Seth

Do you dead drift cracklebacks like a dry fly or do you bring it back with short strips? I have never caught any trout on a crackleback down there. Only thing that I have gotten them to bite on were beadheads, san juans, and glo balls under and indicator.

Hey shawncat.....was that jig you called a new jig.....was it one that had a painted green head, green chenille body and then had 4 pieces of white round rubber laying along the back of it? If so, that is what I have been catching a lot of trout on. They have been around for a year or two that I know of. DJ's there in St. James has sold them for a couple years now I know. I still haven't used my fly rod hardly due to the crowds of people. I will get down there this Saturday and I hope that I can get some time with the fly rod in. I want to try drifting an orange or chartreuse glowball on the surface and see what happens. Those pesky trout have been eating floats off the surface like crazy everytime I have been down there.

Nope it sure wasn't me. I was down there with my girlfriend though. I had a camo jacket on and a fishing vest and glasses. It was tough for us on Saturday. We got down there around 1pm I believe. We headed right for the Lazy Hole. Dad and I caught our limit of trout, but it wasn't an easy limit. I caught seven before I put my fourth one on the stringer. My dad helped out my step mom and she caught a couple and also had a few nice ones come off during the fight. My girlfriend hooked two, the first one was a nice one and he broke her off and the next one was a smaller one and the hook came out of his mouth during the fight. I caught a few on jigs, one on white DD's, one of some brown bait we call "007", and two or three on orange cheeseworms. I caught my last two up at the pond hole, one just to the right of the big tree by the handicap hole and the other just on the left side of that big tree, both on orange cheeseworms. Glad you had a good trip. Me and my girlfriend will be down there this Saturday again as long as the weather isn't too nasty. I am trying to get one of my buddies to go too. Him and his dad went down there today in the PM during the rain and said they hammered them pretty good on that brown "007" bait.

I did pretty well again today. Just a guess, I would say I caught 30-40 in about 3 hours of fishing. My dad said he only caught about 10, due to the fact that he had a hard time keeping them hooked. I just hung out at the bathroom hole again today. The trout were still stacked in there too. There was one 4-5 lber swimming around in the area, but he would not look at anything. One guy caught one about 4 lbs right by the cleaning station, just above the log that lays across the river. That's the same spot that guy caught that 5 1/2 lber on the orange globall yesterday. I did the best on jigs again today. Right before I left, I was using an orange cheese flavored trout worm and getting a lot of strikes and catching a few. I didn't bother with the fly rod today either. I wish I would have though, there was plenty of room to fish with it today. I plan on getting back down there again Saturday also....weather permitting. My girlfriend wants to go do some fishing so we will give it a shot. If you want to try and spot me while your down there, just look for somebody wearing green neoprene chest waders with a big patch of white water sealant on the right knee. That's me hehe. I always wear my vest and a yellow Hollister hat too. Good luck to you next time you get down there.

Not sure what you mean by the "steps". Are you referring the the steps that you walk down to get to the stream from that parking up past the hatchery that sits on top of the hill above the stream? I usually fish the "pond" hole and the "lazy" hole, or "bathroom" hole as some call it.

I started out fishing right above where that log lays across the stream. We caught quite a few and that is where I caught the 18" one. My friends dad was fishing besides me there too and he seen the guy catch that big one on the orange globall. I don't know the "legend" that your talking about. I wish I could have met him and chit chatted. That would have been cool to here some of his stories.

I decided to play hooky from college (wasn't doing much anyways today) and go fight the crowds. The stream was absolutely loaded with fish. I only seen one monster on a stringer though, so I am hoping there's a couple left in there for tomorrow for me to catch. I caught probably 30-40 today in about 4 hours of fishing. FIrst one I put on the stringer was probably one of the "lunkers" they released becuase it was about 18" long. Also, I caught a tagged trout for my last fish to keep, but I caught it at 11:00am and they stopped checking in tagged trout at 10:00am They bit on just about everything a person would throw. I would catch a few on everything I tried, but then would have to switch pretty often. Green/white or chartruese/black rubber legged jigs were my best lure for the day though. I decided not to mess with the fly rod today due to the crowds, so I will give it a shot tomorrow probably. Phil, I put your little flyers you mailed to me out by where everybody signs there tags and I checked them when I left and they were all gone so I hope they bring some more people to the site for you.

