stlfisher

Both teams can mash and both teams starting pitching has really struggled as of late. The scores could end up resembling a football game. The national media has us as the underdog which is fine by me, we play better in that role. I say Cards in 7 and with Holliday as the MVP.

Here is some more info from a previous post. There is a pic attached in the 4th post. http://ozarkanglers.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=30093 This might be the one time I think the project will look better than what is currently there ...at least in my humble opinion.

My girlfriend and I spent last weekend at Bennett springs. We did a little hiking and some fishing and relaxing. It was her first time trout fishing and she did pretty well. She only managed a couple fish, but she loved every minute of it. Fishing for me was pretty good with Sunday being the better of the two. The fly of choice was a #22 BWO. Besides the wind on Sunday the weather was perfect. We hiked the whistle bridge to the spring loop and I spotted some real toads that you could only see from the trails along the spring...one had to be 10 lb's. Plenty of fish in the stream and they still are on the smallish side, but numbers seem up from last year and even my last trip. Water was low and if you are heading out small dry flies on light tippets seemed to work the best for me. All in all a great relaxing weekend away. A few scenic shot's attached.

Very cool I bet the kids loved it. The only thing I don't like about the new stadium is that you can pratically touch it while driving on hwy 40....looks a bit odd...but you can't really move the hwy. I think tonight is a must win game!

I like and now use only Orvis Mirage as well. I know Rio is popular, but it has not worked well for me.

Yeah, we didn't make it too far downtream from the City park. Ollie, I would agree there are some nice fish in that creek. I'd like to get a hold of a smallie that size.

Nice...looks like a beautiful place to fish!

My guess would be habitat and available food. Although, I did envison the stream being smaller than it was, it might be just a bit to small grow them big. I do think there are big fish to be had and it could just be I am not good enough to catch them.

Took a trip to the Little Piney yesterday with a buddy of mine. First time for me fishing for these wild trout in MO. The stream was bigger than I expected and the habitat seemed pretty good to me. Spooked a giant deer around Lane Spring taking an early morning drink. We caught lot's of fish in 8-10 inch range and there were plenty of fish in the stream. I rolled a few bigger ones, and missed a bunch, but landed about 20 for the day. The wild fish sure are colorful and scrappy little rascals. Small nymph's worked well as the bright sun had them hugging bottom...and you had to be on the bottom or no takes. Kinda surpised the fish don't grow larger overall, but there are a few bigger ones to be had. We worked our way pretty far downtream and found a couple of really nice deep holes, that looked to be quite deep and one section we had leave the water and climb a few trees. Looking down we saw a ton of trout and a nice smallie hanging below, but impossible to get a fly near them. I was impressed and will be back for sure. We were the only people on the stream all day. We took a break around 2 for some lunch and decided to give the Roubidoux red ribbon area a shot. What an odd place for trout and I am not sure if we were in the white ribbon or red ribbon area. We may have missed the signs, and the stream is easy to find, but would have been nice to know which section we are in. Maybe we just parked in the wrong spot. Anway, we worked away from the bridge at the end of the city park and on downstream. Looked like dead water, but sure enough there were a few trout milling about and suprisingly some nice ones. I decided to fish a streamer and cover a lot of water and that worked well enough. I didn't get a lot of fish, but I managed 4 that were 15-17 inches and several other failed hookups. About the time we walked downstream to what appeared to be more isolated and trouty looking areas, the sun was setting and we had to walk back. Would have liked to explore downstream a bit. I don't think I will fish Roubidoux again unless I am in the area, but everyone was friendly and we had a good enough time. Need to clean out the tires and the toilet seats in the stream though...not real pleasant to fish with that stuff looking at you. With a little cleanup and habitat improvement it could be a nice stream. First observations is it probably does hold some large fish on occasion, but not a lot of moving water. Overall, it was a fun day exploring two new waters. Lane Spring was nice and we had a nice conversation with the campround host. It would be a good place to camp and relax if fishing wasn't your game.

I was fishing, but getting updates during the game. Despite being down 1-0 I like the Cardinals chances. That game on Friday with Carpenter and Halladay was awesome.

