snagged in outlet 3

Hey Jim. I got your PM's but I've been busy. Trout fishing in AR and bass fishing locally. I don't really chase them that much, just when I can't get away to trout fish. I haven't even been this year but I usually wait until it's so hot nothing else is active. It's getting that way now. I'll have to drive up and check my spots to see what's up. I don't really need help catching them since my honey holes are just filled with them. Maybe your friends could start posting here about there adventures? I may give it a go this weekend. I'll report if I do. Snagged

Hey Carpaholic. Check my story in the "Carp are starting to bite well" thread. I live in St. Charles in West St. Louis County and have been carping for a few years. When I see them suspeneded on top those fish usually won't bite. Try early or late in the day. I've always had my best luck in the evening because that's when I go. Give the corn another try. You don't mention if you chum first. Throw out the contents of a couple cans in the morning, or the day before, then go back in the evening and throw a little more out and fish. I use a big gulp cup to sling it out far enough. Best hooks are scud hooks, they don't pull out without hooking them and always gets them in the corner of the mouth. I use a quarter oz. bullet weight above a swivel with a 3X leader about 3 feet long and leave planty of slack in the line. When the fish picks up the bait the line slides through the weight and the fish doesn't feel it. You don't need to set the hook just come tight on them. If these fish haven't been chased you'll get them. I think the key is; chum them up, wait, then chum and fish. Good luck. Snagged

My trip to Taney got canceled but after seeing the bass Phill has been catching I just had to go somewhere. I was able to sneak away to a 55 acre lake today near my home in St. Charles. The lake is filled with stumps and standups. Didn't get to start till 11AM but the fish were active. Caught 35 to 40 fish in 4 hours during the middle of the day. I was surprised by the success with the change in weather. I think it only got up to 78 or so with a northeast breeze. I would have loved to have gotten out early and I plan to get over there again as soon as I can. Snagged.

I just got called and can't go now. "Every time I try to get out they pull me back in"... The weather looks awesome. Probably be fall before I can go again. Thanks Phil. Snagged

I just got an unexpected chance to get away and fish this afternoon till Wednesday morning. I was going to drive down from St. Louis this afternoon and camp. Anybody available to get together and fish? I'm a long time vet of Taney and would even do some bass fishing on Taney (my favorite) if somebody had a boat. Phil? that includes you. Thanks. Snagged.

Saturday fished McClellans in the morning and did great great on buggers and nymphs. Several fish around 17 inches. I think they fought harder this trip compared to the winter fishing I usually do. Taking to the air and cart-wheeling when hooked. Went to Rim Shoals in the afternoon and sweated out a few trout but it was HOT. Sunday morning went to BS dam to find it empty. We absolutely slayed them and went through the shoal twice with different patterns and just kept catching and catching. Around 9:30 or 10 a big group shows up and it's the Casting for Recovery ladies. My heart sank. Some of these ladies had a hard time walking and some even fished out of chairs in the water. I thought of all the trout my buddy and I had just caught and how much better the fishing would have been for those ladies had we not just hooked a bunch. I moved out to give them space and told the few guides around me that we caught a bunch using trout crack. I mean what can say after all the fish we caught? One lady with her guide asked me what I had success with and I told her, then she says "good luck today" I almost cried. John Berry was there helping out and that just shows what kind of man he is. Thanks John. I know those ladies appreciate everything you did. When I was walking out Sister Carol (I think she is the head of Casting for Recovering)came to me and said "I have to ask what you were using". She had apparently watched me catch a few on the far side of the river out of the way of the ladies. I told her in the last hour I was using cracklebacks and gave her some to pass out. She was very kind and said if even one fish was caught by one of the ladies it would be just great. Some of the ladies had never fished but just getting the chance to get out was rewarding for them I am sure. I said goodbye to Sister Carol and to tell John I gave them some flies. I said that so John would know me as a poster on this board. Great job John! Let us know next time as I would gladly help out. I'm not a guide but I can usually catch a few when I go. The last thing I told Sister Carol was I understood what the ladies go through after being diagnosed with breast cancer because my wife is a 7 plus year survivor. My wife had just given birth to our baby girl Dec. 17th 1998. On April 1st of 1999 she had gone to the doc about hardnes in her breast thinking she had a problem with a clogged milk duct after the birth. Well, with one mammogram Wham!!!! You've got cancer. 38 years old, after just having the one baby she had waited her whole life to have was just 4 months old. We were shocked. Anyway 7 and a half years later my wife is in Florida with our daughter visitng her sister and her two little girls. Girls trip to the beach while daddy chases trout doesn't get any better than that. My wife had a bunch of surgeries (I lost count) and 9 months of Chemo. She has had surgeries up to the last one in April of last year with another big scare but she is still here. I think the statistic is 1 in 7 women in the U.S. get breast cancer. With the help of our Lord and modern medicine a lot of little girls get to grow up with the much needed help and love of their mothers. I have never felt so bad about catching a bunch of fish as I did yesterday. Snagged.

