Al Agnew

Depends upon the species. This time of year, and especially with a relatively warm rain like this present flood is, a lot of fish actually use the high water to move upstream. Even though the currents are very strong, the fish can swim through them and use obstructions to cover a lot of territory. If you're talking about fish like smallmouth bass, they will usually get behind obstructions where they can ride the flood out. At least some of them get into the trees along the former banks and use major tree trunks as current blockers. They may even move far out into the fields to escape the current, but they are very sensitive to when the water levels start to drop, and seldom get trapped. Another place they often move into is the channels of small feeder creeks once the initial run-off out of those creeks subsides. Catfish will use the flood to get out into the flooded fields and forage. On Current River after our first big flood this year, I was hiking across the wooded bottom and came upon a little left-over pool about 15 feet by 4 feet by 8 inches deep, a good 50 yards from the river. There was a 14 inch trout trapped in it. That's very unusual for the typical native gamefish, but I suspect the trout might not have been so well-evolved to deal with floods.

Wow...lots of things to comment upon. First, the argument that bad habitat, pollution, otters, etc. are causing more harm to the game fish population that gigging so why worry about gigging. I don't consider that to be a very good argument. Yes, all that other stuff is a problem, BUT IF gigging is also a problem, something should be done about it the same as any other problem. The difference between gigging and EVERY other problem from pollution to habitat destruction to fishing pressure to keeping short fish is that gigging, if we assume for a minute that it IS a problem, is the only one that affects bigger fish specifically. Everything else either affects the entire fish population or affects mostly smaller fish (since nearly all anglers catch a lot more little ones than big ones). As for gigging helping the game fish by controlling rough fish, I still say that's not really true. Suckers and smallmouths have co-existed on Ozark streams for millennia. Suckers do not compete with smallmouths and other game fish for much of anything. Maybe they eat a few smallmouth eggs, although most of the suckers are busy with spawning at the same time the smallies are. But you could have a LOT of suckers in the rivers and you'd see no effect on the smallmouth population except POSSIBLY a bit of reduction in growth rates IF the suckers are eating too much of the stuff that forms the base of the food chain. The fact is that SOMETHING, or somethings, are having a bad effect on the smallmouth population when it comes to bigger fish. Most of our rivers have lots of smallies, but few big ones, especially compared to almost anywhere else. I've fished all over the country for stream smallmouths, and you'd be hard pressed to find a region that produces FEWER big (18 inch plus) stream smallmouths than the Ozarks. Is gigging the culprit? I can't prove it, but I still assert that there is circumstantial evidence...like all those big fish I see with gig scars. Even if the vast majority of giggers don't stick game fish, it only takes one boatload of doofuses on a night when the conditions are right to REALLY put a dent in the numbers of big smallies on a given stream stretch. I know, because I've been on the river at night when I could certainly have done it. There really needs to be some serious study of why the Ozark streams don't grow the numbers of big fish that rivers in other parts of the country do. That's why I'm advocating closing just one or two of the special management areas to gigging, just to see if it really is having an effect. Once that is done, and if the results show it IS a limiting factor, THEN it would be time to figure out what to do about it, whether it be shortening the season, better policing, more education...who knows? I'm not saying it's the only factor. Indeed, it may turn out to be not much of a factor at all. There are plenty of unanswered questions (in my mind at least) concerning the big fish shortage. Why do some streams with thriving otter populations still produce great fishing and good fish? Why, if most anglers catch and release almost exclusively, are the more heavily pressured streams so much worse fishing than the lightly pressured ones--it ain't like that with trout. Heck, maybe it's mostly a matter of simple genetics...Ozark smallie genetics may not be capable of producing large numbers of big fish.

I agree with Paola Cat...McCoys Mean Green is the best line I've used for lack of memory. Still has some memory after it's been sitting for a week or two on the reel without being used, but the memory is gone after the first few casts. Brianbarker...I am just the opposite as you, I never use braid on baitcasters but wouldn't use anything else on spinning. 2/10 or 4/15 Power Pro is my choice. I use the spinning tackle for all jig and soft plastic presentations, and find that not only are spinning rods the most sensitive for me, but using them with braid, the sensitivity is terrific. And the very BEST thing about braid on spinning tackle...line twist has very little effect with braid. Spinning tackle inherently twists line, no matter how careful you are about spooling your line and no matter what kind of lures you're using, etc. Braided line twists just as much, but the twist simply doesn't affect it's casting performance like it does mono.

