laker67

I read your blog, great story and a great fish Justin. A full body jump from a big brown, is pretty awe inspiring. Thanks for sharing the story.

Over the past 60 years, I have witnessed the lake level below 650 3 times. The lowest being when I was a kid. It was somewhere around 647. There is an old dam near the mouth of tonka cove. My dad and I walked across that dam, to the north side, in search of artifacts. The current lake level at 654 is pretty common for this time of year. About memorial day, it will come back up to 660 when they launch all of the long boats.

It's at Hartville, mo.

I would like to see them re introduce the fresh water shrimp from the 60's and the 70's. They were 3 times the size of scuds and sowbugs. We tied patterns on #10 and #12 hooks and the fish grew huge in a hurry. Lilley and the other oldtimers like me can recall the tremendous grow rates. 10 pound rainbows were plentiful back then, unlike rare as of now. You could turn over a rock the size of a football, and literally hundreds would emerge. I have even seen them swimming in schools of several hundred at a time. If any of you have seen George Girth's fishing hat, then you have seen a history of fly's that we used in the past.

My thanks to flysmallie, JJ, and tito. Maybe we can return to fishing.

I think that the warm water fish would use the lower lake and it's tribs to spawn. One exception might be walleye. In the 60's and 70's, walleye spawn was common between rebar and the dam. As far as the spoons, they are native to the mississippi, so they have been in the white river system before the dams. LOZ, Truman, and TR are re-stocked on an annual basis from blind pony hatchery. The brood stock for the hatchery comes from TR. I would say that taney has a reproducing population of spoons.

Rising water signals feeding opportunities to all fish. Anadromous fish use their sense of smell to travel hundreds of miles to spawning sites. Do Table Rock fish rush to the flood gates and yell booyah as they take the dive?

It's ok FC. OHMZ138 won't tell a soul.

Well I'm certainly no Al or Nick, but in the winter time, when they move into the trout parks, I catch them consistantly on #12 grey or tan sowbugs. I also catch alot of google eye on the same flies. I sight fish for them just like the trout. Granted, larger lures will catch larger smallmouth, but 2 to 3 pound smallmouth are a challenge on 7x. The suzy hole and the beach hole, at bssp, are easily sight fished in the winter.

Hey Leonard. Yeah like I said, my belief is only a theory with no actual proof. The fact that they end up there during flood gate events is a bonus to all of us. Save one for me.

Funny you mention fish coming through the flood gates. I had this very discussion today. I do not believe that the rough fish come through the flood gates. When this occurs at bagnel dam, the fish are floating on the surface stunned and dying. I doubt that any survive. You never see that at taney. Shad through the flood gates yes, fish no. Those smb, walleyes, whites, crappie and others come from the lower lake where they reside most of the year. Only during flood gate events do they venture into the upper lake for a feeding bonanza. Very rarely are these fish caught during normal generation. Tagging and releasing fish in the lower lake, other than trout, would be a good way to prove this theory. I think now would be an excellent time to find some walleye between the cable and outlet one, including "in" outlet one.

I was told that they only clip the fins of brown trout.

If we {fly fishermen} didn't squash the eggs, there would be too many weeney wild trout running around.

I didn't know about bollinger or turkey creek. I've caught many a trout at the vfw park though, back before the trout parks had winter season. Another place that I've caught rainbows is saline creek near tuscumbia. After mdc bought the access, you could fish the creek within yards of the private hatchery located on saline creek. On the upper end, that creek is half the size of crane creek. I think I'll buy some triploids and turn them loose in tonka cove. At 4 dollars a pound, I think i will buy five 20 pounders. Loz might have the next state record rainbow.

Hi FW. The four trout were caught off of Ron Dennis's dock across the lake from Knotty pine. The time period would have been mid 80's, and around that same time period I caught the rainbows at tonka cove. Is troutdale closed? I have'nt been out there in years. In the late 70's, Mike Parker caught a six pound brown out of tonka springs. Mike, Jim McGowin, and myself caught several browns just prior to the state owning the property. We have no idea who released them in the upper spring. My guess would be Carl Herbert. When I was in high school, that area was a private trout stream named trout glenn. Good to hear from you again.

Those trout come from trout dale up the gravois. They sometimes travel the lake during the winter and end up at tonka springs. I witnessed four caught one day from a crappie dock on the big niangua and have caught some at tonka springs on the cliff side. Maybe those piranhas will eat our river otters that thrive in the lake.

Vertical bars on the sides of immature salmonoids. Parr marks will be visible for the first year. Parr is also a time frame of growth for young trout and salmon.

First off I'm glad to hear you had a good day on the water and caught some quality fish. MDC says that there is less than one percent spawning success rate, statewide. Spawn areas at taney and the trout parks get so much foot traffic that I would say the odds are even less. Eggs are buried in the gravel of the redd until they hatch. 3 weeks after spawn time, that redd looks just like the rest of the stream bottom. Most egg deposits will be destroyed unknowingly, by foot traffic. Areas like nfow and the 11 point should have better pre- hatching survival rates. When you think 1% of a million eggs, that's 10 thousand par marked little bait fish swimming around. If you only fish taney and the trout parks, you can assume that you have never caught a streamborn fish. Is it a hatchery fish or a streamborn fish? It makes for a very entertaining argument. Use the one percent figure that mdc uses. Someone mentioned the fighting ability of a wild, or a streamborn trout. How do you know that one fish over another fish is wild, or streamborn? I don't think that it is possible to ID one from the other.

They are at the outlet after dark.

That's what killed our alligators and some say lake-nessy has not been sighted for quite some time.

Hey Leonard. I am assuming you had some low water last night. You lucky dog. Good report.

I am not sure of the origin of missouri's redbands. I know there is a columbia river redband in addition to the ones you mentioned. Hatchery personel from montauk, relayed the story I told about the redbands that they were experimenting with. As a matter of fact, the same hatchery person told me of the location of the redband that I was fortunate enough to catch. A beautiful fish with brillant colors. I think they were a passing thing like their shasta program. Thanks for the info Drew.

My guess is that they are not Mclouds. The large par marks, center stripe, and the white tips on the anal and pectoral fins, my guess would be a redband trout. In the 80's, missouri experimented with redbands. Montauk hatchery had a few, but I'm not sure about soh or neosho. I caught a 6.5 pounder at Montauk that looks alot like the larger fish in the post.

Glad you all had a good trip. And thanks for the info on the plaque.