Lake Taneycomo
Phil Lilley, http://OzarkAnglers.Com
Where do I begin? Everyone knows about the drought… former, “x” drought. We’ve caught up in a big way the last few weeks. It doesn’t seem possible that just a month ago our lakes were 10 feet low, and we were experiencing July-type weather, temperatures in the 90s. Now it’s back to spring, and to be honest I’m very glad! I wasn’t ready for summer just yet.
Table Rock now has water to run this summer. Generation should be fairly normal, if there’s such a thing. Normal would be generation during power peak times such as hot days in June and July. The pattern is hard to predict, though. If rain continues, we could see generation brought on by high water conditions -- wouldn’t that be something! As I write, Table Rock’s level is jumping by 6-12 inches a day and is fast approaching power pool—915.0 feet.
For me to predict fishing conditions this summer is very, very hard. But it should be good fishing. The Missouri Department of Conservation will stock its usual 95,000 rainbows for each of the busy months. Although generation has been slight this year so far, trout in the trophy area have done every well. Reports of large rainbows being caught and released are numerous, ranging from 14 to 19 inches with several 20-inch-plus trout thrown in. Below Fall Creek, rainbows are smaller, but then you have the story of the 11.5- pound rainbow caught just a couple of weeks ago just above our dock. You never know!
Bill Babler first introduced me to the Micro Jig by Turner Jones several years ago. Then one little jig got real hot and has stayed hot over the past 12 months or so — the sculpin marabou with an orange head. Well, Bill bugged the people who make micros, and they finally gave him what he wanted -- a sculpin micro with an orange head. They were stocked in our shop just today! Bill has been fishing them and said they are fantastic. Yes, I know, another item to buy for the tackle box! Bill calls them “candy.”
We started tying Zebra Midges in green lately and doing well with them. Stan and Caroyln Parker at River Run Outfitters have been using them for quite awhile, and we’re just catching up. They are tied with green thread, green wire wrap and a brown collar-- we’ve just used brown thread for the collar- - tungsten head. Try it … you’ll like it!
Early dry fly action is showing up and what fun! Just like late summer and fall patterns, we’re finding large rainbows lurking close to the bluff banks above Fall Creek taking insects off the surface. Our Stimulators, Humpies and Elk Hair Caddis dries have drawn lots of interest the last three weeks and will continue to do so into the summer months, an added bonus we hope.
Once the water starts running and we can get a boat to the dam, I’m digging out the 1/8th ounce jigs and going to it! Those trout are hungry for something with substance, and a big sculpin jig is just what they want … at least they will think so. Bouncing egg flies off the bottom will be another hot item. I’m sure the guides will have a field day with this technique. It’s easy for even novice anglers, so guides use it religiously. More moving water means our bugs will do better and our trout will get fatter. All are good things.
Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery’s renovation is coming along. The project completion is set for April of next year. James Civello reports our brown trout were stocked early this year because of the lack of space. Ten thousand were stocked in February.
Shepherd has felt the pinch of low rainfall this year. Up until just the last couple of weeks, Shepherd has had to pick up the slack for Roaring River and other places due to low flow from feeder springs. But Civello said Roaring River’s spring has jumped from 4 million to 34 million gallons per day, saying that 30 million gallons is “normal” flow.
When asked about the brown trout broad stock, Civello said it would be very difficult to take any from the lake this fall because of construction and the absence of flow from outlet #3. He said they released some broad stock browns into the effluent system of the hatchery hoping to capture them for spawning in the fall.
Water release was a concern back in April because of the warmer-than-usual temperatures and lack of generation. So starting May 1, the Corps of Army Engineers released news that they would at least be releasing “fish water” equal to one unit running for one hour. They’ve pretty much kept that promise and then some. And with the increase in water level in Beaver and Table Rock, we should see normal releases throughout the summer.
Grand Lake
Ivan Martin, http://grandfishingreport.com
The lake is coming up! Great to have some fresh water coming in to flush out the lake.
I have missed a couple of days of fishing this week because of all the rain, but I just came in from checking a few spots out and caught fish every place I stopped.
