laker67

These jokers at the lake call it "trout" also. I figure if I string one from bank to bank at the big hole, at the very least I will have a good collection of streamer and sculpin flies.

You got that right Leonard.

Hillbilly hand grabbin?? I'm settin a trotline across the big hole next trip. This is the second flathead that I have seen come from the upper lake. Cool, thanks for posting Bman.

Hello Matt. I talked to your dad on the creek today. I know about the 36 incher and waiting for the picture and story as well. Get him to post that monster.

My comment would "WOW" as well. Once again, you and Matt have fooled some great fish in a not so friendly atmosphere as taney. Congrats Matt on a very nice brown, and Bman that fish is far above the limit for big rainbows. Were going to put this one in the "tremendous" category. Very nice indeed. Congrats.

Suggestive patterns. I have used them for years. With my fly tying skills, they are suggestive at best Wayne.

By jerk, I mean someone who knows exactly what he is doing when he crowds you out. Not the casual by stander or once a year trout fisherman.

Have not witnessed any whites this week either FW. On the niangua last week, pick a west facing point or cove with the wind out of the north. Millions of white bass and stripers. They were breaking the surface in areas the size of football fields. Sometimes even larger areas than that. I have not seen white bass activity like that since I was a kid.

SQUIDDDDDDDDDDDD !!! No more night fishing for me.

Made me laugh, thanks.

Just prior to the bears and mountain lions. They always come out after you are waist deep in the water. Beavers and muskrats have come so accustomed to humans, that they actually tried to gnaw a hole in Vanven's waders one night, while he was wearing them.

Hello there AJS. Tied several years ago. Any type of floss, it came on a spool like thread, will work with the acetone. As a side note, never had much success on them, even though they looked great. I would guess that nylon would work as well.

Don't know why the park atmosphere has changed so much over the years. In the 60's and 70's park people were courteous and friendly. They would not crowd you and they would even respect your backcast by getting out of the creek and walking around wherever possible. Somewhere in the 80's that all changed. Crowds got bigger and some people were down right rude. I have always enjoyed fishing the parks, so I just learned to adapt and not let some jerk ruin my day on the water. I am convinced that some anglers will not change or be educated. There fore their kids grow up and have the same attitudes and so continues the cycle. Parks are still a good place to hone your trout fishing skills. Fish are abundant and not quite as tight lipped and wary as other places. Like OTF, you have to decide what you are willing to put up with, or as in his case, not be a part of.

When would you consider an appropriate time. Rose Holland and Clarence Holland derby's have been going on for as long as I can remember. Maybe they should never have "opening day" on a weekend.

Spent 2 weeks with nothing to do but squirrel hunt and trout fish. They ran water 24 hrs a day for the past two weeks. Headed out of town for a week, with low water in the forecast. trout fishing sucks. good luck to all.

An honor well deserved I'm sure Pete. Let us know the details after the conclave. You once mentioned that a stretch of river was named after your father. Where is it?

A person will be able to walk from the parking lot to the big hole without getting your feet wet. Sounds like a good time to head to arkansas.

Hi JT, good to see you on here again. I will call Montauk tommorrow and remind the supt. Maybe some other OAF guys and gals will do the same. A few phone calls might help. My condolences once again my good friend.

Large rainbow come from the hatchery in the form of unproductive brood stock. A large rainbow growing up in the creek would be an exception, and I am sure it has happened. At taney they have a lake to hide in and not easily sight fished for several months of the year. That is not the case at the trout parks. Very few fish go undetected and survive from one season to the next. As far as the river goes, I can't tell you where those 3 pound rainbows are at, I can't even tell you where the 6 pound browns are at. All I can say is that larger browns show up in the lower park and rainbows do not during that time period.

In the 6 or 7 years that it takes "our" rainbows to attain a respectable weight, "our" brown trout will be double that size in the same time period. Under ideal situations, such as taney, our browns can grow close to 30 pounds in their 12 to 13 year life span. An ideal situation for rainbows is the hatchery raceway, where in that same time period they can attain 18 pounds. Missour raises the "midget" of all rainbow strains. Look at other state records and you will see what I mean. Look at line class records, and you will see that we don't even grow them as big as the smallest fish on the books. The closest thing we have to a friendly enviroment, to grow big rainbows, is taney or the hatchery raceway. Browns are more resouceful and "nomadic". Ha, not even sure that nomadic is a word but a good description for missouri browns. Over the years, JT and I were used to seeing several large rainbows in the trout parks. Those numbers have all been evaporated in the past few years. An 8 to 10 pound rainbow is on the endangered list for sure. Browns are survivors in the wild, whereas rainbows seem to self-destruct. Our big browns grow up out in the enviroment, whereas most rainbows can only grow large in the hatchery. They are "not" survivors.

The leaves are still intact here at LOZ. Acorns are falling like leaves, and the squirrels are coming to the walnut trees from miles around. The only color changes that I have seen, were in the hills and hollers just north of branson.

When it comes to trout fishing I make no judgements and set no quality standards. I'm out there for me and my style of fishing and could care less about much else. Sounds like you are out there for the same reason.

Yeah, I think your right Wayne. From what I understand, all of the browns come from SOH hatchery. If that is the case, then the origin of their birth waters would not be present in the upstream current. Some might continue on up to search out spawn waters, but they could just as easily return to river on a seasonal pattern.