rFisherk

I shared my story about a definite, unmistakable mountain lion in the Devil's Backbone in the '80s, but I had a more questionable sighting of a black panther just a year or two ago while floating the Eleven Point River. Brandon Butler and I were some miles below the Hwy. 19 access. The animal was at the water's edge on a steep, brushy bank, and we didn't notice it until it made a quick move to escape; saw it for only a second or two, and mostly just the back end of it. We were near the opposite bank, but the river isn't but 30 yards or so wide there, so the animal in question was only about 20 yards away from us. My first impression was a big, black cat with a very long tail that was as thick as my wrist at the base. Brandon and I saw it at the same time, but I was first to ask: "was that a panther?" We discussed the possibilities and sort of talked ourselves out of it being a cat. But the next day, we drove down the road we had shuttled the day before so that Brandon could take some pictures of some boots for an article he was doing. While there, a local stopped to talk, and without us mentioning the encounter, this guy volunteered that he had seen a black panther in his back yard a few times. He even mentioned how wide the base of its tail was. Brandon, probably because of his position, is still not ready to admit we saw a panther. I'm still not absolutely positive about it and could be talked out of it by a good lawyer in a court, but I'm fairly certain it was a panther.

I didn't trap it and don't have pictures, although pictures of the animal in the trap were circulated. I believe some were posted on this site.

In the mid 1980s, I was on a mule-back turkey hunting trip into the Devil's Backbone Wilderness (Ozark County). It was a windy morning, and I was sitting in camp with the camp cook about mid-morning, when a mountain lion came within 20 yards before noticing us. I could hear it's feet hit the ground as it ran off. At that distance, on a bright day, there was no doubt about what I saw, and when I came out a few days later, I called the MDC to report it. They treated me like an irrational idiot. A year or two later, I saw a bear swim across the Eleven Point River, but I wasn't about to call those condescending jerks. The MDC has tried their best to deny the existence of mountain lions for decades, until they just couldn't do that any more a few years ago, so its very unlikely they ever intentionally stocked any; although they did move the one that was trapped live around Lesterville and turned it loose on the Current River Conservation Area, which I guess could be considered stocking. That was more an unplanned relocation, They're still trying to deny that we have mating pairs. Personally, it bothers me much more that they stocked otters. But the entire predator/prey situation is way out of balance.

I've been in Wenonahs on lakes in the Quetico, where it is probably the most popular canoe because of the light weight and speed when paddling. They're the best for that, but I wouldn't think they would hold up to the rocks of Ozark streams. At the price, I wouldn't risk it. I guided on the North Fork of the White for a few years in an Old Town Outfitter fiberglass, and it held up fine. Lots of scratches, but no damage or leaks. Used a Kevlar poke-boat for many years with no damage, until someone stole it. After all that, today I use a big, square-stern Osage aluminum canoe. Heavy gauge, very stable and durable; lots of room and load capacity. I can stand and fly fish from it.

My favorite is dry fly fishing, but not necessarily dead drift. If there is a hatch of mayflies (which is rare in the Ozarks), I've found it important to match the hatch. It's classic. It's what I read about with all the poetic prose when I was getting started decades ago. It is where, as it says in A River Runs Through it," "...there is no distinction between religion and fly fishing." When I get a chance to fish a good mayfly hatch, I'll employ a quartering upstream dead drift and mend line to get a longer drift. But often during these situations, I'll cast to a particular fish rising regularly. I try time the cast to coincide with a particular trout's rising rhythm, and deliver the cast two or three feet above him. Once the fly floats past his rising position, I pick up and prepare for another cast. That way, you only need a few feet of dead drift; mending usually isn't necessary. I think it is better, when trout are rising steadily, to pick a particular trout, not just broadcast to them all. By the way, I've found wild trout in remote areas much easier to fool during a hatch than our heavily hammered Ozark trout. If you can approach them without them seeing you, and make a cast that doesn't spook them, you can catch them, even if your fly doesn't match the hatch. In the Ozarks, on the other hand, I've seen trout that wouldn't fall for any fake with a hook. I was fishing the Meramec just below the springs during a decent hatch of #16 Cahill-type flies. I had the prefect match and got four strikes on four casts, but didn't hook one of them. Inspected my fly and found that I had ticked a rock on the backcast and broke the hook at the bend. Tied another of the exact pattern on and couldn't get another take. Super-selective fish that have been caught and released many times, I think, learn to reject anything with a hook. No much you can do about that. In the Qzarks, however, caddis dominate, and I fish them across or quartering downstream with a skitter-pause presentation. In this situation, I tend to cover the likely holding water, instead of casting to particular fish. This is also my favorite (maybe more so), because of the way they rise. They are aggressive, showy and splashy and sometimes come all the way out of the water to pounce on the fly from above. Even though the presentation is classically unorthodox, you're actually matching the hatch, because caddis are quite active when they try to leave the surface.

I may have too many flies, but Lancer definitely has too many.

https://player.vimeo.com/video/144638992"

https://player.vimeo.com/video/144638992"

Share pictures of your fly boxes. Think I carry too many flies?

I like Adams, Humphys and King's River Caddis. I especially like skittering the latter. Occasionally, trout will come all the way out of the water and pounce on them on the way down: visually delightful.

I've known Spence, and admired him greatly, since the 1970s. Despite chemo treatments and a weakened condition, he attended Ray Eye's turkey camp and hunted turkeys last week. He has been through a great deal physically and mentally the last few years, but he's still out there pursuing the outdoor passions. He also is currently lobbying hard for a state-wide 15-inch minimum statewide and 18-inch minimum in special management areas on smallmouth.