The black bass are biting on a variety of patterns, but the best for me the last few days are a spinner bait on cloudy days and flipping the willows with a tube all the time.
The white bass are beginning to school on top in a few places on the lake, and just about anything will catch them when you find them on top. I have been catching a few good crappie in some 15-foot dropoffs. This is mostly morning fishing.
Minutes ago I ran into a friend on the water who was fishing for catfish. He said he had caught eight good blue cats in just the last hour anchored in the mid-lake area flats in about 10 feet of water.
The summer patterns are starting to show up, and it looks like a good summer of fishing is about to start.
See you on the water.
Norfork Tailwater
John Berry, http://berrybrothersguides.com
The summer forecast for the Norfork River is a mixed bag. Late spring rains have raised the lake levels. While they are still below power pool there should be some water available to generate during high temperatures. Earlier in the year, there was a question as to whether there would be enough water available to prevent a major fish kill. The wild card in the forecast is the Norfork Lake Overlook Estates development. An irresponsible developer has scalped a mountain overlooking the Norfork without any provision to control runoff. Every time it rains, tons of silt pour into the Norfork, turning it into chocolate milk. The Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality is on his case, but if he does not mitigate this disaster quickly, there could be irreparable damage to the best trout stream in the Southeastern United States.
That said the Norfork is still the best fishing in the area. The Sulphurs are on the way to producing some of the best dry fishing of the year. Make sure you have sulphur parachutes size fourteen to eighteen with you in June. After that hatch concentrate on terrestrials. You do not have to go to Montana to catch twenty inch and larger fish on that Grass Hoppers. This is my absolute place to fish Hoppers and Ants. Don’t overlook midge activity. There is midge action almost every day. Always carry an array of midges size twenty to as small as you can tie. The Norfork is one of the few places around that offers top water action on large fish.
Dry Fly Grand Slam
John Berry, http://berrybrothersguides.com
Here in the Arkansas Ozarks, a grand slam is catching all four species of trout (rainbow, brown, cutthroat and brook) that we have here in one day. It is a rite of passage for fly fishers and the best way that I know of to cap off a great day of fishing.
Last week, I was guiding a group of fly fishers for The White River Inn, the most luxurious fishing lodge on the White River. They had flown in on a corporate jet from Arizona and were as a group very experienced competent anglers. As luck would have it, they arrived in the middle of the Rhyancophilia Caddis hatch, one of our major hatches of the year.
The first day we fished on the White River and they did well. The weather was perfect. It was sunny with temperatures in the mid-seventies with no discernable wind. In the morning, we fished zebra midges and small olive scuds. About one o’clock the hatch started coming off. We quickly switched to size fourteen elk hair caddis with a green body and began picking up fish immediately. This was some of the best dry fly fishing I have encountered in some time. My clients caught maybe twenty five trout apiece mostly on the top with the largest fish being sixteen inches long.
The next day they wanted to fish the Norfork to try something different. We walked far into the Catch and Release area. I put Kenny in a nice run and rigged him up with a size fourteen green elk hair caddis. He requested a couple of extra dry flies and a woolly bugger in case he either lost a fly or wanted to try some thing else. I then took his fishing partner, Ray, up stream to fish one of my favorite spots. Ray is a bit older and his vision was not as good as Kenny’s so he was fishing nymphs with a large strike indicator and catching plenty of fish. I split my time between the two anglers.
As I was walking up to Kenny, he motioned for me to hurry up. I picked up the pace and arrived in time to help him revive a fat twenty three inch rainbow. I stayed with him long enough to watch him to catch a nineteen inch cutthroat and a fifteen inch brown. These and the other dozen or so trout that he had caught previously were all taken on the elk hair caddis. I walked back up to where Ray was fishing and helped him land an eighteen inch cutt.
By this time, it was past noon and we walked back to the access for lunch. I quickly set up the table and over sandwiches, chips and cookies; we discussed the events of the Morning. It had been one of the best days the guys had ever had. Moose Watson, the owner of The White River Inn, stopped by to check on us. Ray was tired from the constant action of the last two days. He returned to the Inn with Moose for a shower and a nap and Kenny and I returned to our spot and continued fishing.
