ozark trout fisher

Blue Springs would be a good bit out of your way coming from Columbia. But assuming you came down 63, the Little Piney would be right on the way. You can access it right under the 63 bridge. Still, I'd go with the Lane Spring Recreation Area access (the pull off for which is a hundred yards or so before you cross Little Piney, about 10 miles south of Rolla. A gate is closed about a quarter mile from the creek (because the recreation area is technically closed this time of year) but there is a place to park in front of the gate and you can walk easily from there. The fishing is usually decent for small wild rainbows. Egg patterns and #16 Hare's Ears work this time of the year on Little Piney. Really any other kind of small nymph will work too.

Montauk is the best trout park in my opinion. By all means get there this winter during the catch and release season-it will be uncrowded and the fish will be willing. When I'm fly fishing in the park, I usually park at the main parking lot by the low water bridge-just below the mill dam. I'll walk upstream along the streamside trail until I'm past the mill-pool and all of the crowds of fisherman frothing that water, and soon you'll come to a very nice series of riffles and pools with some very nice boulders put in there by the MDC that create some really good holding areas.This goes on for a good long ways all the way up to the headwaters. This is the fly-only area and the best trout water in the park. This time of year, yellow and orange beadheaded egg patterns under a strike indicator will just about always catch fish. Also bring Hare's Ear Nymphs, Woolly Buggers, and San Juan Worms. This time of year I really like to target the deep, bankside slicks that are so common in that part of the park. When the weather's chilly like this, you'll be wanting to look for the deeper, slower water, although there may be some fish feeding on nymphs in the riffles on the warmer days-and possibly even rising to midges when the air temp is above freezing. I hope this helps.

My position on this partially comes from a love of keeping things simple, but also that I simply can't afford to buy the wide variety of rods to match each and every condition. You can do very well with just a couple rods if you know how to use them-I really don't ever feel like the set-ups I use are inadequate. I use a wide variety of baits and presentations, and I find that I can manage just fine with what I've got. It's easy to fall into the trap of focusing too much on the equipment and not enough on what you're actually trying to do out there. The fish couldn't care less if you're set-up is a $20 Shakespeare from Walmart or a $200 baitcaster.

I am with you there. It's a great river, period. If it were just smallies, goggle-eye, sunnies, and pickeral, I can't say it would be any less cool. But I do love the rainbows.

If I could pick only three.... Interesting. I get the sense that some are a little more on the equipment heavy side of things. I only have two spinning rods period, an ultra-light 6 footer for pond bass,stream smallmouth, bluegill, and for trout when I do spin fish for them. Then a medium action spinning rod for everything else...Reservoir bass, catfish, walleye, etc. No baitcasters. I have been fishing all my life, and with no offense meant to anyone, I have never seen the attraction of getting too involved in the equipment end of things. The key is knowing how to use what you have. For fly rods, I have two right now. A five weight 9 foot St. Croix graphite set up, which is the one I use about 90% of the time for trout and bass and everything else. Then I have a 6 weight Montague split cane rod (also a 9 footer), which I mainly keep around just for the sake of having it, but I do use it sometimes for bass and bluegill on local ponds. I would use it more on Ozark streams, but I'm scared of breaking the thing.

I actually agree with Chief on this one, at least partially. I think impact on native species, especially the threatened hellbender, should be the first consideration. The wild rainbows are also an important consideration, but definitely secondary to the well-being of native species. I don't think we should really stop stocking trout the way they are now (even though I say that for admittedly selfish reasons) but the last thing we need is more non-native species being introduced where they don't already exist. Haven't we already screwed things up enough? And as for the idea some are throwing around (hopefully jokingly) about bait bucket stocking... Not only is that highly illegal, but people thinking that they know more than the biologists has lead to the decline of many of the worlds best native fisheries (look at Yellowstone Lake). I'm not saying that would be the case here, but bait bucket biology is an extremely dangerous thing.

I think browns would be cool on the Eleven Point. There's no doubt that river could grow some hogs with all its deep pools and abundance of minnows, crayfish, stoneflies and the like. But that river is already as close to perfect as a river can get... Why mess with that? It's a great trout and smallmouth bass river as it is, very possibly the best in the state. And as some have already mentioned, a bunch of big predatory browns could really do a number on the small wild rainbows. And not to mention the possibility that a bunch of trophy browns could really draw the crowds in like they do on the upper part of Taneycomo or the Current River-and the lack of crowds is one of the greatest appeals of the Eleven Point. I vote for continuing to manage the river the way it is now. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

Fair enough.

No offense or anything Eric, but if you don't think there more than enough trout in the parks already you are not looking and/or fishing hard enough. I will not get into the Blue vs. White Ribbon thing again. I think it has been hashed over in several multipage threads already.

