ozark trout fisher

While I generally fly or spin fish for trout in streams, I like to use bait while lake fishing. I live in a lake community that has a small lake stocked with rainbows each winter, but the water clarity is pretty bad, and I haven't caught but a few. So I am wondering if the lakes that allow bait fishing in Busch this time of year still have some trout in them. Is the fishing better in the artificial only lakes?

Arrived at about 9:45 A.M. at Vida Slab Bridge, and headed upstream after a few casts at the bridge's plunge pool. About one hour later, I hooked a trout so large on my Size 0 Mepps XD, that I had no idea how to go about landing. I got within about a foot of the bank, before the hook came loose. It looked to be about three pounds, and it looked like it had the color of a wild rainbow. I fished until 3:00 P.M. with no hookups, before I caught and released a smallmouth bass by a fallen tree, somewhere in the 7" to 9" range. Not a trout, or even a good sized Bass, but after my day of fishing, I was sure glad to have him. He looked pretty banged up, possible from the flood or a raccoon, or maybe something else. No more hookups the rest of the day.

SKMO, I completely agree with you. I was simply making the point that the MDC does pay attention to the people.

Today I went trout fishing on a small lake in the gated community of Lake Sherwood. The lake was muddier than chocolate syrup, but I did manage one small rainbow on canned corn. Looking forward to heading to Little Piney for some wild trout fishing soon.

One last question, with the flash flood, should I expect the trout to be in a spawn pattern?

Sounds good. I might have to get out and do some catch and release. Fifty trout is a lot.

Glad to hear it.

Thanks a lot. I definitely try that. Last time at Little Piney (the only time I've ever been) I got zilch, but I am gonna make myself try again, because I really want to catch a wild trout. Hopefully that pattern will be the ticket. Thanks again.

Glad to hear it. Looks like Little Piney is at fishable levels of 286 CFS right now, I'll have a fishing report pretty soon. Hopefully the high water will make the trout a little less spooky...

I guess you're right. It has to kinda be a shock to those fish to have 20x the normal flow coming through though. I guess like you say we wouldn't have wild trout if they died every time there was a bad flash flood.

Thanks for the info everyone. Kinda odd, it seems that the Current is really not affected on the same scale as the Meramec or the Little Piney. It looks like it would be fishable already.

How blown out is the lake from yesterday's storm? Good job catching trout on a fly if the water is as muddy and cold as I would expect.

Thanks for the info. The Little Piney might be feeling this a few years from now.

Glad to hear it. I was unaware how such a surge would effect the fish used to such a slight, calm flow. I am glad to hear you don't think it will cause any big problems. Does anyone have an idea when the either the Meramec or Little Piney may be fishable again?

Wow! Our trout streams are truly flooded. The water gauge at Little Piney hit around 4000 Cubic feet per second, and it averages about 200. That is 20X bigger than usual if my math is right. I almost would have to think this would cause a fish kill, or a least send the lion's share of the trout downstream. Just curious what you guys think. I hope it didn't wreck this little stream. Also the Meramec hit about 400 CFS.

We were considering a trip to the Little Piney near Lane Springs on the 29th. With the recent rain, and the rain supposed to come later today, does anyone know how this will effect the creek? Can I expect it to be fishable?

I agree that trout parks can be a lot of fun. If you go during the week. They are almost certainly the surest best bet if you want to be sure to catch some trout. At least for others. I personally find a way to get skunked just about everywhere I go trout fishing here in Missouri.

Not a problem. I'll PM you the name of the stream I was specifically talking about, just in case you are curious.

A great book. Tells about technique as well as details on specific trout streams. Not just public ones, but also a host of unlisted trout streams, and the best part is that several of these unlisted streams are publicly accessible. I'm not going to be specific, but at least one of these publicly accessible streams flows into another popular trout stream. It even is considered part of this popular stream's special regs area, which should insure that it will last awhile. Anyway great book, everyone should buy it. I believe it is available on Amazon, but I could be wrong.

The more and more replies I hear, It seem that it is really a matter of preference, no designation is really the "Best". Very interesting to hear. It also really depends on the individual stream.

Tailwaters certainly have there own appeal. I did notice on the White that while boat fishing with a guide, we did very well, but it is just really hard catching them of the bank at peak generation, at least for a novice like me. Wading clearly wasn't an option. Utah's Green River can be fun too...

While I said earlier on in the topic I had only fished Blue and Red Ribbon Areas, I have fished the lower white ribbon area on Little Piney, and saw some nice trout, though I couldn't get a hold of any... My impression was that at least this White Ribbon Area was under fished, and really had some good sized, but hard to catch trout. I also agree that tailwaters can be a little intimidating. I have never fished Taney, but I have tried bank fishing on Bull Shoals. All eight generators were pulling, and that made things tough. I only caught two trout in two hours of hard fishing.

Thanks, really informative article.

Thanks for the votes and replies everyone.

I've only fished Trout parks, as well as one Blue Ribbon Area, (Little Piney), and one Red Ribbon Area, the Meramec. I've only caught three trout in Missouri total, all from the trout parks, but I prefer the experience of the Little Piney. I doesn't hurt that the Little Piney is full of smallmouth that are pretty easy to catch... As for the private trout farms, too expensive to be a consideration for me, but they might be enjoyable for some.