Check out this site. http://ozarkanglers.com/useful.php Scroll down to the Corp-real time levels and generation. Click on Tablerock Lake. Click on Taneycomo under the Generation Chart. Hope this helps. Snagged.

Hey Troutn. I don't know where you're located but here in St. Louis we have The Ozark Flyfishers club. Lots of free clinics and classes and members that are more than happy to help you. Especially on an outing where you can hook up with someone and learn on the fly. Get it, "on the fly". I think yearly dues are $28 or something like that. They give free casting lessons by certified instructors before most meetings. Can't beat that. Anyway check for a local club. Snagged.

Hey Mocarp. I enjoy your reports. I live in St. Charles Missouri (west St. Louis metro area on the banks of the Missouri River)and was tired of driving 4 hours to chase trout so I started looking around here for something to catch. Sure we have some good bass fishing within an hour or so but I wanted something within 20 minutes so I could fish more than drive. I started driving around the Missouri River near my house and I found the sloughs off the river were literally loaded with carp and gar. Needless to say there was never anyone trying to catch these nasty things so I decided to give them a try. In the heat of the summer both species would cruise the sloughs in massive numbers when it was so hot you couldn't catch a bass during the daytime. At first I targeted the gar. Boy were they easy to catch but the fight wasn't that great even for a 3 footer. Next was the carp. I tried fly fishing for them but never had any success so I used the tried and true river rat method of chumming them up with corn. I figured if I could at least start catching some I would learn enough to catch some on a fly. I would drive up to the slough before work and throw out a couple cans of corn in different locations and return in the evening after work. I use a medium heavy spin casting rod with a fourth oz. weight above a swivel and a 2 foot leader of 10 pound flourcarbon and a scud hook. Couldn't hook them with a regular bait hook even when they would pick it up and swim off. Put on two kernels of corn and don't put the rod down. The good slough is just loaded with them and they range anywhere from 5 to 10 or 12 pounds. They fight just like redfish. Like you I have caught all kinds of fish including bone's and red's and carp fight just like a saltwater flats fish. Long line peeling runs and when you get them near shore they take off again. They put a bass to shame with the fight they put up. I was talking about it with some fishing buddies and they tried it and were surprised how well they fight. On a good evening you can catch them one after another till your tired of it. You'll wear out your line after 20 or 30 of them. Your line will be peeling apart. We call it happy hour but instead of going to the local bar we go to the slough. I take my wife and seven year old daughter up there a couple times a summer and they love it. Nonstop action with doubles almost the whole time. I told my daughter the difference between a fisherman and an angler is an angler can get one of those big carp in on a snoopy pole with 4 lb line and a fisherman can't. It takes her 10 to 15 minutes of longer but she gets it done. People always laugh when they ask her how big her biggest fish is and she holds out her arms all the way apart. Like she's telling a fish story. I can go up to the slough in 20 minutes and get my fill of fighting fish and be home just as fast. Lately I don't even go up early to chum. I just show up and throw out a can and get to fishing. The slough is so full of them it only takes a couple minutes to get the first one on. I love to trout fish but until they start showing up in the Missouri River I have to drive quite a ways to get them. In the mean time I get my fix with those carp up at the slough. I don't throw the can in water just the contents of the can. We sling it out with a big gulp cup. Anyway that's my carp story. Snagged in outlet three.

I have done a fair amount of redfishing and the info detailed above is right on. Both in Florida and New Orleans a gold spoon fly put them in the boat. Even used a spoonfly called the 9-11 fly. It was painted red, white and blue in honor of the victims of the 9-11 attacks. Those reds pounded that thing. I think if it wobbles they like it. Just buy a bonefish tapered leader around 9 feet long. Report your success when you get back. Snagged.

Hi Phil. Looks like a great day. How far is Kerr to Blunk? Hours? Can you rent canoes in that area? Thanks. Snagged.

Maybe somebody should tell Leonard. I think he's having a fish-in this week and they might be planning on staying at KOA. Snagged.

