laker67

Nice fish Andrew. A few years back I caught a 38.5 that mdc aged at 12.5 years. My fish was a male. He stopped growing that very day.

I am surprised at those numbers. So basically, the stockers of 14 inches are around 3 years old. I would have guessed higher growth rates. Thanks for posting that info.

Ha! Forgot about that Wayne. Heck I'm dang near that age myself.

How about a fishing permit to boot?

This was probably the least crowded that I have seen Montauk in alot of years. Usually the friday crowd, in recent years, is almost as heavy as the saturday crowd. All I can figure is that the deer season opener may have kept a few away. There is a lot of fish in the creek, so give us a report when you go and good luck to you 3wt.

Reckon so FC.

You guys caught some nice fish. The biggest that Jeff and I found at montauk was about 8lbs, a lot were 3 to 4lb. Congrats to all.

I had the priviledge of fishing the opener today with my good friend Jeff Tiffeneur, "Jeff Tief" on the website. The water was in good shape and the weather was great. Lots of fish in the creek with a couple handfuls of lunkers. We were fortunate to catch a couple of lunkers apiece. Late in the day we found two nice browns, but they took us to school and sent us home talking to ourselves. Thanks to MDC and the parks for sponsoring our winter trout season. This is my 36th year for the winter trout season opening weekend, and I have spent many of those at Montauk.

I can understand "why" you do not know. In your neck of the woods, it ends when the last freezer is full.

I quite often drive 2hours to taney to fish 4 to 5 hrs and drive 2 more hours back in the same evening. I like to get to taney about 9 pm, fish until about 2 am, and return home. With the daytime crowds being in record numbers the past few seasons, I rarely stay over to fish the next day. This year has been exceptionally good for lunker rainbows. Since July, I have caught 52 fish, after dark, ranging from 3 to 12.5 lbs. In august and sept, no night time crowds and lots of fish. In october the night crowds have been pretty heavy. I make this trip several times from april to december.

Alright LEonard, great fish. Glad you got him.

We have centered this discussion mostly around "big" browns. But in looking back over the past 2 months, I honestly believe that the intermediate and smaller size brown populations are down as well. I think Center Punch has hit on something we have overlooked in our quest for huge and tremendous fish. As far as "how long to recover"? I honestly don't know, but I have a guess of 5 to 6 years before we get a good population of intermediate fish. Some of the intermediate fish left at present, would represent the huge and tremendous at the end of that same time period. This of course is barring anymore flood gate events late summer or early fall. Between 1988 and 04, I do not recall any high water events to interrupt the cycle. In that time period, starting about 94, taney produced several 20 plus fish. And I mean lbs not inches when I say 20 plus. 05 produced 3 fish over 23 lbs, that I am aware of. The ones I know of after 08, was a 25 and the current record at 28.

I know this gal, and I can tell you for a fact that she will make you look bad if you stand too close. You need to keep enough distance away so as not to compared to how many fish she catches. With out a doubt,the best lady angler I know of.

Like Phil said, in about two weeks, normally, things would be coming to an end. By thanksgiving they will be completely gone except for a few resident browns.

First off, thanks, for checking into what mdc might say about the decline of big browns. They most likely will say that there is no decline, and we have become spoiled in our expectations of super fish. Like you, I can remember, and was fortunate enough to fish in the mid 70's. Wow, we mostly caught big fish because they were there. I had just started learning "sight fishing" back then. It was like sitting in a tree stand with shooter bucks everywhere you looked. One false move and they all went running to cover. I made a lot of false moves back then. I can recall maybe 45 to 50 people on the river at one time back then. And granted, that seemed like a huge crowd. But I believe crowds are much greater now, like 3x greater on an average. Night time crowds have increased to 10x from the late 90's. That "fire in the hole" phrase brings back memories. For those of you who do not know George Girth, he wore a felt hat with his entire collection of flys on "it" instead of in the vest. He also, like many back then, wore hip waders. George yells "fire in the hole" and takes off after a big fish. At some point he slips and falls head first. Waders are full, fish is still on, his head is pointed downstream mostly underwater. Dale Eperson is trying to get to him to help. Every time George could get his head above water for a breath of air, he would yell "save my hat" .

I was told of an incident on saturday, and what you described, you must have witnessed round 2. It's always the same from season to season with a different cast of characters. When you stake a claim in the outlet, be prepared for tresspassers. It's the way the game is played and you "should" just learn to live with it. Most do, but some never learn and incidents like this occur. The term "combat fishing" takes on a whole new perspective. In my book, I talk about anglers fishing the outlet with most having the streamside manners of a grizzly bear. You establish a pecking order, and when you repeatedly cross the line {no pun intended}, be prepared for a reprisal ranging from a fair warning to actual fisticuffs. I fish the outlets quite often and I in no way mean any disrespect to other anglers who do the same. It can be quite entertaining at times.

Branson has certainly grown since the mid 70's, and the number of anglers increased at an alarming rate. Spencer Turner, Jim Lowe, and Mike Kruse have done alot to promote taney through the conservationist magazine. Feature articles about Dave Betherm, Chuck, and some others put taney in the spotlight as early as 1980. Field and Stream, or maybe it was Outdoor Life, listed taney as the lunker captital of the continental USA back in the mid 70's. Now ,the internet, can take you through the complete history of the things I just mentioned, including what has happened in just the past few hours.

All but one of the rainbows appear to be river fish, but I guess it is possible that they could be brood stock from soh or neosho, released after the flood gates.

I have always made the same argument about the DO factor. It wasn't a factor when we did not know about it. I think you are right on with the age and weight assessment.

With those facts, 08 could have very well been a fish killer. If I remember correctly, a handful of 25 to 32lb fish were found dead or dying on the white and norfork at that same time. A 25 and Scott's 28lber have been caught since 08, and a huge brown was in #3 last season. If 5 or 6 were killed during the flood, then that would probably be the total number of thumpers in taney at any given time. What I can't understand, would be "why" are the 7 to 9 year old fish, like the one Micheal K. caught, not showing up?

Are we having geese and trout for lunch?

Since you brought it up, Rod Caddel caught the 1996 state record, 26lb 13oz, below powersite.

Like you Bruce, I have not seen any big boy thumpers, day or night. My only thought on this matter is the 08 flood, and this year's flood. Those giant fish are at the end of their life cycle when they near that 22 to 25 pound range. They may not have had enough stamina to survive the onslaught that lasted several days during each event. If the 10 to 12 year old class of fish were wiped out in 08, it would explain the poor showing the past 3 seasons. Now, add this year's flood in april, we could have lost more big boys that were prepared to move up this fall. This is only a theory and not based on any actual fact that my small brain can comprehend. So if someone wants to, go ahead and rip my left ear off.

It's the brown that swallowed my lighted indicator.

That is a good choice because they have certified scales and a biologist to verify.