Look guys, I've done some gigging and it's certainly a lot of fun. And suckers are great eating. And yes, most giggers don't stick game fish. BUT...the difference between gigging with current technology and fishing with current technology is that the technology only goes so far with fishing...you still have to be an excellent angler to consistently catch BIG fish like 20 inch class smallmouths. And you can release them more or less unharmed. And while on some streams I've gigged there are plenty of game fish, on some that I fish during the winter a very significant percentage of the bigger fish I catch have gig scars. As for there being an overabundance of suckers and other rough fish...I don't think that's what MDC says, especially when it comes to suckers. They consider suckers an "underutilized" species, but large populations don't do much, if any, harm to the resource. They wouldn't HAVE to be controlled to the extent they are with gigging (and grabbing). I'm realistic. Gigging is not going to be outlawed, and I don't really think it should be. However, I think it would be very interesting to do an experimental ban on gigging on a stretch of stream that has the potential of producing big smallmouths, and see what the effects are on the population of bigger fish. Maybe pick a couple of the smallmouth special management areas...after all, gigging IS banned in the blue ribbon trout streams. By the way...I have no problem with sucker grabbing. I used to do it a lot and it's great fun and it's VISIBLE.

The Gasconade is probably one of the best bets for catching some big flatheads, too. All the Ozark streams have flatheads, but in most they are fairly rare.

That's weird...when I was on it last night they had both graphs, but tonight they're not showing the cfs. One thing I didn't think about when giving the info above...I don't think the Windyville gage has been real-time for very long, so even if they do start giving the cfs again, the little triangles may not be very accurate. The more years of record a gage has (meaning the more years it's been in existence and thus the more years the flow for a given day has been recorded, the more the median flow will be likely to signify a "normal" level. Median flow means that, for all the years of record, half the time it's been higher than that and half lower. But if a gage has only had, for instance, three years of record, and two of those years it happened to be flooding on that day, the median is going to be a lot higher than what a normal flow would be.

Well...to tell you the truth, I don't really use the jet much in the summer. Most of the stretches I don't mind running seem to be pretty poor fishing compared to stream stretches that are too small for easy jetboat use. The Meramec below Meramec State Park is worthwhile all the way down to Moselle (mouth of the Bourbeuse) although you can have some tough days below St. Clair. There are some pretty nice stretches of the Gasconade below Jerome. And the Current above Van Buren can be nice as long as you can do it during the middle of the week when you won't be dodging too many party animals. Even so, Two Rivers puts so many canoes and other craft in above the mouth of the Jacks Fork that I don't feel real comfortable running up there even on weekdays.

Andy, quick lesson on figuring out what normal levels are... If you look at the graphs for the Windyville gage, you'll see two graphs, one is level in feet, the other is flow in cubic feet per second. On the flow graph, you'll see a series of little triangles, one for each day. Those triangles are the median river flow for that day, and a very good indication of what the normal flow is. So if you look at the flow graph on the Windyville gage, as of March 29, the flow was right around the little triangle. That tells you that the river was flowing at about normal for this time of year on that day. Now if you look at the graph that shows the level, you'll see that the level on March 29 was about 2.4 or 2.5 feet. So...2.4 feet or so is going to be the normal level for the river at this time of year, although you'll note that the little triangles are gradually getting lower. As of tonight, the river is flowing at about 4.6 or 4.7, so it's about 2.5 feet above normal.

One thing that I always consider, and wish more jetboat owners would consider as well...there are stream stretches that may be POSSIBLE to run, but that you probably shouldn't. If "you better know the river very well", chances are it's simply too narrow and too low volume for a high speed boat. I spent many years fishing only from a canoe before I got my jetboat, and I swore when I got it that I wouldn't "push the envelope" and run the smaller streams. I could probably run a lot of small water that I know very well, but I remember the way it always annoyed the heck out of me when some yahoo buzzed by me on a stream the size of the upper Piney, and how those boat wakes pounded the banks in the close confines of a narrow riffle and stirred up enough mud that I was on a muddy river for the next half hour, and I simply refuse to do it to others or to the rivers. So to be quite honest...I hope you don't try the upper Piney.

