Trav

I think I would have opened my big mouth and told him I had pics of his evil deeds and told him my intentions. Just to make him sweat until the warden tracked him down. But thats just me. Good job Bman! I hate to see people keep legal fish and stuff like this really gets my blood boiling!

Runs good. One of the front struts is blown though. has 207k $1500 or best offer. Belongs to my son. He is wanting a truck.

My gram talks of trains in the night that got lost during storms. ???? With urban sprawl and such, My neck of the woods are pretty void of the big cats. I do see the occassional bobcat, but that is as big as it gets. The one sighting I had as a youth was isolated and never happened again. If we want to talk about otter and muskrats, I have lots of gripes there! By the way, you trappers out there.... Come winter look me up. I have plenty of bounty! I will be willing to give you prime trapping grounds! I would even help you set the traps! On my property the dog handles infestations, but she has a problem with those water varmits. She can swim but hates it. Typical coonhound. Makes her smart in my book though. Taney is coooold!

Al I was 12 years old. Haha My family arent big on "wild tales", we basically say how it is. Maybe it was a trick of the light, but there was no mistaking it was a cougar/Mt Lion. Black or not. In fact, my dog got prety messed up. He was a walker hound. And since that incident he would go ape even on house cats. Wich he never did before.

I had a good time. Thanx again. Not to be critical but I think we were behind Sabre Island. Sunken forest is down by the condos. Just clarifying to our readers. And phil, if you liked that bluegill action, you have to go up in bull and fish the east shore while the water is high. Once you get past all the docks a bit there are literally thousands of gills. Best of luck to ya in Alaska. Wished I was coming along.

MDC knew they needed to utilize the cold water fishery and thier decision to put in trout was a no brainer. I have yet scene anyone in the span of this thread that has come up with a more viable solution. Even if there wasnt an existing trout population, I cant see where there is any other way to have large population of fish that wont abandon the lake in search of spawning ground. At least when the trout go through thier instictive life cycle they head upstream. Whether that attempt is successful or not they for the most part will stay in the lake. Any population of species that will match the current trout population would have to be maintained by stock management. Taney is a fish tank, but I would rather have an aquarium full of fish than not. Sure it would be nice to have some more smallies and walleye, but to do so will be to add more "Put and Grow" fish. Thats where the issue of money falls in. It costs MDC money to maintain addition populations and its money they are not willing to spend. So yes, from my perspective, it is all about money!

Wasnt going to go fishing today, but got a phone call and was pleasantly surprised. It was Phil saying he was at my dock. So I gathered my gear and went down to meet him. I caught the first fish on the very first cast. Phil said it was a jinx to do that. For awhile there I almost believed him, but we busted that myth. I will let him do the actual report. Just wanted to say Thanx. I had some good conversation. Its always nice to get know people better. We must definately do it again.

They have been running water non-stop here on Taney. I personally think it is making the fishing better. Of course being on the Lower I like the consistency. Fish always bite better with lots of water running.

Good Eats! I find cleaning gills to be a drag so dont bother. But you can carry home 50 a day from down here and not even put a dent in the population.

There isnt any dots to connect. Its a pet project to generate the local economy. Trust me, the mighty tourist buck is the key factor behind the whole issue. Im sure there are some bragging rights being lofted as well. Especially on the MDC/Corps perspective. And like every other industry, even trout have lobbys. My Gramps bought this place back in the 70s for one reason only. To catch trout.

My mom called me and warned me, My Gram warned me before I left, and I saw it brewing on the radar. Im stubborn and figured I could get an hour or so in before it hit, and I usually am pretty safe on my dock if I need to run for shelter. Yesterday wasnt the first time I ended up in the rod closet! Was the first time I had to cram a dog in there with me though. She usually will hi-tail it to the garage. She was after muskrats(pesky problem this year) and didnt have time to climb the hill. It did move in fast.

I use "view new posts" or if it gets timed out I go to "todays active topics" at the bottom of the OAF home page.

Not a prob. I enjoy exchanging tactics.

