Seth

Paddlefish: 74 pounds Grass Carp: 45 pounds Rainbow Trout: 27" 10 pounds Brown Trout: 19" Channel Cat: 10 pounds Largemouth: 21.5" 6 pounds. Longnose Gar: 4ft Bighead Carp: 10 pounds My girlfriend caught a 47" 45 pound blue cat last summer out of the local park lake. Not to mention that is was also only like the 5th catfish she has even caught in her life. Her second biggest fish is a 2 pound Largemouth.

Man, I am glad I have not had any opening day experiences like that. If it were me, I would stick to Taney and atleast wait till summertime before heading back to those trout parks. They aren't as crazy by then, atleast at Maramec Springs. I fished Maramec Springs yesterday and today and it was a mad house both days since the weather was so nice. Once the stream gets really clear and the heat of summer hits, the stream will be a lot more fun to fish. You even have room to use the evil fly rod down there at Maramec.

Started at the Lacy Hole around 3pm. Caught a lot of fish on Orange Trout Worms, Yellow Power Bait, and a Plain Jighead. Didn't know it until after fishing for a little bit, but I was standing right next to forum member Shawncat. It was great to fish with you for a while and shoot the bull! I went and got the fly rod and then moved up to the pond hole to find my family about 6:15. The fish started biting just as I got up there for my dad, who hadn't caught anything yet since we had gotten there. He picked up 4 fish in a short time using Double D's 007 formula bait. I ended my day by catching a nice 15-16" rainbow on a BH copper john with my 4wt fly rod. It put up a great fight and ended the trip on a positive note.

I'm for sure going to be down opening night this week. My parents and I and my buddy and his dad are going to be fishing from two boats up above Flat Creek up to Walnut Springs like usual.

I read about this when I was looking up spoonbill on Tablerock through Google. It said it gets its name from all of the spoonbill that they see when diving here. It sounds alot like the Virgin Bluff area because it drops off to 100 feet of water, but there is a shelf around 45ft and that is where they see alot of fish at. I put the coordinates into Google Earth and it takes me over by the state park marina south of Tablerock Dam. Does anybody else know about this place and has anybody ever snagged there before? I've only ever heard of snagging on the James River arm of Tablerock so I was curious.

RonS has the same plan as us. We usually start out at the bridge and just snag our way up river, but most of the time we don't get into fish until we get up to the mouth of Flat Creek on up. What do you guys think it will be like for the opening weekend? It's not as warm as last year and the spooners were really thick up above flat creek, but I don't think we will be as lucky this year.

If it is during Memorial Day weekend, then I don't know if I could make it. There is a catfish1.com Missouri get together up at Truman that weekend also that I had thought about going too. This is if there is nothing major planned by my family or girlfriend and her family.

With the water running, anybody think there will be spoonbill right below the bridge? I am thinking about going up there and try snagging from the Road House Dock that I've been told about. What is the best time to hit spoonbill right at the bridge usually?

I'm curious about the water levels and temps also. Do you think water temp or water flow is more important in making the spooners move up?

With snagging season getting close, I was curious as to what the water temps are running right now and what they might be up to come March 15. Anybody have any info?

Does anybody know what the water temps are from bridgeport on up past flat creek? I'm curious to know since snagging season opens up next week.

Sorry, I was referring to shawncat.

Oh was that you at the bridge hole with the fly rod? I was down there with a buddy fishing with spinning tackle. I was going to bust out the fly rod, but then I got lazy and just used my spinning tackle. I caught fish on yellow power bait, yellow Double D's, plain jighead, and a few on white and orange trout worms. I did the best at the hole between the Lacy Hole and the Bridge Hole. I'm not sure what they call that hole, but the fish bit good on the bluff side. The fish at the bridge didn't bite that great for us, we only landed 5 or 6 between the two of us in about an hour. I should of paid better attention and maybe I would of recognized you so I could of said "hello".

Was that your red ranger parked up by the pond hole? I was down at the springs tonight also and noticed that vehicle witht he toneau cover parked up there. You must of parked right besides me on opening day also because I noticced the same vehicle then too.

I landed around 30 trout I'm guessing, including one about 18" and two tagged fish. Best luck was down at the bridge, but it was hard fishing with the wind and all of the other anglers crowded around there. Did anybody catch any lunkers? I fished for a pair that were in the deep water, just above where the water comes out of the sea wall a little ways up from the Lacy Hole. They never did want to bite though.

Sounds like a winner to me. I'm getting all the gear packed together right now and put in the truck so I don't run off and forget it tomorrow.

What do you mean by "herl"? Do you mean palmer it or do you do you actually use Ostrich Herl strands? I'm confused.

Ahh...I guess I been tying witht he wrong part of the marabou. I always just tied in the long ends of the marabou. I'll try that when I get home and use the fibers towards the bottom of the stem.

Do you tie with the soft, lower plumes?

Darnit, I was hoping the stream would be clear enough so I could do some sight fishing but with all the rain we been getting I doubt it. Dano, let us know how the stream is looking. I'm curious. Don't forget your poncho's Thursday, looks like we are going to be just as wet as the fish if the weather holds up.

How do I get more body to my marabou jigs? I am tying 1/32 and 1/64 oz jigs and my jigs don't seem to be as "fluffy" or have as body to them as the ones I always see in pictures or buy. Does it matter which type of marabou plume that I am tying with? Most of the plumes I have are "blood quills". Do other cuts work better for jigs? Does it not matter that much if they look thin? I've caught fish on them before, but I guess I just want to tie the best looking jigs I can.

Looks like Jeremy's brown might of taken a chomp on that one poor rainbow.

I might be down Saturday also. My girlfriend is wanting to go, but we have to see what her work schedule is for next weekend. I'll let you know my plans for next weekend also once they pan out.

Well first you need to get either a broom stick style 6 foot snagging rod with a big Penn level wind reel OR ,as I prefer, a 10-15 foot surf rod with a big spinning reel filled with 80-100 lbs braided line. Then for the terminal tackle you need some 8/0-14/0 treble hooks. For weights, I usually use 4-6oz bank sinkers on my surf tackle, but the broom stick snaggers use up to 24oz sinkers to stay on the bottom. Here's a link to MDC's page about snagging. It has some pictures on how to rig the hooks and sinker to the line. http://www.mdc.mo.gov/conmag/2005/02/10.htm You can either troll or cast while snagging. I like casting more just because I use a surf rod and have had better luck than when trolling. It's especially effective at night when the spooners are flopping on the surface. Just sit and wait for one to flop close by and then throw towards it and start jerking the hooks back as fast you can right under the surface. This is how I caught almost all of my spoonbill last year on the James River arm of Tablerock. For trolling, let out enough line so that you feel the sinker touch bottom right before you rip the hooks back. As for what holes to target, a lot of people stay in the river channel. I've had good luck on shallower mud flats next to a river channel also. Also, the mouths of coves are a good spot to pick up a fish. Here are some pictures of me with my two biggest paddlefish. The first pic is 67 pounds and the third was 74 pounds. The middle picture is the state record that was caught on opening day of 2002 on the James River. It weighed 139 pounds 4oz.

I'll be spin fishing till the crowds lighten up and then fly fishing also. Maybe there will be a few tight lipped lunkers that I can coax into hitting my little scuds. Shawncat, I'll keep and eye out for you. I always like to move around after fishing for a bit and see if I spot a big one. Center Punch, you need to go just so you can get your stale donut and old coffee I'll be in my green neoprenes with the white patch on the right knee and fishing with a 8.5 foot BPS Microlite spinning rod. There will probably be me and one or two other guys, all using those long Microlite rods.