FishnDave

178 boats! I don't follow tournaments....is that normal? I can't quite wrap my head around what that would look like. This, maybe?

One member of the 2-man team flyfished only, and contributed half of the winning fish. It won't always be a good idea, especially if the fish are in 30'+ of water. But pretty cool they gave it a shot at this tournament, and beat out 177 other boats! https://fishsecrets.com/fly-fishing-team-wins-178-boat-bass-tournament-out-fishing-conventional-tackle-teams/

@Gavin Is your mailbox full?

My wife and I did drive thru Forest Park this past weekend. Just sight-seeing to get out of the house for awhile. I didn't stop at any of the lakes. I haven't made it that far west yet...I don't know what is in that area. Research time! I waded that Huzzah one day this past Fall. It was a good-looking stream...water was low at the time. Is that worth trying, or do most of the fish leave the stream and overwinter in the Meramec?

I think the lakes and ponds around StL have frozen over...right? They were freezing over a couple weeks back when I last fished. I gifted all my icefishing gear to my buddy Jay in Iowa before we moved to MO. Ice shack, electric ice auger, flasher, rods & reels, lures, jigs, plastics, ice scoops, spud bar, propane space heater...everything. Didn't think it would get used much here, the ice probably doesn't get to a safe thickness very often. Jay sent me some pictures of bass he caught thru the ice yesterday. I need to get out and catch something! So, what do you guys do in the winter here around StL? Do you fish moving water instead? What does that look like? I've never fished for Smallies in the Winter. Back in Iowa, the smallies would mostly quit hitting once the water dropped below the 50-55 degree range (ok, I know they never completely stop feeding). They also would disappear to their over-wintering holes, and we'd leave them alone. What sort of fishing should I be doing this time of year? Anything worthwhile within a couple hours or less of a drive from StL?

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/forum/23-buy-sell-trade/

Nope. I'm sure I didn't even know what flyfishing was back then. I certainly didn't know anybody that did it, and probably hadn't seen anyone do it in person. I first tried flyfishing probably around 1998, give or take a couple years. Did it intermittently for a year or two, then stopped. Then tried it again starting around 2007, and got hooked! 😁

Looking through a couple old fishing photo albums I discovered during our recent move to MO...I found a picture I forgot existed! The summer after graduating from High School in 1986, a school chum invited me to come along and visit his grandparents who lived near Kimberling City, close to Table Rock Lake. My friend's grandpa took us fishing at Taneycomo. I'd forgotten that I'd ever been there! Caught my first trout.

It can be done! I've caught a couple on flies.

This is a very real issue. I was the elected President of a fishing club, and with our urging, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources was able to get bluegill and crappie bag limits placed in the Fishing Regulations. I was also part of a very small team of anglers working with the Iowa DNR and a local city that had over 20 public ponds under their umbrella of management. We looked at this issue very seriously. We got signs with regulations posted at various ponds. But the regulations were mostly targeting the bass populations. The DNR didn't think we could be more restrictive on these pond bluegill populations than what the state regulations were. Throughout my lifetime of over 50 years, 10" bluegills have been extremely rare. Some may have not gotten measured, but ones I know for sure....probably number....4 or 5. When waters I've fished over many years begin to show bluegills exceeding 9", folks start keeping them, and that water becomes ruined within one season. Male bluegills on their nests are probably the easiest fish in the world to catch. Several bluegill management articles I've read and seminars I've attended clearly state that the spawning male bluegills must be protected. There's few methods of management that can help. As mentioned in the article linked above, put restrictive bag limits on harvest of bluegills. But that doesn't really help smaller waters or high pressured waters. Harvest will still be too high. And the bigger fish are often removed first. Or put a length limit on them...like: all bluegills over 8" must be released. Most people don't want to clean bluegills under 7-8"...there just isn't much meat on fish that small. A "restricted season" probably wouldn't work....since bluegills often spawn more than once during the year. Spawning males would still get harvested. One good management would be to only allow harvest of female bluegills. That could work really well. The problem is expecting casual anglers to be able to identify the gender of a bluegill....when most can't even tell the difference between different sunfish species. One friend that is a retired small town doctor has earned access to many farm ponds near his community. He is all about harvest. He keeps ALL crappies he catches. He keeps a few smaller bass. He keeps bluegills, but releases those over 9". He shares his catch with the landowners and others in the community. They all love him. His management technique seems to work very well. But he is often the only person fishing these ponds, so that makes it easy to keep tabs on total harvest. This might not work as well on waters that get harvested by more anglers. It seems like fishing club anglers I knew, most had a disdain for pursuing bluegills, except during the ice-fishing season. Then they were the #1 target species. Go figure. After some education on bluegill management, most of the club anglers would self-regulate their catch, releasing bluegills over 8", and just keeping the smaller fish.

