Kicknbass

What was the lake structure in the areas that you were catching fish? Depth, gravel Trees?

What part of the River is the tourney being held?

In the Dead of the summer I look for swift water that has structure (wood or rocks)and depth (3' plus). If you find a spot that has all 3, it will have bass. The bass will hold in the seam waiting for bait to drift into the swirl. These spots can be tough to fish, but they hold fish.

I have never fished the JF, but fish current river alot. I believe this rivers would be similar. A few weeks ago we caught several on white grubs. My go to bait is a watermelon pepper stick bait fished weedless below an 1/8 oz shot. Fish it slow in the deep holes. Let it drift w/ the current around the rock or root structure. Set the hook if you feel anything strange. Some times they'll hammer it, sometimes they'll just pick it up. Jerks are free.

Looks like Busch. The Royals sure have gone down hill since '85.

This will be the first year in many that Dad won't be going for 2-3 weeks. He is going for only a week this year. He says hes getting too old to run the trot lines. So he's just planning on relaxing. I'll be down with my family with Mom & Dad June 7-11 and may encourge him to put out at least 1 line and run it with him. I think the fishing bug will bite when he see's the lake. He will turn 79 in June and is starting to show signs of alzhimers, so is ability to go is fading. Very sad.

The Norfork of the white doesn't have the slick gravel bottom shoals as the Meramec river does. This river has large chunk rock that is hell on the bottom of an aluminum boat. When the corps shuts the water down. You can tear up a boat pretty fast on the Norfork. I took mind down 2 years ago in January and they were dropping the water on the lake and never shut the water off for 4 days. It was great having the boat w/ the water flowing. However, this year I took the boat down on the same annual trip, and when the corps shut the water down, I didn't immediately start heading for the ramp by the dam and tore hit extremely hard on one shoal and tore several holes in the bottom of the boat. This was an expensive lesson learned. If your fishing up by the Norfork dam. My advice is rent a fiberglass jon from one of the resorts. There is a bad shoal about a mile below the dam that I would be afraid to cross unless the corps is running at least 2 generators. Good luck.

My father has run trot lines on Table Rock for years. He typically spends 2-3 weeks starting Memorial weekend and catches lots of catfish. Mostly Flathead, but a few blues and channel as well. He has used a variety of bait through out the years, but has had the best luck w/ blue gill caught from the lake. My wife and kids will typically spend one week with him and my mom. Each day, we will spend the middle of the day with the kids fishing around the dock catching blue gill to add to his bait supply. The fish he catches during that one vacation will supply his freezer w/ enough fish to have several fish frys though out the year.

Rocky Mountain National Park - This place is beautiful. Many small streams. 2 years ago my family and I camped in a campground in a valley on the este park side of the park and I fished a small stream in the valley that was full of small brown trout. Fished a mountianside stream coming through the pass from the west and caught several small brookies. The family loved the park and Estes park as well. Lots to do for the kids. Basalt - The Frying pan river. I caught several fish below the dam. I had a 5-6 lb brown smack my wooly, but didn't get a hook set. We traveled across the state and camped and fished in many parts of the state. We had a great trip.

Could these scars be from spawning? I believe bass do rub raw spots on their lips, sides and tails making and protecting nest. What I hear being discribed appears to be more than spawing scars, though the timing is right for this theroy? Just a thought.

Do you have any pics of the double beard to post.

The Current river has restrictions in the ONSR 40 hp limit below round springs 25hp above, and 10 hp at some point above. This is imposed by the National park service. I don't know of any waters that restrict jet drives, only HP limits, none of the rivers that I frequent have restrictions. The eleven point might, someone else may be able to help.

Any more turkey hunting stories on the forum?

I have fished w/ several guides in differant parts of the country over the years. The best guides, the full time guides state up front that they guide C&R only all fish are returned immediatly. The reasons for this were similar. They make their living putting clients on fish. If the fish is returned then another client has a chance to catch the same fish. Largemouth are territorial and a fish can and will be catch several times near a territory if caugh and released. Bassmasters has a good article on the new world record bass from CA. The guys that caught this fish have documented catching this fish at 19 lbs, 21 lbs and 25 lbs. This fish had a mark on its right gill plate that appears in photos of this fish. A guide that keeps fish or allows his clients to keep fish is constantly needing to find new fish making his job more difficult. A guide that fishes 200 + times per year could harvest several hunderd bass annually. As for the trophey catches. The replicas are too good to keep a large fish. Take photos, release the fish, and let the taxidermist paint a replica. They replace nearly everything on the fish anyway. Very little of the original fish is left, and the color is gone requiring a repaint. If a weekend angler wants to keep and eat a bass or two so be it. I find nothing wrong with this. I release most of my bass, but not all. I like to have a fish fry or two, but prefer other fish such as bluegill and crappie, but if I need a little more to make a meal, I'll keep an occasional bass, but I don't make my living fishing, and am on the lake a handfull of days per year. I'd like to see the tournament anglers go to a catch and release format. Measuring the fish and recording rather that weighing the fish. This is a much better gauge as to the fishes maturity and is much better for the fishery. I've caught short fat fish, and long skinny fish that weigh the same. I caught a huge smallie on the rock last year. He should have weighed 6 lbs by the charts, but this 21 inch fish only weighed 3 1/2 lbs. When I tell the story about catching him, his weight is omitted. My 2 cents.

