Jeff Tief

Wonderful pictures and I'm sure memories for you.Thanks for sharing them

Seems to be occuring in the other 3 parks as well;not a promising scenario for those who don't live close to one of the better streams or Taney.

And a happy New Year to all too!

Really enjoy watching someone who know's his way around a vise work.Watched Dave Whitlock tie one afternoon for a while when he was still with BPS. You appear to be in his class at the vise.

amen Phil

Enjoyed all the browns and as Wornica said the song at the end.

LittleRedFisherman,thanks for the info,used to mold a lot of jig heads from 1/32 to 1/100 and caught a lot of big fish of various species on them.Have thrown the long rod for so long now that I don't use the spinning rod as much.Still throw jigs in crowded and/or high water conditions with good success.

Enjoyed both videos-looks like a great time was had by all.Looks like i need to google a zig-jig to see what it looks like.Started melting,painting and tying jigs back in the late 70's and still throw them occasionally.

Haven't fished it this winter season but in past years have seen a lot of smallmouths in the spring branch.Saw several in the 17-18" range in the big hole above the stairs from the upper picnic area.Wish at the time I would have had some of the bigger jigs and streamer patterns I often carry.

Very interesting-always enjoy your videos and watching a super fly tyer in action!

Laker67,did enjoy getting to fish with you and and Harv in the C&R at Montauk.Harv didn't seem to be rusty from not trout fishing much over the past several seasons.Called the shop where I got those backup waders before leaving the Park to explain the problem of a wet left foot on a brand new pair of waders.Was cooler than I expected and the wind didn't help,but I thought I was getting wet on the left foot-couldn't be on waders right out of the box.Am ready for our next trip but will wear my regular waders Enjoyed it!

Fished the PM in September and the Milwaukee in October for kings and am still trying to get the time to go back for some steelhead.Folks in Michigan were patiently awaiting the steelhead run considering the kings were super-sized this year.Got to get wife and I both healthy before we go back.Thanks for the report

We grew up riding bikes down to Bone Hole on Big River to initially catch whatever we could.As we got older it tended more to bass fishing and again whatever kind of bass would hit our plug or minnows.We made a few forays to Maramac Springs in the early 60's with a carload of family and/or friends and again fished with anything we could that was legal and caught fish.In the mid to late 60's we started going more as a group of young guys and probably began trout fishing a little better ..Back then gas was a little more reasonable and everybody could chip in a dollar and fill up the tank and have a dollar to park.I started trout fishing more after a summer in Washington fishing the rivers and lakes outside of Tacoma.Older brother,Toofer, couldn't figure out why I fished less for bass and more for trout the last 40 years and I explained that the size of the fish for many years and the access to take wife and kids made it a win-win situation for all. Now I enjoy tying and fishing flies that fool trout and salmon all over the USA.

Fished Sunday mid-morning for 6 hours and close to the same on Monday with my better half this week.Caught lots of fish thru the campgroung area on fox squirrel nymphs and zebra midges while wife,Susie caught a bunch on scuds,zebras and egg patterns.Could have each took a limit of nice fish along with the smaller stockers.As usual wife wanted to the fly zone in the afternoon and as usual it was tougher than the bait zone.Monday was a little tougher as there didn't seem to be as many fish thru the campground area.Did manage to pickup a rainbow each day in the 3-4# range plus fished for several good fish in and out of the park both bows and browns. Was a nice time to be on the water in the Ozarks in the fall.

Larry had a fly shop and cabins,condos etc.as you came into the park at the first exit coming from Lebanon.Hate to see them go as they were a good bunch of folks and at one time had a good selection of fishing tackle.Not always the higher end gear as Charlies but not the lower priced gear of some other shops.Then again we used to spend 35-40 days at the park every year until the fishing dropped off several years ago.Last time we stayed at BSSP, we stayed at Sand Springs and it had suffered from the economy,the poor fishing or maybe both.

Nice report with photos too! We fished the Monday after the Derby and saw a lot of small rainbows in the campground plus a pair of browns in the 3-4# range in the same area.Thought we would have seen more browns moving upstream but still a great day at Montauk.

Amazing in that these guys are often dead fast ball hitters and you know it's coming and still can't catch up to it.The reaction time in determining whether to swing or not is something like the time it takes to blink you eyes.Can't imagine trying to hit a 100 mph fastball after trying to hit guys in college throwing in the low 90's.

Amen ,Michael on the 24" limit on those browns.

What strain was the big brown they found dead in 1997 that I think weighed in around 37#.Think Mr.Phil might have been in on the recovery of that fish.Figured to be a world record if alive.Guess the new world record is from New Zealand at 42-1 caught supposedly below a salmon raising farm and full of pellets.

Best I can recall without looking it up was one of the fish was caught out of the Big Manistee River in Michigan while fishing for salmon.The other big brown came out of the Racine Harbor area out on Lake Michigan.Don"t know if that fisherperson was targeting salmon or one of the trout species in the Lake.

Susie and I made a quick day trip to Montauk on Friday. Started in the campground below the big bridge and fished down to the old low water bridge.Caught a lot of rainbows and kept a few for the neighbors and friends in the 13-15" range.Had a picnic lunch and headed to the river about 2p.m. The high water recently had flattened out the upper end from below the cable to just above the cabins.Still had a little deeper trough along the far bank but not as good as cover as beore the flood.Caught 10 fish between us in a couple hours and that included fishing for several fish in the 3-4# range.Both had on rainbows that were brilliantly colored but didn't land two that were of lunker proportions.Didn't see many browns in the park or in the upper section of the river. Still a lot of small fish in the river.

Wife, Susie and I just returned from 4 days fishing the Pere Marquette in Michigan.Stayed in Baldwin at the RedMoose lodge 5 nights and fished 5-6 hours for 4 days.Landed 19 king salmon sight fishing with small size 6-8 nymphs and egg patterns.Fouled a few as is the custom and often can't be helped but broke them off or pulled hard enough to get the fly back.Fished mainly at the Green Cottage and clay banks area and stayed in the H20 all we could to avoid any problems with any landowners.Lot of folks paraded around on the private property at will but didn't see any altercations.Caught 7 small trout 5 bows and 2 browns on the trip also.Folks at the lodge said it didn't look like a good year for #'s but a good year for size.Was Susie's first time to go and she did great.Fished a little with a guy from Indiana who often visits the OAF ;he couldn't believe the strikes she was getting on a little fly called a parasite-thanks to Ed Elersic at Larry's at BSSP for the recipe-from 1996.

Tommy,sometimes it is by chance that you just have that type of day and sometimes it seems you can't do any thing wrong.(Then again we have days when I don't seem to do anything right).Think there had been a Kids Day a week or two earlier and these could have been some leftovers from that event.Normally if you go to target big fish you walk a little more and sacrifice #s of fish for a big fish or two. Cooler fall weather and trout derbies in the trout parks will add to your chance of catching big fish if you get the time to go.Good luck to you.

Might have been older brother trying to sneak up on you again.

Susie and I made a one day trip to Montauk yesterday and enjoyed a beautiful day.We had fished it prior to the big water event and saw similar results to what's being posted about BSSP-small stockers from the flooding that has occured.Still alot of small fish but did catch some 12-14" fish and got a couple shots at a nice brown in the campground area and lost a 20" bow in the river.Small #'s of fishermen and cooler weather made for a fun day albeit mosquitoes kept us busy in the shaded areas.