That's great! 👍 He's ruined! He'll never enjoy a bluegill the same way again. 😅

Those are some great fish to have as PB's! Congratulations!

This is gonna be good! I'm gonna grab some popcorn. My prediction.....you're gonna make it in 2021! 👍

What's your favorite flies for Ozark stream smallmouth? This has probably been talked about before...but I know my favorite selections seem to change over time. Some flies that worked really well for me in sand-bottomed streams in Iowa (not many crayfish), were Blockhead Poppers, Conehead Kiwi Muddlers, chartreuse Woolly Buggers, F-C Pearl Shiner, and was starting to catch more on GameChangers. With the Ozark rocky-bottomed streams, it makes sense that crayfish are a more common food item here, and I should add some to my fly boxes. Crayfish fly patterns can be pretty simple, or rather complicated. What are some favorites?

Pretty sure Sunday was the last fishing trip of 2020 for me. Went to a nearby park with a trout-stocked pond. The pond was about 65% covered with a thin layer of ice. The open areas were mostly near submerged aerators. Managed to land 5 trout. Mostly pretty chunky, I wonder what they are eating? Decided to go look at the creek that was high and muddy last time I fished it. This time it was low and more clear. Caught a nice creek chub.

Small spoons and jigs certainly catch fish pretty well in the winter time, even if the water is covered with ice. The one above and one below are of the same fish. 21.5". Caught February 16, 2020.

Yes, you have given me some great tips, thank you! I’d like the Lake Trout to be on fly, but they are rarely in water shallow enough for that... So I’ll probably have to take the first on one whatever tackle is required at the time. Catching one thru the ice would be cool, pardon the pun.

Snakeheads would be fun! Speaking of S. FL, have you gotten Peacocks, Oscars, Tilapia, Jaguars, Mayan Cichlids, etc? I didnt get a Jag yet.... and tarpon of any size would be cool.

My 2021 Goals: 1. Fish with @Ham . 2. Fish with @BilletHead for Koi and Catfish. 3. I’m not going to set a species number goal, but there are some species I’d like to add to my Flyfishing Life List: -Longnose Gar -Blue Catfish -Redspotted Sunfish -Chain Pickerel -Warmouth -Flier -Bowfin -Flathead Catfish -Musky/Tiger Musky 4. Some species I hope to catch on flies in MO this year that I’ve caught elsewhere but haven’t caught here yet: -Brown Trout -Rock Bass -Black Crappie -Hybrid Striped Bass 5. And a longshot goal.... I wanna catch a Lake Trout. I never have. I don’t really know where a good place to go would be. Great Lakes? Probably won’t happen this year, but its a bucketlist goal.

Nice work, @Johnsfolly! Sounds like Livie is having a great year, as are you! 👍👍

I wonder what keeps this from being a monopoly? What other "big" outdoors stores are there left? Gander Mountain? Orvis? LL Bean? The town in Iowa I moved from has a Sportsman's Warehouse. I went there quite a bit. It was close and convenient, and had a fair selection of fly tying materials and gear. There was a Bass Pro just a town or two away. They had some materials that SW didn't have, and SW had some that BPS didn't have. I've been to Cabela's a few times. They had the best fly selection, although maybe a little lighter on tying material selection...is what I recall. It was fun to walk thru Cabela's and BPS and SW and look at the animal and fish mounts....and Cabelas and BPS both have big fish in tanks that make me drool a bit. I hope they manage to keep their own styles, personalities, and merchandise selections. The only place I've visited since moving to STL is T. Hargroves. That's a great shop! And FeatherCraft is just down the street from there, but I haven't gone in yet.

I never mind spending money to support better fisheries. Or the reintroduction of extinct camels. 😂

Since I moved to MO in July, I'd actually purchased an out-of-state license before we moved, thinking I might fish while house-hunting. Non-Resident Fishing $42, Trout Permit $7, White River Border Lakes $10, Missouri Conservation Permit Card $2..... Forked over $61. And then didn't fish until after we moved. So, it'll be cheaper this time. Thanks for the info, everyone. I was hoping to purchase my new license here in DEC or JAN...good to know they won't be available until the end of FEB. 👍