ozark trout fisher

Ever since I've moved out here to the central part of the state I haven't spent much (really any) time on one of my old favorites, the Bourbeuse. I'd been wanting to do a float this weekend though, and I was thinking of heading over there. So forgive the question. The gauge says 160 CFS-I've been on there at that flow when it was pretty much too muddy to be worthwhile, and I've also been on it at that flow when it was plenty clear to be good fishing-you can't always tell what you're going to get by looking at the gauge on the Bourbeuse. Before I wouldn't worry about it because it was just down the road, but unfortunately that isn't the case anymore. So my question...anyone been on it in the last coupla days, and if so, what kind of clarity are we looking at? I know it ain't gonna be clear cause it almost never is, but I'll consider going elsewhere if it's chocolate milk. Thanks!

It's a spring creek, so water levels are as constant as it gets anywhere. I don't know if it's high water or low water you're concerned about, but that stretch is always floatable except in extreme drought conditions...but some dragging certainly be involved. And if the river is too high to be fairly safe to float and fish, the NPS will have probably closed it, so there's no real point in me giving you a CFS range where it's too high... In other words, river levels aren't nearly as big of a concern there as just about any other stream you'll want to float just about anywhere. Still, you've always got to be aware of the possibility of flash floods, especially if there's rain in the forecast. As for gravel/sandbars to camp on-there is an abundance of places to camp all through that stretch of the upper Current. That shouldn't be an issue. One final thing, because this is the Current River and I'd be remiss not to mention it...I hope you are planning your trip during the week. Now if you have to go down on the weekend, you can certainly still have a really good time and catch plenty of fish, especially in the mornings and evenings when the crowds aren't so bad. But on a June weekend, it will not be the sort of quiet, tranquil environment you likely want... and that might be the understatement of the year. If you must float on a weekend, at least try to get a nice early start so you'll have some time to yourself in the morning before things get crazy. Luckily by the time you'll want to sit back and relax in camp, (and probably do some evening fishing) things will be pretty well settled down. And as for the fishing, basically you're going to be trout fishing for the first 15 miles from Baptist to Akers (the best water is the Blue Ribbon section above Cedar Grove, but it's all reasonably good above Akers.) You might as well enjoy the scenery the rest of the way down from Akers to Pulltite, because all you're going to catch there is the occasional stray trout or smallmouth. Good luck, and once you float-camp the first time you'll want to do it again right away. That I can pretty much guarantee!

Goodness...I can certainly relate. It seems like I also run into a bit more than the usual trouble with inconsiderate folks on that river, but I suppose that's just how it goes sometimes. A couple trips ago I was camping on (relatively) secluded stretch of the river where there is PLENTY of room to spread out, and a couple of guys decided to set up their camp about 20 feet away (I might be exaggerating a little, but not by much!) I thought about saying something about it, but ended up being glad I didn't... They turned out to be nice guys that I guess just didn't understand the usual unwritten rules that most go by on the river, and we ended up shooting the bull around the campfire for a few hours. But it doesn't always work out like that, and it sucks when the person who crowds you like that ends up being loud and obnoxious. I've also had that happen more than a few times. There are few things worse than being on a wild river, 10 miles from the nearest public access and hearing Nelly blaring on some genius's boombox. But I digress...

Love the imagery there! LOL I consider any pictures I post here to be fair game for folks to use pretty much however they want, within reason. For stuff on my own website, I like for people to ask permission. But this is a public forum...

I appreciate the heads up. I signed the petition and will be writing my senator just as soon as I can. I believe unfortunately that the Jacks Fork and Current already are considered to be impaired. Or anyway they made the American Rivers list of the "10 Most Endangered Rivers". When the Current and Jacks Fork end up a list that also includes the Chicago and the Susquehanna, that's never good.

And low and behold, here's some more nastiness, just going back the other way. I don't mind arguing. I usually enjoy it. But when it comes to this point, it just gets really dumb. I don't think anyone should quit posting here, because everyone adds something...Ron, Chief, or anyone else. When it gets to the point where someone feels like they have to do that, it's a problem.

And not all of us are bullies. Yep. I like this forum, and I probably won't stop posting here anytime soon. But you have to be so darned careful what you say, it just gets ridiculous. Some people get tired of being lambasted by a member every time they post anything, so they leave. I think that's understandable.