The beads added weight, and because that weight was off center, it naturally oriented the fly upside-down. Just flip your hook and tie the beads on the bottom. For a bottom-dragging fly, having the hook ride up will keep it from hanging on rocks and things as much and improve the hooking qualities. It's a good thing.

Had a very good hunt at Wil-Nor yesterday. I've hunted many of these clubs over the decades doing columns and articles. Wil-Nor is among the best. They're a short distance from St. Louis. If you would like to try them, check out http://www.wil-nor.com/ We had a guided hunt behind a couple of talented Brittneys, but it would be a great place to work one's dog.

I have called the Current River the "Emerald of the Ozarks" in an article. This picture from a small plane captures the emerald color of the water quite well.

And here's a view from the Big Piney overlook in the other direction.

Spent a few days at Ray Eye's fall turkey camp on the Big Piney. No turkeys bagged, but Doc loved the view from the overlook.

This is the time of year--when most of the weekend experts are watching football, that I enjoy the rivers most, but I've found I need to change tactics. The water is low and clear and littered with leaves. Anything with open hooks is going to catch a lot of leaves, so one of my favorite fall baits is a Strike King's Mini-Spin. I like it, too, because I can cast it a long way. With the water low and clear, you tend to spook many of the better fish, unless you stay as far back as possible. I suspect, too, that most of the smallmouth have been spooked, hooked and released and otherwise educated by weekend wizards all summer, so they are shyer than normal. Catching a bunch of bass this time of year is more about a stealthy approach than anything.

Still the best I've found is the old fashioned Miller Mitts: 100 percent wool, fingerless, slit on the thumb to expose it too, or not, and a flap that can be folder over the fingers, like a mitten, when you don't need fingertip control. Nothing is as warm when wet as wool.

I've fished it a couple of times during the past month. One was by hiking down from the spring branch and fishing to Dry Fork. The other was during a three day float camp below Dry Fork. Fishing sucked both times, at least compared to how I remember it from years ago. I used to fly fish this river a lot and did well. But now it seems to have too much fishing pressure. Saw fishermen everywhere, every day, and that was during the week. It was like a minor version of the trout parks. Doesn't seem to be nearly as many fish in the river either. Far fewer fish and far more fishermen is not good outdoor math.

Some of the biggest smallmouth I've caught is with the canoe anchored at the head of a deep run, casting a Wiggle Wart downstream and retrieving it just fast enough to keep it banging and digging the bottom. This also was the most productive method for trout on the Eleven Point. How fast I retrieve depends upon the current. Works any time of year, not just in winter.

Saw one woodcock opening day and got one. Best of all, Doc, my golden retriever, flushed it and retrieved it like a champion.

What kind of .22 ammo?

Yesterday was my only teal hunt of the season, and it was excellent. Nice to just be out with my good friend, Bill Cooper. Not much happened for the first couple of hours, and we were about ready to quit, but then four teal came in. Neat thing is that we dropped all four of them.

The most confusing aspect of their sight is the fact they have two types of receptor cells in the retina. Their "cone" cells perceive color and are used mostly during the day. Their "rod" cells see only in black and white and are used at night. These receptor cells reverse themselves every 24-hour period, so bass are actually color blind about half the time. Consider that the next time you’re trying to pick out the perfect color. Sometime before sunset a bass’ internal senses trigger the advance of black-and-white vision in preparation for darkness. Completion of this process takes hours, so it is believed they have a sort of color fade as the rod cells advance. Then, just before daylight, the cone cells begin to advance, causing a gradual recognition of colors. For most of the morning, and for most of the evening, their ability to distinguish different hues of the color spectrum is limited. Ironically, that is usually when we do best with our lures of many colors. We often think that the color of a lure was why a bass hits this or that model, when in fact, most of the bass we catch are fooled during times when they can’t actually distinguish between colors very well. If what you’re using is catching them well during the middle of the day, color might be the key. Early and late in the day, however, they may be hitting that "latest and greatest" model not because of the fancy finish that caught your eye and emptied your pocket, but in spite of it. Again, I will say, presentation is all important.

I didn't say color has no importance, just that it is less important than action and size. Hues are important, such as the earth tones Al uses, and sometimes visibility is important, such as white for flukes and chartreuse for spinnerbaits. To think that bass are selective to minor color differences is to suggest a highly sophisticated match-the-hatch mentality, which completely falls apart when you try to explain chartreuse. Besides, the scientific facts of it is that fish don't see colors the way we do because of the ways their eyes work and the environment in which they view things. When I was a young fishermen, I thought color was very important, but that was because I really didn't know nearly as much about fishing as I thought, nor did I have enough experience to understand the finer subtleties of action and presentation. Color was right in front of me, so that is what I concentrated upon, and I didn't take into consideration that often when I changed colors, I changed action, presentation or location. Even re-rigging a different worm can change the action of it. The length, the type of tail, the thickness of the bait and other things effect how it behaves. Body language, or action, is the universal lingo of the wild, and the difference between representing a lingo that trips a fish's predatory trigger or not is often very subtle. Often, too, without realizing it, you can finally stumble upon the right "color" after you've fished for a while, because you finally get some of the city out of your attitude and slow down. The majority of the time, most fishermen fish too fast. During the decades I guided, I spent a lot of my time simply trying to get clients to slow down.