Paola Cat

Good day for the dry flies. Caught numbers on cream midges, renegades, and small cracklebacks. Also took fish on SJWs and egg patterns. Caught 2 lunkers today: 1 on 4" white/orange bunny and 1 down in the C&R area on a red serendipity. It was a little chilly early but the afternoon turned off comfortable. There's lots of good and healthy active fish in the stream. PC

Hey Brian .... I'm glad you guys enjoyed our fishing hole (Niangua). Sounds like a truely awesome Thanksgiving massive adventure. PC

Pat .... I stayed in the Highbank until we left for Zone 3. Didn't get any further upstream. It was slow .... nothing was consistent .... threw a lot of different patterns at them and couldn't find something that was hot. I didn't see anybody slaying them. Mike

RC .... I didn't fish at all in Zone 1 on Saturday. It sounds like about the time you got there I was down at the BSP River Access getting shut-out. PC

Fished Saturday 11/29. Started at Highbank just after the siren. Caught fish on a variety of patterns. Caught a nice 18-19" male rainbow on an olive mohair leech. Ended up taking fish on marabou midges (red, olive, and white) and peachy king egg patterns. Overall it was pretty slow and a bit crowded. Brought to hand somewhere between 12 and 15 in 3 or so hours of fishing at Highbank. Never did hone in on a hot pattern. Met-up with KSBass and his son. Then moved down to Zone 3 and caught a half dozen more using the peachy king egg pattern. Had to use the net once down there on a nice 19-20" female rainbow .... hooked her just upstream from the wooden bridge. After fishing Zone 3 we headed to the BSP river access .... zippo for me down there. We found the fish but couldn't get them to hit the leech or anything else we threw at them. It was getting cold, windy, and wet and we headed back to Kansas at around 4:30. PC

RPS .... The wife just made up a batch of queso. Very nice recipe. Thanks PC

Tried one of these Thingamabobbers for the 1st time last week. I used the 1/2" size. I agree with FFM .... the sensitivity, castability, and floatability are great. In my evaluation, I was using it on tippett only. If re-positioned it does have the tendency to kink or curl tippet. I didn't notice any slippage. I didn't "snap" any fish off .... because of the Thingamabobber. I think the orthodontic rubber band attachment method is a great idea (B-Ray) and will give it a try next time out. Overall, I like these better than the twist-on, tooth-picked, or sticky-back press on strike indicators. If you have to use an indcator, I would recommend the Thingamabobber. Overall A. PC

2007 was more enjoyable for me than 2008. Britt mentioned the 7 blow-outs. The water conditions just didn't stabilize until the end of the year. I expect my numbers of fish were about the same .... though I didn't keep a journal this year. It took a different strategy/technique this year and you had to be adaptable. For a big part of the year the fish were at the bottom of the water column .... which called for some chucking and ducking. Then they went through this picky small pattern preference thing for awhile. Finally by the end of the year we were back to "normal" patterns. 2007 was not a typical year for dries, CBs, and SHs. I give these a "below average" until the last part of the season. Overall I'd give 2008 an "average" for numbers and a "below average" for conditions. As far as the number tags sold being down .... you could have fooled me! It seemed to me like the crowds were above average most of the times I ventured into the park. PC

Oneshot ... I hear ya. I've been trying to get out early before the wind picks up. The afternoons are a pain. The leaves are a hassle and the acorns and walnuts are just raining down. There's weeds and sticks and junk floating by. I'm just dealing with it. I'm thinking I might try a sink tip or full sink line next time to see if I can get consistently down through the stuff. PC

RC --- I'm planning on fishing the river on the 7th and doing the C&R thing on either the 14th or the 17th. PC

Wrench .... yeah it was slow action in the normal spots (faster water and the tailouts). I just kept walking downstream from the last boat ramp. I waded on down past the island and finally found the fish just past the island in those slow deep holes out from the west bank. The fish were mid to upper in the water column in probably 6-8' feet of water. I was essentially standing in the middle of the river and casting to the west bank (deeper water). The fish were aggressive and hit the leech on almost every cast. They didn't hit it on the strip .... but hit it when you stopped. PC