We stayed with the elk hair caddis and were rewarded with several Cutthroats the largest being seventeen inches long. It was almost time to go and Kenny made his last cast of the day. The fly gently settled on the water and drifted a couple of feet when a trout rose and nailed it. Kenny quickly brought it in and I gently picked it up to remove the hook and release it. It was a small (eight inch) trout. I looked at it and noticed bright red spots with bright blue circles around them. I turned it over and noticed worm like markings on its back and white on the leading edge of its fins. It was a brook trout and judging by its intense color and full fins a wild one! I took me a moment to realize that Kenny had just caught a grand slam. It was the first grand slam that I knew of that had been caught on dry flies. This was the perfect way to end a special day.
Since then, I have discussed this with other guides and anglers. I learned that my brother Dan had a dry fly Grand Slam some years ago and that George Peters, a local guide, had done it this year on the White River (they both favor dry flies and long casts). We all agreed that this was the first time that they had heard of a client achieving this milestone. So if you want to set an angling goal for your self, think about seeking the elusive dry fly grand slam. I’m working on mine!
You Might be a Trout Bum if…..
John Berry, http://berrybrothersguides.com
I have heard the term “trout bum” bandied about quite a bit. Heck on occasion, I have even been called one. However, I am not sure that I know exactly what one is. I took it upon myself to investigate this term. I read the very insightful book by John Gierach on the subject. I traveled to the various places where trout bums congregate. I went fishing on the Madison, the Deschutes, the Henry’s Fork, the Green, the San Juan, the Yellow Stone and every other trout stream where I thought I might learn something useful on the subject. I attended National Conclaves, Southern Conclaves, Sow Bug Roundups, and the “Home Waters” Expo. I visited lodges, fly shops, bars and fishing cabins. I have talked to countless anglers. Sadly, I am unable to find a succinct definition. What I was able to identify from all of this learned research is that there are certain indicative behaviors that can predict whether you are a trout bum. The more of these that you exhibit the more likely it is that you are one. I have listed a few of these indicators below.
If your cat is named Winston and your dog is called Lefty, you might be a trout bum.
If your family had to eat Christmas dinner on TV trays because your dining room table is set aside for fly tying, you might be a trout bum.
If you missed the birth of your first child because it coincided with the start of the sulphur fly hatch, you might be a trout bum.
If your fly tying vise cost more than your automobile, you might be a trout bum.
If one or more of your children were conceived on the back seat of a drift boat during a lull in the salmon fly hatch, you might be a trout bum.
If your wedding reception was held in a fly shop, you might be a trout bum.
If your wife wants to do something romantic on your anniversary and you take her night fishing, you might be a trout bum.
If she thinks you finally hit a home run with that idea, she might be a trout bum.
If you have ever worn a fishing shirt to a funeral, you might be a trout bum.
If Wapsi or Orvis makes more than three deliveries a week to your home, you might be a trout bum.
If you can identify every insect you encounter on the river with its complete scientific name (in Latin) but can’t remember your children’s names, you might be a trout bum.
If the only time anyone has seen you cry was when you broke the tip on your bamboo rod, you may be a trout bum.
If your greatest fear in life is that when you die your wife will sell your fishing tackle for what you told her you paid for it, you may be a trout bum.
This list is by no means complete. I would not be concerned unless I exhibited more than five indicators.
Have one of your own that you would like to share? Send it to me at http://berrybrothersguides.com .
Table Rock on the Rise
Bill Babler- http://whiterveroutfitters.com
The rains finally came. The rock has jumped up about 12 feet in the last 10 days. This should bode very well for all the baby bass fry that are getting ready to come into their new and dangerous world. Lots of hiding holes, bushes, rocks and stumps to give these tiny carnivores a place to get life started off in the right direction.
It has, however, thrown some of us bass chasers into somewhat of a quandary. We had them pretty much locked in at about 12 feet, but now with the rise in water, it has put most of the fish in that 12- to 24-foot range, making them a lot harder to catch.
