WestCentralFisher

The fishing is definitely weird right now. My home creek hasn't really been fishable for over a month now. I've been over there a few times without a fishing pole to look around, and the bass are stacked up in the few places with enough water, food, and oxygen. It's mildly concerning. They're pretty vulnerable. So I've been driving to streams with good, consistent spring flow, because with our wet spring and early summer, they seem to have decent flow. Even that has yielded pretty mixed results, and I've had a lot of slow days recently. This trip wasn't what you'd call planned. I had a few hours and really needed to get out of the house. This creek is just about an hour from home, so it's definitely worth more exploration. Just when the weather finally cools down.

The trip started off looking like a classic bust, though to be fair, there were never high expectations. It had been too hot and dry for too long to expect very much. The creek access I meant to go to initially didn't pan out. It apparently was a half of a mile from the parking lot to the stream with no obvious trail. If it had been 20 degrees cooler, that would be no problem, even welcome because of the solitude it would promise. At a stifling 95 degrees, it didn't seem too appealing. I crossed the same creek a mile later on the main road, and it was clear it wouldn't have mattered. It wasn't exactly dry, but the riffles were a pitifully shallow flow across wide gravel, and the pools looked stagnant and more apt to bullfrogs than smallmouth bass. On to plan B. This creek, at minimum, would actually have some water in it. It has more consistent spring flow, and even a virtually rain-free month would have far less effect on it. But there was no guarantee it would be any good. This is known as a combination of an occasional put and take trout stream, with warm water fish supplementing the fishing the rest of the time. In regard to the trout, the phrase "it gets fished out a couple days after they stock it" tends to come up a lot in the discourse around it. This is a creek I've heard of, but never bothered to fish. It has a reputation as a creek you might stop at if you're passing through, but nothing more. You may know which one it is by now based on what I've said, but I bet many of you have never actually fished it, either. It's just that kind of creek. It was smallmouth bass I'd be targeting, since it was almost certain at this time of the year that the stream hadn't seen a stock truck in a long time. At first glance, it looked more like a long, narrow pond than a spring-fed creek. With slow, deep flow, and almost no current, it had an overall feel that said "frog water" more than anything. I noticed two large fish, and they were both gar. Nothing against what is ultimately a feisty, native fish, but this was not the best sign. Nonetheless, I was there, so I tied on a spinner and got to work. The dead water seemed to be full of gar and longear sunfish, but not much else. I was just about to bag it when I finally worked my way to a pool with a nice, oxygenated riffle leading into it, and good current. Smallmouth bass were stacked up there, and after a couple lure changes, I finally hook and land two of them. Both are nearly identical, perhaps 14 inches. They're no trophies, but fine fish for a creek like this, and well worth getting big, goofy grin over, especially when caught back to back. I then get another strike, and to my surprise, this one's a trout, maybe 11 inches. I feel a little bad. The water seems pretty warm, and I hadn't seen a single trout or any evidence of their continued existence. In fact, I had pretty well forgotten this was even a possibility. It soon became clear the fish wasn't going to survive release. It wasn't how I drew things up, but I had a cooler in the car with some ice, and, well, I'd bought a trout stamp for just this sort of potential occurrence. If I'm not careful, this sort of thing can really bother me, but then these trout are put in this creek with largely this outcome in mind. He'll taste great with butter, lemon juice, and a side of fried potatoes. I broke down my rod, left the creek, and drove to a nearby gas station to get more ice to keep the fish cold. I didn't exactly feel guilty, but it put me off wanting to haul more fish in. I then drove upstream to look at the spring, for no other reason than I didn't feel like going home just yet. It was beautiful, in that aquamarine-colored, almost otherworldly way any good-sized Ozark spring is. I probably could have caught a couple more trout up there in the colder water, but I wasn't sure what the point would be. I'd already figured out what's true about most second-rate streams. There's probably a reason they're not famous, but it's rarely completely true when people say "Oh, it gets fished out a couple days after they stock it."

The White Ribbon section seems to have more consistent trout fishing now. The blue ribbon area has some really nice fish, but it's possible to go a good while in between hookups.

Good luck! Water is very low up there and very clear. A lot of the water seemed pretty dead, but good spots were full of fish...just not always easy to catch in those conditions. Weeds were a major problem up there, so anything higher in the water column is likely to make for an easier time.

