mreed81

Awesome results! I have only been to Crane once, last year right as rifle season started. One of the best days I ever had fishing for Trout.

Well there goes the modeling career that you always hoped for. Happy to hear you are relatively OK. Could have been a lot worse.

These are kind of on the expensive side but they are an industry leading company. Drop the light in, and it lands upright every single time. Only maintenance is to clean algae off of them. The owner of the company actually is my uncle's neighbor in St. Petersburg, FL. Everyone in their cove has these lights and it makes great for Snook fishing. Green seems to attract more fish than the other colors. https://www.deepglow.com/

All, thanks for the compliments. It sure was an unexpected surprise to catch one like this considering I haven't ever spent much time fishing for Smallies . I still have a lot to learn and I'm really glad I made the canoe purchase to explore more water. This wouldn't have been possible without it. And man, now I know why all you guys say that Smallmouth have the most fight pound for pound in the Ozarks. They fight forever, run like a trout, but also pull like a freakin' ox!

Sounds like a great day! It is funny how one fish can change the outlook and experience that you had on the water.

Congrats! Slow weekend for sure but the big ones were obviously biting throughout the Ozarks

I took my new canoe out for the second time today. Put in about 6:30 and upon arriving I could tell that the water was fishable, but definitely higher and murkier than usual which would possibly make things more difficult. Figured it's a better day on the water compared to doing normal routine stuff around the house and if I could catch any fish, that would be a bonus. The day started out slow, and caught a few small bass within the first two hours. After taking a short mid morning meal break I found some good looking water for a stretch of about 50 yards. Pulled the canoe to the side and started wade fishing back up the stream. This is why the title of post includes the word "luck". I got snagged a couple casts earlier and on another cast my rod jerked to the point it felt like a drifting log took my lure down stream! Below are pics of what I caught. Definitely the largest Smallmouth I have ever caught or thought I would ever catch, which you can probably tell judging by the ear to ear grin on my face. Didn't have anything to measure with but I am confident it was a solid 18", possibly more. It put up one heck of a fight. Thank you to all you like-minded catch and release Smallmouth fisherman that have probably released this fish multiple times! This is the kind of fish that thrives in our streams when we respect them!

Thanks. Either way I plan to go to see the condition of the river on my way out so I can compare it to the gage for future trips. If it I do-able I will stay, and if not, move on elsewhere.

So, hypothetically let's say it doesn't rain this weekend. With all the rain we received in the last week and more possible rain this week would this have the water muddy, high, and unfishable? Thinking of getting a shuttle to Laubinger Ford area. If it is a waste of time I would rather know so I can go wade fish on other water. I don't mind exploring to find out different water conditions, but I don't want to reserve a shuttle for my gear and canoe if it is going to be a waste of time as I have only been on this river once. Any tips/advice is greatly appreciated. Matt

Same here, Bill. Now I just need to find more time to take this canoe out. My summer has been pretty busy with traveling for racing, and will continue until mid September. I'll get a lot of use with this in the fall for sure. I'll pm you with some dates (most likely Saturdays for the immediate future) to see if we can both hit the water wade fishing somewhere for either Trout or Smallmouth.

Yes, the cooler being too big and in the wrong place has been covered and acknowledged LOL. It was only a day trip, just got excited since I got the canoe the day before and just went straight to the stream without much planning. It all worked out great, and despite the cooler being too big it didn't ruin the day.

Thanks for the tips regarding placing the rods flat, I didn't think of breakage. My other two rods were lying down because I was mainly using those two. Once I got to the stream I quickly realized the cooler was to big! Shame on me for not mocking it up the night before. The one in back was just dry storage, but could also be much smaller. You'll definitely see more from me, heck, I might even run into you on a stream. P.S. not sure I follow your first sentence with what I can and can't ask.

So I broke out of my comfort zone with fishing for Trout today as I grew up pretty much solely doing that with my Grandpa. I have maybe fished bass streams 2 or 3 times back when I was a kid, so this was pretty much my first time in 20 years of being on this kind of water, which I am rather unfamiliar with how to approach and fish on. I purchased and Old Town Discovery 119 several weeks ago and it arrived at the store on Friday. Picked it up and set forth with a plan to hit water immediately. I accessed the river at about 6 a.m. Started fishing near the slab with WTD lure(first time). I can now say I learned how to walk the dog! Fun baits to fish with for sure, and I was able to get a lot of action at that hole. Biggest fish was a 10" Smallie. Nothing to call home about or take pics of but man, those little guys put up a HUGE fight! Can't imagine the fight of a 20" Smallie. I made my way down stream for some time. In the riffles and shallow water(which there is not a lot of on the Bourbeuse) I was able to latch onto several fish every time, but the deeper water along bluffs and with fallen trees just didn't produce for me. I would have thought that was perfect habitat for Largemouth and Spotted Bass. I threw a number of different types of lures, crankbaits, top water, spinnerbaits, etc. and different retrieval methods at those holes and runs but absolutely nothing produced in the deep water. Maybe it was operator error. I'm really not sure, but I suppose it is part of the learning experience which does make it very fun whenever the results produce in the future. Lord knows I didn't become the Trout fisherman I am without a lot of practice and grit. Overall it was a great day. I was the only person on that section of the river and the quiet, country atmosphere was a great break from the city life. The canoe works great for my needs. I did learn the lesson of the size of this boat is not what the outfitter rentals are. Made it a little hard on myself with a big cooler right in front of my knees! I also learned a lot in regards to how the fish were holding in the shallower water which is a little different from my Trout tactics. Despite not catching anything in the deeper water I never gave up, kept trying something different and continued to move down stream until I hit my turnaround point. I'll definitely be back and hitting other water now that I have this canoe! Matt