Now that the spawn is on the downswing, summer “bassin’” is due to start most any day. May, June and early July will find lots of transition fish moving from spawning to post spawn patterns and feeding as heavily as possible.
With the rise in the water, look for bank fishing for the next couple of weeks to get fairly good. Jig flipping bushes and shallow docks should net some nice fish. It's time to pick up that spinner bait and use it in the same locations. Top water poppers and buzz baits in the back of pockets with floating debris can be very deadly.
Now is also the time for the kentuckies and the whites to start chasing in the major cove mouths and off main lake points. Early and late great top water action can take place in these types of locations. Low light and low boat traffic keep the fish on the surface longer. Midweek is always the best time for the top water action.
Very good presentations for these fish include rattle traps, inline spinners, Chug Bugs, spooks and fins. Grub swimming under or through the shad will also produce very good results. If you are targeting the whites, use flashier baits. They will bite the grub, but spoons, traps and inline flashy spinners will get far more takes.
As the kentuckies get down after there morning romps, they will be available on the long points on a drop shot, or where you have seen them chasing in the early mornings. I usually put a swivel on my main line and then attach another six-foot section of eight-pound test as the leader. In this leader I tie with a Palomar knot a no 1 drop shot hook, hooking up about two feet down from the swivel. If the hook wants to turn down, just rerun the tag end of the line back through the eye and it will turn the opposite way. Another two feet down, I tie an additional hook and then fasten a drop shot weight to the end. The two- hook method gives you two different depths, plus it also, even with the swivel, helps keep twists out of your main line, which is a problem with the drop shot.
I am a huge fan of Chompers drop shot worms in either sand or plum. I will also use Zoom Finesse worms in watermelon candy and Zoom's double dead ringer in green pumpkin.
You need to just use this double rig on the flats or points where there is not much problem with hanging up. If I am fishing trees, I just use 1 worm and shorten my leader to about three to four feet.
Early is the key; get out by 5 a.m., looking and working the top. I may hit as many as 10 locations in the first couple of hours, looking for active fish. As the sun hits the water, slow down and go to the drop if you’re not flipping a jig at the bank. Keep that top water handy as action can present itself at anytime.
I pulled up to another guide boat one July morning while he was fishing a deep point and asked if he or his clients had seen any top water fish. He said “Gosh no, it's 10 a.m. what are you thinking?” Just as he made the remark, fish started blowing up all over the point. My folks were ready with Chug Bugs and he had put up his top water rods. We had eight fish before he had even retrieved his rods. The feeding frenzy ended as fast as it started, and his clients didn't catch a one. We caught 12, so be prepared at all times.
Early summer is a comin’ and we’ve got some new water to fish. Get on out and see if you can find ‘em!
From OzarkAnglers.Com Forum (OAF)
Bill Babler is commenting on keeping bass in Table Rock Lake-
In the last 15 years I have taken out people who have came up rough and believed anything they caught was due them. It probably was. If you are a fisherman and like to eat bass, by gosh do it. My folks never met a fish they wouldn't eat. Their theory was their catch was their property
I have cleaned trout, crappie and white bass for clients who just had to have them, but about 90% never ate the fish. There is always an excuse – “they went bad” or “my wife won't let me fry fish in the kitchen and we threw them away.” Only about 10% of returning clients keep the fish the next year; they only want the fun of catching them.
A few years ago up at the knob, I saw a guy trolling a flat catch a huge brown fish. I motored up to him to see what it was, thinking it was a fantastic walleye. I weighed the fish on my scales –- it was a six-pound, 10-ounce smallie. He hadn't put it on a stringer yet, so I offered him a small legal walleye and 10 really nice whites, if he would throw it back. He said that even if it were the last fish swimming in the lake, it was his to eat, and he told me where to get off. He told Bryant Ward the same thing a few days later when he was arrested for keeping short bass.
If you believe for 1 second that the bass limits on Table Rock Lake are set for population maintenance and control, I have a wonderful piece of lakefront property in Arizona you can buy cheap.
