jefly77

Taney at night in zero degree weather. Last saturday night from 7 - 11 all to myself. Jefly

I use 6lb clear mono at night on raps (up to j, f 9s xr-8s}, spoons, and countdowns and like berkely xl or spinerwire mono in 4lb green. I also like cajun camoflage line in 4lb. green and red. Jefly77

Hey Ness I take a little bit of offense at that statement. I do not fly fish, I spin fish and I always follow the regulations. Crane is not a single-barbless stream. It is a hard lures and flies only stream, the regs say nothing about barbless. Don't lump all spin fishing guys into one basket. Some of us just like spin fishing too much to take up the "art" of flyfishing. That doesn't mean I care about the stream any less than a flyfisherman. I love fishing Crane, it's truly a gem of a trout stream. Jefly

Thanks laker. I remember you. Since moving to the area back in July I have noticed that I usually see the same few cars at night. I've gotten to the point where I almost prefer fishing Taney at night.

I fished from 7:00 to 11:00 on Sat, 12/20 and had the area below the dam all to myself. I figured only the die hard guys would be out with it getting so cold. I was the only one fishing. It was awesome. Fished the point by outlet 1 as the water was rising and killed them for about an hour. Caught about 20 in that time frame, half browns and half rainbows. Largest fish were a rainbow that went about 19" and a brown of about the same size. I was throwing big rapalas and working them slowly against the current. The water came up and they turned off for about an hour. As the water came back down a little I caught a few more and then it started getting too cold for my hands. The ice forming on my rod eyelets really got annoying, but it was so nice to have it all to myself for a while.

I caught a very nice 21" male a week and a half ago that was in full spawn colors and as I lifted him out of the water he was leaking semen out so the spawn is on at Crane. If you check the thread just down called "the spawn has started" you will se apicture of the beauty. I also caught a smaller 12" fish from the same spot that looked to be in spawn color as well.

Roostertails and all other hard lures are legal on Crane and I do quite well with them. I use a 7' spinning rod and I manage just fine on Crane, although there are times when it is hard to cast that long rod. Good luck!!

I've been fishing Crane about every two weeks for the past few months and I've never seen more than two cars in any of the parking lots. It's in the Missouri fishing handbook and it has been publicized by several national magazines and fishing shows. It's not a secret spot.

Fished Crane today below town. Only caught 3, but one of them was this sweet 21" male. Probably the most beautiful rainbow I have ever caught. The color on this fish was amazing, so bright and red. He smashed a little blue and silver roostertail. He was leaking a little reproductive juice as I picked him up. Jfly

Caught it right by where the flow from outlet 1 meets the main current at about 11:15. Jefly

Fished Friday night from just before dark until about 2. Ran into a couple of late night regulars. Caught several browns in the 15-18" range and lots of quality bows, the largest being a 19" healthy fish. I was throwning floating rapalas and x-raps. I also managed to catch this really nice 22" Walleye, and yes I kept him. He's going to taste great wrapped in bacon on the grill. Jefly

A little off subject of this thread, but can anyone tell me why the lake has dropped so little over the past week? At this rate, there will be no low water to wade until after the fall Brown run!! It sucks!! I don't have a boat and I like fishing at night the best when the water is low and I can throw big rapalas for big trout. Just venting a little

No springs on the Lower Mountain Fork, they just find and hide out in the deeper holes during the summer months down there. The Quachita Mountains of Arkansas and Oklahoma are not the same type of rock as the Ozarks and as a result, there are few, if any, major springs that flow out of them.

I voted for the size increase because I almost never keep any fish at all, but being a spinning guy, I get real defensive when people start calling for further restrictions than hard lures and flies only. On Sunday night, Aug 31st, I fished down by the MDC boat ramp from about 9:30 - 1:00 in the morning with a gold rapala that has the barbs mashed down from my time fishing the Lower Mountain Fork. I had almost constant action. I would hook a fish or get a hit every 3-4 casts. I only landed about 5 fish due to the barbless hooks. I lost lots of them during the fight, they simply shook my lure out. I don't think the treble hooks tear them up too much. One thing I worry about concerning flyfishermen is the amount of time the fish gets played. I use 6lb test and I can usually land any fish of substance in about a quarter of the time it takes fly guys to get the fish to hand. When I release a trout it usually has a lot of energy left in it and swims off with ease. You fly guys often must play a fish to near death levels of exhaustion. What I'm saying is this, I practice C&R and follow all the regs. Don't try to take away my right to fish the way I want with the type of gear that I want. I am for the further size restrictions, but adamantly opposed to declaring any part of Taneycomo a "fly" only or barbless section.

