laker67

Good report Mc, glad you got into some quality fish and some good numbers to boot. A taney night trip is just about at the top of my list on any given day. Catching fish after the sun goes down is a special treat for me, and sounds like you enjoyed it as well. Hope to see you on the creek some night.

yes indeed very nice.

Hi Noluck. I surely hope you are right about the new hatchery. It would great to see a creek full of quality fish once more. Bssp is like an old friend to me and I hate to see it in this condition.

Like Bob, I fish bennett alot because it is close. Just not much to talk about these days. If I have 2 to 3 hrs and its a weekday then I will make the trip of 37 miles. I grew up fishing bennett and have learned alot about fish on that stretch of water. Again, like Bob stated, fishing quality has been on a downhill slide for several years. Actually, Bob did not say those exact words, but things are not even close to what we had up until 04. These days, when I spend 4 hrs at bssp, I have spent 2 hrs longer than I should. I will be bored stiff when I leave the parking lot. I have walked every bank and seen every fish in the first 2 hrs and spend the next 2 hrs wondering how did things get so bad in such a short period of time. And I know that people will come on here and say, "I catch alot of fish at bssp". And what have you caught, 39 fish in one afternoon of fishing, and every one would be a slot limit keeper for upper taney. And I am referring to the bottom of the slot. Like I said before, not much to talk about these days.

The spring originally was a grist mill called gunther mill and gunther spring. The concrete walls were constructed for the mill. Trout Glenn came about after the lake was filled, and more concrete walls were constructed to separate the lake from the spring water. A waterfall on either side of the island allowed the water to dump into the lake. Trout Glenn had a resturant and a guest lodge in addition. A popular spot for the well to do in the lake and surrounding areas. Trout Glenn came about long after the mill and the castle. The dam you speak of can still be seen when the lake level is 10 to 12 feet low. It will be about 5 feet underwater at this point. When I was young, and the lake level was around 643, my father walked across the dam with me on his shoulders. We would cross over and look for artifacts. I have seen the dam above water twice in my lifetime. The lake was filled in 1931 and before that, loggers would raft timbers to old linn creek and camp bagnell, and other areas farther downstream. Ha Ha Tonka comes from the osage indian language, and I am told means laughing waters.There is several years of history associated with that area. I have spent countless hours exploring and wandering around what is now the state park. Growing up I lived a rifle shot away on the hill that overlooked the castle.

Yep, fishing is allowed, and I have caught trout there. But not in recent history. 25 to 30 yrs back it was possible to catch a trout or two. mainly browns in the 80's, but rainbows long before that. I fished the private waters, called Trout Glenn, back in the 60's. As for lunker trout 10 yrs ago, sorry they were just suckers that inhabit the spring. The spring is also home to the endangered mad tom catfish, and a few perch and small bass. A publication called , "Before the Dam Waters", has pictures and a history of the region. My family is among some of the early settlers here, coming to Praire Hollow around 1820.

He could have seen JD and died of fright. Just kidding JD.

Good fish JD, and it does not look as if she has missed many meals.

I would say that is was spring valley. I have fished it and frankly not much of a fishing destination, especially during the heat of the summer. The fish were all bunched up together in the deeper holes.

Before I retired this past january, I would make a weekly trip to taney starting in may and lasting through dec. Most holiday weekends, I would avoid , and any family event, I would reschedule the weekly trip with a sick day. Most, if not all of my taney trips, are a night/day combos. From dec to april I like to crappie fish here at loz. I can safely say that i spend 50 days on the water each year. Like Al, I am not counting those almost daily trips to the crappie dock.

I fished last night as well and with only moderate success. Caught good quality fish again but no big one this trip. This is the first trip out of 4 in the past 3 weeks that I have failed to land or hook a 5 to 6 lb fish. Talked with some streamer guys who fished the lower end and did well, but it appeared that most above the rebar were having a tuff time of it. Full moon and a great night to be out.

Yep, a keepsake for sure F & F. That is a first hand account of ancestry.com.

Sorry to hear that hb. I hope that son of a gun uses your rod, and falls in the creek and drowns.

Like you, I have always kept a log book, but only for lunker trout. Starting out I kept a detailed log like you speak of. Time of day, weather conditions, water conditions, moon phase and all that stuff. Then after a couple of hundred lunker fish, I realized that lunker trout, unlike any other fish, could care less about what was going on in the solar system. They eat day and night, are not effected by weather changes, and are affected very little by water conditions. Muddy water , lightning at night, and the crowds walking all over them, are the biggest obstacles that you face. And I think that muddy water affects the angler more than the fish. I still continue to keep the log book, but with less detail. What the early detail taught me, was that it pretty much didn't matter.

Normally all I count, are lunkers caught in one day, or night, of fishing. Of course I am talking trout lunkers but you all could do the same with smallmouth. Night fishermen on taney like numbers, and I have on several occasions kept track of the total number of fish caught. With good friends on the creek, it is a friendly competition kind of thing, but not near as important as the cup of coffee, and the story you share at break time.

Hi Dave, fishing was somewhat slow on sat night as well. caught some more good quailty fish and lost the biggest fish of the night because I got impatient. Hooked up with a nice female, she made 2 hard runs and then fought in the deeper water for awhile. Worked her in close and put the light on her too soon. She made a turn down stream and I tried to snub her, thats when she made 2 big head shakes and me and her and the 5x tippet parted company. A nice female between 5 and 6 lbs. Hadn't seen you on here for awile, glad you got out for a night trip.

Same fish, first reported as 19 but ended up being 15 lb.

Thanks for the report Russ, fishing slowed down about 2 am on saturday night. Temps were alot warmer though, a long sleeve shirt was almost too much.

104 at loz

Cutts do well on the norfork tailwater. Not sure about the white because I rarely fish it. I am told that they are a strain of snake river cutts. They grow big and love to jump. This is my favorite time of year to fish them, they are stacked up in the hard water, and like Wayne says, easy to catch. I have caught a couple dozen fish between 3 and 5.5 lbs.

I have witnessed them being caught below norfork dam.

Yeah, you would have thought that at some point loz would have produced a 20 lb fish. Numerous nice fish in my younger days, but not so much anymore. A few years back mdc started an annual restocking program here at the lake. I think 300,000 fingerlings each year. Keeper fish are more common now, with an occasional 6 to 8 pounder being caught. Like you said, most are harvested when they reach keeper size and the spring runs are nothing compared to years back. Most of the larger fish are harvested during the spawning run.

Pine squirrel and brown trout seem to go together well. Glad to hear you are out and about again. I have caught several rainbows in the past three night trips, but only one small brown. Hopefully they are returning to the upper lake as well. Good report, thanks.

LOZ used to produce some big walleye in large numbers when I was a kid growing up here. That was in the 50's and 60's. Like Al stated, truman dam stopped the migration to good spawning areas. Kasinger Bluff and above were the prime spawning ground back then. A 15 lber was caught at the mouth of the big niangua a few years back and thats the largest I have heard of in 40 years. 12 and to 15 lbers were common in the 60's. Harold Ensley used to do an annual walleye show here at the lake. They would troll hellbenders and cowbell's.

I was fly fishing mc, you got the right idea about checking with Phil.