After the fish kills in ‘99 and 2000, I asked the lake biologist why we just didn't lower the limit or close the season. He said if the decisions were up to him, steps would be taken, but the economic losses would be in the $100s of millions. Everything in this area is geared to Table Rock bass, from manufacturing to sales, fuel, lodging and national exposure. To say that the lake had a bass shortage and adversely affect any of the above would be catastrophic to the region. The bass is the king. If we suffered a similar ordeal with the crappie, the crappie limit would be dropped dramatically, as there is very little economic pressure on the fish, and a reduced harvest would have been used for population incensement. The common view is that crappie is a consumption fish, but bass are sport fish.
The biologist said the powers that be would not have it. Any idea to change the limits or status of bass would not be heard. The Missouri Department of Conservation’s number one management tool for Table Rock bass is that more than 90% of the bass fisherman practice catch and release. This is the tool that the MDC uses to justify the creel limits. The conservation officials realize that we are just not going to kill all those fish.
As far as removing 100s of pounds of kentuckies bass to lower the competition for forage on table rock, nothing could be further from the truth. You take out 100 pounds, and it is gone forever. The caring capacity of predators in the rock is far below the forage base.
As far as the kentuckies dieing before they reach the legal length limit, Sam is right. Actually the majority of all three species die well before 12 inches since they are at that time on the lower end of the food chain.
MDC did a five- year study on kentuckies and found that the majority of the kentuckies that reached the 12-inch mark, did make it to 15 inches. They also found that removing the fish between 12 and 15 inches took a valuable predator that consumed threadfin shad from the already narrow predator base. That is why they refused to lower the limit size to 12 inches -- Table Rock needed the fish.
It was also found that while slow growing, the life span of the kentuckies was extremely long. Females were able to spawn into their teens and add new recruitment to a lake that had suffered two major fish kills.
Although there is some overlap in territories, the three black bass species operate with totally different intentions. All, at times, can be caught in the same areas on the same baits, but you can also catch and fish for each of the subspecies using particular lures in home ranges of the species that really segregate the three.
Kentuckies prefer to occupy deep offshore structure and love to suspend in cove mouths over deep water, and they love company. They are threadfin eaters. It is not uncommon to catch them schooling and chasing shad in 150 to 200 feet of water, on the top. That’s not really the preferred location for largemouth or smallies. Kentuckies, for the most part, are not ambush feeders; they are chasers.
They can live everywhere and nowhere; they are nomads, unlike a largemouth that lives in a particular cove or area the majority of the time, and a smallie that lives on state park beach. These guys like to travel. A few years ago, I caught the same fish three times. I recognized her from a completely cut off top fin, and a huge slash on her tail. I caught her the first time off Wolfpen on a fin. A couple of weeks later, I caught her on a split shot at Campbell Pt., and later in the year I caught her on a hump up the white. There was no mistaken identity possible because she was clearly marked. Three different clients had a wonderful time catching her, and as far as I know she is still swimming.
The actions of kentuckies at times resemble a walleye. Channel swings, mid-lake and deep humps hold these excellent fighting fish. They also love to push the threadfin to the top over these humps where they can separate the schools for forage. Again, where there is one, he usually has a friend or two close by.
The largemouth bass is the ultimate ambush feeder. Large portions of its daily diet are comprised of blue gill, crappie, sunfish, frogs, other bass, small turtles and crawfish. He is the top predator in his” hiddy hole.” While it is not uncommon to have several largemouth in the same area, he generally can be a loner. Largemouth prefer cover and water depths not nearly as extreme as the kentuckie;, however, they will adapt as temperatures fall in the winter and move away from the bank. That is why the river stretches of the lake hold the majority of these fish.
To even remotely think that removing portions of any of the bass species would enhance or add to the range of the others disregards how these fish operate. It would not happen.
The Oklahoma Fish and Game a few years ago did an experiment introducing Florida Strain largemouth to Grand Lake. It was a total failure in the aspect that, even though introduced as fry, and larger fish, they had no capacity to move off shore to deeper water in the winter. The Florida strain is an extremely shallow water predator and simply could not or would not adapt to deep water. As the forage base moved to deeper water or thermo cline and the Florida boys did not follow, they largely died off once the summer base forage was depleted in late fall.
