creek wader

After reading all the post in the "Hardest Fighters" topic. I think we all can agree to disagree on the the hardest fighting species. Most of everybody's choices is by personal experience or personal favorite species of fish. I still think pound for pound is the only fair way to do it. I'm sure a 20 lb Brown trout puts up a heck of a fight. But a 20 lb carp? 20 lb Drum? 20 lb Bluegill? 20 lb green sunfish? or a 20 lb smallie? We'll never know for sure. But just for giggles or a chance to do some bragging. What personal fight with a fish was your best or most memorable. Big fish on light line? Big fish in tight cover? Catfish on a flyrod? Foul hooked drum? I can think of a few of mine off the top of my head. Here they are in no particular order. 1) 6 lb. cat, My first catfish (landed) on a flyrod, caught him on a 2 lb tippet. Fishing a farm pond. It was a pretty good fight, that got a whole lot better (scarrier) when he got into the cattails and did the famous catfish roll. He was my 3 rd of the day. I lost my first 2, along with some nice (expensive) crayfish imitations. I got to admit, I went with 6 lb tippets after that. 2) 5 lb. drum, off a wing dike in the Missouri river. I was using a very large crawdad on a pretty heavy tackle. He wasn't the biggest, I wasn't using light line. But, It was about 2 am, very dark and he made a run into the current. It took 30 min. and I thought, I had finally caught my 1st monster flathead. But, it was fun. 3) 12 lb. blue cat. While crappie fishing on Smithville lake. I was using an ultra light w/ 4lb. test. Fishing in the thick timber. He took my jig minnow combo around every branch in that tree. I was amazed to catch him. I thought finally, I had my monster largemouth. Once again, disappointed by the species but not the fight. 4) 14 lb. channel cat. weighed on a certified scale. While snagging for spoonbill on the Marias Des Cygnes river, at Osawatomie, Ks. I had snagged a good size shad. I filleted it. Took a fillet and put it on a rig with 20 lb. test. Went further downstream. The river was near flood level. It was raging and I really didn't figure on catching anything. It no sooner hit the water, and the cat hit it. In that torrent of a current. I thought I had snagged a log. It took a good while to get him in. Pulling him back against the current. I was the only one of a lot of people fishing, to catch anything. So, I got to show him off. I was young and proud as a peacock. But, that day, I rather of had me a spoonbill. 5) While fishing a lake in Minn. We were catching yellow perch, small largemouth and crappie. No walleye, which we were trying to fish for. I hooked into something on my ultra light, with 4 lb. test. I had him on for 20 min or better. It seemed like several hrs. I never saw him. He made the final run under the boat, broke my rod and hence my line. Walleye? I double it, Whatever it was, he stayed down and made several runs. Could of been a pike or a big cat. I'll never know. But, of all the fish that I lost. He was the one that I wish I could of at least seen, what it was. That's just a few that I remember. A drum and 3 cats and whatever. But, it was the gear or the conditions that made it a memorable fight. To me, that's what it's all about.

It suppose to be 72* on Sat. down there. .... You guys have got to let everyone knows how this one turns out. Take plenty of pics, please.

Good luck, gunner. One thing about the weather and the fishing, right now. "Stick around it'll change."

Yea, carp, too. Goggleye, green sunfish, Bluegill, even drum. Just figure any of these and the above mentioned fish each weighing a lb. I've caught many sturgeon in that range on the Missouri river. They have a way of digging in deep. Definately a fighter, too. I'd have to rule out a one lb. cat, bullhead, walleye, crappie, and largemouth. Personal opinion, only.

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pound for pound, I'd say white bass and wipers, .. I've never caught a striper, though, ... I've caught a lot of smallies and rainbows, they don't fight near as hard, lb. for lb. .. at least in my opinion.

