ozark trout fisher

I enjoyed your blog, and reports about fly fishing for drum, carp, and other rough fish really provides a much needed fresh perspective. We get caught up in chasing smallies and trout and forget that there's a whole world of other species out there worth fishing for. Drum are a heck of a lot of fun, and while I've never really targeted them, I'm always more than happy to hook into one. It's weird how some species that are such good sport end up getting labeled as "trash." Drum are ugly I suppose, but fight just as hard as anything that swims in fresh water. All your blog posts about chasing carp and other rough fish have caused me to spend some time out there fishing for them this year on the local creeks, but thus far I've been met with 0 success. Humbling stuff when what I used to think were uneducated trash fish kick my butt on the water while the "refined" smallmouth in the same stream are relatively easy pickings. But it's definitely a fun new challenge.

It's been a good few months of smallie fishing around here for sure. I can't say I've been catching larger fish than usual, but the numbers have been very solid. And being chest deep in a spring-fed stream has been the just about the only suitable outdoor activity most of this summer, so I've done quite a bit of it. I hope we don't pay for it down the road, but seeing as how there's nothing I can do about it, I might as well just enjoy the good fishing we're experiencing now. Not much rain in the forecast but the cooler weather should take some stress off the fish. The fishing was certainly excellent yesterday evening with temperatures in the 70s.

My best advice is just to get a DeLorme Atlas and do lots of driving on county roads throughout the watersheds of the Meramec, Big, and Bourbeuse. Most permanent streams will hold smallmouth in varying sizes and numbers. Check out any bridges or other potential access points. Many will be posted, nearly dry, or otherwise unproductive, but if you spend a few full days doing that you're nearly ensured of finding a gem or two. "Prospecting" as I call it is about the most fun you can have fishing, and will help you find those lightly fished streams that you'll be able to have mostly to yourself. You do really have to keep in mind that some creeks that don't look like much can hold some nice fish. If it isn't posted (or otherwise obviously private) and has even a couple decent holes, don't hesitate to give an unlikely looking stream a try. Good luck! There's a lot of good water to explore within an hour to an hour and a half of STL.

I enjoyed your report, and I'm glad to hear that the trout still are reasonably active. The MDC has released some info that makes the situation on the Current and other trout streams sound rather grim. I've been avoiding Missouri's trout streams since June due to the drought...but I'm hoping when fall comes around and/or we finally get some rain that there will still be some fish to catch. I'm glad you were able to get out on a cool morning and were able to get in a couple hours of good fishing. That's the only way to do it now, I suppose.

It depends on the day for me. Usually it's just a couple of ham sandwiches, an orange and lots of water. If I feel like going through the trouble of starting a fire (these days with the drought that means firing up the gas grill instead) then maybe hotdogs instead. My favorite shore lunch, though I don't due this often at all, involves a fryingpan, Andy's breading, and a whole bunch of sunfish and goggle-eye. For dinner on overnighters, it's usually chili, hotdogs, or both. But a fair amount of the time I'll bring along steak and 'taters. And for breakfast invariably instant oatmeal.

Perhaps, I haven't been following the situation that closely.

@South Carolina and vs. Bama are fairly close to being certain losses, at least in my mind. Georgia could be beatable at home given their ever-present early season suspensions and the crazy atmosphere that should define Mizzou's first SEC game, but that's still got to be chocked up as a likely loss too. I'm guessing we'll also drop @A&M and @Florida. In my mind the Tennessee and Syracuse games will end up deciding their bowl eligibility. The games against Vanderbilt or Arizona State also have the potential to be tricky. But with a decent chance of a big upset over Georgia, and also the strong possibility of minor upsets against Florida and A&M, they could also end up right in the SEC east mix. I don't like the move to the SEC, but this first season should be exciting. My prediction for now will be 7-5 and a low-end bowl. This is a good team with a brutal schedule, both in the SEC and non-conference. I think it will have them fighting and scrapping for bowl eligibility again this season. Who knows what will actually happen, but predictions are fun anyway ( at least until I'm proved wrong!)

Thanks. It's interesting that you mention the Pere Marquette. We were planning on fishing it all along, but somehow never got around to it. Of course on the last day of the trip I talked to a local who said it was fishing ridiculously well, but by that point it was too late. Next time though, hopefully.