Smallies on the rock love flat gravel and all the goodies that are found there. They not only will nibble any shad that comes by but love the crawdaddys that live in these areas. They are also huge consumers of insects and small invertebrates, along with shore minnows and any unlucky tadpole or critter that falls from above. They are now and have been for years found over the entire lake system, mostly in separate areas from the other two species. They love flat gravel with no structure on it. Just wide open shallow flats. Not enough cover for the hiddy hole largemouth and not enough water over their heads for the kentuckies.
Table Rock Lake Fishing Report
Bill Babler- http://whiterveroutfitters.com
Lots of guide trips this week on the rock, some very successful and some not so much.
With the big lake rise, it had kind of put me in a quandary until today. Don't know if it was just dumb luck or what, but 37 bass with 12 keeper size on my trip Thursday morning 4 hour swaray. Previous 6 days I had only been able to come up with 110 fish. With under 25 keeper size fish.
Would like to tell you guys how and where, but it was just so spread out that I don't have a clue of a pattern, except they bit everything we threw except top water. Fished from Kimberling to almost Shell Knob and about every bank we stopped on, something came off. Smallies were in the under 15 ft. range and kentuckies the same to 30 ft. on the drop shot. Fish were really spread out and could only catch 1 to 3 per spot, so as you can guess, that’s lots of spots in 4 hrs. I started at Ahoy's and fished clear to Hobb's Hollow at the Knob. We are covering lots of ground. 90% of the fish were on the centipede.
Here is what some of the lakes top pay for play guys are doing. They are averaging about 18 to 24 fish per 4hr. trip. Most are fishing two clients. About 35% of their fish are at or above 15 inches.
Tim Paige, Buster Loving and Tim Sainato. Point 5 to Cricket Creek Marina.
Paige, is sticking with a split-shot rig centipede in watermelon candy. Bass are coming from mid-lake humps, channel swings, and long gravel points. Depth range right now is extremely hard to pinpoint. Tim said the smallies are coming under 14ft. and the spots in the 24 to 26 ft. range.
Sainato, Same area fishing long gravel points and a lot of community guide banks in the 18 to 26 depth range catching nice spots on shaky head worms and big tube baits in green pumpkin.
Buster is being Buster. He could catch a keeper in a bathtub in Alaska. Buster is still swimming the grub a bit, as he is still catching some really nice gogs (goggleye) on the grub and also a green pumpkin centipede. Said he is putting the boat in about 26 ft. and fishing really slow. Smallies are a bit shallower than the spots with the spots coming in that same 24 plus foot range. He is catching his fish on secret locations numbered 1 thru 7, I know a lot of them but would not be caught dead fishing his spots.
If word got out that it was even mentioned, I would have to move to Arizona.
Kimberling Area to Shell Knob,
Bill Beck, Bill is one of the really good guys on the rock, if he can help you he will. And most of the time he has a tip or two for his bud's.
Most of his top water bite, which was really good, has dried up a mite and he is fishing the same centipede on long sloping gravel points and mid-lake humps. His fish are kentuckies and are coming in the 24 to 26ft. range and most of the smallies are coming in the 10 to 16 ft. range. Most everything that Bill has been on is still that flat gravel, next to deep water or channel swings. Bill also reports that the football jig is starting to catch some of these deeper fish.
Bill Babler, I'm not in the category of these guys but here is where I am stumbling on a few of those green slimmer's.
Dam to Kimberling. Flat gravel adjacent to any major main lake of channel swing. Kentuckies are coming in the 24 ft. range and smallies a little less. Secondary points in major spawning coves. Follow the long secondary points out to the 30ft. depth range looking close at your electronics for shad or suspending post-spawn fish. If they are on the bottom you can split shot the centipede. If they are up a ways, try a drop shot with a plum chomper dropshot worm. Worked really good on Sat.
