WestCentralFisher

Yeah, it's always just so hard to know based on looking at a creek, especially this time of year, if it'll be any good. There is one stream in my area that looks SUPER fishy like 80-90% of the time. Spring fed, cool, nice looking pools, looks like a classic Ozark border smallmouth stream. And it flows through super pretty country. It should be great. And it's pretty much a complete waste of time to fish. It has creek chubs, and an occasional green/longear sunfish, and while I cannot definitively say it has no bass in it, if they're in there, they're VERY uncommon. I hike along this creek a lot, and it's very clear, so even though I've mostly stopped bothering to fish it, I still stop and look around. And there just isn't a whole lot to see. Why, you might ask? The springs are not consistent in major droughts, and every couple years it dries out except for a couple pools here and there, which must be what sustain the fish population such as it is. The 2023 drought in particular did a real number on it. Before then, it had enough sunfish that you could keep yourself entertained catching them on an ultralight. Now, even a green sunfish in a deep pool is an uncommon and welcome site. Even the creek chub numbers are pretty low, though they're the only thing of even remotely fishable size that seems to have persisted in any significant numbers. The point is, when you see a creek once or twice, you probably don't know what it looks like in August of a drought year. And that is probably what will determine if it's any good.

Fascinating thread to read through. I call the North Fork of the White my "always a day away" river. I've been meaning to fish it for about 15 years and haven't gotten to it. Initially it was because it was a long way away, then it was because after 2017 the reports I read always scared me off trying it. Even had a trip fully planned last summer, and shifted to the Eleven Point because of that. Think we're going to try it later this summer for our annual multi-day float trip. I will keep the expectations on catching well in check, but a river with famously hard to catch trout and striped bass is too intriguing/strange a challenge to pass up again.

This morning, I found myself on a creek I really knew nothing about. In an era where information is available on just about every body of water you could think to fish, it's always odd to find a publicly accessible stream that no one has much to say about. In my experience, it can mean anything from "it runs dry in the summer and has nothing except tadpoles and a few minnows" to "the fishing is so good there is an unspoken agreement to keep it quiet." Of course, often enough, the fishing is just okay, and it doesn't get talked about much because there are a half dozen better streams within easy driving distance. The point is, you don't know until you get there. When I got there, the stream looked positively fishy. The water was clearly up and brown; but not muddy brown, rather the light tannin brown you'd more expect on a north Michigan trout stream than in the Ozark foothills. The water was moving quikly, but had a clasic riffle-pool-run structure, and lots of cover. Exactly what you hope to see, in other words. I tied on a rooster tail spinner, not knowing what may be in there. That's my go-to prospecting lure; if there is anything from a green sunfish to a smallmouth bass in a creek, it'll usually get you at least a few strikes. After about 15 minutes of nothing, I was starting to wonder if my assessment was wrong. Then a hard strike in a little seam between two areas of fast water. The absolute hammer-blow of a strike and dogged fight screamed smallmouth bass. When it came into view, it was clear that was not correct. Instead, I was greeted by the lighter green of a Kentucky bass. For about a quarter second, I was mildly disappointed, but no. 20 seconds before, I was beginning to be unsure if this creek had anything north of a minnow, and now I was holding a pretty, hard fighting bass. Whether it was the right type matters in the larger sense, but on a pretty June day after a week of rain on an unknown creek, it was plenty good enough. I kept fishing awhile longer. Quite a few more strikes greeted me. I missed more than my share of them, but the ones I brought in looked like carbon copies of the first, all Kentuckies, all about 11 inches, and all putting up more fight than they had a right to. I look forward to exploring some more sections of the creek and seeing if I can find any smallies, but for a quick first trip I would say it went pretty well.

Going to be in Branson June 18-21. It will not necessarily be a fishing trip as such, but I do anticipate having a couple hours to fish each day. Long story short, any tips on places to fish without access to a boat would be helpful. To put this bluntly, will be there with the lady friend, who I would like to introduce to trout fishing, so on this particular case all I need is a place where one can sit on a bank and/or a dock and stand a fair chance of catching a few stockers. Anything beyond that is gravy. I would prefer public/free, but I am not opposed to paying a few bucks for access if that's what it takes. Obviously I am watching the water conditions closely as well. I trout fish a lot, but mostly on smaller spring fed streams, so big water like Taney is just a little foreign to me. So any help is massively appreciated.

According to a Facebook group I'm a member of, it was stocked in April. Did not clarify which section or all of them. Info came from Justin Spencer who guides down there. I am tentatively planning a multi day trip down there in a few weeks, but I have a backup plan in July in case the water conditions aren't right. At this stage I feel like there's a greater than 50% chance it gets postponed unless the weather patterns changes fast. It's not a river I would like to take on in high water.

