trout_bum

The fishing down there has been excellent if you're after creek chubs. Ain't nothin' but creek chubs, suckers, minnows and the occasional grass pickerel in that creek. Seriously.

Crane Creek is designated as a blue ribbon trout stream and has special regulations. Read line three on the picture. I grew up fishing with worms too, but I can assure that it was perfectly legal in the lakes and farm ponds that I fished. Whenever someone buys a Missouri fishing license, there is a little book available that explains the fishing regulations for our state. It is our responsibility to know the rules of the waters we intend to fish.

I found this below town a week or two ago. I would be interested to know If anyone here might know who the game warden is for this area. What a shame.

Every time I fish Crane Creek, I find myself wishing I were only three feet tall.

Great pictures Casey. It looks like you were fishing the upper wire road access just north of town judging from your pictures. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the last picture appears to be taken just downstream from the bridge at the upper access. You probably wouldn't believe me, but this part of the creek was completely dry for a period of time back in August of last year. It amazes me that this little creek is able to sustain the wild trout population that it does considering the extreme drought and flooding events it's experienced over the years.

Great video Tim. I'm interested what you used to shoot the video and where you got it. I will be down this weekend. I recently talked to one of our customers where I work who was down in Crane a little over a month ago clearing out all the brush that got pushed up against the railroad bridge just below town. It looks like he will be down that way again in the near future to clear out all the brush from the bridge just above town as well. I told him he'd better not tear up the creek too bad or else I wouldn't wait on him any more.

I have had very good success with a very simple midge pattern called a copper dun. Shannon Roberts at River Run Outfitters showed it to me a while back. It has a 2.0mm copper bead head, 8/0 rusty dun uni-tread for the body and a fine copper ribbing. It produces best during overcast low light conditions. I will usually coat them with UV Knotsense to make them more durable.

I have learned not to trust the generation schedules. They are just a vague outline of what could happen. The schedules are published by SWPA, but you never know what the Corp of Engineers has planned.

Loon Outdoors also makes a similar product called "Hydrostop".

My knowledge of photography is very limited, so I can't tell you what settings I used. The camera is an Olympus Stylus Tough-6000. It's supposed to be waterproof, but I've only dunked it one time intentionally. I just don't like the idea of dunking a $300 dollar camera even if it is claimed to be water proof. I do know that I put it in macro mode when I take closeups of fish. My main objective when taking a picture of a fish is to handle it as little as possible and keep it in the water. I don't like the idea of taking a fish out of the water longer than a few seconds.

I could be wrong, but I can only conclude that by making the previous comment that you curiously assume that I was intentionally targeting spawners. That seems presumptuous considering we've never met, let alone fished together. Sorry to disappoint, but you and anyone else can rest assured that I do not target trout that are in the process of spawning (on redds) for many reasons. I will not disclose some reasons out of respect that others may not see as I do. However, It is a fact that the spawning process in itself imparts a great deal of stress on the fish and requires most all of the trouts energy be spent not only on the spawning, but also on avoiding predators. Look closely at the first picture and you will notice there is a trout in very shallow water in the middle of the stream on a redd. In order to take this shot I literally had to crawl on my hands and knees in a prone position to avoid disturbing the fish. Anyone who's ever fished Crane Creek should know that under normal circumstances, these fish would never in a million years hold in such a vulnerable postition to feed. Therefore, I ask why would anyone remotely consider targeting such a fish? I hope that I entertained your and anyone else's curiosity on how I fish Crane Creek, and maybe someday we'll meet down on the creek. I'm just a humble man that respects, cherishes and enjoys sharing what this creek has to offer. It's what I do.

Ask him what? Did I miss something?

Hope you enjoy.

The spawn is in high gear at Crane Creek. I spent the day walking the banks in and around town observing spawning activity. Some of the redds were occupied and some had already been abandoned. I didn't fish very much as to not stress these fish any more than I had to. I was having too much fun watching these fish on their nests. I would just like to remind anyone reading this that it is very important to be extra careful where you step while wading in Crane Creek right now and in the next few weeks.

