ozark trout fisher

For what it's worth, many of us would consider a 3-4 pounder to be a very nice fish.

Awesome

Great job on your first smallie! On the big rivers like the Meramec the really slow holes are pretty dead for smallmouth. Not to say there aren't any, but they still usually aren't worth spending much time on. On the smaller tributary creeks it can be entirely different. I just fished a little stream today where the smallmouth bass were pretty much all concentrated in the slow pools, because those were about the only places deep enough to hold them. But on a river like the Meramec, focus on the riffles, and short, rocky pools, at least until about late October.

Today, I woke up and I immediately felt that I had to get on a stream somewhere and go fishing. It was cloudy, a little drizzly, and in the low 60s. That is my favorite sort of fishing weather. Not having time to go to any of the usual Ozark streams, I decided to go a little closer to home, and try fishing a little tributary that flows into the Missouri River just 25 minutes from where I live. This stream is nothing special. It is a small, shallow stream, clear, rocky, and fast in the headwaters, muddy and slow down by the Missouri River. It is at least moderately agriculturally polluted, and the fishing according to everything I had heard was not very good. It was north of the Missouri River, which was enough to make me think that it didn't have much smallmouth potential. But still, it has quite a bit of access, and it is 25 minutes from my home and I had not fished it. Reason enough to give it a try. I didn't expect much at all, but this creek would teach me a lesson; it would show me that good fishing can be found in the most unlikely places. I started pretty far up the stream actually on one of the feeder tributaries, about 12 or 14 miles upstream from the Missouri. Here the stream was a very pretty woodland brook, but too shallow to hold anything but minnows for the most part. However, I located one very nice, deep pool that would do justice to a much larger stream. I rigged up with a small spinner, and took a few casts. I immediately got into fish, but they were all small. A few green sunfish here, some chubs, and while that is fun in its own way it wasn't enough to keep me interested for very long. I went on to another access, this one only about eight miles above the Missouri River. This was the transition section, where it went from a quick moving and rocky Ozark-like creek to a lowland stream. There was not as much current, but there was plenty of depth, and the water was still clear enough, with about 2 feet of visibility. I found a very nice bluff hole with a bit of current and some rocky cover, and watched to see if there was any life. It didn't take me long to see that the pool was full of fish, and some pretty nice ones too, But I couldn't figure out what species. It wasn't lost on me that although north of the Missouri River and solidly out of the Ozarks, this could pretty easily be a pool on some tributary of the Meramec or the Gasconade. I tied on a #0 Mepp's Spinner, and it wasn't long until I had found exactly what I was looking for. I hooked into a 9 inch smallie, and he gave me the kind of fight that only bronzeback of that size can. I gently released him and got back to fishing, but they were no longer interested in the Mepp's. I switched over to a Rebel Teeny Craw, and I was right back into them. That pool was very good to me. I caught several smallmouth bass, a couple of largemouth, as well as plenty of panfish. I saw one very nice small stream bass, maybe 18 inches, although I failed to get it interested in anything I was throwing. Now this is not the kind of day that would get many people excited if they were fishing somewhere in the deep Ozarks, but for fishing a stream that I had no idea had any real fishing possibilities at all, I considered it a great day. And in Missouri it really is at least a little rare to find any kind of decent smallmouth fishing north of the river, so that added to how good I felt about things. How many times have I crossed this little creek, thinking that the habitat isn't there, that it's too polluted, too small, and the water gets too low and warm in the summer? No more. I plan to come back soon, and I'm going to bring my fly rod and see if I can get some of those smallies interested in that. It's been my loss discounting little streams like this for so long, and I won't be doing it any more.

Very nice fish!

Plans appear to be changing. Looks like the destination will instead be Breckinridge. Not my favorite part of Colorado by any stretch of the imagination, but the Blue River flows right through town and the nearby tailwater reach through Silverthorne should fish during the winter. And it's still Colorado,so I guess I'm not too upset...

Looks like a wonderful area. Have a great time!

Awesome picture! What a beautiful fish.

Oh I'm afraid you'll get back to the ice and snow routine here soon enough if last winter here was any indication... Not to be negative or anything, but just so you know what you're in for. At least at my home there were periods of three weeks to a month last winter when the snow never went melted, and it was on the ground a considerable majority of the time from Christmas to the second week of February or so. That is not normal here in Missouri though. We will have a good long fall before that though, and we usually don't start getting much in the way of accumulating snow until somewhere around the second week of December. You can pretty reliably catch bass and panfish here usually until about the end of October. The really good fishing can end sooner or later depending on the weather. Usually when the nightime temps are dropping into the 30s most every night and the day temps aren't getting much about 65 or so, that is about the end of the good bass fishing. Some crazy souls have perfected the art of catching bass throughout the winter; I am not one of them. Our trout streams fish well twelve months a year. WInter may be my favorite time of year for trout fishing here.

I'm also looking forward to the hunting aspect of fall. The next few fishing trips to the Ozarks will probably be combined with deer scouting, as I tend to do most of my hunting in the Current River hills where I also tend to do most of my trout fishing. It's a good coincidence that leads to several very nice outings most every fall. Of course the downside to hunting in the Current River country is that I almost never get a deer. But that's just a small matter.

