Brian Sloss

I uploaded a couple of picks using the the place that says upload, but the pics didn't post. Anyone tell me why?

My friend John and I got out Sat and Sun to take the fly rods after some samllmouth. Fishing was awesome both days with lots of fish caught and plenty of quality fish as well. We drifted white marabou jigs (1/16) just off the main current and periodically gave it a twitch or mend. Many caught dead drifting as well, in fact most were. Here are a sample of the higher quality fish.

Thank you everyone. Justin we will fish soon.

Thank you very much. Brian Sloss

A topic that has been taken down a road that I did not expect. Brian, I am glad you mentioned to stay out of the redds. If the trout was hatched in the stream, it is wild in my book and that is what happens in the NFOW.

Took Mike and Joe from Memphis out for a day in the drift and it was COLD to start the day. Around 12 degrees cold. It warmed to close to 40 throughout the day. Throwing a 1/16th oz white jig under a strike indicator proved most effective, though we did have a stretch where egg patterns were the order of the day. The number of caught fish was average, but there were some quality fish and a larger than normal amount of smallmouth caught (mainly because we used the jig so much). About a third of the fish caught were smallies with one the first ones being about 16 inches and the last fish of the day being a very fat 17.5 incher. We also had a 16 inch male rainbow and a very fat 19 inch male 'bow. A fun day for sure.

Took Bob and Joseph, members of Ozark Fly Fishers in St. Louis, out for 2 days fly fishing in the drift boat. Tues, though the weather was great, the fishing was rather spotty. Wed the weather was cold and rainy, but the fishing was much better. The river is currently running in the 900s cfs and continuing to recede. As it does the river should continue to fish better. There are also a number of post spawn fish swimming around, so be sure to handle any of those tired fish with care. There are still plenty of feisty, hard fighting fish to be caught though. We caught quite a few wild trout on Wed, plus four smallmouths and a goggle eye. Heavy stoneflies, crawdads and eggs were the trick. A white marabou jig (1/16 oz) under an indicator about 6ft caught trout and all the bass. For the bass, we tossed it near the cover and slowly twitched it back. Worked great during the first short run we fished. A good time was had by all.

Here is a thought for increased enforcement on Tany. Here on the Eleven Point, our Oregon County sherrifs deputies can enforce game laws and do give out tickets on the river everything from underage drinking to fishing violations. How about meeting with the county officials over there to hire someone to enforce those rules on a local level and thereby raise money for the Branson schools, since game violations go to the schools. You might be able to sell it to them that way.

Got out and guided Fri and Tues after a long string of canceled trips due to high water. On Fri the water was at 1100 cfs, which is still higher than I prefer, but my client did pretty well with over 20 fish landed. Wading was very limited, but he did well from the boat with stoneflies and eggs fished heavily weighted to get as close to the bottom as possible. Tues the water was up to just over 1200 cfs. My clients did well on the same things on a fly rod as well as with heavy spinners and marabou jigs on the spinning rod. Fishing was a little slower on Tues., but we got into them pretty good in some of the slower water. Current seams were another thing to be focused on. The flood has moved a couple of things around, most notably, I would not try to get around the right side of the first island, as it looks clogged. The river is fine for floating, but fishing is more productive from a boat now due to the limits on wading. When we get below 1000 cfs, which I hope happens soon, fishing could get real good.

Justin Great to see you on the forum.

Power Bait is artificial and I can kind of understand the confusion, but if they would read the regs further it clearly states "no soft plastic or scented baits". The scented baits covers power bait, so it is just a matter of reading the full regs. It would be easier to just say power bait though. I agree with you on that.

I don't make enough off a fishing license (a few pennies) to take the time to administer a test, but I understand where the desire to have one comes from. That being said, I don't think our regs are confusing at all. I just don't think they are read much by the public and that needs to change. The blue ribbon trout signs tell you specifically what you can and can not use, but 90 % of the public that I see don't seek out the regs and never read the signs. That is why we need bigger signs and more of them, so they can't miss them.