Got into Jeff. City, early in the morn. 04/02. Seen they were still releasing water at the dam. A fast moving front was coming, so I thought the bite would be on, ahead of the front. I was wrong. They were releasing a high volume of water, but the fish didn't cooperate. I caught a white on the 1st cast, should of known, it would be slow. It's always that way, if I catch a fish right off. Wound up catching 3 small whites and two lg mouth (released the lg mouth). Another guy caught 2 crappie, a 13 in. and a 11 in. So, he gave them to me. I fished for about 4 hrs. in the cove. A lot of people came and went and I didn't see any other fish being caught. There were a lot of gulls and herons feeding on the shad. Saw a bald eagle swoop down and grab a fish, 75 ft. in front of me. That got a "wow" from everybody. I think these fronts are screwing up the fish. If you cannot view the pics. Check the previous post under this Topic Title.

Ok, thanks gunner. Hope to make it down there tomarrow. Have you made it, lately?

Haven't tried it yet on them. But, I'd say a crystal minnow in white or grey/white, tied on #2 or #4. Weighted of course, or with a split shot to get it down to em. But, it's only a guess.

I've been watching it, ever since I went last week. Just haven't had a chance to get back down there. I'm afraid all the fish will get caught before I make it back. ..lol .... No, what I am afraid of, is that they'll quit running water before I can make it back. Below is the internet site where you can monitor the stream flow. I keep posting it. Here it is again. Wader http://waterdata.usgs.gov/mo/nwis/uv/?site_no=06926000&PARAmeter_cd=00065,63160,00060

Muskrats mainly eat vegetation, like cattails, sedges, rushes, water lilies and pond weeds. In some areas it also eats clams, mussels, snails, crayfish, small fish and frogs. It is extremely rare for a muskrat to eat a fish, so I don't think the trout population would have anything to fear from them. However, River Otters are mainly fish eaters and are very proficiant at it.

Buzz, Thanks. I'll keep in touch with you and Chief. Wading has been fine so far, but I'm ready to sit back in a canoe and fish. Also, it'd be fun to try some place new. Especially, with someone who knows the water. After this snow we got, an overnighter on a gravel bar sounds pretty good, now.

Chief, mrbuzib1, Wackem good, and the rest of you SW guys. I've finally talked my smallie buddy into coming down after Memorial day(midweek). We hit the Little Niangua, every year for an overnighter. I've been wanting a change up for a few yrs. now. We want smallies mainly. We'll have to rent a canoe and have a shuttle. Wanting an isolated stretch to avoid the party yahoos and camp the night on the river. Chief, you've been working on me for a while now. So, I'm open to any advice or possibly a joint "guided" float with you experts. I'd like to take a longer trip, but, he's limited on time. I'm open to any of the streams in your area. Give me all you got. .. Wader

I guess I wasn't very clear with my post. Only a couple swallowed the hooks. Yes I get that with senkos. But, I was referring to the lip hooked fish. I had a problem unhooking them. I had to use my hemostats on every lip hooked fish. Which, like I said, that is what the hook is designed for, to hold the fish. Since, I solely C@R all fish, except whites and crappie. I won't use these anymore. But, if someone were wanting fish for the frying pan, these work well. Thanks for the hints, everybody. I always appreciate any advice. I'm using my fly rod now and have gotten away from the senko type baits, anyway. Below is a pic of my first bass (lg mouth) caught on a fly, that I tied myself. It's small, but it's a start. The 2nd pic is of the first smallie , that I caught on my own fly. I just started tying my own. I've been trying to use my own flys. Kind of a personal challenge.. Wader

The Sooners just rolled over Syracuse, a Big East team. Love it. I'm a NU fan. but root for the conference, especially now. Go Big 12, get 3 in the Elite 8.

Nice stringer. the females are getting fat.

