laker67

Agreed. I was only making a reference comparison to the 8 to 15 pounders we saw and caught in the 80's.

In regard to Wayne's and 10pointer's comments, I have witnessed and caught many large browns out of zone 3 in july and august. Those fish just appear overnight it seems. I am almost positive that mdc is not loading up zone 3 with lunker browns at that time of year. Now, as far as numbers, a huge decrease in fish since 04. As far as them making it all the way to the raceways, a piece of cake at bssp. Their greatest obstacle would be the bait fishermen, and I mean no disrepect by saying that. Do the rainbow leave the warm river water as well? I can't say for sure, but I would assume so. Many stocker size fish would be caught and creeled on a daily basis and never given a second thought. I rarely fish zone 3 since the regulation changes, but I still make several observatory trips in july and espescially august. If I find a big fish, then I adhere to the new regs, if I don't find a good fish, then I return to zone 1 and 2 without ever wetting a line in zone 3. Those big browns come from somewhere, and I believe it is out of the river. In the 80's and 90's, I don't believe they clipped fins. Now it should be proof positive to know for a fact. I walked zone 3 about 3 weeks ago and did not observe even one good fish. Saw a few 3 to 4 pounders and that was it.

`Well Jerod, seems as if you rarely catch the conditions as ideal at taney. Sorry, been in the same boat many times.Between working late and the weather, I chose not to go last night. Sounds as if I made the right choice as far as the weather was concerned. Not to mention the one unit of generation. One unit is probably the worst that you will encounter. It seems to hold the fish off the banks more so than any other combination. But then again, they still stack up in the outlets. Nothing keeps them out of the outlets, not even the trotliners can do that. They just slow down their progess somewhat. Micheal Kyle spoke of three big rainbows that he caught the other day. Said they all had multiple flies and leaders hanging everywhere but their mouths. Hope tonight is better for you. Give us a report.

I just feed what we don't eat to the buzzards. Missouri seems to be overpopulated on trout right now. Thanks for the heads up on the 29th, I will be sure and keep my head down. It will be good to see you, Duane, and MC. Never met your father, are you bringing him for the cast and blast?

Kdan and I have caught many gar on homemade nylon rope lures. You will have fun. Be sure and carry a pair of heavy duty scissors in your pocket, to aid in removing the rope lure. A leather glove is a pretty handy item as well. Let us know about the outcome.

Thanks Phil, let us know what you hear. At the end of august, the fish had no signs of low o2 when the water was off. This unexpected generation has me puzzled.

Well just come on down Aaron. How have you been? Check the charts for nighttime, 24 hr generation the past several days.

Some of the "long boats" went into dry dock.

It might make them harder to ID if they were covered in red or yellow paint. OF course it would make a difference if they were flying north or south as to which color you might see. Always wanted to hunt deer with paint balls so I didn't have to drag them dang things out of the woods.

I always go by the chamber of commerce report. Them guys are always catching fish.

In years past, I have witnessed MDC doing the shocking at night on taney. They would motor up as high as the rebar during low water. Is there an advantage to shocking, and doing their surveys at night?

Man, what a great picture. Glad you guys had a good trip. Thx for the report.

Good luck to you as well OTF. It's 64 with some rain here at LOZ. I have witnessed a handful of monarchs passing through the past few days. Monarchs coincide with the fall run of browns.

The virtual duck hunt, like bass pro has. Do you suppose they make a paint ball shot shell ? Any way, best of luck to all you waterfowlers.

I will be down on friday night as well. May have to fish 2 units, as that has been the norm for the past week or better.

Lunker count at 1289. It has been a good early season so far, 41 since the first of the year with 2 more over 10. Fished several nights in august, but now, the past 2 weeks, they show generation 24 hrs. Hope to see you on the creek this fall.

Good for you Brother Dave. How the heck have you been?

I wish you the best of luck in your upcoming hunting slothman, but this thread struck me as being kind of humorus. It's ok to kill a bunch of ducks and other wildlife, but kill one trout and you get raked over the coals. Heck, someone even catches a huge trout and the first words out are, did you release the fish? You are a terribly bad person if you did not. Humorus.

I would say you hit the jackpot Tim. In 36 years of fishing taney I have only caught 1 bluegill on the upper end. Grand slam in my book. The big five would be five fish over 10 pounds apiece.

I can vouch for this story. I watched Jim, his brother, and his nephew catch fish after good fish on friday night. Jim hooked a tail walker that was out of the water more than he was in. A good fish maybe 5 or 6 pounds. It was good to see you again Jim, and to meet your brother and nephew. Come on back down and try it again.

WOW. WOW. WOW. I will just add my 2 cents to Micheal's story. Few people ,that I night fish with, are any more deserving than Micheal. This guy invests the time and effort that is required to catch a fish like this. He calls himself "lucky", but just spend a few nights on the river with him and then make up your own mind about the luck factor. He definately has the skills and the patience to pursue a fish of this magnitude. I fully expect to see him with another, this size or bigger, in the near future. Years ago I used to night fish with Micheal's father. His dad still ranks as one of the best night fisherman that I have ever been around. Congrats Micheal, on a fish hard earned and well deserved. You have already set the benchmark for the 2011 season.

Then I would say you may not be impressed with a fly rod caught fish. We go by big, huge, and tremendous. So put it somewhere in the middle.

Just wanted to give everyone a "heads up" on a big fish report on it's way later today. One of our very own OAF guys caught a huge brown last night. Stay tuned.

That fish was probably already in shock from the massive wader hatch going on that morning.

Here is a good plug for C and R. This is more the norm than the 10% daily as some were suggesting. Glad you had another good trip Pete. I just missed you on saturday, fished friday night and left about 8:10 that morning.