If you run the Meramec anywhere above the mouth of the Huzzah in normal to low summer water levels, you're taking a chance of sucking gravel at best, and hitting rocks or logs. The guys who really know the river can run it at less than 250 cfs on the Steelville gage, but I wouldn't do it if I didn't know the river well. I saw a guy running up in the trout water above Cardiac when it was really low, and even though he made it through the riffle where I was, it was a really stupid (and inconsiderate to others, including me) thing to do. I own a jetboat and I have run the river up to Garrisons (5 miles or so below Birds Nest) late fall to early spring, when I know there will be nobody swimming, tubing, or in rental canoes and rafts. There are a couple of very tricky rocky riffles above Garrisons that I wouldn't attempt unless the water is up above winter normal. And I won't run anywhere above Meramec State Park at Sullivan in low summer water levels, not because I can't (although there are some very shallow riffles above the park that are tricky) but because I don't care to dodge all the other river users. It ain't fun to have to shut down in the middle of a riffle because there are a bunch of kids swimming at the head of it that you couldn't see until you were in the riffle.

Yep, slight loss of sensitivity. But the main reason I avoid 2 piece casting rods is simply that sooner or later during the day, the join will get loose or even come apart. I'd rather not worry about it.

Glad to see others believe as I do that this big flood was long overdue and will result in better habitat. I'm looking forward to floating some of my favorite stream stretches and seeing how they've changed. Small floods move gravel from higher to lower spots, so they fill in pools. That's all we've had for more than a decade, and the rivers were showing it. A big flood like this one scours the pools, piles the gravel high on the inside of bends, and blows some of it out into the bottoms.

IF, and that's a big IF, you know where a pool is where the smallies spend the winter (they winter in specific pools on most rivers), you may be able to catch a few by walking the flooded shoreline and fishing the little eddies caused by obstructions along the flooded banks. The fish won't move from wintering pools until the water temps get up into the low 50s, so they have to be somewhere in those pools, and they will often move to the shorelines to seek out the most out of current places. However, if the water temps reach the low 50s, the fish will use the higher water levels to scatter to their spring and summer areas. If you want to try it, be careful. Stuff like jigs that you can drop into the eddies and fish slowly will probably be the best bet in lures. Don't expect to catch a lot of fish!

FWP is basically looking for anything they can do to both "control" wolf populations, and make the anti-wolf people a bit happier. I figure that things will settle down to where the parks have thriving wolf populations, but there will be darned few wolves outside the parks. I too was involved in the restoration effort...produced a couple of fund-raising posters that ended up raising a whole lot of money for education and for compensating ranchers for losses due to wolves. I've spent days watching the Lamar Valley pack in Yellowstone, and have found wolf tracks just up the side of the mountain from where our cabin is in Montana. I too rejoice that there are wolves in the West once again...it's a richer place with wolves in it.

At this point it shouldn't have an effect on the spawn. The water temps were still too cold for the fish to be really getting into spawning mode. These rains, however, were warmer, and this warm weather may bring water temps up enough that when the flood recedes the fish will probably move toward spawning areas. As long as we don't get a flood while the fish are actually spawning, or when the fry are just barely out of the nest, things should be okay. And not all smallmouth spawn at the same time, so even a badly timed flood may only partially damage the spawn.

Terry, I haven't figured out how to move pictures from other sites. Google Images has lots of pictures of the creek chubsucker...I think the ones from the Alabama game and fish site on Google Images shows the coloration well. As for chubs...There are two very common species in Ozark streams, the creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus) and hornyhead chub (Nocomis biguttatus). You can Google Image them, too. In the Elk and Spring river systems in SW MO, the redspot chub takes the place of the hornyhead chub...the two look very similar. All three of these minnows make very hardy and interesting aquarium fish. I've had them in my aquarium off and on for many years.

That stretch is marginal for jetboat use. You can run it during higher water periods like in the spring, IF you know the river. There are narrow, fast, twisty riffles that require precise maneuvering. I know there are people that run it when the water is right, but not many (and I think that's a good thing). It gets too low to run without significant risk of motor damage in the summer. I know that people occasionally run jets on the Piney as far up as Boiling Spring, but I think that mostly they put in and just cover a few nearby pools, rather than running long distances.