Good news. Thanks. The deal with the used Pack fell through so I just ordered a Disco 119 since they no longer make the Pack.

165 lbs. I won't be doing any camping or super long trips. Just day trips for several hours, mostly on the Bourbese. Does that make much of a difference if I go with a 14' or 12' canoe for short trips?

In need of a 2 person canoe. Show me what you got.

How about transgendered, poaching giggers that kill bass? Just to rehash an old winter forum when we all had cabin fever, ya know? Get out there and wet a line, guys!

All, I am in the market for a new solo canoe, roughly right around the $1,000 price point. After looking online for a bit I came across the Old Town Pack solo. It's 12' long and seems to be a good fit. Does anyone have personal experience with this craft, or similar, or advice for other canoes? I like that it is very lightweight and it appears it will be able to hold a decent amount of gear for solo trips. Will this canoe hold up when dragging over gravel in shallow water, etc? I am asking for advice because this is my first canoe purchase. Is it worth it to spend the extra $200 something dollars for the "fishing" version with a lower seat, bench, and anchor?

You have learned well, grasshopper lol. Seriously, AWESOME job. With the big ones, always look at the anal and pelvic fins to see if they are rubbed down or not. Yours are obviously wild fish with full fins. I have caught two larger ones that had the typical hatchery trout rubbed and ripped fins before. They had better colors than typical hatchery fish, and were "wildish", but I could see that something was off. Come to find out that Camp Mihaska stocks about 200 lbs of trout in the lakes around the springs every year for the kids to fish. When it rains the water raises enough for some to escape into the creek. Even the wild ones we catch that were born in the creek are descendants from fish that escaped into the creek from a Hatchery fish operation that was on the spring in the 1920's. The hatchery was finally shut down in the 50's when they sold the property to Salvation Army. Pretty cool the fish have been able to sustain themselves for almost a hundred years without additional stockings in the actual creek.

Very true. I have to hold back with what I "want" when I step into the fly shop and only pick up the one or two things that I actually need. It looks worse than it is, mainly because it is packed in a very unorganized fashion. I just need to consolidate a few packs of things into one and that would eliminate a lot of the bulkiness as well, but I am looking at different sling packs now, especially with warmer weather coming this summer.

It was a fun few hours on the creek, and a good way to spend a Monday afternoon! And good Lord I need to buy a sling pack. All that gear that is stuffed to the gills is about to burst a seam in my vest! LOL (of course when I first started fly fishing last Fall I had nowhere near the amount of junk that I do now)

It was a great day on the water, and a fun time fishing with you, Vic! You're a class act and I enjoyed the time spent. I can confirm your estimate of it being a solid 16" fish that was full of energy and fight! You sure had him close. It's always the best ones that get away. I'm glad we were finally able to meet up, and yes, we will definitely have to meet up soon and catch some more fish!

Thanks, Bill! I brought more than 15 to hand. I honestly lost count because the lunker was the first catch and I was floating in the clouds after that. It was a ridiculous couple of hours to say the least. Conditions were ideal, pools and riffles were much deeper and wider, creating more habitat for the fish to spread out more. Usually I will catch at least two small fish per hole or run and the occasional larger fish, but his time it was more like 3 or 4 per, and what surprised me was most were 6-7 inches each. I typically fish a section that takes me about 4 hours to fish including walking back to the car and I only fished half of it, hoping that leaving some untouched territory would help someone else out. Hopefully someone was able to take advantage of it.

Awesome fish! That first one is a beauty. I need to give the Trout streams a break soon and hit some smallmouth creeks. Now I just need to figure out where to go and find some lol

And, yes, they can be caught as well. Even with a little nymph. The water was simply on fire and off the chain this weekend. He gave my 7'6" 5wt a work out it has never seen. I am sure glad I didn't take my friend's 2wt with me or I might have owed him a new rod!