What were you using? The other day when I was there, I was "scrubbing" the bottom to catch the whites. Also, the weather has changed, I was down there ahead of the front. Sorry you didn't do better. I think they'll turn off until after the front blows through and we get another warm front in here. Spring fishing in the midwest is all about timing. By the way I fried some of the whites tonight. They were excellent!!! ... Wader

Good report. Those hybrids are a lot of fun. One thing for sure below the dams. No generation, no bite, plain and simple.

jesse, I don't know how long they'll be generating at that level. They're generating today. It's a shame I'm 200 mi. away. Below is the generating site; http://waterdata.usgs.gov/nwis/uv?06926000

I don't know how much they weighed, maybe 2 or 3 lbs. They were fighters. I usually measure all my fish, but didn't, this time. "Banjo Guy's" wipers were much bigger. I was just guessing on thier length. I really wanted to catch one of those. Here's another pic that shows the whites better. Notice, I didn't do the "make the fish appear larger" fisherman pose, and out strech my arms. My arms are bent. The stringer was to heavy for a weany like me. "Banjo Guy" cutoff my head. ... lol. Definately an improvement. .. Wader

I had some time to do a little fishing today. I saw that they were releasing a good amount of water, at Bagnell. So, I swung into Wal-mart and grabbed a few Roadrunner heads and jig heads, along with white twister tails, and Berkley Gulp minnows. Glad I did. The current was strong and no one was catching anything, in the current. There was a guy using Banjo minnows and slaying whites in the cove. So, a few others and I converged on him. He didn't mind and was proud of them banjos. I tried the twister tails with no results. So, I went with the roadrunner heads and the gulp minnows. Success. I caught my limit of whites(15), a 12"crappie, and a 15" large mouth (released it). I released my first couple of whites, before I realized that I was going to catch a lot of them. So, I kept 13 and the crappie. I got to be honest, I never took much stock in those banjos minnows or in the gulp minnows, for that matter. But, we out fished everyone, big time. The banjo dude caught two nice wipers, over 22" and a lot of whites. One other fisherman caught a 12" walleye (sauger)(released it). A boat was anchored at the sunken island in mid stream, and was doing well, also. It went in spurts and finally after 3 hrs. I headed back. I caught 2 very nice whites, may of been hybrids but, I think they were just big female whites. Best day so far this year, below the dam, for me. By the way Jesse, I didn't see any shad in the cove, but the birds were grabbing something in the current and slack water both.

Al, I've caught quite a few smallies in the mid section, 2 yrs. ago. I assumed that I would of caught some smallies on the upper section. But, that wasn't the case. Last year I fished the lower third and caught a few smallies but, many spots and largemouth. The upper section looks much more like a smallie stream to me. Oh well, I've got better smallie waters closer. The upper section is a pretty little stream. Glad that I tried it. It satisfied my curiousity.

Yea, I need to take a trip off. But, It's not in my wife's, I mean my plans, right now. Lol. I may be coming down to your area after Memorial Day. I'll keep in touch. .. Wader

Friday 03/20, was trying to decide to hit a different spot on the Maries River with my fly rod or go below Bagnell Dam. The phone report said they weren't going to be generating much this weekend. Then online, I saw they were starting to release a lot of water. So, I headed down to the dam and wasted 3 hrs. plus drive time. They would release for 5 min. the shut it down for 30 min. Then release again. The fish didn't fall for it and no one, including myself were catching anything. Since I was already that far south, I drove over to Madden Access on the Big Tavern. I parked in the lot, then walked about 300yrs. across a field in waders to the creek. But, was rewarded with a beautiful site. It is a very pretty creek and very clear but, very low. I caught several largemouth, right off the bat. Traveled up a mile and down a mile. Very impressive looking water. Some cliffs and even a cave. Perfect conditions for smallies. Riffles, lots of pea gravel, chunk rock, a few holes, rootwads, logs, and lots of minnows. But, only caught about 6 largemouth and a handful of suckers and some large chubs. Had a many largemouth chasing, but stopped short of biting. So, I trudged back to the truck and headed to the Maries River, to finish the day. Caught a handful of smallies and a few largemouth under a bridge then headed back. Below are some pics of the Big Tavern Creek.

Nice smallies. Didn't realize the Bourbouse river, had them that big. Nice!!!