TSmith

Great advice guys. However, where do you buy your flies? Iv not even began to try and tie my own. I would like to but I'm a LONG way off from that lol.

Im very new at fly fishing meaning I can cast and have caught a bunch of fish. However, I only use poppers because they are (in my uneducated opinion the easiest way to fly fish). I was wondering if anyone on here fly fishes on the Finley, and of so can you please give some advice on lures and techniques? Thanks

K noted. Thanks again. Catch and release all smallies.

Yeah I knew there were length and limit rules. However, thanks soooo much for clarifying that to me. That the reason Im on this forum. I have A LOT to learn. Thanks a ton!

One more question. On the MDC they say that "Impoundments" and "Other Streams" bass can be fished for year round. However, for Ozark streams its 5/26/12 through 2/28/13. My question is what defines a stream as an Ozark stream? I assume its locational to the "Ozarks" but what areas are in the Ozark region?

Yeah I kept one. 99% of the time I practice catch and release. The one time I actually take one. DANG IT... Thanks for informing me about the Ozark Stream season. I had never heard of that before. I did some reading up on the Missouri Department of Conservation. Thanks again, wow I feel like an idiot...

Two days ago I went fishing at green bridge. My hopes where not very high when I saw the water level was down. However, me and my friend worked are way up stream and fished larger pools (if you can even call them that. They were at best 4-5 feet deep) We caught between the 2 of us about 30 fish. I would say 10 of them were goggle eye and the other 20 were smallies. some were the size of my hand and the average was about 8-10 inches. We caught them everywhere, but especially where the little water rushed into small to large pools. Great day of fishing and hope to get back other there soon.

Sounds like a plan. Im hopefully going tomorrow and we will see how it goes. Im gona try the small plastics and the one inch plastic with a bobber actually doesn't sound to bad either. I had been using a rooster tail and a very small topwater cricket popper and was just catching perch and bluegill. Only once did I catch a largemouth. (if you call an 8 incher a largemouth anything) But thanks for all the tips. Ill let you know if I catch anything.

Yeah I was fishing with worms and in one day I caught 20. Granted only about 10 of those were keepers, but it was still a lot of action. The closer you can throw your bobber to the folidge the better your results will be. I threw under trees that would close to the bank and caught a bunch of good ones.

I have been on the river starting at the park bridge and going up stream at least 3 times this week. Fishing and kayaking and I have caught more bluegill and perch than I know what to do with(ok its just a saying) Cause I release everything. Iv caught about 40 total soooo Im thinking about changing it up a little bit and trying from some bass fishing. Any advice would be great. (lures, color, time of day, location) Im looking for large and smallmouth but I need more advice on the smallies. Thanks

Yeah I think the reason the property owner decided to installed the fence is because of the recent drowning of a kid that occurred around a week ago. (liability I think)

If your at the park you have to go to Pig Pin BBQ its fantastic. Some of the best ribs Iv ever had.

I went for a trial run today and it was a blast. its so nice being able to go places that you couldn't go in a larger boat. I really agree with "keeping your gear to a min" but if you can do that the fishing is a lot more interactive because your sooo close to the water. Today i was fishing with top water poppers and it was a really cool experience to see the fish in the water strike at the lure. It also nice not having a motor noise. However, it would be nice to have a trolling motor but Im wanting some advice for an anchor to stabilize the kayak in minimal current. Anyone?

So today I bought a "sit on" kayak and im going to be doing a lot of fishing in it and I was wondering if anyone had any useful hints, pointers, do's, or REALLY dont do's.

I was wondering if anyone around the Ozark/Springfield area had a pond that they would be willing to let me fish at. I wouldn't be taking any fish it would all just be catch and release (cause there YOUR fish duh). The reason I would like to just go fish at a pond is because me and my girlfriend really enjoy fishing together and she's not into the river and lake scene like I am, and she isn't as dedicated as I am with fishing. So I was thinking that maybe I could ask a few people here on the forum if I could use their pond. (yeah I know its a long shot but Im gonna give it a try) Trust me when I say this, but the idea of letting someone fish on my land that I didn't know would make me feel very uneasy to say the least. But like I said catch and release and I would ALWAYS call ahead before I would come over. Im also willing to meet up and talk with the owner of the land just cause I think that it would make this less of an awkward experience. If your interested either reply to this or just send me a message to keep it more confidential. <>< Travis

yeah I know that, but I was wondering were there was a greater population of bass on the Finley. I know that the bass can be found everywhere but I was asking if someone new a good spot to fish for bass.

Im a huge fan of top water poppers and I was wondering if anyone has had any luck on the Finley with top water. I live in Ozark (close to the park) is there any good places to catch some large mouth around there? (if so where) Thanks

can I get directions to the landing

Would anyone be interested in buying some one of a kind wooden bowls? IF so just add a reply and Ill add some pictures and prices. Thanks

If anyone is looking a great place to catch some (what look to be longnose) gar you need to head to Pomme River. The gar are thick in the water and I accidentally snagged one fishing for bass and hooked a 4 foot plus mamma jamma and it was insane. Granted Iv never had a gar on the end of my line, but Ill never forget that. But I have been out on the pomme catching bass and buffalo but I see at least 30 gars in a time frame of an hour. Sizes range from 2 foot to 5 foot. Average 3 footers. Hope this is helpful. Enjoy the fishin. PS if your new to Gar fishin dont underestimate the power of theses fish and bring gloves and ask a lot of questions.

I got another question. Does anyone know what type of gar are found in Bolivar MO. Im fishing in the Pomme River if that helps. I think that it looks a lot like long-nose but Im not sure.

Are these gar called long-nose gar? If no what kind are they?

Yeah Im bringing the camera next time for sure.

HA HA HA HOLY CRAP! I hooked one on a synthetic craw-fish and I was hoping that even if i did have a gar hit my line (cause i was just fishing for bass) I only wanted to catch an average to small sized Gar (just to say I did it and well lets just say I didnt get my wish... I hooked a 4 foot long beast! On top of that the bank I was fishing off of had a 2 foot drop off and I was by my self and HA HA HA Im not gonna jump in after it. But now Iv got the fever to catch one. So thanks for the advice everyone. Equipment that I used. Zebco 33 10 pound test small synthetic crawfish

Ok so I went fishing after school today at the Pomme River and it is FULL of gar. I saw at least 25 gar come out of the water in 15 min. And thats about all I know about gar. I need advice on gear, lures, bait, snagging hooks and how to snag gar. Really any advice would be helpful. Thanks