Hey DF. Have to agree with Terrapin, aluminum hatch does kill the bite more than people think. But hey, gotta do what you gotta do. For bass, crawdad cranks, small, orange and brown. Flukes, whatever color you like. Senko's. Once the first batch of clanging and clanking canoes goes through I recommend Budlight. But judging by your screen name you should be okay in that department. Binoculars wouldn't hurt, bikini hatch coincides with the aluminum hatch. Sometimes if your lucky the rare no-bikini hatch happens. Don't forget to post a report. Luck to you. Snagged.

These are some of the nicest people in the sport. http://www.missouritrout.com/weavers/index.htm Good luck. Snag

Hey Leo great report. I forgot about Carlyle. Went there a few years ago and never got a sniff. I went to the Missouri River behind the Lewis and Clark boathouse last week and dragged a rattle trap around the creek that comes in there. Nothing! How long does the bite last at Carlyle? Do you fish it often? Thanks, Snagged.

Mr Butts. I read the post above about how there doesn't seem to be alot of interest. Well I'm very interested in someplace reatively close to St. Louis to catch some. I was at Norfork Lake a couple years ago in April and they were catching some monster stripers in front of the marina just north of the dam. We were down there for a trout trip and just went to the marina to check things out. There was a bunch of guide boats trolling in front of the marina dragging big shad under ballons. We saw some guys hauling in some beauties and realized that the wind had stacked the shad up in that cove and the stripers were in there feeding. We tried to book a trip for the next day but every guide was full. I got hooked on the species during a trip to Newport RI. After 7 hours of catching stipers on flyrods I told the guide I was done. Only time I ever quit fishing when it was that good. My partner and I were wore out from reeling them in one after another. I find the species intriguing but hard to get on them when you have a 4 hour drive and no possibility of a spur of the moment trip. I have tried to hit the white bass run the past couple years around Branson but always got there only to be told "you should have been here last week or maybe next week". If I could find a place close to home I could spend more time trying to pattern them instead of driving. Do you know anywhere close to St. Louis to catch these rascals? I read somewhere that they are native to the Mississippi and Missouri rivers. Is that true? Have you ever heard of anyone catching them on the big rivers? If they are in the rivers would they make a run? If so, could you recomend some likely locations and technigues? I'm not asking for a spot on a map but what kind of strucure or location might they be found? I wouldn't turn down a spot on a map though, so if you have one it would be greatly appreciated. I live about two miles from the Missouri river and would love to be able to catch some close to home. Thanks in advance for any help. Snag.

I don't think they close them at all. But maybe I just go to sleep too early. I think people were coming and going all night though. Kinda weird to wake up and have someone camping right next to you and they weren't there when you went to bed. In fact I never saw anyone working the office ever in the winter. AHHHHH! night fishing in the spring! Good luck. Snag.

Yes you can. I spent a few nights there over the winter on different weekends. Best campsite in the state. I mentioned this before. Before Christmas the bathouse was shut down for rehab, don't know current condition. Snag.

I can't wait to get down there and test drive a couple. I don't want to buy it, just test drive it. First one to the top end of Bull Creek wins. My seven year old wants to drive one too. Snag.

I've had some for a while and they are deadly on all species. Illegal for sure as far as what I understand. They can not be beat in the salt. I'm sure trout would hammer em. Snag. Forgot to add this. If I were fishing the Rock or BS this spring for whites I would try these on a fly rod. These things will flat put bass in the boat sometimes. That is all. Snag.

Two years ago we pulled in to Lane Spring to check it out on the way back from Mountain Home. We walked the path to the creek and when we were sneaking up on it we saw 4 otters swimming up and down the creek. When they saw us they went to a downed log and hid behind it. In a small creek like that, 4 otters could desimate the trout population pretty quick. By the way, those were the first otters I had seen in MO since the reintroduction. They are big! Snag.

Man I wish I lived down there. Snag.

Kscatman. I agree with Lilley. You've got a good setup. The south wind will blow waves onto the north bank which will be warmed by the sun all day. I think early in the season you want to fish the banks with a southern exposure (north bank) because they will warm up first and the waves will only help. Post a report if you could, for all us guys that can't go. Snag.

Best steak, South Town Bar and Grill. South of Hollister exit on 65, east side of road next to KFC. Maybe Phill could recommend a place. Better yet, fish till you drop and sleep in the truck. Night time? Big ole bugger. Wish I was going. Snag.

Maybe I better come down and check myself. Better bring my flyfishing gear while I'm at it. Snag.