Big Manistee Below Tippy Dam Lake Michigan Pine Forest Near Lake Michigan Little Manistee River

I've just returned from a week and a half long trip to Northwest Michigan. When I left on July 29th, the plan was to fish the lower section of the Big Manistee as well as several different warm-water lakes for smallmouth bass, pike, and walleye. However, the weather intervened, as rain and cool weather blew in the day we arrived. This opened up a multitude of trout fishing options, and the tone of the trip changed before it even got started. The first three nights, we camped along the Pine River, a tributary of the Big Manistee. The Pine is a large spring creek, about the size of the Eleven Point below Greer Spring. A typical river in Michgan's Lower Peninsula is a clear, slow stream, with little in the way of challenges for those paddling them. But Pine is not a typical Michigan stream-it couldn't be further from what I just described. Rather it's a fast, rocky western looking river, heavily stained from the huge sand-banks which are located on the outside of nearly every bend. And the paddling is difficult, with many class II runs and a few full-on rapids that you'd almost have to call class III. It was far more difficult than anything I've paddled here in the Ozarks. It makes the Eleven Point seem rather placid. So the paddling was exciting, and the northwoods scenery couldn't have been any better, with white pines towering over the sand cliffs. The fishing did not come close matching any of that. It's considered a blue ribbon trout stream in the stretch we floated, but the trout were small and pretty few and far between. We did catch some wild rainbows in the 7-8 inch range, but this is a river you want to come to in search of adventurous paddling and beautiful scenery, not high quality fishing. It wasn't due to high water temperatures either, as they hovered in the high 50s and low 60s. The silty, almost brown water would fool you, but the Pine is almost entirely spring-water. It did strike me as a river that would be fun to learn inside and out-but visiting anglers like us never stood a chance to catch anything but a few small fish. Day three saw us off Pine River, and headed to a campground on Lake Michigan. Along the way, we stopped to fish the lower section of the Big Manistee below Tippy Dam. This is famous water for salmon and steelhead, but mid-summer it's better known as a world-class fishery for smallmouth and walleye. I dug out the spinning rod and Rebel Craws in search of these species, but the river's brown trout population had other ideas. This area isn't known at all for its resident trout, but apparently it's stocked pretty heavily, as 8-10 inch browns were more than abundant. It doesn't really look like a trout stream either, too big, wide, and slow, but I wasn't complaining. I found it odd that the trout fishing was better here than in the "Blue Ribbon" water of the Pine. I also caught one smallmouth and a rather out of place bluegill. We arrived at our campground on Lake Michigan that evening. The scenery there was quite beautiful, large sand dunes and pine forests overlooking the lake. We spent the next day hiking along the lake and swimming. Some people do fish off the bank for bass and other warm-water species in that area, but since I knew nothing about that sort of fishing, I elected to save my fishing energy for inland waters. The next day we hit up the Little Manistee. I'd read about this river many places. It's listed in TU's top 100 trout streams, and whenever you read about cold-water fishing in Michigan its name tends to come up only behind the AuSable and Big Manistee. So when I arrived, I'll admit to being a bit surprised (though not unpleasantly) when I saw a relatively small spring creek, no larger than the Current at Tan Vat. It is a friendly, easily wadeable stream that flows through the exact kind of pine-forest country that one drives 600 miles north to see. The stream had a slight tea-colored stain, but was still quite clear, with a primarily sandy bottom. The current was fairly quick but constant, making all of the water appear somewhat uniform. We heard reports from several floaters of large (they said 2 1/2 foot long) salmonids just a bit up river. None of them were fisheman, so I was unable to ascertain with any certainty what they were. My guess would be summer-run steelhead, but it's just a guess. In any case, I didn't encounter anything remotely close to that size. The fishing was quite easy for small rainbows in the 5-8 inch range (actually baby steelhead.). It was the north-woods equivalent of fishing one of our little wild trout creeks in Missouri, except that since the fish were immature steelhead ,there wasn't the possibility of catching even the occasional larger fish-unless we happened upon one of the river's few large browns, which we didn't. But I've never needed large fish to enjoy myself, so I had an excellent time. The trout were excellent fighters for their diminutive size. For the last 5 days, we spent time on Lake Michigan. We spent less of this time fishing than I care to admit, but we did check out some inland lakes. None of them produce particularly excellent fishing or many large fish, but all of them had their own charm. Most of the area lakes have lots of stunted bass and panfish, honestly only the scenery (and the outside chance of getting broke off by a big pike) makes them much different from the ponds I fish in Missouri. Overall, I do recommend northwest Michigan as a destination for fisherman, but during the summer months, I would warn against coming with expectations of large fish. You'll see pictures of trophy fish (trout, bass, walleye, pike, etc) caught on these rivers, but by and large a good day for a visiting angler (unless you hire a guide) involves catching a lot of trout or bass in the 5-12 inch range. That's fine with me, and combined with the scenery I thought it was an excellent trip. Some wouldn't be happy without having caught a single picture worthy fish over the course of a 10 day trip, but in all I'd have to be a fool to complain. I have enough trouble catching large fish on waters I'm familiar with that I'm quite confident the lack of big fish pictures in this report are not the rivers' fault. If you haven't been to this part of the country you need to go, and I want to get back as soon as possible. It really isn't that far, compared to similar fishing destinations in the Rockies or on the east coast-it's a relatively easy day's drive. I'm working on putting up the pics now, and unless I run into problems they should be posted within a few minutes.