I can't remember a day when the opener wasn't cold and nasty outside. The river is usually up and muddy from a lot of rain we usually have. I can just imagine how packed it is going to be tomorrow. Still, I am gonna play hooky from school and go stand shoulder to shoulder with all the yahoo's. Also, Phil I got them cards and I will do my best to get them all handed out for you tomorrow. Good luck everybody who attends the mad house.

I wish I could of spent Valentines day the same way that you did.

I already have Media Player 10 though. It used to work just fine for me but has stopped recently.

Everytime I click the link to watch the cam, I get a "red x" in the box that the video is normally in? Anybody else having this problem?

One of my buddies works down there in the summertime and they know the crew down there really well. They could probably get your cards distributed around pretty easily. Me and my dad could help also, we go down there quite often too.

How big of a rainbow was it?

I only made it down once so far for C&R, and I didn't see any of the big fish. I hooked about a 5-6lb rainbow last year on the last weekend just up from the bathroom hole, but haven't seen any big fish this year. Where did you guys catch these fish at?

Just curious how many people on her go snag on the James. We usually go down every year for the opener. Last year the boat I was in, one guy got two, I got one and the other guy got one between midnight and 3am. We went back out during daylight hours and I caught my 2nd one.

Some of the rainbows I've caught in Taneycomo could almost pass for a cutbow. They had bright markings underneath the gill plate like a cutthroat.

I think it is the island just above the bridge right??? I can't think of any other islands on Taneycomo.

Brett Rader uses small scuds and Gbugs almost exclusively and his clients and him catches loads of big fish sight fishing. Also, I read somewhere that the world record brown that Rip Collins caught had a whole belly full of scuds when they checked the stomach. I know big browns eat smaller trout, but I believe they eat plenty of scuds and smaller stuff to go with there diet. Brett had a picture of a 30" plus brownie that he guessed at about 20lbs on his site that he caught this fall on a scud or gbug pattern. The new state record was taken on a scud also. I hear more big trout caught on smaller stuff than big stuff.

I would say that is pretty heavy for trout. What kind of lures do you fish with that setup? Big jerkbaits???? Do you still get plenty of bites with that heavy of line?

I know a rubber trout magnet attracts those big gut eaters. I caught a 10lb rainbow on a white rubber trout magnet that I seen eating the guts by the dock. If a person uses a big dead bait setup for fishing for these browns, I wonder how heavy of line a person could get away with? Even if people would look down on you for using dead bait or w/e, I would do whatever it takes to catch one of those pigs just as long as it is legal. Has anybody ever used a big white slugo for fishing for browns? I wondered how it would do for trout?

Where did you find those monsters dead at Phil? The trophy area or down in the bait area? Has anybody that you know of hooked into one of those gargantuans??

I was fishing at Lazy Valley Resort one year and some guys brought in a decayed brown they found dead up in the trophy area that weighed 29lbs. It probably weighed more live weight since it was decaying and it's guts were hanging out of it. My dad that same trip seen a brown swim out from underneat the dock that he swears would go every bit of 30lbs. He said it was just an abolsute mammoth of a trout. Have you guys seen any fish of this caliber alive swimming in the lake? Also, what area's of the lake do you think these brutes would be hiding out at? I would be money that directly across from Lilley's and Lazy Valley one of these brutes lives. The water is deep and has lots of roots and big logs laying in the water. One of these days I am going to have to devote a whole day to trolling big rogues along that bank and just see what happens.

I seen a big one fly out of the water 5 feet behind our boat while we was driving through a creek that enters into the Gasconade River. It scared the heck out of me becuase I wasn't expecting to see a fish of that size fly 10 feet out of the water like a scud missle lol

That's a toad!!! Did you get any measurements on it? What did it hit on? Congrats on a beatiful brownie.

I wanted to go on Saturday, the 29th, but the weather was horrible and it just poured all day. Went and got some work done instead.