To those of you worried about the temperatures of the water, I wouldn't worry too much. I'm from Oklahoma and I grew up fishing the Lower Mountain Fork where the water temperature in the heat of summer can reach into the low 70s during low flows. The browns down there still manage to survive it and as recently as 3 years ago the state record (17lbs and change)was caught about 5 miles downriver from the generation release point. I think they are a little hardier than you guys are giving them credit for.

I fished up past outlet 1 near the wire last night for about 3 hours from 7:30 - 10:30 with my spinning rod. Caught about 20-25. Nothing huge but a few went about 18". Real healthy looking fish. Took me about 20 minutes to find the right lure. A small black and silver sinking storm minnow was what they wanted, and they were just killing it. Missed about 10 more due to the fact that I have smashed the barbs down on all my lures to facilitate easier catch and release. I'm still pretty new to the area, just moved to Nixa in July, and I have been waiting almost 2 months for the corps to stop releasing water nonstop. Great fishing, can't wait till the fall. Jfly

Can somebody get back on topic and answer my question please. Does the "navigable" term apply to Crane Creek? The section just above the upper Wire Road access has a brand new private property sign in the middle of the creek, below the mean high water mark. Can I legally wade the creek through his land if I access it from the bridge or the MDC land? Jefly

I worked at a summer camp in NE Pennsylvania during the summers of 01 & 02 and the bears were all over the place up there. We had 3 that regularly visited the camp dumpsters at night and a sow with yearling cubs came within 20 yards of me and a group of kids while we were on the ropes course. Usually they would just ramble off into the woods in no big hurry. The camp director had to run them off occaisonally with popper shotgun shells and bean bags. They ran like hell after that. They didn't seem to have much fear of man during the summer months, but the man who looked after the camp in the fall, winter, and spring told me that as soon as hunting season starts, the bears virtually disappear. My fellow counselors and I ran off a couple with rocks and loud yells. Black bears typically aren't dangerous, you're supposed to stand your ground and fight if one does attack. Jefly

Does the "navigable" term apply to Crane Creek? The section just above the upper Wire Road access has a brand new private property sign in the middle of the creek, below the mean high water mark. Can I legally wade the creek through his land if I access it from the bridge or the MDC land? Jefly

Does the "navigable" term apply to Crane Creek? The section just above the upper Wire Road access has a brand new private property sign in the middle of the creek, below the mean high water mark. Can I legally wade the creek through his land if I access it from the bridge or the MDC land? Jefly

I love that the fish was caught on a spinning rig and on powerbait. It just goes to show you that a lot of fishing is luck and being in the right place at the right time. Plus it really gives me a tickle to see all the flyfishing purists get jealous. I say congrats to the guy on the trophy of a lifetime. Jefly

Wow, 25 lbs., that is a beast!! And on powerbait, I bet the lucky person thought they were hung up at first. My guess is it's about 35" long with a 22-23" girth. Can't wait to see a picture of the brute. Jefly

U 2 man. I hope u had a good day on the creek. It was a great day. It got really hot and steamy so I left at about 3. I'm still surprised u made it past that giant snag where the water was backed up especially wet wading. It looked prett mean to me. Tight lines!! Jefly

I saw one last Wednesday and two yesterday. They didn't bother me. I also saw two big snappers and had to catch one and mess with him a little. He was not happy when I lifted him out of the water. I let him go back into the creek and he took off for a deep hole. Jefly

I know it wasn't good for the fish's mouth to hang from my lure like that , but I only kept him out of the water for a few seconds and the fish swam away with plenty of vigor. Jefly