For what it's worth, the MDC site says to ask permission to fish a stream if it is not "obviously floatable". What does "obvious" mean exactly? Well the webpage goes onto say that if a stream has "property maintained for the purpose of allowing public access to the stream, such as Missouri Department of Conservation access sites" it should probably fit the bill. I think that the Little Piney is "obviously floatable", and this should lend further creedence to that. The link is here. That said, on streams like Little Piney we still enter a gray area. I'm not sure it is actually that much a legal gray area-I think based on the precedent of certain court rulings, it should be at least relatively clear that wade fishing a stream like the Little Piney shouldn't be a problem. But small town courts are small town courts, and do you have the resources or will to fight a major legal battle if you are (in my opinion) wrongfully prosecuted? Understandably, most do not, and just pay the fine. So the cycle continues... There can also be a safety factor involved here. I don't know of any instances of that sort on the Little Piney (not to say there haven't been any), but every once in awhile a landowner-fisherman conflict will escalate to violence-on the part of one party of the other. So unfortunately, this is an issue where having some level of legal clarity might not actually do you much good. I'm not sure I love our stream access laws in Missouri (or rather our lack of any coherent laws on the issue) but it sure does beat the heck out of what's going on in Colorado, Utah, and Wyoming, and some other states mostly out west. In those places, on pretty much any river that flows through private land, you are probably going to be considered to be trespassing if you so much as touch the bottom. There is something to be said for Missouri's legal gray area on the issue (and I know you all probably will want to punch me square in the face if I say the words "gray area" ever again) because it is better than those state's version of "clarity" on the issue.

Sounds good. Those pools below Baptist are very nice. I'm glad you were able to get something out of them-they can be pretty tough. Sorry we couldn't get back to you in time-but it sounds like you did just fine!

I like to stop and wade a lot, so 14 miles is a two day float for me when fishing is my main purpose. Baptist to Cedar is a good one day float for me. I also like Baptist to Parker, or in higher water Tan Vat to Parker for one day floats. Everyone likes to do it differently and it depends a lot on style of fishing-you can cover a lot more water if you are streamer fishing (which seems to be your preferred method) or spin fishing than you effectively can when nymph fishing, which is what I'm usually doing. I love to take really long floats, and it's something I do sometimes. But usually not when fishing is the main objective.

Good work fellas. Ran off another member who contributed a lot to the forum. Hope you are proud of yourselves...

I for years fished a lake where it was greatly encouraged (actually technically required at one point, though obviously not enforceable) to keep all largemouth bass under 12 inches. The reason obviously was that this particular lake was (and still is to the best of my knowledge) way overpopulated with smaller fish. So the management strategy was to have everyone keep the little guys and release everything else. Because of that, I have eaten quite a few largemouth, admittedly mostly just small ones. I can't personally tell much difference in the taste between them and bluegill or crappie. The only fish that I've ever eaten with a really bad "gamey" taste have been big catfish, mostly 5 pounds and larger.

I enjoyed your blog post. Some nice pictures of beautiful country.

Hmm....That is odd. I believe you (I personally haven't used a rental canoe since I got my own years ago, so I don't know) but why in the world would an outfitter not rent a canoe to someone who could pay the money? Safety reasons possibly?

There are plenty of good options within 100 miles of STL. The Meramec and the Huzzah around Steelville are probably the two best overall within that range. On neither of those streams will you have the slightest difficulty renting a canoe, but in either case it's going to be pretty important to go one a weekday if at all possible- something that's going to be true anywhere you can rent a canoe...I like specifically like the Meramec around the Onondoga Cave area. It is one of the prettiest stretches of river you'll find, and the fishing in that area is often on par with some of the better Ozark smallmouth streams. The only real downside is that there are some weird currents in that area, especially down around Campbell Bridge. This can make it a bit dangerous, particularly in high water. This is not something I've not personally experienced, but somebody runs into trouble with it every year, most often when they're floating in water that's just too high to be safe... The Huzzah is another very pretty stream worth checking out...The fish have been small in my more limited experience there, but plenty of them and not too difficult to catch. In low water there would be some dragging involved for sure. Any of the streams with canoe rentals that are within 100 miles of STL are going to have plenty of folks on them, but if you go on a weekday it can still be very much worth it. If you want to try something a little bit off the wall, the Bourbeuse is one you might check out; I've certainly come to like it. The fishing for smallmouth, spotted bass, and largemouth can be surprisingly good if the water isn't high, and crowds are non-existent. It is an off-color stream which turns most people off, but the scenery along the stream is pretty good. I've always just brought my own canoe, but there is a canoe rental listed for it here called Devil's Back Canoe Rental. I don't know a thing about Devil's Back (or even whether it's for sure still open.) But you might look into it if you're interested. If you try the Bourbeuse at all, you might hate it and think I'm an idiot for even suggesting it, or you may fall in love with it. I think more people hate it than love it. But either way you'll have plenty of solitude. Good luck!