I'll most likely be there if they aren't scheduled to be generating, which probably means I won't be there. If they are going to be generating heavily, I will be chasing the wild ones at Crane. We'll see.

Present

Its hard to believe that just about a month ago the upper wire road access was completely dry. I came down last Sunday afternoon and did very good. I enjoy coming down after the creek floods to see how much it's changed. The last flooding really did a number on the city park and the baseball fields. There used to be a small pavillion in the park on the other side of the metal foot bridge that crosses over the creek. It is now upside down about 100 yards downstream on the opposite bank lodged between two trees. Most of the fences in the ball fields were laid over from all the rushing water and debris. A lot of trash has washed into the creek in and below town. Next time I come down, I will probably bring some trash bags and pick up trash as I walk the banks.

I enjoyed the Willie Nelson tunes.

A friend sent me an article from the Joplin Globe regarding several proposed locations for new reservoirs here in Southwest Missouri. Shoal Creek, Indian Creek and Crane Creek were mentioned as possible candidates. Here's the article. http://www.joplinglobe.com/local/local_story_188215152.html It chills me to the bone to imagine what could happen to such a unique and fragile fishery in the future if they chose Crane Creek to be the source of water for an off-stream reservoir. Does anyone else here have anymore information regarding this?

Fished this past Friday afternoon in the catch and release area and picked up quite a few swinging soft hackles in the riffles. Picked up this hog in the riffles just downstream from the playground on a size 18 yellow soft hackle.

I wasn't able to get to him because they had the road that goes down to rocking chair closed for the 4th of July. I'm not sure why they had it closed, but they did. I'm sure he was fine though. He was walking around on the bank. It could have been a lot worse than it was though.

I was wade fishing the north bank just below outlet 3 with one unit generating yesterday. I had been fishing there by myself for around fifteen minutes with nobody else around and had managed to catch several rainbows. I looked upstream and saw a young man about 100 yards away, probably in his early 20's, fishing right where outlet 3 dumps into the river. I continued to fish, occasionally looking upstream when I notice that the young man was no longer fishing where he was ten minutes earlier. Instead, he had waded out to about mid-river just downstream from where rebar would be during low water. The water was at his thigh and very swift. He continued on across towards the stump until the water was almost to the top of his waders. I stood there in disbelief as he started flinging his fly rod around with reckless abandon not knowing the magnitude of danger he had put him into. It doesn't take a genius to realize that this guy had reached the point of no return and only had one option. I decided to make my way back up to the pavilion to prepare to use the emergency phone. On my way up I noticed him lose his balance a couple times and recover. Then the inevitable happened. He tried wading back upstream from where he came, but the force of the current wouldn't let him. At this point I could tell he was panicking as I stood there unable to do anything to help. He lost his footing one more time, ditched his fly rod and down he went. I immediately started running upstream to get to the phone. I looked downstream several times to see him franticly swimming towards the opposite bank. I finally made it to the outlet 3 stairs and looked downstream one more time, but I couldn't locate him. I thought he was a goner until I saw him crawling up on the bank down at the rocking chair hole. I finally got up to my truck and made my way over the dam to go pick him up, but they had the gate closed

Leonard, Trout_Bum here. I enjoyed chatting with you and Randy Saturday night. Thanks for the flies and for letting me sample your special coffee. It really hit the spot. I had to turn in a little earlier than you guys did. I started getting sleepy around 3:00am. I dosed off a couple times down at the big hole. If it weren't for the trout slamming the hibernators you gave me, I probably would have taken a dunk. I guess that's what I get for fishing almost 24 hours straight. I decided enough was enough and made it up to my truck around 3:30am for a three hour nap. I woke up shortly after 6:00am and headed back down for more. I'll probably be coming back down this weekend to get me another fix. It was a pleasure finally meeting you. I hope your wife makes a speedy recovery from her surgery and hopefully we'll run into each other again.

Yes, I fished them below a very small white indicator.