Got back on the river, this time wading at a couple accesses sites. Both trout water and smallie water. Trout fishing was a little slower than usual, but still caught enough to be happy. Maybe 6-8 in an hour and half. Smallie fishing upriver was slower yet, but got one pretty nice one. Got a picture, but it didn't do it any justice. Caught lots of goggle-eye in both sections. Another good day on the river.

You can catch loads of trout on spinners, for sure. My go to is a little Panther Martin, but rooster tails work great too. I'm a spin fisherman primarily, who will go to a fly rod when needed. Low, clear water for wild or at least stream resident trout, a #16 or 18 generic nymph under a little foam strike indicator will fish circles around spinners most times. But on the same creek, if the water is up and even the tiniest bit stained, give me the spinner and I'll catch fish all day long, and bigger ones on average, too. With freshly stocked fish, again, give me a spinning rod.

Sounds like a great trip. After a hook related incident requiring some minor self-surgery on the Niangua last week, I am seriously considering smashing down barbs.

I've fished quite a few of them, and you will 100% notice the effects, and it will probably bum you out. But the streams are still pretty as ever, and there seem to be plenty of trout around if you look. If anything, some of the streams that are usually more or less put and take offer a pretty fun challenge since fish aren't absolutely everywhere this summer. That was the case on the Niangua last week. Instead of them being stacked everywhere like many years, I really did have to read the water, and it felt like more "real" fishing to me than when they're just aimlessly wandering around even in the dead water that shouldn't really hold feeding trout.

Thanks for the report. We went back for the first time after the flood this summer expecting things to be slow, but there were plenty of fish and the park generally seemed about as nice as ever. You could see the after effects, of course, but mostly it's the same old place. It made me very happy to see. I've always said that Montauk, especially in the fly section and around the campground, is the only trout park that feels like a real honest to goodness trout stream, rather than a trout-based theme park.

Stopped to take a few more casts just before the end of a float trip.

Well, based on the story we're commenting on, and a million other ones like it, sometimes you actually have to say the things out loud that you'd hope would go without saying. 😆

I personally am shocked that holding a ~4 -foot shark by its mouth ended poorly. I've caught a number of small sharks accidentally while fishing for other species. Never been bit or come real close. They key is nice, long forceps and keeping your hands away from the business end to the maximum extent possible.

Yeah, I saw just enough of them that it piqued my interest, but they didn't seem very widespread or abundant. It just looks like great smallmouth water honestly much more than it resembles a trout stream, so it was hard to get out of that mindset. But yeah, most of my successful smallmouth fishing has been above Bennett or around Leadmine.

Floated today from a couple miles below Bennett to a couple miles below Barclay. It was lovely. Great weather, virtually empty river. There was one couple I ran into twice, otherwise I had the river to myself. Fishing was spotty. In this case, that's not a nice way of saying it stunk, it was just really hit and miss. There would be a mile or two that would go by that you'd swear only had chubs and bluegill, then a random school of fat goggle-eye, then a big pocket of rainbows. I felt like I was struggling in the catching department (the fishing was great all day) more often than not, and yet the good bits were really good, so numbers wise it ended up being a much better than it felt like at times. Outside of chubs (and my gracious, this river has no shortage) rainbows made up the bread and butter, but where the goggle-eye schooled up, they were easy pickings. I also caught one 9 inch brown, and one little smallmouth. I was trying to target smallies with increasingly larger crankbaits to scare off the trout as the day went in, because I kept seeing them. But I just kept catching more trout instead. Very tough stuff, I know. The scenery was mostly nice, except above and around Barclay, where it is excellent. Floating was very easy. There was one spot where I kinda sorta had to paddle hard to avoid running into some dead fall, but it was extremely straightforward. Never had to get out and drag, but the river is pretty darned low. Anyway, beautiful, quiet day on the river. Can never have too many of those.

Thanks for the report. Headed to that area tomorrow, hoping the cooler weather yields some decent fishing (or at least more pleasant fishing conditions)

900 is just fine. It'll be a bit high, and water may be cloudy, but super fishable at that level. If the trout fishing is super slow, there are at least a few smallies from about Mary Deckers on down in just about every deep hole. Throw a spinner or little rebel craw and you'll catch some of both. Put a little splitshot 18 inches up the line.

