ozark trout fisher

You are describing the exact situation in my home lake...Countless stunted greenies, and bass and bluegill that aren't as large or as numerous as they should be given the habitat generally excellent habitat. It doesn't take much observation to see that the things will eat anything-they can really mess up a fishery. I kill every one I catch, and that's actually the law on this lake. Green sunfish have become such a problem here that it isn't even legal to release them.

A green sunfish, and a pretty nice one too. I'm pretty sure largemouth bass and bluegill can't interbreed.

Thanks for all the suggestions. I'm pretty torn between the upper Meramec and the Jacks Fork. Eric, I'd love to float, but $25 or $30 a day for a canoe rental is kind of a lot for a weekend of smallmouth fishing... I think I'll just wade. I enjoy the slower pace of wading anyway.

Yeah. (I can't spell it either)

I'd like to think I know the Meramec fairly well (though not as well as quite a few others), just not in the area I'm talking about. I've spent most of my time from Meramec Spring down, but by mid-May, that water is fairly taken over by canoers. I don't mind a little company, but it can get pretty rough down there. I'm probably going for at least a couple days, so the JF isn't too far. I like that river a lot-but I've only floated it,so I didn't know that much about the wading down there. Glad to know that's a pretty good option.

Thanks. I didn't think of the Huzzah. That sounds like a pretty good idea. I may camp at Huzzah CA... I've hunted there a few times, and where I saw the Huzzah it looked pretty good.

The weekend after next I'm planning a smallmouth trip on the Meramec, Jacks Fork, or Big Piney. I'm wanting to wade fish-I'd prefer not to float. Does anyone know of an access point on any of the three rivers where I could park my car and find a nice gravel bar to camp on, preferably in an area where there is some wadeable water? If it's the Meramec, I'd like to stay above Maramec Spring to avoid the canoe rental crowd, and if I go to the Jacks Fork, I'd like to stay above Alley Spring. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

I'm really baffled at this opposition to bears in Missouri. They are native part of the natural environment. Humans eliminated them, and it is our job to restore them if they can't restore themselves (although it does seem they are re-establishing themselves just fine, so we should probably leave well enough alone). I understand the livestock concerns (although I don't really believe bears actually do cause a lot of livestock damage), but I'm tired of folks always putting economics before the environment. Call me crazy, but I think that's the mindset that gets dams built, streams de-watered and polluted to the point they can't hold fish, and deer habitat turned into subdivisions.

The fact remains that Black Bears belong here. They were here first, humans eliminated their Missouri population, and so it's kind of our job to help re-establish the population. And is there any fish and game in say, western Colorado, where Black bears are so common? You have to love it when someone is a catch and release fisherman and yet doesn't seem to want an important native species to be re-established. That seems pretty contradictory.

It's really exciting to have black bears back in Missouri. I hope they can become more and more established. One more native species is coming back to our woods, and that's always welcome. They are a beautiful part of the ecosystem in the Rockies and Appalachians, and I'm unbelievably excited to have them here in Missouri in sustainable numbers. The area that I deer hunt in southern Missouri is known to have bears. There has been a video submitted to the MDC from a tree stand just a few miles from my favorite stand site, and I have seen tracks, scat, and other sign. Very cool.

I actually move the stick-ons around quite a bit. I'm not sure if you're supposed to do that, but it does work. The only problem I've found with the stick ons is that they often leave some of the glue that holds them together on your tippet after you take them off. It's not that I don't use bigger indicators or anything. I use them quite a bit when I'm fishing faster water where the stick ons won't stay above water. I just think that they are used in a bit more of a whole-sale manner than they probably should be, especially on smaller streams, slow pools, and that kind of thing.

I would highly reccomend the Eleven Point, even though I've only floated it once. The crowds were about as small as you'll find on any river that has canoe rentals, and the scenery is awesome, not even to mention the fishing. If you really want a great time on a relatively secluded river, I wouldn't even think of going anywhere else.

I prefer smaller indicators myself. I generally use Lightning Strike Stick-on indicators. They don't work in really fast turbulent water, but in most situations, I like them best. They don't scare fish and they don't make casting anymore difficult. Thingamabobbers are okay in trout parks and bigger rivers, but I'm convinced they will just about kill your chances on smaller streams.