The gills are so abundant this year! I have been cleaning up the store with them. The action is darn near one on every cast and the jig isnt in the water more than 3 seconds before the hook set. For you fly guys that cant get into the high water at the dam, I suggest you head down to the lower and pick these guys up. I havent been able to find any under 5 inches and they have been averaging 6 to 9 inches. Plus we all know they fight harder than a trout. I personally have been using 1/2 inch grubs on a tiny ultra light rig. I dont think it will matter as long as you keep it moving. They will swarm it. And I mean SWARM. There is 2 dozen of them off every structure and they fight over the bait. Some of you might jab me for this type of fishing, but when it is good, it is fun!! With a capital F. So fast that you almost feel overwhelmed. The key , if your thinking of coming down to the lower Taney, Is shallow water. You want to be near structure that is in one foot of water. Toss your presentation in the 2 foot range and tempt them out of thier cover. If your boat is sitting in 7 foot your too deep. I post these type of reports for a reason. Nobody likes to go fishing and not have fun. And the Lower Taney can be very rough to the novice. Plus, I know that with all the water that is projected to be running this summer, you fly fisherman will be bumming because you cant wade those premo areas. Dont forget that a 8 inch gill will fight harder than a 10 inch trout.

Isnt the Time Bandit the smallest boat of the fleet? I can relate with my little 14 foot SeaNymph. Haha

You know what, I dont think it is neccessary. I would like to think that OAF members will be able to comunicate through the threads and/or PM and meet to fish together without a specific forumn for that aspect. I for one will go fishing with anyone. I love to learn off others and love to share my knowledge to those that would appreciate it. All we need is more people like me! Haha

Again Als rationall has me second guessing. No, The cat I saw was a good 70 pounds so it wasnt a large house cat. I was a youth, hunting with 5 adults who all agree to what we saw. Granted it was dark but we did have lanterns. It was definately a feline, and we all had pistols and if it wasnt for my Dad we would have shot it. Wether it was a panther or a jag. Cougar/mountain Lion is what the stories we tell our friends and family. The fact that it was black never seemed to be an issue. We were just surprised to see such a big cat. My nieghbor used to have a pet cat that was black as the night sky and even bigger than the one we pinned on the cliff. The cat we came across that night while coon hunting had a greyer tint. To be honost, we were paying more attention to our dogs as to keep them from getting killed. But we all got a good look. It was black. In Panama we had black jags show up often. They liked to hunt the neighborhood dogs and cats. They were smaller than what we sighted that night here in the ozarks. I am sure there must be some logical explanation but seeing is believing.

Everything is about money!

Heritage? Does 50 years constitute as a heritage? Cause thats how long trout have been in Taney. Not long if your talking about history. Its always about the money. Everything is. Maybe we should revisit this thread... http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=10119

Well, before the storms hit I did a little gill fishing. Had 23 and released two sport bass before I had to make the mad dash back to my dock. No more than got there and the sky fell. Was fine under the shelter of my dock until the wind started blowing so I threw on my Frog Toggs to stay dry. No more than got them on, when Marble sized hail came flying at me like deer slugs! So I am running to my rod closet, started pulling out lawn chairs to make room for myself so I wouldnt get beat up. I no more than got in when I hear a whining at the door. The dog! So I cram her in there with me, wich isnt easy because there was barely enough room for me and now Im squeezing in a 70 pound coonhound as well. It all passed in about 30 minutes. Needless to say, it was quite an eventful afternoon. But not to be discouraged I went back out after it all blew out and managed to pick up four more sport bass.

Bman caught a 16# Brown on a fly rod. And I watched guys pull in 60# tarpon down in Panama with fly rods. I have pulled in 30 pound stripers with 10# test, and there are tons of record fish caught on 4 and 6# test.

Typically, I use 10# for pretty much everything. I jig 25 to 40 foot holes with swarming hornets, lil georges, or even 1/2 oz spinner baits that I modified with a 5 inch sluggo instead of a skirt. I have caught alot of big ones but my biggest didnt even hit 15 pounds. Those records have to be down there somewhere though. I might have to steal a bunch of 8 inch rainbows from the hatchery and drop them in those holes. Maybe that will pick up a 20+ brownie. Haha

Brown Trout are pretty big predators, BUT, they are very elusive and hard to catch. Very close to Musky, the fish of a thousand casts. I think if they stocked three times as many, and at three times the size, and make them all Catch and Release we wouldnt even be having this conversation.

The stripes are just ridge lines. Alot of bass get them if they spend alot of time on the bottom. You mostly see them in water that has alot of iron. Kind of like a brown bath tub gets from well water with alot of minerals in the water. I have seen it often up north. Especially some of the smaller fly in lakes in ontario. Nice spot all the same!