The best fishing on the Akers to Pulltite stretch will be right around the put in and for a very short distance down for stocked rainbows. But they don't seem to venture very far in enough numbers to be particularly worth your time after that. I would echo the Eminence to Two Rivers suggestion. It's a pretty stretch of river that is full of smallmouth bass and goggle-eye. I've done well there when there were so many canoes you might assume they'd put the fishing off. They might get fished a lot, but I'm convinced the number of actual effective fishermen on those party stretches of river are a lot lower than you think. In any case, that won't be an issue in October.

The only grizzlies I've ever seen were in NW Montana near the border with Idaho. It was a momma and at least one cub. My dad claims he thought he saw a second, but we're not sure. In any case, they were in the valley many hundreds of yards below the mountain we were on. Definitely the best case scenario for seeing a momma and cub grizzly. We had a good pair of binoculars, so we just sat there watching for a half hour or so until they finally rambled off down into a wooded area where we couldn't see them. Definitely one of my foremost outdoor memories. Before this, we had been thinking of hiking into that valley to see if the little creek that flowed through it had any cutthroat trout. We quickly decided that the Clark Fork had been fishing ok, and we didn't need to check that one out.

I do about 70-90% of my stream fishing with either of those lures or something similar. With that said, I'm not entirely sure I strictly disagree. It's probably somewhat rare that either lure is the absolute best option available. They're generalist lures, after all. But the thing is lures aren't tools, at least for catch and release fishing, because fishing isn't a job, and there isn't any purpose to it beyond maximizing enjoyment. I simply enjoy fishing those lures, and I have a heck of a lot of confidence in them. For me, specifically, I tend to catch more smallmouth when I'm fishing Rebel Craws, precisely because I've caught a heck of a lot of them in the past. They also don't require a whole lot of thought to fish, so I can look up at that pretty bluff while I'm retrieving and only minimally reduce my chance of catching a fish on that cast. I also catch a lot more goggle-eye and long-ear sunfish on them than I would a 5" topwater plug. And they're real pretty and add variety to the day. I honestly can't remember the last time I visited a quality Ozark stream in halfway decent conditions and and didn't stop fishing at some point because I'd caught enough of whatever I was targeting that the desire to go look around outweighed my desire to catch more fish. So I'm sure many people catch more and bigger fish than me, but I am already catching exactly as many fish as I need to. *yes, I started rhat thread a few weeks back complaining about the cost of Rebel Craws and implying I might stop using them. I was wrong on that. They're just not dispensable to the way I fish, it turns out.

Also if one has even a passing interest in photography it's just uncommonly photogenic. Most of the prettiest areas are in the no fishing area, though, so it took me a few trips to find them.

Sounds fun! Of all the trout parks, Maramec has the least mileage (less than 1), and is by far closest to STL. As a result, getting there at or around the buzzer is much more important than other parks. I always feel like any fish I catch there after 9 am is more or less by accident. At other parks, timing still matters, but not nearly so much. For me, Maramec serves a role. It's a very pretty, photogenic place that your non-fishermen family members will most likely legitimately enjoy, while you get to catch a couple trout. I am not much for it as a serious fishing destination, though. In the fall and winter, the river below the park can be pretty fun, though.

I think part of the reason there aren't more conflicts is because the float trip culture is so ingrained, and has been for a long time on so many of our rivers. On the really popular streams especially, while landowners may not be able to cite the ruling, they intuitively know people are allowed to stop on gravel bars or get out and fish. If you see 100 people do something every day all summer, it's pretty hard to call the police on the 101st. I also know this type of awareness is much less on less popular float streams with no rentals, and even less yet north of the Ozarks. I've had exactly one person tell me I needed to leave a popular Ozark float stream. I was wade fishing across from a private campground on the Niangua (having entered from a very popular public access) and a guest of the campground told me that this section of river was private and I couldn't be there. It was pretty humorous. It was on a weekday, and as I remember either spring or fall, so I guess he hadn't seen anyone go by, and assumed it was his own private stretch of river for the duration of his stay. He also told me it was fly fishing only. I kind of felt for him. I got the distinct impression he thought he'd rented his own private beat of a trout stream and instead got the Big Niangua. It's a fine trout stream for what it is, but I'm not sure I can readily imagine a less private setting to catch trout in.

Fair, I suppose 😆. I tend to be of the opinion that any halfway decent fishing story needs room to breathe and is best not rushed. If this qualifies as one of those is an entirely open question, however.