Kimberling to Shell Knob, I am catching some post spawn fish in the back of pockets of flat gravel in the middle of the pockets in the 26 ft. range. If there are shad present and the wind in blowing into these large main lake pockets, look out. Also in the same type locations as my buds. Check out the flats at Joe Bald, lots of nice fish, coming off these flats.
Shell Knob to Eagle Rock, Fish seem to be on a little chunker stuff up there. About the same depth but I like a little chunk in the gravel. There is a lot more chasing and schooling action in this area. From what I understand there has been a good bite in the Kings early in the mornings on the 5/16 Black and Blue Jewel Jig. Up in the Royal Point and Deer Bluff areas of the Kings.
I don't know how many of you guys ever look at a topo map, but if you haven't, now is the time. Look for those main lake humps on hard turns in the main channel. You can fish either the inside turn or the outside turn on the flat gravel, where it dumps into the channel and there will be fish there.
Most of the kentuckies are deeper than the smallies. Smallies, are still coming for me in these areas in under 15ft. I have not tried the bushes yet, but would love a report on anyone who has.
They should be there, but it looked to me that the lake dropped a couple of inches. If it continues to drop, they will not stay there at all.
News Bits –
Improved Ramp, Table Rock Lake
SKMO - Not sure if anyone is interested but Hickory Hollow Resort (the old Ackin Back Resort) has taken advantage of the low water and improved their slab ramp. This is located way up the Kings approximately 3 miles from the 86 bridge. If you are wanting to fish in this area it will save you about 9 miles of boat driving from the Viola ramp. They charge 2 or 3 dollars to use their ramp, with the water low and gas high it is worth considering if you want to fish this part of the lake.
New Maps on upper Table Rock
http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/james_baxter-area.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/kings-area.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/campbell-area.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/losthill-area.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/Mill_Creek-area.pdf
http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/Mill_Creek-area.jpg
http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/Big_M-area.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/holiday.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/beaver.pdf
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http://ozarkanglers.com/trmaps/beaver_dam.pdf
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Gravel Mining on Crooked Creek
May 10, 2006
Yet another assault on Crooked Creek. We need to write letters again.
A notice appeared in the Mountaineer Echo May 4 that an administratively complete application seeking a stream-bed mining permit for operation on Crooked Creek located in Sections 3 and 10, T 18 N, R 16 W …submitted to ADEQ …by Mountain Home Concrete, Inc. “Layton Mine.”
Same deal as before it is necessary to write request for a hearing within 10-days. Requests need to go to James F. Stephens, Chief, Surface Mining and Reclamation Division, ADEQ, P.O. Box 8913, Little Rock AR 72219-8913.
Open Letter from Conservation Federation of Missouri
Good morning, Friends of Citizen lead conservation in Missouri,
My e mail today is a plea for your immediate action. SB 1107 to legalize handfishing statewide has made it through the Missouri Senate and through House committees for Conservation and Natural Resources and Rules. WHEN it gets turned in this week (note I did not say IF it gets turned in this week) it will promptly be scheduled for floor time and then I expect it to pass through the House by a wide margin for perfection. Next it would be offered to our Governor for his possible signature into Missouri law.
CFM has resolutions in opposition to handfishing. Furthermore, a handfishing season established by our legislature would establish a very, very, very dangerous precedent. This could open the door for all sorts of things in the future: deer seasons, bag limits, you name it...whatever a local constituent of a legislator might desire at the moment.
Since 1937, when CFM lead the way in the establishment of the Missouri Conservation Commission as stewards of forests, fish and wildlife, there have been many legislative attacks on this authority provided by citizens via our Missouri Constitution. This threat is serious. This threat is immediate. This threat will require your personal action and that of as many folks as you can recruit to stop.
Call, e mail or FAX your Missouri Representatives immediately! Tell them you are opposed to SB 1107. Tell them you expect them to vote against SB 1107, whenever they get the chance. Please ALSO copy the Speaker, Rod Jetton, and the Majority Floor Leader, Tom Dempsey, on every single communication you send. Make it your goal to touch every single member of the Missouri House to voice your opposition to this bill.