I've caught a lot of good sized smallmouth, but none you'd probably call a trophy. Nonetheless, a few of them stick out. I think my favorite was on the Eleven Point River maybe 15 years ago. We had been floating from Greer Springs over the last few days in a leaky jon boat, definitively not the right tool for a tricky section of river. We'd managed ok until Hall's Bay somehow. We didn't flip, but I got launched off the front of the boat at relatively high speed. I wasn't seriously hurt or anything, but definitely pretty beat up. I was also sad because the takeout was shortly ahead, ending one of the better fishing/floating trips of my young life to that point. After we got reassembled, I stepped out to take a few half-hearted casts with a little Panther Martin spinner that had done pretty well for the trout the last few days. I felt a strike, and it was immediately obvious this wasn't an 11 inch rainbow. After a long, hard fight on the light trout gear, I finally netted a smallmouth that was probably 17 inches and a couple pounds, but in that moment felt like it was the biggest fish in the whole river. Somewhere at my folks house there is a picture of me holding it, visibly beaten to hell from my affray with the boulders of Halls Bay a few minutes earlier. Every time I see it I feel a powerful urge to start heading towards Highway 19.

Went to check out a little lake in Western Missouri I'd been told was full of channel catfish. Didn't find those, but found a whole bunch of eager largemouth and a pretty spot to watch the storms start to blow in. Not a bad way to spend a Friday evening.

Pomme de Terre Lake. Last picture mostly included to show I didn't entirely forget to go fishing...

I've never eaten one, but last time I fished at Barclay, all I caught was little stocker brown trout and a sucker. By far the sucker was the best fight of the bunch.

Bennett Spring was awfully pretty today. The fishing, well, I didn't get skunked, though I had to work harder at that than usual. Still a lovely day on the river and a few of the nice, long conversations with fellow fishermen that only happen when no one is really catching all that many fish.

Thank you. And nicely put.

About a week ago, I came to this same lake and took my first skunk in a long time. I mentioned that on a thread here, and someone mentioned that reports when we get skunked are just as important as when we do well. I'm not certain I agree with that, but one type of fishing trip that tends to go undocumented are the perfectly normal ones, where you catch about the normal amount of fish at a regular spot, and the most exciting thing that happens is the beaver that startled you when it dramatically slapped it's tail. This is that kind of story. Today, the smell of skunk didn't outlast the first cast. Fishing was easy, lots of good sized bluegill and redear, and the type of little bass that fall into the category of honorary panfish. Except, unlike the bluegill and redear the same size, they get released. I could keep them here, but my dad's phrase from when I was a little kid, "Bluegill are for eating, bass are just for sport" is one of those little ethics that have held through thick and thin. That the little bass all came from the hole next to the same log where I once caught an honest to goodness 4 pounder is more a footnote than anything. Anyway, I'm off to clean the bluegill and redear. I'll need to stop by the store to get some breading and Cajun seasoning, too. Overall, life isn't so bad.

Fair enough! I could see that being fun. Here goes. 😆 On Saturday, April 25th, I drove to a medium sized lake in mid-Missouri. I fished along the dam, catching zero fish with a variety of lures targeting largemouth bass. These fish were all released unharmed, or would have been if I'd been given the opportunity. Then I did the same thing elsewhere, but on the contrary, this time instead of zero fish, I caught none at all. These fish were also released, except for one that would have swallowed the hook, if it had bitten and I'd caught it. After that, I switched to worms and targeted bluegill and redear. These made for an excellent fish fry, in an alternate universe where I caught any. After that, a competent fisherman would have breaded them and fried them along with some fried potatoes and cole slaw. Jumping back to our timeline, I got bored after awhile and went for a walk before driving home and cooking some frozen chicken. Below are pics of every single fish I caught. I only ask that everyone tries not to get jealous or feel too bad. It took me years of learning how to be an aggressively mediocre fisherman to get to this point.

That's awesome. Smallies, rookies, and browns in one day is a pretty rare accomplishment in the Ozarks.

I went fishing this past weekend and fully intended to post pictures.... but instead took my first honest to goodness skunk in like 2 years. The lake was pretty high and muddy, but it's one of my old reliables where I can usually do well (or at least ok) in most any conditions. Hell, I gave up on bass and started bluegill/redear fishing and still got skunked. I've fished this lake probably 30-40 times and the worst I'd ever done is maybe a half dozen fish over a few hours. So bottom line, didn't get around to posting that particular report.

That looks excellent! That said, I actually don't mind the freeze-dried meals. I spent a good chunk of my 20s hiking/backpacking/mountain climbing out west and I essentially lived on them. They're no steak dinner, and there's a place for that on the river for sure, but I generally prefer to keep it simple. Also, less time cooking during the evening equates to more time wade-fishing around camp.

