ozark trout fisher

I don't look down on anyone for spending $15 on a plug if they want to...my problem is when they assume that anyone who doesn't is an amateur. When I'm spin-fishing, I have a $20 Shakespeare rod, an admittedly decent reel (the one part of the equation where I think spending money actually matters) and a cheap kayak from bass pro. And I choose to pair that with Rebel Craws and Zoom plastic worms, and maybe a Rapala or two. It works, I have confidence in all of it, and I catch fish. You all might fish circles around me, but if so, it's because you are better at fishing and have been at it longer on Ozark streams. It's not going to be because you spend more on tackle. So fish with what you fish with and have confidence in, and we're good. But I'll admit I get a kick out of those who relentlessly give me crap for using a Rooster Tail or a Rebel Craw and then get upset when people rib them for spending too much on tackle. I'm actually thinking I might like what this whole "Ned Rig" thing is doing to the sport. It's a rare trend that is actually a step away from the expensive/fancy side of the spectrum to something that is ridiculously simple (and cheap) but just looks like food and catches fish like crazy.

Yep, it was a fun trip, and truth be told, this little incidence only added to it. It was impossible to be even remotely concerned given the circumstances, but it was a weird few minutes going through all of the possibilities before the reality dawned on me.

Yep. I can say with some authority that both branches of the Jacks Fork do indeed hold smallmouth. Actually the North Prong (the one I went up by accident) seemed the prettier and wilder of the two. I kinda wished I'd just concentrated my efforts there.

I posted a fishing report today, and I'll admit I glossed over one little detail. An embarrassing one, but heck, it's too funny to keep back. When talking about my trip on the Jacks Fork today, I mentioned that I fished both the South and North Prong. What I didn't mention was that the latter was quite unintentional. Because today, I achieved a singular feat: I got lost (briefly, and not severely, but nonetheless thoroughly turned around) on a flowing stream. I think I'll start at the beginning. I parked at the South Prong Access, and began working my way down. There is a bridge over the South Fork about a half to a quarter mile downstream that I waded under and kept fishing downstream. After awhile, I began working my way back up. I went back under the bridge, or what I thought was the same bridge, and started fishing again. I began to think to myself, dang, I must not have been paying very good attention to the water on the way down, because this looks way different. The flow was just right, but the pools looked different than I'd remembered them. But then it was really similar, I'd been deep into the fishing on the way down, and this was my first time on this stretch. I wrote it off. Then, I decided it was time to head back to the truck and move on. The stream still looked a bit different, and yet enough the same to keep me going. But the access didn't come. I thought earlier maybe I'd lost track of time and distance, and worked further down than I'd remembered. But then I came to a rocky shut-in that I KNEW I hadn't ever seen before. Then I knew something was wrong. Though I had committed the sin of getting directions on my phone, and never looking at a map, I knew the North Prong had to be somewhere in that area. Then it dawned on me that I went up the wrong dang river. When I came back to the bridge, this time I noticed that it crossed right at the confluence, and the bridges over each fork were nearly identical along with almost perfectly equal water flow. Not that it's an excuse, but I wonder if I'm the only one who's ever done that? Anyway, I got a pretty good laugh out of the situation.

Thanks, it was a nice weekend.

Yeah, I was on the lower LP Friday, and I was ridiculously tempted to throw a canoe in there, and at flows that are only slightly above average.. It's just not that close. It isn't significantly (if at all) less "navigable" than the Current in the Baptist Camp area or the Meramec above the spring. I don't think either of those are question marks. Of course, everything I'm saying is sort of irrelevant. Sad as it is to say, the landowner's temperament and decision making impacts whether a stream is fishable/wadeable in practice and safely far more than any State Supreme Court decision. It shouldn't work that way, but it's the hand were dealt.