Read the lastest post on the Current, Eleven point, and the Gasgonade. I believe there are reports on smallies on all three. I did great 2 weekends ago on the Current, and have a buddy that did well this weekend on the Huzzah. If the rivers are in good condition, the fish should be biting. 2 weeks ago, we couldn't keep them of a white grub. Most fish came from 4-8 ft around structure and current seams. I need to figure out how to get out this weekend, but w/ my daughter having a double header Saturday, and Sunday being mother's day, it doesn't look good.

It sounds to me that the fish are staring to be post spawn and begining to move to their summer locations.

Nice report.

Friday 5-5-06 - I got out on the stream late morning about 10:30 after turkey hunting until about 9:00 the morning and fished the fly only section up near the spring. What a differant stream this is on a weekday as compared to the weekend. There were very few fisherman out, you could walk up and down the stream w/ only a few other anglers on the stream. I was able to catch a few fish, I caught a few on an olive wooly, a few on a brown and ginger wooly, and a few on an elk hair caddis. The hole that I was fishing had several rising fish. I'm not sure what they were sipping off the surface, but they were actively rising. I was only able to fish for a short time due to time constraints, but all in all, it was a nice day on the water.

If you get to far down stream, you will get out of the best trout water. Maybe someone that knows that stretch of water will give you some advise. Bring your smallmouth gear. This river can be great in the summer.

I got a chance to get out Friday morning to chase the birds. I went to a new area. When I got out of my vehicle at 5:45, I heard a bird gobbling NW of the road. As luck has it w/ Turkey hunting, after I gathered my gear and headed toward the bird, I realized that he was on the next ridge over across a deep steep ravine. The bird gobbled regularly as I crossed the steep ravine and climbed the ridge near the bird. I got fairly close to the bird and set up and started calling. The bird gobbler for nearly an hour and I was unable to budge him. He finally stopped gobbling about 7:30. I moved around on the ridge and set up and called from several locations but never had anything interested. It always amazes me how these bird will act. I didn't get a bird that morning, but I did get a good workout.

where are you located (near St. Louis). I might be interested if I could see it.

I drove over the black last weekend on my way to the current river. The east fork below johnson's shut-ins looks cloudy from the effects of the dam break both the middle and west forks look crystal clear about Lesterville at the Hwy 21 bridges. I have crossed the black hundreds of times, but never have floated or fished this river. It looks like a great river for fishing and floating.

Good for you Bobby. It's good to see the weather didn't wreck the weekend for all. I'd do anything to get my dad to go hunting or fishing w/ me again. Age has caught up to he, and he doesn't have the desire anymore. Keep hunting w/ your dad as long as he is able.

Welcome to the forum. Look forward to your fishing reports.

Saturday, April 29, 2006 - Middle Current River in Shannon County. Saturday was a rain out for turkey hunting, so it put us fishing much earlier than expected. My Cousin and I got on the river about 9:00 am and started fishing. It had been raining for some time this morning, and continued a steady rain the entire time that we fished. Thank goodness we each had decent rain gear to allow us to tolerate the conditions. But Saturday, it was easy to stay warm reeling in feisty bronze backs. The river conditions were lower than normal, but the river was clear and had plenty of water to run a boat. We left the launch and motored up river to the first hole above and started fishing. The bite was on, we immediately started catching fish. We caught fish on crank baits, jerk baits, and grubs. The color of choice seamed to be white this weekend. The river was clear enough to watch the white grub work across the bottom and watch the fish smack the bait. We caught about 10 - 15 fish a piece in about 3 hours before we pulled out to met up w/ a buddy for lunch. It was a great day. The fish always seem to turn on in a steady rain. None of the fish were huge, but the average size was good. Most fish caught were 12-13" in length. The best fish catch was a 16 1/2" toad. The smallies can really fight, and know how to turn their body and use the current to gain power. The 16 1/2" fish took several runs and fought hard for several minutes. We mostly caught smallies w/ an occasional goggleye. If you like to catch bronze backs, now is the time to be on the water. Don't wait for the aluminum hatch.