The streams around here are muddy and largely unwadeable, throwing a major wrench in my Friday afternoon creek wading plans. So naturally, I'm thinking about high summer and floating, in the Ozarks and elsewhere. There is no particular purpose to this thread, other than to talk about my summer plans, and hear about others. The first big trip of the year we're planning is to northern Michigan. The streams up there, in many ways, are very recognizable to anyone who has fished in the Ozarks. The streams are clear and spring-fed, and the little 5-8 inch wild rainbow trout (baby steelhead in many cases) are not unlike what you'd catch on the Little Piney or Crane Creek. The Big Manistee in particular, which we plan to float, reminds me a fair bit of a north woods version of the Eleven Point, with its big water and mixture of trout and smallmouth bass. My heart has always been captured by the north woods in a way that is only eclipsed by the Rocky Mountains. That is a trip that will get me through many a boring day between now and then. The other one planned is the annual float trip with my Dad. That is usually a Thursday night to Sunday operation on an Ozark stream TBD, though there's a very high likelihood it'll be the Eleven Point or Big Piney. With any luck, there will be camping, some probably modest fish catching that will be slowly exaggerated in my own mind to epic fish catching, and mountain house freeze dried meals cooked over a one burner. On the median trip, we'll probably dump the giant, over-burdened and unwieldy canoe once, and agree to simply tell others that "we had a little trouble in one spot, but we got it figured out ok." Which will be mostly true, because we'll have everything well-secured and in dry bags to guard against this likelihood. Some key item will get wet anyway. If course, those are just the planned trips. There will be many a Friday afternoon/evening trip to a a little smallmouth stream, maybe a weekday float on the Niangua if it can be arranged. Too many trips to count to the pretty little lake with lots of big redear and an occasional bass that's worth taking a picture of. That has already started; muddy water and all, the redears do not seem to care a bit. In fact, as soon as I'm done with work I'm going over there. Even when conditions are mostly a wash, there's usually still a loop-hole you can find somewhere. (Note: third time is the charm, I guess. Not only did I originally post this errantly in the Conservation Issues forum, it somehow double posted there. Apologies for any confusion created by this. One can assume I am simply very excited for summer/floating).

Fishing is a little better today...Should have guessed, its always the crazy weather days that are really good.

Great day on the river. Fishing would be best described as real slow. The river was up and a bit murky but not muddy. With all the dogwoods and redbuds blooming, just a lovely day to be outside and kinda hard to care that the fishing wasn't all that great. Hooked into a few smallies and longears upriver, and then caught one 11" brown and a decent sized...redhorse, I think? down in the white ribbon section.

I somehow completely missed out on this story, and until I did some research was assuming y'all were just trying to scare people away from fishing the Niangua River. Sadly, I am mistaken.

Yeah, the problem with small rivers like that is that at summer low flows, you can pretty much see every fish in the river. And it seems like an unusually high % of the folks you see around the accesses are serious fishermen as opposed to people there to play in the river who may bring a fishing pole along. It equates to a situation where it just doesn't seem like there just are a whole lot of places for fish to hide in the sections that are easily accessible. The fish tend to run small in those places, though it can still be a perfectly pleasant place to fish. Of course, there are some sections that aren't easily accessible, and that's all I'm going to say about that.

LN is a funny stream. Fishing can alternate between excellent and horrendous. It doesn't have as much spring influence and thus base flow as most similar streams, so conditions are really variable. You also have impacts from it feeding into LOZ and sometimes parts of the river that appear to be good smallie water most of the year are an arm of the lake at other times. Meanwhile, in drought years the upper stretch is basically a tiny creek. I find as I go upstream, I often find higher proportions of largemouth vs smallmouth which is an odd dynamic for an Ozark stream though it really depends on the exact reach. It's really on the edge of the Ozarks, and it feels and looks like it. It's an Ozark stream with an awful lot of prairie creek characteristics. Your feet aren't going to be chilly in July if you're wet wading. All that said, on the right day in the right spot it can still be a decent smallie stream. You just never know on any given day until you get there. The country around much of it is quite pretty. Often when the river is being excessively moody I'll decide it's a better day for a hike. There's no question in my mind the Big Niangua is a significantly better and more consistent smallie stream, both above and below the trout water (and some times of the year, within it). The Little Niangua is much quieter, because while floatable, at anything but elevated flows it's a whole lot of dragging. I don't even really consider it a proper floating stream, but there are plenty of people who do it anyway. During the last couple summers everyone I saw paddling on it seemed to be complaining a whole lot about dragging.

One time I got there at what must have been right after a giant stocking of little brown trout. I saw so many little fish at first I thought it must have been creek chubs, but no. I took one cast to address my curiosity on whether it would be as easy to catch them as it appeared (it was) and then went on to a different section of river. I'm not above easy fishing at all, but they were literally gathered in a big circle and hadn't even figured out they should be facing upstream yet.