I enjoyed your blog post and I'm glad you had a good time. It does truly sadden me the way our rivers like the Niangua and the Current are treated through the summer months. Just as a place to act like an idiot, yell and scream, and dump trash. I've always wondered why they need to drive all the way to an Ozark river to accomplish any of those things. As sad as it is I just stay off the Current, Niangua, Meramec, and really and other river with a canoe rental servicing it from Memorial Day through about this time in September...and just wade the smaller streams or float the rivers that for whatever reason don't draw the party crowd. There just isn't any point in going to the river to relax and catch fish when the first part of that equation isn't possible. At least we have our rivers back for a few months now, so let the fun begin!

That may well be true for smallmouth. You'd know a lot better than I. But I'm pretty much exclusively trout fishing by now which is simply wonderful in the fall, especially mid to late October. And lake/pond bass fishing gets really good as well.

That it is...Unfortunately my next trip to the Current on the weekend of October 7 is going to take me through that stretch a lot. I'm floating with some friends of mine and we're going Cedar to Pulltite...Not my first choice for a float but the scenery is pretty awesome through there, so oh well.

Good luck. FIshing should be good this weekend, especially if you're after trout. They have to love this after some of the weather we've seen in the last few weeks.

To be able to help you at all with this I'd have to know where on the river you were. The headwaters reach of the Current has very poor smallmouth fishing (from Montauk Park down to around Pulltite Spring) but below there it is a decent smallmouth stream. I don't think it probably has the numbers of fish that the other top flight Ozarks streams do, but there are plenty of bass in the better sections. Its tributary the Jacks Fork is probably the better smallmouth stream, more on par with the Gasconade, Meramec, Big Piney, and other great smallmouth rivers in the area.

Yes, I think it is easily the best season of the year.

Right now where I'm at it is 61 degrees and raining steadily. Tonight, and when I saw this I didn't believe it for a second, the temperature is actually supposed to drop into the upper 30s. How great is that!? I know this might, short term, not be the greatest thing for fishing, but this cold rain we're getting now is really what I have been hoping we would get for quite a while. It has been a long, hot, dry summer and the rivers need this badly. Plus there is simply no weather I like better than the cool, rainy, somewhat nasty variety, and luckily the trout (and the blue-winged olives) agree with me. Who else is happy to have this whole summer thing good and done for the year? I love Missouri and the Ozarks about 10 months a year, but let me tell you that things go seriously downhill in July and August.

Absolutely. I've yet to encounter any trout streamers that won't work at least some of the time for bass...Or panfish if they are smaller sized.

You certainly can. The lakes in BWL are for the most part easy to fish from the bank.

Probably not Justin, and I also trust that the MDC is knowledgeable and knows what they are doing on this. Still doesn't hurt to ask questions.

Yep. But at least there seems to be plenty and more than plenty of smaller browns coming up to take their place. The river should have some excellent brown trout fishing in the years to come in less we suffer from really low water/high temps over the next few summers. I would say that the Current is about as friendly right now to people who have never fished it before as it will ever get with all the small, eager browns around to keep the action going. Treat those little guys gently though! They'll be a very good class of trophy fish in a few years if we let 'em grow up. Good luck with your event, I'm sure you'll all have a great time.

Well, I'm sorry to hear the catching was off. But it's dang near impossible to have a bad time on that stretch of river with how pretty it is. Fall can be a little tough on rivers like the Big Piney. I was down there just a little later than this time last year and had my toughest trip ever on that river, all the fish just seemed to be hiding in the deep holes, and fairly difficult to catch. But that's just the Big Piney for you. Sometimes it's just off and not cooperating no matter what you do, but sometimes it'll give you a day that you're not likely to forget for a long time. I like rivers like that. How were the crowds? Any sign of the the aluminum hatch letting off at all below Six Crossings?

Unless you are equally insane as my entire family appears to be then I don't think you want to come along in January. I'll admit I am a little iffy on the idea of wading in 35 degree water with air temps that could be anywhere from the 30s to well below 0, but in my defense this trip wasn't my idea. I was more than happy to go along with it though I'll admit.The whole deal is a family reunion in Glenwood Springs Colorado, which is as good of a place as any. The lower Roaring Fork and the Colorado flow right through town both of which could be decent fishing for trout and whitefish that time of year if the weather isn't too cold. The Pan is an easy drive, weather permitting (a phrase you always have to use when describing winter fishing in the Rocky Mountains!), and I have a lot more faith in that fishing well, with it being a tailwater.

Well, the details are still a little up in the air, but it looks as if I'm probably going to be making it back to Colorado this year, this time for a very different kind of fishing than what we did in August... The plan is to head out a couple days after Christmas, and get back on the 3 or 4th of January. We'll be fishing the Fryingpan and the Roaring Fork River primarily, two streams that tend to just about always stay good and fishable through the winter. It's been too long since I've spent time on a high western river during the winter time. Of course winter fishing on high altitude streams can be a little bit of a an interesting proposition weather wise, usually it's a little miserable but that can be part of the charm too. In any case it should be a good trip. The mountains out there are beyond description in the winter time, it's worth the trip just for that.

I understand that the DO levels increase as water temperatures decrease...And vice versa. But to it can still be pretty hot by the end of September, which is when they shock the Current I know. And, to be honest I'm not sure where I heard this, doesn't the amount of flow in a stream also have some effect on the DO levels? I mean, it would make some sense. The lower the flows the less intense whitewater there is in the riffles and rapids, and seemingly, that would mean less oxygen making it's way into the stream. And water levels are just about always as low as they get towards the end of September. All pretty unscientific I know, which is why I asked this question in the first place. In any case I really appreciate the explanations you all have given.