creek wader

Excellent pic. Is Bear Cr. near Branson?

10/09 .. It was a beautiful day. Weather sunny and in the lower 80's. Had a coworker that wanted to fish. So, since he wasn't equiped to wade fish, we hit the Lower Osage. Went to the river at Painted Rock CA. Since the dam cut back the release, the river was down quite a bit. The bank was muddy and very slippery. We traveled light and carried ultra lights and a hand full of crappie jigs and one crank bait, already on a pole. Fished about 3 hrs. and caught about 15 bass, a mix of largemouth and spots. Nothing real big. Also, I caught one nice 14 " crappie on a white twister tail. C&R all of them. ... Wader

not bad. But I heard it the other way around.

I've never seen a 5 lb. smallie, I'd sure like to stumble upon one, though. I've caught my fair share of 10 - 16 inchers, on the Tavern. That's about all I get anywhere.

Chief, Your right about the location. I drive right through that ole' RR town of Meta, on my way to the Tavern. The rail is gone but, you can see the road bed. Yeah, I heard about the accident, last night when I got to KC. I just read about it online. It is really sad.

You know it Chief. Like I said, I had spare time. I made some HAHT, that trip. Danoinark, The Big Tavern Creek is almost entirely in Miller county, just east of the LOZ. It's head waters are a few miles S.E. of Iberia. It flows pretty much north past St. Elizabeth an into the lower Osage river. It's a beatiful small stream. It's a bit of a drive for me with my limited time. But, has always been worth it. The Kentuckies, concern me. They've practically taken over the Moreau and the Osage, now they're in the Tavern. Since we got all this high water, I imagine the Maries has them now, also.

Wow. What an experience. It's a wake up call to all. If it looks hairy, stop and get out. A portage here or there won't kill you, but the alternative might. I've pressed my luck a few times too, and was lucky. Since we do a lot of overnights on the streams, we pack a lot of gear. So, if not so much for our saftey, but for the sake of saving our gear. We usually, get out, when it looks bad. If we ever get in a bad situation. I've found that the best thing to do, is nothing. Just let the current and rootwad do what it wants. Usually if you fight it, it makes thing worse. We let it bang us into the rootwas and wait till we settle down then, think out the best route to take. I'm not saying it is the thing to do in every situation. But, it's been the best so far. I've never tipped yet, (just hexed myself). But, I've came very, very close many times. I'm also, pushing fifty. So, my days of taking risks are nearly over. I'm glad you came out unscaved. I guess the old adge of "safety first", applies to everytime your on the water. ... Good luck everyone. ... wader

Fished the Big Tavern creek, for the first time in two years, on Tuesday. I put in under the Hwy. 52 bridge. I had wade fished this spot several times in the past ,but was restricted by deep water. It was a beautiful day and I actually had time. So, I got out my yak and floated down stream. Since I used the yak, I took two poles. One with 6lb. test and a 1/16 oz. mister twister. The other 8lb. with a 1/8 oz. chartruse spinnerbait. Below the first riffle, I caught a 8" smallie off the mister twister. I then picked up a 8 " spot. Turned out it was the first of several. For the day I caught 4 smallies, all dinks, all on the twister, 6 spots (dinks), on the spinner bait and twisters. A handful of sunfish. Also, the first and only white bass that I have caught on a stream down here, other than the Osage. The Tavern flows into the Osage about 10 mi. downstream. So, this little guy made it past the slab crossing. Below is a pic of him. I know he's not big, but it's always kind of cool to catch something different. Unfortunatly, the spots also made it over the slab. These were the first spots that I've caught on the Tavern. The high water, earlier this year, allowed them to migrate upstream. So, there'll be no stopping them now. Another stream invaded by them. I guess I should of pitched them on the bank, but didn't. The stream was down and was a murky in some places and clear in others. I didn't catch any braggers but, had a nice float and enough action to make it very enjoyable. ... wader

What road is Allen bridge, on?

Looks like a fun day.

Thanks for your secret. Was only below the dam once, this year. Current was too swift, so when I went heavier, I snagged a lot. I'll try your method, if I ever do make it there again.... Wader

On smaller fish and in a shallower enviroment, maybe herons. It sounds more like a parisite, to me. I'm no expert, but I've seen it in ponds this time of year. Just a guess.

Yea, It's a gar. White spinner, huh. Inline of regular type?

Good report, nice pics.