Thanks for the replies. Ended up doing the upper Jacks Fork and Eleven Point today. Guess instead of starting a new thread I may as well just do the TR here. Friday: I made it to Little Piney at about noon. I had the idea of chasing trout up by Lane Spring or perhaps a mixture of species in the Milldam Hollow area, but it was out of the way and the weather/time of day wasn't right. So I decided to hit the lower river in search of smallies. And it wasn't much of a search, to be honest. Lunkers they were not, but every reasonable hole and riffle was friendly and productive. What did the best on that day was a bit of green pumpkin plastic worm fished on a 1/8th ounce jighead. I won't say I didn't get the idea from a certain craze that's rolling through the fishing world, but it had to be tried eventually, and what works works I made it down to the James that evening, floating a short, pretty little float that most wouldn't think worth the time. I've fished it before, and done well, but I'd had my fill for the day, and just enjoyed the scenery. The five mile float passed in a quick two hours with the steady flow and the virtues of a good canoe. Saturday involved a lot of playing around in the Buffalo National Scenic River, although regrettably, no fishing. We were taking a long, fairly strenuous hike, that did cross the river a few timesthough it seemed awfully low absent a good frame of referenc (yes, I took the time to spot some smallies, a couple large enough to break my heart for not shelling out the money for an Arkansas license.) To say that country is beautiful doesn't do it justice. It's otherworldly. The pictures I will try to get up later are very nice, and yet a pale representation. Nothing like watching kayakers struggle through the bony riffles from a vantage point on a bluff 500 feet above the river. Even the circling birds (of which there were many) are all below you. Sunday I didn't do much of anything, so I'll pass right on through that. This morning I awoke and headed out from SW Missouri without much of a plan, but in search of smallies, trout, or preferably both. I found the first in spades along the upper Jacks Fork, fishing the skinny, clear waters of both the North and South Prong. That part of the Jacks is no river, only a small creek, but full of beautiful (and little) smallmouth in every pool that looks right. I'm most ashamed to say my Rebel Craw didn't work too well there. What I caught hordes of the little smallies, well yes...my pseudo-ned rig, of which I admittedly enough supplies for along the way to supply a small guide service for a few weeks. I tried a pink jighead this time, a flourish that seemed to excite them even further. I thought I might be done after that...but I still had a little more in me, and some time. I swung down Highway 19 to Greer Crossing, and bushwhacked my way to the river near the bridge. Not a glamorous spot or a way to do such an awesome river justice...but the holding water is good, and the trout were not hard to find or fool. It capped off a great (and long) weekend in exactly the kind of fashion that you'd hope for.

Spending the weekend in the ozarks...have so far hit the Little Piney, James, and Buffalo. I've seen and caught quite a few smallies in some cool places but blessedly, somewhat unexpectedly, have been able to extend the trip into Monday. So my question is, where to go tonight/ tomorrow? Anything from the White to the St. Francis is on the table.

It sucks to hear this story, but I'm not surprised. Little Piney seems to be a hotspot for landowner/fishermen confrontations, for whatever reason. This is far and away the most extreme behavior I've heard of, but the Vida Slab area further upstream seems to be a trouble spot as well. I don't know if you were legally in the right, but I KNOW the landowner was not. Wading in a small stream that flows through private land on both sides (I'm referring to Mill, not the LP, which isn't even that questionable IMO) is definitely not advisable, and probably at least stretching the law...but it is not grounds to be threatened with a firearm. That can be described as nothing less than terribly belligerent and unprovoked behavior, and the fact that he had the gall to chastise you with a smartass note on your truck afterwards blows the mind and shows you who you are dealing with. No one in their right mind can blame you for getting the heck out and then contacting the authorities later. Being right is one thing, but all you're thinking about in a moment like that is getting out in one piece.

I can't recommend anything higher than Stars Upstream by Leonard Hall, as much of a throwback choice as it is. It's the perfect mix of Ozark history/geography/general knowledge wrapped into a bunch of old timey stories about fishing/floating/anything else you can do in the Current River Hills. it changed my outlook for the region and my respect for it a pretty incredible amount. For pure enjoyment, the Gierach books are all a ton of fun and hard to beat. They're all good, and all the same, to a certain degree, though "Sex, Death, and Fly-fishing" is probably his best work IMO. "The Longest Silence" by Thomas McGuane is also pretty incredible, though less lighthearted and a bit more stuffy than the above...but still a good read.

A couple of posts on the first page were enough to get the idea. 6 pages are a little much, as worthy or not the content may be. I only mention that based on the strong possibility that at least 9 other posters have said exactly what I've said already.