That about sizes it up. A bummer about the Yampa. It is one of my favorite rivers out there, and as a matter of fact I'm planning to fish it this coming winter. I hope the trout population doesn't suffer too much over the summer, but who am I kidding? Heat, lack of moisture, and non-existent snowpack will do that. I can't wait to get up to Michigan in a few days, to trade our record breaking heat for their record breaking heat. The only difference is that their record highs are about 10 degrees cooler...

Below Akers the river should be pretty easily floatable...even in drought times like this, Welch Spring dumps in enough water to insure that. You'll drag an occasional riffle, but it's nothing to worry about. As for the smallie fishing, anywhere below Round Spring it should be good-not so much between Akers and Round. The fishing should also be solid on the lower river below Powder Mill. A five day float sounds like a fine adventure-but with this heat make sure to drink A LOT of water, and take plenty of breaks to swim and cool off. You have to take care of yourself on an extended trip in this weather. Have a good trip!

Yeah, you learned the same lesson that I also learned the hard way-trying to control a canoe/kayak on moving water and fly casting at the same time is a losing battle for most of us. When I float-fish by myself, I use the spinning rod when I'm in the boat and only fly fish when I get out to wade. It's just too much trouble to be worth it any other way, in my opinion. It's a lot better if you can get a buddy to go with you, so each can spend half the day controlling the boat while the other focuses on fishing.

The trout fishing hasn't exactly been easy for anyone this summer given the weather...Looks like you did fine, and got some nice pics.

I'm hesitant to even say anything, because just about every time I post about going somewhere on here the trip tends to fall through...But plans appear to be finalized to head up north, out of this terrible to only slightly less terrible heat next week to Michigan. The original plan was to go to the UP to fish for brookies, but that fell through due to drought conditions generally putting a lid on any trout fishing up there. So now, the plan is to fish the lower Manistee River in the lower peninsula for smallmouth. It's big water and we'll intend to float fish pretty much exclusively. If temperatures cool, or they get a lot of rain, we might head upriver to do some trout fishing, but right now that seems unlikely. The latter half of the trip we might head further north to fish the lower Platte and Boardmen for smallies as well, just depending on how things go on the Manistee. Anyway, I'll post a report hopefully with some big fish pics included when I get back...and if anyone has been up there any advice is surely appreciated.

I am more than willing to go fishing and be friendly with people who are on the other side of this debate, and often do...but to say it's not something that will come up is a bit naive I think. The reality is, many of us, including myself, believe that this is something that is effecting our lives now, and will be much more so in the decades to come. And moreover, if you are among the people who believe that climate change has contributed to the nearly nationwide drought, you'll even think it effects your fishing. So yeah, discussions about this are bound to arise, sometimes on the water. Not to say that I'd think about kicking someone out of my boat for it, but after awhile it can become a point of contention. That said, my best friend and the guy I may spend more time fishing with than anyone else is a 100% climate change denier.

This isn't part of the Ozark Trail system, but for hiking and fly fishing I'd highly recommend the 17 mile loop in Paddy Creek Wilderness south of Rolla. Maybe it's just because I've only done it during the fall when the leaves are changing, but I honestly think it's about the most scenic place in Missouri. On the tops of the piney ridges, you can see for miles upon miles-with very few signs of anything but total wilderness. I've spent a bunch of time out west, and Paddy Creek isn't quite the Colorado wilderness-but you'll come away thinking the total experience is pretty darned close. The fishing is very good as well. Just off trail (and it's easy to get to) is the Big Piney River, and there are some nice runs to wade-fish there for good sized smallies. It would be a bit tougher at high water levels, but that hardly seems like a real concern anytime soon. If you took 3-4 days to hike that section, you'd be able to take your time and get some serious fishing in. Paddy Creek itself holds a few longear sunfish and an occasional smallmouth-but isn't really worth effort, unless rains bring up water levels quite a bit. For now it might be darn near dry. My one piece of advice is to wait 'til fall to hike anywhere in Missouri, or with this weather it'll be hard to really enjoy the trip.