The outspoken minority who has brought the handfishing season through this path has been very effective. They have worked hard to promote their agenda. We have enormous strength, when all of us are unified. Speak as one, speak now: let science and the Conservation Commission continue to take care of forests, fish and wildlife, keep politics out! The legislative session ends on this Friday at 6 pm. Contact as many representatives as possible immediately.
Respectfully yours in conservation,
Dave Murphy, Executive Director
Conservation Federation of Missouri
Schedule of Events
Kid's Fishing Fair
Lake Taneycomo, Shepherd of the Hills Hatchery's Shelter House
Saturday, June 10.... It's free! 417-334-4865 for more info.
Meramac Kid's Day
May 20 at the park.
http://justtrout.netfirms.com/index.html
BULL SHOALS on The White River!
Missouri CAGI on June 24th
http://carpanglersgroup.com
Float information-
Buffalo River
Buffalo River Canoe Rental and Outfitters
http://buffaloriveroutfitters.com/
http://gilbertstore.com/
http://buffalorivercanoerental.com/
http://dillards-outfitters.com/
http://buffaloriverlodge.com/
http://silverhill65.com/
http://buffaloriver.com/canoeing/
Eleven Point River Canoe Rental and Outfitters
http://11pointcanoe.com/
http://missouricanoe.org/eleven.html
http://hufstedlers.com/
http://www.missouricanoe.org/richards.html
http://ozarkanglers.com/11point/
http://elevenpointriver.org/
http://nps.gov/rivers/wsr-eleven-point.html
http://missouricanoe.org/elevenpoint.html
http://missouriscenicrivers.com/Elevenpointriver.html
http://southwestpaddler.com/docs/elevenpoint.html
http://ozarkconnections.com/floatkit/eleven.htm
http://ozarkbackpacking.com/11point.htm
http://ozarkchronicles.com/waters/MO/eleve...npointriver.htm
http://missouritrouthunter.com/ElevenPointRiver.htm
Stories from OAF
Featured forum – Eleven Point River
Scooper - The first time I floated the Eleven Point was with my Dad about three weeks after I graduated from high school in 1973. About 10 days earlier I had caught the largest trout in my life--a 5lb 14 oz. rainbow at Bennett Springs. Caught her on one a crudely tied #12 "weighted wooly" (it would be called a wooly-booger now) with lead wire around the hook, covered with brown yarn and a short brown marabou tail. I was throwing this home made fly with an ultra light and two-pound test line. She was caught in the pool above the dam, while I was standing on the dam. It was a three-ring circus trying to land her, I almost went over the dam! Fortunately, my little brother was there with a net and we managed to get her in.
Anyway, I digress...Back to the Eleven Point....So my Dad and I hit the river early on a Friday morning at the Highway 19 access. No one was at the access and we had the river to ourselves, except for a group camped next to Mary Decker Shoal. It was a beautiful early summer day, not too hot and mist was rising off the water. What a beautiful Ozark stream. We caught a few fish here and there, enough to keep our interest.
A little ways past Mary Decker Shoals, we hit a nice stretch of deep, moving water with plenty of cover. I made a few casts, throwing a small brown jig. Nothing. I made one last cast as we drifted through, and as our canoe started to drift down stream from my line, I began reeling fast in order to get my line back in the canoe so that we could paddle down to the next hole. The jig was about 10 feet from the canoe, skittering across the surface when this HUGE rainbow came "out of nowhere" and slammed it. I screamed to my Dad, letting him know that I had hooked into a lunker. He maneuvered the canoe into the middle of the stream, so that I would have best chance to land the monster. After about a two-minute fight, she broke off. Lesson learned though; I had failed to switch my line from the Bennett Springs trip, and still had 2 # test in my reel. Never made that mistake again, but of course, I've never again hooked a rainbow that big again either.
We've been back to the Eleven Point off-and-on over the years. I did catch a three pound rainbow there once, sometime in the late 1970s. I think our last trip was in about 1992. The fishing was slow then, and we haven't been back, but would like to again some day. It is, in my opinion, the "wildest" and most beautiful stream in the state.