Finally made it to the S. Moreau the other day. It was the first time this year. The river has been out of it's banks several times. When it had been back it, has been dreadfully muddy, both the water clarity and the banks. Making it a sloppy mess to wade fish. Anyway, it's finally down to it's dog days level, but still stained. This time of year the river becomes a large creek. At this level, it is perfect for what I call "pot holing". I wade through the ankle deep shallows till I get to a pot hole. The fish are basically trapped in these holes. The hole usually has a log or two, or a rootwad. Some might just be a gravel bottom hole below a riffle. If you want numbers you can downsize to a 1" or 2" soft plastic jig, and tear up sunfish and dink bass. I only found one shallow spring fed hole where I had an oppurtunity to do some site fishing. It held quite a few fish and I could see the smallies (dinks). Unfortunatly, the sunfish beat the smallies to the bait most of the time. Didn't catch any smallies, just a few dink blacks and a plethera of sunfish. So, I moved on and upsized with a 5 1/2" senko type worm. I worked the root wads and logs. The bass were holding tight to the cover. I p/u about a 15 to 20 blacks, between 12" and 16". I was little diappointed that I didn't catch any smallies, though. When the river gets this low. I usually fish each stretch only once. I figure the fish are pretty stressed and I don't want to mess with them too much. Unfotunately, this is when the locals pick apart the bass, because they are trapped, and it's like fish in a barrel. I've noticed that most of the accessable holes get fished out pretty fast, when using live bait. Everybody loves candy corn, no matter what size

Finally made it to the S. Moreau the other day. It was the first time this year. The river has been out of it's banks several times. When it had been back it, has been dreadfully muddy, both the water clarity and the banks. Making it a sloppy mess to wade fish. Anyway, it's finally down to it's dog days level, but still stained. This time of year the river becomes a large creek. At this level, it is perfect for what I call "pot holing". I wade through the ankle deep shallows till I get to a pot hole. The fish are basically trapped in these holes, The hole usually has a log or two, or a rootwad. Some might just be a gravel bottom hole below a riffle. If you want numbers you can downsize to a 1" or 2" soft plastic jig, and tear up sunfish and dink bass. I only found one shallow spring fed hole where I had an oppurtunity to do some site fishing. It held quite a few fish and I could see the smallies (dinks). Unfortunatly, the sunfish beat the smallies to the bait most of the time. Didn't catch any smallies, just a few dink blacks and a plethera of sunfish. So, I moved on and upsized with a 5 1/2" senko type worm.I finally got to the root wads and logs. The bass were holding tight to the cover. I p/u about a 15 to 20 blacks, between 12" and 16". I was little diappointed that I didn't catch any smallies, though.

Years ago. We were fishing for crappie on Smithville lake, I believe there were 5 of us in the boat. Most were using jigs tipped with minnows. My cousin was verticaly fishing a cicada. I took one look at the cicada and said no way. Well, He out fished the rest of us combinded, 2 to 1 with that thing. Made a believer out of me.

I have a prescription to Chantix, sitting on my desk at home along with the "smoking sensation package." I haven't pulled the trigger yet. I've smoked for over 30yrs. During that time I stopped for over 4yrs. I thought I was done with it. All it took was one smoke and I was hooked again. I'm going to try the Chantix. But, I know that It'll take will power the rest of my life to resist that one smoke again. Smoking is a nasty, smelly, deadly habit. But, I enjoy it. I hope this stuff works.

I always enjoy reading your posts, Al.

nice photo. I love seeing pics of other streams

zsmith62 .. You don't need to defend yourself. It's on par with globalls at one of the trout parks. Plus, you usually are unable to site fish like in one of the trout parks. And the fish aren't hatchery fish, stocked daily. .. I'll probably get some feedback on that note.

I've caught many farm pond cats, between 3 and 8 lbs. on the Bachmann Crawdad fly. of course, I wasn't targeting the cat's.

jscheetz, Sorry, that you didn't fair so well. At least you got out an was able to do some exploring. Don't judge any stream this time of year. It's tough fishing on all the smaller streams. I'm running into the same thing on the larger waters. Loved your pics. I'll let you know if I find anything closer to KC. . Wader

I knew that the regs. on spots were pretty liberal on the Meramec and it's tribs. I fish the Lower Osage and it's tribs. (Maries River and Big Tavern Creek) and the two forks of the Moreau (flow into the Mo.). The Lower Osage, Moreau, and the N. Fork of the Moreau all have a pretty good population of spots and the crosses. The south fork of the Moreau was still holding it's own as of last year but, I'm afraid with the high water that we've had this year, the spots have probably breached the low water xings. I haven't fished it yet this year (high muddy water). On the lower Osage, last year, I caught spots at least 10 to 1, vs. smallies and about 6 to 1, vs. largemouth. Most were between 6 in. and 10 in., with an occasional keeper. The largest that I caught out of over 100 was a 15". Three years ago it was about 50/50. I've called and talked to several conservation officers and biologists, to let them know about the invasion. They agreed with me but, didn't seem too concerned. I'm just hoping that the "keep every fish they catch" people will do thier part on the spots. The main problem being is that they are almost too small to clean.

Ok Chief, I'll keep in touch. Wader