duckydoty

Great fish! I released all my fish on opening day also. All the lunkers I hooked up with got released even before I got to pull them out of the water for a picture.

Crane Creek provides some excellent fishing challenges and options other than outlet fishing on Taney during high water. Crane has been getting alot of publicity on the forum over the last couple of weeks, which I think is great news. The state of Missouri has publicized the creek for many years now and we are lucky that the Conservation Department through publically owned land gives us an oportunity to be able to fish for trout that have not been stocked since the late 1800's. Everyone should have the chance to be able to enjoy the beauty of fishing Crane Creek for McCloud rainbows and I am happy to be able to enlighten outdoor enthusiasts to what Crane Creek might have to offer them if they are interested. With that said, DD'sMC and I again fished Crane today. I spent the morning tying up some size 20 BWO's hoping to hit a good hatch at the Upper Wire Rd. Access today. Well, there was a hatch and I did catch one on the BWO, but the McClouds were not as active on the top as I had hoped. DD'sMC picked one up on an elk hair caddis then we decided to change over to nyphing. Picked up one on a tan sowbug but could not get down deep enough quick enough in the deeper holes. All the deep holes had lots of wood around them sow we again switched over to heavily weighted sculping jigs. I managed to land two other very nice McClouds and hooked up with several more. Keeping them out of the wood proved to be a great challenge. DD'sMC hooked up with one giant McCloud that was pushing at least 20 inches if not 22. It was a monster and it took her to school on Crane Creek Wood. What a rush! First one of the day took the BWO Size 16 tan sowbug Puttin the "Neak" on em! DD'sMC checking one out My larges McCloud so far Another nice one Picked up a huge sculpin on a sculpin jig DD'sMC putting the "Neak" on em! Caught one on these today. Taking them to R.R. tomorrow Saw 2 snakes today. They weren't moving too fast.

I thought I saw your car out there, but I couldnt find you. Went up to the shop....It is closed on Wed. and guess what.....today was Wed.

Yep...size 32. Really had to strain the eyes to see it skating across the surface 20 feet out there.

I stuck 2 bigguns on Monday....hook come out on one of em and the other wrapped around a danglin stringer that had an 8 incher on it. That stringer was still danglin there this morning with the dead 8 incher. No name on the stringer though. No hook ups with bigguns today but did see a few. Removing the size 32 hook was not too bad. Just had to use my "IDEBDE" hemos. I saw your buddies today working over two nice ones below the tubes.

The crowds from opening day were definately thinned out today. Got to fish just about anywhere I wanted to today. The Lunkers have been thinned out also. There are still a few left, but they are very shy right now. Around noon the hatches started in full swing again today. Some kind of small blueish mayfly and lots of midges. The klinkhamer picked up a few but I decided to down size a little bit. I tied on a size 32 spent wing midge and could not keep the fish off of it. Picked up 19 on the little dry fly in an hour and a half. Watching trout take the dry fly is awesome!

Nice McCloud! I should be heading back over there before the week is over. Thanks for sharing.

Just got back from RR. Lots of lunkers left in the upper end. Should be some fun for you guys.

Sent you a pm

I ran into Ray the other day on the lower end. He is a wealth of information.

I have never fished down there, but I think Tim has. My brother-in-law 2 years ago caught a 3 pound rainbow by Coney Island on Table Rock. I guess when the water gets cold enough them trout go exploring all over Table Rock.

I have no idea what that is. Something I just grabbed out of the drawer. Looks like it has some flash in it though. I usually just use awesome possum in some kind of tan.

Those are some pretty fish for sure! The Dairy farm is about 2 miles the other side of town.

Nope. Wasn't me....I fishing in the park all through C&R.

Sounds like you had a great day. I think Steve is going back to Crane tomorrow to give it another try.

Got a little fishing in below the park today with Pflugradt and his buddy Steve. Had a good time and caught a few fish. Polish nymphing picked up most of my fish today with alot of weight to get my sow bugs down. Did catch one little bow on a klinkhamer too. Love that fly. Pflugradt managed to bring in the biggest fish out of the three of us today. The mad house will start Monday!

You will want to take your waders. A short rod is best. Some nice fish on the upper wire road access to be caught, but you have to sneak up on them. Be quiet and slow on the approach to the different holes. Fishing on your knees is a good idea. I fished the lower end a couple of days ago and did very well in numbers. Grey sowbugs size 16 and 18 worked very well along with bead head pheasant tails, but needed lots of split shot to get it down fast enough to drag bottom through the run. There are some nice areas that I like to fish downstream of the park below the bridge. You might want to try and hit all three of the public accesses. Bring some dry flies also. Elk hair caddis, klinkhamers or something like that in 14 to 18's. Glow balls work good also. Crane should be enough to keep you busy all day so I would not worry about any other streams to fish tomorrow. Good luck!

Her 1st to lots of places, she outfishes lots of people!

417-336-5083

That is one of the best spots for stripers and sand bass.

I was just making up for my B Day when she out fished me

DD'sMC and I fished lower Crane today. This was her 1st time to fish for the elusive McCloud rainbows and she was successful. The creek is in great shape and fished very well. Lots of great runs to fish on the lower end. The fish were biting very well on sow bugs and bead head pheasant tail nymphs. Midges started coming off so I tied on a klinkhamer and caught quite a few on the dry. Just skated it across the surface and the little McClouds were jumping clean out of the water to nail it. I ended up with about 25 and DD'sMC on her 1st time fishing Crane got 6. We lost lots of flies in the sticks and wood. Probably around 2 dozen or more. Most fish were caught polish nymphing with a sow bug and bead head pheasant tail as a dropper. Had to use up to 3 number 4 lead shots to get it down in some of the runs. Took lots of pictures of the fish and have some pictures of the flies we used today. Better get out to Crane before it warms up too much and them sneaky snakes come out. DD'sMC's 1st McCloud My 1st fish of the day this was on the bottom fly and this was on the top fly This one was a monster! DD'sMC racks up another one She is getting the hang of this Crane Creek thing the Klinkhamer bead head pheasant tail sowbug All the flies were in size 16 and 18

I guess the charts an graphs lied today about the zero generation from noon till 4. I cut my trip scouting for whites on the James this morning short in hopes of some low water on Taney. It was cold out there this morning in the wind!

Grey and light brown size 16 and 18.

Zack Wind was not bad at all. Just enough to keep some chop on the water most of the time. Going on some recon tomorrow. Let you all know if it works out good.