The lake and pond fishing lately has been very good lately, and that's led me to do quite a bit of experimenting to see what kind of weird things I can try and still catch fish...and one thing that I've been finding is that surprisingly big bass will go after tiny flies, as small as #14-16. The pattern I've been using quite a bit is a big streamer (generally a woolly) with a #16 orange scud as a dropper. Sure, the bass take the woolly a decent percentage of the time, but I'm struck by the number of quality fish that are taking the scud. Hare's Ears, Pheasant Tails, and Copper Johns in similar sizes also work. I've had most success with them as a dropper, because often fish chase the streamer, then end up taking the nymph/scud-but they've also been working fished by themselves. The biggest issue with this technique is trying to weed out all the bluegill and green sunnies that also take those small flies, but sight-casting goes a certain distance towards fixing that problem. Anyone else tried this with any success? I'm planning to hit a tributary of the Meramec tomorrow and would like to see if it works any of the same magic on the smallies there.

I don't think anyone will say that fly fishing is the most efficient method of smallie fishing...but for me it sure is the most fun. I use the fly rod a lot on smaller floatable streams and wadeable creeks, not so much on the big rivers. I do just fine with a 5 weight and woolly buggers during the day, poppers and hopper patterns in the mornings and evenings. The fish numbers are probably 50% of what I can get with conventional tackle, but on the right kind of water that's a sacrifice worth making IMO. Hooking a nice smallie on a fly rod is about as much fun as one can have on an Ozark stream.

The good news in all this is that I'm increasingly becoming convinced that the rivers will dry up here in a bit with this drought, and then the drunk floaters should be a thing of the past. So will the fish, but you can't win 'em all.

I don't know...The STL shops are in the opposite direction from me as any good trout water, so I've never been. I do wish there were more and better fly shops in the Missouri Ozarks, because pretty generally I stop to get flies on the way to a place I'm going to fish. I've been in riverside fly shops from the Adirondacks to West Yellowstone, and any one that's worth it's salt will be able to give you excellent first hand information that should allow you to catch more fish...No, at least the smart ones won't tell you the secret holes where they take their clients on guide trips, but provided you drop $30-40 on flies, tippet, indicators etc, there's an issue if they won't at least steer you in the right direction. I've just not had that problem very often; the vast majority want to help you catch fish, so they get the repeat business. Plus let's be honest, most fly shop owners are by nature going to be pretty nice, helpful folks. As awesome as I'm sure the shops in STL are, it would be very nice to have more of them near trout water, because that's the only way you're going to get that kind of timely, first-hand info consistently.

Good luck. In these kind of conditions you'll generally have a pretty good bite right at dawn, and right as the sun is coming off the water in the evening. That's about an hour and a half of good fishing time total, with not a whole lot that's worth bothering with in between. But those two times can make things worth it, especially if you happen to hit a hatch and rising fish. Total stealth is the only way forward now. Maybe this rain tonight will affect flows and improve day time fishing, but for now I'm betting against it. Until it becomes clear that the drought is broken, I'm not going to fish the Current or any of the other trout streams across the state, but that's just me, and probably isn't 100% necessary. Just keep an eye on the stream thermometer and please don't fish if it's above around or above 70, and you shouldn't be hurting anything

You have to be a bit careful on the Little Piney around Lane Spring. Admittedly, I've never experienced that myself but I have heard stories that make me keep my eyes open. And no, I am not just trying to scare people away, though it's possible that someone was just trying to scare me away with a tall tale. I have had a few interesting moments with this wading the lower Meramec. I think these situations have more potential to become serious if you're wearing waders as opposed to wet-wading. Just one more on a long list of reasons why I pretty much never wear waders when I can help it.

Now what are you doing admitting that you didn't catch the thing? I don't have any idea what the water temps are even like on the Spring, but I wonder if that's what killed it. Of course you don't need to look much past old age for an explanation when a fish is that old.

Sounds like you really like Blue Spring Creek and want it to yourself:) You're right that it's too warm to fish right now. You'd get skunked and if you did catching anything it would almost certainly die. 10 months of the year it's good fishery though, but like most spring creeks the fishing isn't always easy...I know all that brush along it makes it a tough cookie but that's a big part of why it can hold wild 'bows. You'll either come away cussing or smiling, sometimes both. If you're in Onondaga Park you've already got plenty of really good fishing anyway, trout or no. Both the Meramec and especially Huzzah/Courtois can be waded there and are excellent places to fly fish for smallmouth, provided you don't go on a weekend.