A low pressure front was stalled over the Ozarks, and over the last few days we have been blessed with pounding, heavy, and glorious rains. This water is now making it into our rivers, and making some of them high and unfishable. Sounds like bad news, doesn't it? In the short term, it is. The fishing will be tough in the main rivers for the next few weeks, as we have more rain in the forecast. But the positive effects could be drastic later on in the year. Up until this point, we have had an extraordinarily dry spring. Rivers that often run bank-full in April were low and clear. That's excellent for now, but a low clear river in April hints at a dire situation in August. But the spring rains have come;a bit late, yes, but they have come. I'm like every other fisherman on the planet. That is, I hate spring rains while they last, but on occasional open-minded times, I can appreciate their effects. They are the life blood that keep springs flowing in the sparse times of August, and the saving grace of our small streams. The water seeps through the ground in our lush April, into the spring system, and some of that is stored until the times the stream and the creatures that rely on the stream really need it. It truly is a beautiful thought, one that can make you think for a moment that the world really does have some order. And the fishing isn't always bad during the spring rains, unless you insist on fishing the big rivers. The headwater streams and spring branches remain very fishable through most of it-even now after the rains have made a torrent of everything else. In fact, the blue-green water of spring is something that I have come to relish on the wild trout streams. This is when you may find a glorious day when the little trout will hit your fly with abandon, at which point life will seem quite okay for a while.

I agree with 3wt. If you really want to learn to fly fish, it's probably best to leave the spinning rod at home. Not for aesthetics mind you (I still like bait fishing for trout every once in a while), but just for practical purposes. If you're having a tough time with the fly rod (as everyone does there first few times out) if you're like me, you'll run back and grab the spinning rod within an hour or so if it's there. My first few trips with a fly rod, I took a spinning rod with me for insurance. Problem was, I always ended up doing 90% of fishing with the spinning rod and not learning anything about fly fishing. I didn't have enough self control, so I stopped bringing the spinning rod along.

Yeah, I spent a couple of days fishing for them in Michigan once. Never got a bite, and eventually starting going after smallmouth bass instead. Despite being gay, they were actually a lot of fun to catch.

Thanks for all the spots and advice. Very nice of ya'll.

I see your point, but I look at this a different way. If I'm going to be fishing a certain river or lake for 5 days or so that is known to be tough, I like to hire a good guide for the first day if I have some extra money. It helps learn things about the river that I would never find out for myself in 5 days, or if I did, it would occur to me late enough in the trip that it wouldn't matter. And then there are the cases, like fishing a drop- off 50 miles out to sea, where if you don't have a guide, you simply can't get to the water you need to fish.

This one wasn't Mary Decker, but that's an interesting idea as well. Last time through I was so busy not trying to bust up the canoe there that I never even stopped to fish at Mary Decker. I suspect that was a mistake. Thanks for the tip.

Post of the year.

I don't spend that much time on catfish, but I've had great luck for big Channel Cats using live sunfish, right up to the maximum length you can use.I caught a 17 pounder that way a couple years back and a bunch of 5-7 pounders. Nightcrawlers and chicken livers work well too, especially for the eating size ones. I find more than what bait you use, it's important to get back there in the rootwads and rock crevices where the big boys live. I only fish for catfish in lakes and relatively small streams, so I know nothing about Blues or Flatheads.

I like the Cane Bluff to Turner idea a lot. I've been wanting to try the upper reaches for smallmouth, but would also like to fish for trout. There is one shoal that I camped on and fished the last trip in the general vicinity of Turner Mill (don't know the name or even whether it has a name) that I wouldn't mind spending a few days on though... Decisions, decisions. Thanks all for the advice. Sorry to ask so many questions.

In my opinion, it totally depends. I have hired guides that did fish, and in some cases I was perfectly okay with that. They were simply demonstrating the proper technique, and it was obvious that they were doing it to help me catch fish, not just so they could catch fish. A guide fishing for their own benefit is not acceptable, in most situations in my opinion. When I'm with a guide, I'm paying him to take me to good water, and show me the techniques so I can catch fish. If he is fishing to help establish a pattern on a tough day, then that's fine with me. But if you're paying a guide to put you on fish, and he is spending most of his time trying to catch fish for himself, that's a problem. And there are other situations. One time I was fishing with a guide off the coast of Maine for cod, and there was an excellent bite. We were holding stationary over a ledge, and it wasn't necessary to move. The guide asked me if it was okay if he fished, and of course it was. He'd already put us on fish, showed us how to catch them, and we had all caught some nice ones. At that point, I didn't mind at all if he caught a couple for himself.

Thanks. I've heard that the fish are kind of few and far between in the Blue Ribbon area in late spring/early summer. Any truth to that?

Do I sense a bit of dissatisfaction??? Based on the way your refer to the species that we all enjoy fishing for, I somehow doubt anyone's gonna help you. I got to get some sleep so I'll be rested tommorrow. I need the energy so I can catch a few of those gay bass. If I'm lucky I'll hook up with a creepy catfish, or a slimy sucker. Then again, I may just fish down on the pond across the road and catch boring bluegill. Good luck finding your mutated musky.