Well, the picture is a little blurry, But I'm pretty sure it's not a chub. It's a striped shiner, Notropis chrysocephalus. The large, prominent scales and the body shape are characteristic. They are very common in most Ozark streams, they get up to 6 inches or so long, and they readily strike flies. They also make great bait for big walleye! Zander...definitely not a chubsucker. I've seined a lot of them and they don't look much like this fish. And they almost never take a fly or bait. By the way...you might be wondering how come they are called "striped" shiners. There are usually faint horizontal darker bars running horizontally on their upper bodies and converging on their backs to make V-shapes, but the stripes are mostly visible only when they are underwater...you won't notice them at all holding the fish in your hand. They basically look just like common shiners (Notropis cornutus), and are very closely related to them. But common shiners are not found in the southern Ozarks. Also, interestingly, the striped shiner appears to be absent from the Gasconade River system, though found in all other Ozark river systems in MO.

Yep, just exercised them a bit before releasing them...I think they needed the work-out.

Fished at Tan Vat yesterday with a couple of buddies. Water was high and murky, visibility only a couple of feet. Sometimes that can mean good streamer fishing, but we found the fishing a little slow. However, I did manage to catch two nice ones on a couple of my homemade, not made to any known pattern, hare streamers. I'd say they've been eating well since the flood! That's probably why the fishing wasn't too good. I'm guessing that among the three of us we probably caught a couple dozen fish.

Excellent advise above. The one thing I want to stress is that you have to be able to sell...sell yourself and sell their products. You better be outgoing, sociable, able to talk to people both one on one and to large groups. You gotta be good enough to hold your own in big tournaments, but that won't be enough. Sounds like you're on the right track with the business and marketing degree. But figure that you need enough resources to do it on your own until you can prove your credibility, which may take years.

In looking over the various real time gages, the greatest rise I found was the Buffalo at the Hwy. 14 bridge... A 42 foot rise! Peak flow was 119,000 cubic feet per second (normal flow for this time of year at that point is about 600 cfs). The James had a 33 ft. rise at Galena. The Gasconade had a 32 ft. rise at Hazelgreen. The Meramec is just reaching peak--a 30 ft. rise at Meramec State Park.

Drove down to the St. Francis River at Tieman Shut-in (Millstream Gardens) this morning. At the time we were there, it had just started to drop slightly from a high of over 17 feet (14.5 feet above normal) at the gage a few miles upstream, and was flowing at 45,000 cubic feet per second at the next gage downstream. Here is what the river normally looks like: Here is what it looked like from the same spot today: Here is the entrance to Tieman Shut-in: Here is a close-up of the rapids...I'd say at least class 5 at this level, probably class 6 (limit of navigability): However, this is not the highest I've seen it. Here is a view during low water. Note the arrow pointing to the big rock: Here is today. Note the arrow pointing to the same rock: Here it is, same view, during the deer season flood of November, 1994. Note that the arrow points to the same rock...which is entirely submerged!

The rivers in the eastern Ozarks, as of the last hour or so, mostly have rises ranging from 14 to over 20 feet. Current River has a 20 foot rise at Van Buren, and that's a LOT of water. The St. Francis at the Hwy. 34 bridge above Wappapello is up nearly 21 feet. The Meramec is expected to crest within a foot or two of the all-time record. Big River has a 20 foot rise and still climbing. This could be a good thing in the end. Small floods, the kind we get almost every year and that are barely over bankful, simply move gravel into the deep pools and fill them in. That's all we've gotten in this part of the Ozarks since the mid-1990s, and our streams have been getting shallower every year. But a huge toad strangler like we're getting now blows the gravel all the way out into the bottom fields and piles it up on the insides of bends, while scouring out the pools. This should eventually improve the habitat, and since it's coming before bass spawning season starts, it shouldn't have a really significant effect on present bass populations in the streams. Wife and I plan to go out and look at the rivers in the morning...I'll post pictures.

Hard jerkbait...yep, you gotta fish them slowly when the water temps are below 50 degrees.