laker67

Born opening day of the regular season, 1963. How cool is that? I was probably fishing BSSP that day. I probably skipped out on school if it was a weekday. Happy Birthday Tim!

Would that be a hybrid catfish?

Give us an update on your trip. With a streamer like that, I would be expecting a big fish to hit at any time. Are you doing State Park down? Say hello to your Dad, for me.

A great looking fly Jeremy. What I would call "legs" appear to made of rubber or soft plastic. If so that would be an illegal fly in missouri's trophy waters. How about Ark? Any restrictions there for the trophy waters?

Thanks Dano!

I have to agree with Dutch. I want to read about trout fishing and do not want to be bothered with the other stuff. Some way of going to posts that only pertain to one type of fishing so that you do not have to filter through the rest.

Missouri-Big Trout Arkansas-Big Trout

Great report and great pics! Makes me wish I were there also. Glad you two had a good outing.

I've got a lot of " BS" in Trout Fishing!

A very nice fish indeed! Congrats!

Well as usual, it took me a while to recall the topic about the "fruit on the dashboard". Very clever DoveTail, I like that.

He disappeared from several other papers as well. I say cheers to that editor that would not publish his crap. He used to talk about growing up on the Big Piney and the wooden river boats. I read somewhere that his childhood and growing up days were spent in Maryland or Vermont or some place like that. I suspect that his outdoor adventures were related once removed from the real person.

This is one of several reasons that I do not like LD. Do not bother to bring your meeting group to my hometown. When this fizzes out he will be going after the Forestry division next.

In your original post, you stated that you and your group were bait fishermen. I don't think that I would try and change styles of fishing, since bait is what you know. Going to hardware and flies would be like starting over. A live minnow or nightcrawler would be hard for a big trout to turn down, drifted in the manner that I suggested.

1/20th??? I think you need to re-calculate Murdoc. Or was that zero not supposed to be there? My guess would be more like 1/4th. Reckon BSSP will have any raceway turn outs that size?

Catching a large trout{lunker} is far from a crap shoot. Luck always plays a factor, but it is certainly not the most important thing you need to know. First off a lunker by most standards is a trout weighing more than 3 pounds. The phrase lunker was coined in the trout parks 40 plus years ago. Everyone has given you some good info like location, polorized glasses,and bigger baits. I have friends who consistantly catch lunkers on bigger flies, and lures. I am not so much on really big flies. A size 10 is about my max. I know that you prefer to fish bait and you can use the same principles in bait fishing as I do fly fishing. Unlike brownieman, I am a sight fisherman. I will walk the creek bank untill I find a fish that I would like to catch. The easiest way to catch a large fish is to know where he is located before you ever fish. I prefer to get close enough to the fish, to have a good visual on him while I am making my presentation. By close I am talking 20 feet or less. You need the sun to your back if possible and you may have to cross to the other side of the creek. At 20 feet from the fish, be 5 feet upstream of the fishes location. With bait or fly or spinning gear simply drift your offering close to the fish at "his level" in the water. Do not crowd him with your presentation. A good rule of thumb is to keep your offering at least 1 foot on your side of the fish. If he likes it, he will come to it. If not he will ignore it. Change offerings immediately if he ignores your presentation or acts like it bothers him. If you don't, you will most likely spook him off. If he ignores the first five offerings, those usually being your best, back out of the water and leave him alone for a couple of hours. But always come back. Just like Brownieman told you, always go back and try him again. I have had fish in the trout parks that I have spent as much as 3 months trying to fool. Some times you win, some times you don't. I caught my first lunker in 1975, and it is still as big a thrill right now as it was then. Every encounter with a big fish should be filed away in your memory banks for a future situation. I have always kept a log book for the big fish that I have caught. Over time you can look back in the log book and maybe see a pattern as far as flies, type of water and so on. Big fish are out there and they can be caught. It's all up to you on how much time and patience you are willing to part with. I have been fortunate in my lifetime to have caught several hundred lunkers. I have caught 3 pounders and I have caught giants, and each one is special regardless of size. Chances are in your favor to catch a lunker. Remember what Brownieman, gavin, brian, bman and the others have told you. It's the right advice you need for catching that lunker. You "better" let us know when you do! Good fishing!

CC, I have been checking the regs pertaining to possession or non possession of restricted baits and lures in designated trophy areas. Nothing that I have found so far says that you cannot have them in your possession. What it says is that you cannot use them. Taney's regs even say you "can" transport bait into the trophy area by "boat". Does not mention wading, but I found it odd to even mention that in the regs. The regs even say that you cannot possess fish that fall in the slot limit, but nothing about not possessing illegal bait or lures. The signs at Bssp and other parks tell you what to use and not use, but say nothing about possessing them while in those zones. I have flies that are legal in zone 3, but I do not remove them from my vest when I cross the whistle bridge. I'm guessing what that agent told you is the law without question.

What happens when they invade small creeks like Crane and all of those creeks that Chief and the others fish in the southwest. I think they could do some serious damage in a hurry.

That's a great picture Duane! Zander does excellent work. It appears to be a spawned out, hook jawed old male. That's a really nice fish also.

Birthday wishes to the duckster.

If you had said late Feb. then I would say Ha Ha Tonka Cove, about 55 degrees. But by the end of March, the Niangua and the Glaize will both be in the 50's.

I've had good luck with the Griffin Mongoose. It's a great travel vise as well. Compact pedestal and well balanced.

The schedule is showing generation all day for Wed. the 21st.

As more and more anglers are joining the ranks of trout fishing, a lot of first timers are hitting the creeks and tailwaters on any given weekend. Normally, a new angler will keep the first 4 to 5 lunker trout that they catch. After that they may adopt more of a C&R attitude. So to answer your question, lots of trout, and especially browns, over the minimum limit ,are leaving our waters every week. The exact numbers would probably scare us.

This is sad and I'm sorry for the cattleman's loss. It sounds to me like the thieves are on both ends of the transaction. One stealing and one or more buying stolen cattle. I rank a thief right in there with a terrorist, and do hereby challenge either or to a "duel".