mhall02

Guess I'll bring a canoe next time LOL.

There is a big difference between a farm pond and a navigable waterway....

I would say based on the size and number of small brown trout we caught, it must have been recently stocked. If MDC stocks the trout on the park property, access cannot be denied. This begs the question, where are the fish stocked at? I've never been there when they stocked it.

Went fishing near the mill today, parked next to the bridge. Fished under the bridge, just downstream and upstream from the bridge maybe 100 or so yards. Caught and released a number of small browns and a few nice rainbows. All released. Right when we were getting ready to leave a lady stopped and stated the park was closed and we couldn't fish there... WHAT?? Since when? We peacefully left since we were done anyway, but when did that change?? And how did those trout get there, do the guys drop the trout in from the bridge, or do the walk across this 'private' property to stock the trout? Fished there for years in the 80s, but I guess things have changed....

Went on Tuesday, 12/22. No charge to get in and caught all the trout we cared to. White jigs were ticket. Fished from about 1030am - 2:pm, then headed back home. Most fish I have ever caught at MS, I swore never again after the last visit during the catch and keep season a number of years ago so I thought I would try the catch and release after reading all the good stories. Catch and release is the time to go!

Tried 21 Monday the 24 and didn't get a strike. Think those 'catch and release' lakes with flies only is an option to some from what I saw. One guy was standing there with a bait bucket, rod in hand, line out and no reeling. The other was using an orange plastic worm....There was a nice big dead one on the shore along the dam, looked to be 4 or 5 lbs.

https://huntfish.mdc.mo.gov/fishing/trophies-certificates/state-record-fish#block-views-fish-state-records-block This still shows the Roaring River fish.

Occasionally some get out with out a flood, from any hatchery I think. I'm assuming where our current state record Rainbow came from right? Flooded out of that spring pool?

Was there an escape at the hatchery? Was visiting RR last weekend up by the hatchery and there were a number of small 2" ish baby rainbow trout in the river. Where did they come from?

M for Mike, hall last name and 02, I think mhall and mhall01 were already taken?? 28" Rainbow at the Rebar Hole wet wading, summer of '90 attending C of O and working in Branson. Man I did a lot of fishing back then, amazing I had time to attend classes, study, and work.

Well, you are in Mt. Vernon, I grew up around Monett and there is only one tiny creek I can think of that is around there that has 4lb trout that are wild.... I'll PM you.

After trying for over 2 years after graduating from Mizzou with a Fisheries and Wildlife degree and working for MDC and Mizzou for minimum wage with no benefits, I moved on. Salaried jobs are few and far in between with MDC and lets just say I wasn't what the State was looking for to fill their entry level positions in the early '90s. The good thing is the degree was useful for other things non-fisheries or wildlife related jobs (i.e. environmental). Some of my visits from DNR inspectors for wastewater, hazardous waste, and stormwater have the good ole Mizzou Fisheries and Wildlife Degree. Somehow that message wasn't translated to the students that particular reality, but anyhow, just my 2 cents worth.

They are elusive. Remember they would come up to a dry fly, circle around it then drop back down or go ahead and take it, not just pounce on it. You could tell they were really pondering what it was they were looking at. Need to get back down there one day.

So where do the big browns come from? I remember when they started stocking stocker size back in the mid 80s, they seemed to really stand out to me. Would be surprised if something that big would last too long in a stream that small. Would stand out like a big ole log I would think.

Was down on Saturday, fished the fly zone from 10am till noon and landed and release 4. My son caught 2, but the fly zone still seems light on fish compared to prior years IMO. Weather was great and crowd was light when we arrived. Grilled some brauts, messed around for a few more hours and I caught one more, my son the sculpin killer had fun along the bank. Visited that hatchery and were on the road by 3:p.m.

Must have been that Great White Shark I've been hearing about on the news that is lurking in the Mississippi Looks and sounds like fun!

Fished Saturday in the fly zone and never seen so few fish since I've been going down there (20+ years). What happened? Did they forget to stock? Interesting note, caught 3 or 4 dinks, way too small to be stocked and they were beautiful. Did they have a successful spawn last winter??

Ok, thanks for the free fishing weekend feedback. Just a side note on this whole topic, typically you know what to expect fishing the parks on the weekend vs. the secluded streams in MO where you may see no one. I don't expect to hit Bennett on the weekend and have long care free drifts with the fly rod, no kids in the water, and the odds are good if I'm catching fish someone is going to drop in with 10' of me and maybe even cast over my line. Knowing what to expect is the majority of the battle with MO trout fishing. This 'free weekend' is a new thing to me, but other than that I've pretty much seen all that has been discussed here first hand (other than that swimming thing in Zone 1...that is pretty odd). Opening day at Bennett is much different than Crane Creek in the middle of winter. Expect the worst and be pleasantly surprised if it is something different.

Heading down tomorrow for the weekend. I didn't realize this was free fishing weekend and from the sounds of things, it may not be that great of an outing, we will see. Anyone ever fish the free weekend, and it is more of a zoo than usual? Maybe the heat will keep the crowds manageable. We went one weekend in June last year and the place was dead.

I caught a 24" brood stocker at RR when I was a kid in the early 80s, it was weighed a the lodge at 6 lbs 13 ounces on one of the derby days, won the kids 1st place trophy! Thick but ugly as all get out, nothing like that fish! One in my sig was 28" at Taneycomo, didn't get a weight but I'm assuming at least 9 lbs? Released to fight another day.

Used to catch some nice Rainbows out of Spring as well back in the late 80s early 90s. Caught them from about 2" up to 20". Beautiful fish, appeared to be stream born, never kept a one.

Biggest trout is in my sig, 28" Rainbow caught just below the Rebar Hole on Taney. Caught a grass carp that was about 3' long at Sunnen Lake (YMCA Trout Lodge), no idea on weight but the 8 lb line on the Zebco 33 didn't seem like enough the first few minutes of the battle. It was a show from the bank and the crowd gathered. No camera, and let it go.

Nicely colored rainbow there! There is a small amount of reproduction in RR, seen some 1-2" long before in there years ago. Rainbows in a stream long enough will color up nicely, gets where they look 'stream bread' after some time.

Went to Lake 28 Sat. and caught one on the dam with an olive woolly bugger on my 6 wt. Had a couple other hits, and was only there for about an hour. Could have caught more if we stayed longer but my son wanted to try Lake 21, where we had no luck at all. Water was murky and high, didn't see any splashing on the surface like you usually do. Bait users may have cleaned 21 out, there were at least two or three there when we were there siting on buckets waiting for a bite .