Also not sure why this Brandon Ellingson story (while tragic) has anything to do with the purpose of this thread. That did not involve the MDC in any capacity, and has nothing to do with litter/drug arrests in a different corner of the state by a different agency-and this story has no evidence of mistreatment/poor performance whatsoever. If you vilify any law enforcement action because of an example of the worst possible outcome that could possibly occur (instead of looking at any of the good that is done) then you are seeing less than the whole picture.

I'm not going to read this thread, but I will just say that the MDC is doing their job. A conservation agent's main job is to insure that conservation areas are kept safe, clean, and as nice as possible. Illegal drug use and littering has zero place in any of that. I see far too much trash, junk, and other more jarring evidence of illegal activity on public land. And in far too many cases, it create a setting where many (especially families) would rightfully feel uncomfortable. I don't see how we can do anything but applaud efforts to curtail that.

Thats the great thing, though. We all like different streams, and all, alternately, hate different streams. I don't like Maramec, you may not like the Bourb. It means we'll argue, but at least we're not in each other's way. Heck, I've got no problem with Maramec Spring. It's beautiful and full of trout. Its more some of the fishermen that use it

The white ribbon stretch is so inconsistent. You get the feeling that most of the good habitat is pretty obvious, and the numbers can get knocked down pretty low between stockings. Bad timing and you are mostly left with the smart fish in the weird, unexpected places, and that doesn't usually mean anything good. It's a little frustrating, because it looks SO good in places and I know from a habitat perspective, it has a ton of potential to grow big trout. And maybe there are a few of them down there. It's in the category of places I go because it's pretty, and whatever good fishing you stumble into is a nice bonus. Without any context, it's still decent trout water...but it's awfully easy to pass on it with the Blue Ribbon area so close by.

It's a convenience thing, I think. If a stream/lake/creek is within 15 minutes of my house, I'm giving it every opportunity imaginable to prove it has some value. If it's a two hour drive, one bad trip, and well, there are plenty of other good streams 2 hours away.

Bourbeuse will do that to you. I like it, fish it a lot, and there are still those days. Like 50% of the time. Or more. Honestly, that's part of the reason I like it (other than it's the first smallie stream I dumped obscene amounts of time into.) Not because I'm a good fisherman, but because I have a pulse and can tie on a Rebel Craw, I pretty much know how a summer day on the Big Piney or Jacks Fork is going to go down. Pretty river, clear water, nice float, and a number of smallmouth that is always at least good enough and sometimes great. On the Bourbeuse I can encounter anything from a stagnant mudhole that doesn't appear to have anything other than snakes and frogs, or it can be an awesome, dynamic little river that can produce good fish. You stop trying to predict which will happen after awhile. It frequently frustrates me, but it's absolutely never boring. In interest of full disclosure: the last time I fished there (a couple weeks ago, in prime water conditions, during what should have been an excellent evening bite) my catch amounted to....one 8" channel catfish I caught by accident. So I'm not just saying that stuff because I want to scare people away from the streams I like.

I see JDMidwest beat me to it, but it has absolutely GOT to be Maramec Spring Park. This is nothing against the MDC, or the folks who run the place....they do a nice job with a very limited resource. The problem is that very limited resource is way too close to too many people. Of course, you have the sheer numbers, which is bad enough. On the rare (okay not so rare, but the catching is mighty poor compared to every other trout park) occasion you actually hook a fish, everyone within sight will suddenly become your best friend, and you'll soon have a choice of either making a scene or getting the hell out. But that isn't the half of it. You have that darn bridge that people still stand on, every day, with massive, heavily weighted "jigs" that no trout in that stream would willingly ingest, not to mention the 14 pound test that scares away all but the dumbest spring branch trout. They're blatantly poaching, but could still claim they were "just fishing" if you make any attempt to reign it in. I get called to go there with friends all the time. My response always is, I'll go, but don't expect me to fish with you in the park. I actually don't mind the trips, because I can usually go either down or upriver and squeeze in a nice afternoon of mixed bag fishing for trout and smallmouth. So maybe it's not such a bad spot at all.