I don't know nearly enough to have an educated guess as to whether this particular photo was doctored or not. The real question is who cares, and is it really worth playing amateur detective? LOL

Fly or spin? If you're using the fly rod, try egg patterns (beadheaded, peach and orange), #14-16 Hare's Ears, and some Elk Hair Caddis. Also it's always good to have some soft-hackles this time of year. On the spinning rod small spinners and jigs. If you are camping along the river (which you pretty much have if you're doing that float, it's way too far for one day) be on the watch for storms and flash flooding. That is always a concern this time of year. Good luck...

I don't like to use photoshop as a general rule. I personally prefer my pictures to be a representation of what I actually saw, not an an artistic, or distorted version. But as long as you're not trying to pass a picture off as being completely unmanipulated, it doesn't bother me. Some people legitimately like to use their photography as a form of art, and that's OK too. The only important thing is just to be honest about it, and not pass off a doctored photo as "natural".

I've never seen the movie. But I love the book.

The rod itself was about $25. I say about, because I don't remember exactly, but it was something like that. I certainly don't mind taking some crap over the equipment I use. It's not as if I didn't have it coming.

Oh, I went and got it back as soon as things settled down. And yes, there are benefits to being cheap:)

Today was an interesting day, to say the least. I didn't expect it to be that way though. It was just another weekend day on one of the perfectly ordinary central Missouri smallmouth streams that I like to fish. This creek is a tough nut to crack, a stream where I always have to work hard, often going a number of hours between catching smallmouth, catching none at all more than I would like to admit. I'd always used the excuse (believing it was true) that there just weren't very many of them. So much for that. I caught one on my first cast, and I don't think I ever went more than ten or fifteen minutes between fish. It was just easy fishing, this unassumming little creek pretending to be the true Ozark stream that it isn't. The fish were up at the heads of the pools, feeding actively, taking anything and everything that I threw their way. Rebel craws and spinnerbaits worked the best, but honestly I think you could have caught them on most anything. Of course they weren't very big for the most part, and that is pretty much par for the course in the spring, especially when you are specifically targeting sub-spawning sized fish (and yes, there were some spawners, which I stayed well away from.) But when the fish are literally so aggressive that on one occasion you catch two on a single cast (each taking one treble hook of a Rebel Craw) you are not going to complain about that. I was at one point moving from one pool to the next, and I happened to notice a school of very large carp tailing in a flat. I have no idea how to catch carp, none whatsoever. But what the heck, I already had a lure tied on, and even if it was completely wrong, it was worth a try, right? Well no surprise to anyone, it didn't work. One of the bigger ones gave it a brief look, giving me a brief glimmer of hope, before swimming off in the opposite direction. This left me still never having caught a carp. Oh well. But the real fun came about three o'clock. I had seen in the forecast a 30% chance for some "Isolated Thunderstorms." If I stayed inside every time the forecast said that, I wouldn't ever get out between March and May. In any case, I wasn't particularly surprised or concerned when a moderate thunderstorm started to pick up at about 3. I was about a mile from where I'd parked at this point, so it was clearly time to call it a day and start heading back. These things happen about half the time I go fishing during the spring, so it wasn't anything to worry about. But the thunder started to get steadily more intense, the lightning closer. Then when I was about a half mile out, lightning struck down a tree approximately 50 yards away from where I was standing. That caught my attention. At that point, I quickly made the decision to ditch my fishing rod. It's a $25 Shakespeare, and I wasn't too enthralled about the idea of carrying around a 7 foot lightning rod. The lightning kept coming hard and fast (though thankfully never quite that close again) as I sprinted back, which given the circumstances only took a very few minutes. When I got there I was a very happy person. So pay attention out there, even if the forecast isn't particularly ominous. Things can get real interesting real fast.

That's why March 1st is the best day of the year to fish a secluded blue ribbon stream well away from the parks...You know you'll have it all to yourself:)

I thought that one was just a simple fact:)

What if you're both?