories: pole-and-line and alternative methods. Alternative methods include: throwlines, trotlines, limb lines, bank lines, jug lines, spearfishing, snagging, snaring, gigging, grabbing, archery, and atlatl. Conservation makes Missouri a great place to fish. For more information on state-record fish, visit the MDC website at http://on.mo.gov/1S64jH6. Jason Reynolds broke the state record by catching a 2-pound, 11-ounce spotted bass with a jug line on Truman Lake May 11, 2016.

That sucked! TB sure looked like they wanted this game more than the Pens. It started in the second period when they were pressing and stealing passes in the Pittsburgh zone and that intensity kept up through the OT. Have to hope that the Pens can take the next game in TB and make this a 7 game series. Fleury looked rusty and the question is start him or Murray in game 6.