You could argue that isn't enough of a penalty for defacing a place like that and the challenging (possibly dangerous) work that will go into restoring it....but dang, I'm glad to that there was SOMETHING done. and whether or not it's commensurate with the damage caused, it's definitely big enough to make someone think pretty hard. Usually crimes of that nature in remote areas are destined to go unsolved. Kudos to law enforcement/whoever provided the information to actually get something done with that.

I have to be careful about talking about Little Piney, because I really like it and can tend to over-represent it if I'm not careful. I've sent a couple people in that direction only to have them call me out afterwards and say the areas that I'd suggested (and I really like) are basically frog water. So I don't suggest those places anymore to anyone, which is just as well from my perspective. I guess most of it is frog water. There are more dead sections on it (in both the trout water and further down) than most Ozark streams. You have to walk a lot between good holes.. In some areas towards the lower end of the blue ribbon stretch you are working long distances of cattle-eroded banks for really short stretches of productive water, and if you blow it there you're out of luck. In other areas it's quite a bit better, but nowhere are there long, continuous stretches of productive water like on the Current or other nearby streams. That can be a real turn off, apparently.

I agree with you within the scope you're talking about. When someone says that they want roads eroding everything in the ONSR and justify that by saying that they are good stewards of the land, well, that's too easy to pick apart to even be fun. I just think in a larger sense, the "locals vs. outsiders" debate is really dumb and unproductive. There are locals in that area that have seen enough pillaging of the land to know something needs to change. There are others that are maybe ignorant of some of the facts that can be brought around. I've seen that done by those more tactful than myself. I don't think alienating them is a viable strategy. I'm only making a point of this, because sometimes it starts to feel like "city boy vs hillbilly" becomes the primary roadblock to anything getting done. We get so caught up in it that we end up talking to caricatures rather than having actual conversations. Anyway, enough being mad for today. Time to find some smallies somewhere in Central Missouri that are willing to work with me.

I think a better question is, does it matter, and if so, why? Frankly, I couldn't care less who is doing this. I only care that it's happening and that the folks responsible are brought to justice, which, given the exceedingly remote locations of these alleged crimes, seems depressingly unlikely at this point. I just don't know that blaming poaching/habitat destruction on one demographic subset does anything besides causing further division amongst those who could otherwise be allies. That's why I'm not willing to take part in that. It's just in no way constructive. Bring the folks responsible to justice and I'll leave the larger societal/cultural questions to people who are smarter and more tactful than me.

I really try to stay away from blaming this stuff on either the locals or the city folks exclusively (as I don't qualify as a member of neither subset myself.) I've seen plenty of irresponsible (or worse) behavior from both to conclude that it doesn't seem to matter much. I just blame it on the idiots, from whatever zip code.

I've said a couple of times it's owned by the L-A-D Foundation, and formerly Leo Drey, who just recently passed. As they own a pretty massive chunk of the hills around the Current River (we are talking about hundreds of thousands of acres) you definitely need to understand how they operate to have a decent grasp on how that whole chunk of the Ozarks is managed. And I can tell you from experience hiking around back there that they do a really good job, on par with any of the state and federal agencies around here.

The thing that gets me is this is not carelessness or laziness or a general lack of giving a crap that is causing this kind of vandalism/release of feral hogs/illegal timber harvest, etc. Most of the land owned by these folks (except for a few areas right along 19) is extraordinarily remote, as much as anywhere in the Ozarks and comparable to anything I've experienced in the eastern US. To be willing to put in the amount of effort required to do this stuff in areas that far back in the sticks requires a whole lot of malicious intent. And what on earth could drive that I'll never know. You don't even have the typical "We don't like the government" excuse here. This is private land. It's only public in the sense that they let us willingly use it, without permission, even for things like hunting, without much/any special or complicated regulations. These incidents on L-A-D land may be the final piece of evidence we need to conclude that even the weak rationales like not liking the federal/state government has nothing to do with this kind of behavior. When we see people operate ATVs illegally, steal timber, vandalize bluff faces on any land (whether it be ONSR, Pioneer Forest, MDC, or some poor soul's private land that he happens to be away from for a period of time) what we are seeing is pure maliciousness/disregard for any and all resources, public, private. and anywhere in between. I don't know what you do about that kind of attitude.