Fished the river on 10/30. Rolled into the BSP public access at about 7:00 AM. It was cold .... in the low 30s and I had to wear the neoprene gloves to start. Wade fished until 4:30 PM. Started off slow. Brought to hand 4 rainbows in the first hour and a half on standard nymphs and SJWs. Finally located a large concentration of fish downstream from the last boat ramp. The fish were on a deep flat (6-8 ft) and very active in the morning. Took fish on almost every cast for around 2.5 hours stripping an olive leech. Went over to the park to look for Brittsnbirds (Pat). Found Pat and we headed back to the river. Fished the same spot and caught a few more on the leech. Took a couple more on the walk back on a large stone fly nymph with a BH zug bug dropper. All rainbows today in the 10-14" range. No SMBs and no brownies. Beautiful day, good fishing, saw the eagles again, and it was good to get a day away from work. The leaves on the water were kind of a pain again. Looking forward to going again. PC

Pat .... and anybody else. If I can get out of the office. I'll be down on Thursday. I'll look for you. Not sure how big the crowds will be at the park the last couple of days of the regular season. I'll fish the river if it's elbow-to-elbow in the park. PC

Wrench .... Just like you we weren't even tempted to hit the park. I'll wait until the C&R before I hit the park again. Really looking forward to fishing Zone 3 again (some of the best water in the park as far as I'm concerned). Anyway, didn't catch any browns. Didn't even see any. Didn't catch any smallies either. We did see the caddis and the mayflies. The creek chubs were working them pretty good at daybreak. Maybe a few trout rising early but not many. Early the fish were in the middle of the river in the riffles. Later the fish moved to the shade. Almost all of our fish came from 3 feet of water or less. Our best fish were in the 15" range also. I think Ksbass snapped a few pictures also. I forgot that I had my camera with me. Looking to get back down maybe later this week. PC

Wade fished the Niangua with Ksbass on 10/26. Fished the BSP public access from the canoe put-in to the first boat ramp. Had enough action in the riffles to keep it interesting. Brought to hand 20+ (all rainbows) between us. Missed at least that many. Fish were caught on a variety of patterns. Slumpbusters, buggers, glowballs, SJWs, jigs, and scud imitations. Ksbass found a pod of fish in a small shady area in the afternoon and did well. Saw a bald eagle and the weather was nice. PC

I broke (2) fly rods in one night. Getting ready for a C&R trip last season. I was rigging up a custom Sage rod (beautiful rod made for me by a now deceased gentleman) in the living room and and the wife's cat grabbed the leader and took off .... snapped the tip off. Didn't even get a chance to play him out. I then rigged up a Lamiglass rod and went outside to lawn cast for a few minutes. On the way back into the house I missed the first step to the deck ... it was kind of icy .... I went down and snapped that rod in (2) places. These are the only (2) rods I've broke and they happened on the same night. PC

Wow .... this has got the beginnings of a pretty good thread. Under normal conditions anywhere there's faster/skinnier water: midges, scuds, and nymphs. Faster/skinnier water to mid water transition: Cracklebacks, Woolies, Buggers, Slump busters, Emergers (RS2, buzzers) and last but not least .... soft hackles (P&G, P&Y). Deeper slower water: Nymphs, Cracklebacks, Woolies, Mini-Jigs. Higher/Off colored water: Glow balls (white, peachy king), SJWs, and white thread jigs. PC

7'-7'6" in a 3 weight is a great length for most situations in the trout parks and the smaller streams in the Ozarks. PC

Decided against going late Saturday night. I just looked at the pictures on Weaver's ... I think it was a good decision. It's blown out again. PC

Doesn't look like the water's coming up .... the gauge height is 2.2. Pat/Rich .... I hear ya on 11/14. It can't get here fast enough. I'll make the decision later tonight on whether I head down tomorrow or not .... we'll see how it goes. I've got to head to India for work on Thursday. Doing the around the world thing and will be out of commission for a couple of weeks. PC Mike

I'm thinking about going down this Sunday. I'll post a report on the water conditions. FFM ... yep 11/14 for the sart of the C&R. PC

Edward .... Review the previous posts in this BSSP section. It contains the information you're asking about (patterns, locations .... etc.) for Zones 1 and 2. PC

Oneshot ... I fished the river at the Bennett Spring/Niangua River Public Fishing Access about (2) weeks ago right at the canoe put in area. Waded out into the middle of the river and fished that faster water just downstream .... Fished with an olive slumpbuster for about an hour and couldn't keep the trout off of it. All rainbows ... fat-n-sassy. Seemed like there was quite a few fish. PC

Good reel for the money. I've own one of them and a spare spool. Smooth .... no problems .... I've had it for about (1) year. PC

I was reading about the idiot parade on the Elk River and .... some genius stole the short bus ..... then I moved on to this post (being quite intrigued by the title) and was somewhat shocked. PC