Fished Lassiter on Sat myself and I have got to agree completely with your report. It did fish really well, though most of my fish were on the small side with only one fish at about 15 inches. No browns for me though.

I am all for more signs on the waterways that you can see from a boat or while wading. I think that it would help on my home water, the Eleven Point. We have people that float from above Greer (beginning of trophy water) at Cane Bluff and by the time they get 7.5 miles down to the trophy area, it can slip their mind whether the regs start at the spring, the bridge or the boat ramp. We go over the regs thoroughly with clients, but a lot of people take their own boats and don't necessarily know the regs. Though I feel that they should and don't have much sympathy for them when they get caught, I feel a sign would be the best answer to make it as clear as possible. Also, then there would be less of an excuse to use to try and get out of a fine. The signs on the White are a perfect example because it is painfully obvious when you are entering a restricted area. Therefore, no excuses when you get busted. There are always those who will break the game laws no matter what, but education does make a difference with the majority of anglers in my experience.

I can't speak for the Current, but if they spawn around the time they do here on the 11 Point, then your skinny trout may be post spawn trout. Hopefully they will start put some weight back on now that the eggs and milt have been depleted.

They have some of these "golden" trout in the hatchery at dam 3 on the spring river. Saw them about a month ago when I walked around the facility there looking at some of the trout they were raising. Never seen one in the river there, but I imagine they release them though.

The river is getting back into shape. It is currently running at about 1200cfs, which is a little high still, and it is stained green, which is good for fishing. Had a pair of guys do an overnighter and reported good fishing in the current seams and back eddies. Lots of real heavy stuff needed to get down to the fish, but they are there if you get down to them. I'd use stoneflies, eggs, streamers and 1/16oz marabou jigs in these conditions. Also, be careful where you wade in the fast water. Starting on the 14th, remember to wear some orange out there for deer season. I'll report on my guide trips on Friday and Tuesday. Good luck.

If you think that poaching isn't a problem in the Blue ribbon areas, then you are kidding yourself. I see it all the time on the Eleven Point and have noticed it on other rivers as well. Agreed enforcement is the most important part of the formula, but I would like to see a larger size limit and barbless hooks. That being said, i have no real problem with the current regs or our agents. They are just understaffed.

If they didn't have any of those rules, the blue ribbon areas would fish as erratically as the white ribbon areas where anything goes. If you get there close to a stocking time, great. If you are a couple weeks out from a stocking time, it sucks. There is no excuse for not knowing the regs and I don't think they are too complicated at all. As for the size limit, given the choice of no kill or the current 18 inch rule, I chose no kill, though I am open to just increasing the size limit to say 21 inches. Barbless hooks I think is important.

Do you mean a guide trip or on your own? The water is still too high for good fishing now, but might be ok this weekend, but would be borderline at best if it is, unless the water starts dropping quicker than it is now. The following weekend would be better, but that is opening weekend of deer season.

Will do. I was half thinking I might run into up by the dam. We got in about 4 hours of fishing.

It is owned by the same guy who has chimps housed just off the town square in West Plains. If you know where to look, you can sometimes see them in their outside cage in West Plains. Kind of strange.

With the Eleven Point blown out and the other freestone rivers in Missouri blown out, a couple of friends & I decided to drive down to the White river for an afternoon below Bull Shoals since the generators were off. We got there and of course two generators came online. GREAT! We were annoyed, but we drove over to the golf course side and were surprised we could still wade fine and we were real happy to see how few fishermen were there. In fact shocked us how few there were. The fishing was good and the fish were beautifully colored. We caught nothing but rainbows, though a brown or two would have been nice. The only surprising thing was once the water came on, john boats came up. A couple of them routinely went above the legal line. Oh well. We caught fish on sow bugs, bloody Marys and egg patterns. A fun day.

Not quite that big, but it is still rising. They are in the same league though.

Trout have been here well before the early 90's, decades earlier.