I'd probably go with a 5 weight, maybe a six weight if you are planning on taking on bigger waters and using bigger flies. For small streams, I'd probably go 8-8.5 feet, though if you plan on fishing really small, brush choked streams, you might go shorter than that. Flies... For most of the smaller streams, fly selection isn't that important I don't think-just like fly selection isn't very important on small, unpressured trout streams. For most smallie creeks around here, you'll want a good selection of woolly buggers, leaches, and crayfish in a variety of colors (mainly brown, olive, black, and white though) in sizes #4-#12. Then you'll want some smallish topwater bugs, as well as a few muddler minnows and maybe a Clouser minnow or two. And while this isn't really a very mainstream technique, I also often have success drifting something like a large stonefly nymph under an indicator just like you would for trout. For leader/tippet, a ten foot leader tapering to something like 3x tippet will get it done most of the time. There are others on here much more experienced about fly fishing for smallmouths-this advice comes from a fly fishing trout fisherman who also likes to go after smallies, and not the other way around. And good luck to you. I really do enjoy fly fishing for smallmouth, it's definitely a lot of fun.

I'm with ya there. There are unfortunately some people who shoot anything that moves, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't mean they shouldn't be punished for it. I don't know about jail time, but a hefty fine seems to be in order for the guy who shot the lion.

I started pinching down barbs about a year ago. I do think that it makes catch and release quicker and easier, so I think it's pretty worthwhile to pinch down the barb. I don't really lose that many more fish that way either. As far as I know, there aren't any places in Missouri yet where barbless only is the rule, and I'm split on whether there should be. It may be that the single hook vs. treble hook argument may be the more consequential of the two in the end. By the way, welcome to the forum.

Very nice. Those are very respectable fish for Blue Springs.

Yup... I thought that having moved from Colorado to Missouri, I was at least safe from rattlers of all things.

It looks like the ice fisherman are gonna have a little setback here-supposed to get up to 60 on Friday. Crazy stuff.

I understand what ya' mean mic. I don't know much of anything about Bennett, but at Montauk, I can honestly say that I've fished just about every square foot of water in the park. Yet I'm still constantly confused by the nicknames of the pools people throw around- I really only know the names of three pools there-the social hole (as made forever infamous in that Field and Stream article a year or two ago), the milldam hole and the White Oak Hole- even though I am familiar with the entire park. Some very popular trout streams have maps that label the common nicknames of the more famous pools-I wonder if there is such a map of any of the trout parks.

Hope for high water. Blue Springs trout are darn hard to catch when the water is low, but when it's up and a bit milky, they lose a bit of their caution and you can sometimes hook into some of the nicer fish (which means 10-14 inchers on Blue Springs). It takes a whole lot to make that little creek muddy, as it's 100% spring water-it's the creek I go to when everything else is high and unfishable. #18 Hare's Ears are my go to fly there, but this time of year you may try an egg pattern as well, especially if the waters up. Good luck

Nice wild fish and thanks for the report. The water does get shallower the further above N you get, but you can catch fish all the way up to where it becomes private water. You just have to be looking for any smaller little cut where the water is deep enough and there is a bit of current-and be willing to fight brush that is even more hellish than the area below N. But it can be worth it on a good day. That said, the middle/lower stretches of the creek where you started off probably has overall the best habitat and the nicest fish.

My bad on that one. I'm terribly sorry for releasing my fish before I hold them out of the water a few minutes so I can take a picture, post it on OAF in order to inflate my ego (guys, look at all the fish I caught!!!). I guess I'd rather see the fish survive so you can catch it again.

Where's the ban flysmallie thread?

Adults? I think that's stretching it a bit for you Cricket.

Very nice-those little 'bows are sure knock-outs there aren't they? That is where I also caught my first Missouri Wild 'bow-and where I learned to fly fish. I absolutely love that little brook, although I haven't been on it in quite a long time-I think it's been since April. I got to get back there soon. And congratulations on your first wild rainbow. Wild trout fishing is addicting-once you've done it once it's hard to go back to anything else.

Of course global warming exists, and of course we are one of the main causes. I tend to believe science over rhetoric. But there probably isn't any point in saying more. I wouldn't sway anyone's opinion, so no use wasting words.

Probably a jet boat, if we're purely talking about which one is the more efficient fish catching machine. But what's the fun if you can just gun a motor and get to where you want without any extra trouble? The paddling and the dragging of the canoe through shallow riffles and runs, and having sore arms from paddling through all the slow water, and camping on a gravel bar when you're tired as all get out is at least half the fun of any float fishing trip I go on. And I also do most of my float fishing on smaller waters where jet boats wouldn't be an option anyway. Add on to that the fact that someone paddling a canoe is much quieter than one in a motorized boat, and thus more likely to see more wildlife, and there just ain't any competition between the two in my mind. My opinion is slightly biased because I have never owned a jet boat, but I can say that I don't have any interest in ever buying one. A drift boat is a different matter entirely. I think that would be pretty neat for the larger float fishing waters like the Eleven Point and parts of the Current, as well as for the occasional trips out west to Montana and Colorado. But in reality I'll probably never get my hands on one.

What he said.