The reason I love fising for trout and bass is the potential they have to get some air. There is nothing better than watching it IMO. I have only had one brown jump and that is the big one in my avatar.... that i am convinced was trying to tangle me in some overhanging brances...an awesome sight to see. I always remember those fish that jump more so than the others and If given the choice I will take the jumpers all day long.

Nice fish Nortrad....great colors!

I think the $200-$300 rod's are the sweet spot for fly fishing, but really it just comes down to what you can afford and how comfortable you are in spending it. I am not comfortable casting a $700 rod because it is too much for me to spend and I am worried about breaking it...not really fun to fish that way. I like having 3-4 different setups of moderate value. I wouldn't begrudge anyone who can afford those rod's though. Fly fishing really it is a sport you can enjoy and spend as much or a as little as you want.

Bummer to hear the fish are so small...but not surprised. I am heading down October 15 and 16 with the girlfiend. Oh well I guess we will do some hiking like she wants to anyway, maybe explore the Niangua bit...score some points the less I fish. I will bring some trebles, a chase lounge, a beer helmet and some gigging materials for the fist annual Pete's Blue Pipe Swarey. Competitions inlcude lawn chair sitting, kid yelling, and fish snagging. Lawn chair toss starts at 5. Bonus points if someone is still in it. Get excited.

Elk hair caddis scud (grey) prince nymph hopper's pat's rubber legs's

When I first started nymphing I was waiting for the indicator to move like a bobber would when I was bluegill fishing as a kid. What I discovered is sometimes the indicator will only quiver or stop...it may not acutally go down...especially if your fly is on the bottom You will get the hang of it...

Good article. Glad to see some attention brought to our area. It wouldn't bother me if they didn't allow drinking while floating on the streams...just allow it at the campsite. I know it would never happen, it wouldn't be popular, and we would be punishing those that drink in moderation, but it would keep the belligerent drunks away. So many issues to fight though...not even sure were to start.

Come on Philly win this thing...I need to go to bed!

Let's go Cards!

I would think you could improve the fishing and save money by decreasing the harvest a bit. Use the extra funds for further habitat improvements or purchasing new lands. You get more fish, for less money and maybe new fishable water. Semms like everyone wins. The brown trout regulations need to be changed they are just silly the way they are now. Either that or flip the bait water and fly fishing water in the trout parks with a blue ribbon stretch below. This way the brown's at least have a chance to survive when they migrate between the two. One other point. Almost all the hatchery's have been or are being renovated the last few years. Combined with record floods and the hacteries operating at less than full capacity due to the renovations, trout stocking has suffered a bit. I am pretty sure that will change in the upcoming years. I will be very interested to see the results at Bennet a year from now. The new hatchery opened on the 22nd with an additional 60,000 fish a year. It is not just Benett that will benefit,the improvements should increase production across the board (parks borrow fish from each to meet demend etc - should decrease). Still there seems to be plenty of fish around...just seems silly to have so many get picked off so quick.

I fished Septermber 16, 17, and 18 and I did very very well on a size 22 BWO. I noticed the ones I had tied were much lighter in color than the ones they had in the park store. The park store flies were too dark IMO. Mine were probably a size to big as well. I caught fish on two flies during the rainey three days I was there. BWO's or streamers. I did better in areas with moderate current...so the fish had to make a quick decision...did much better than in the slow glassy water. Nymphing and hopper fishing were terrible for me during the three day stretch. I only wish i would have thrown more streamers during those three days...it was hot an heavy in the clouds and rain. I should note this was in the park and not the blue ribbon stretch.

I actually bought the color at Hargrove's in St. Louis I believe. The best I can describe it is a cross between a light tan color and a grey color. I tied my own so it wasn't something I bought in bin, but the color should be widely available and they are pretty easy to tie.

Thanks Jack. I agree there is nothing better than dry fly fishing.

Spent 3 days at Montauk with a group of ten from College on our annual guy trip. Despite the cool and showery weather for all three days the fishing was quite good. My buddy and I left St. Louis at 5am on Friday and arrived at Montauk at 7:30. We checked in and purchased our tags and decided to hit the stream and await the arrival of the rest of our crew. It was quite chilly in the morning, but we were comfortable for the most part. We started off in the fly fishing only area and began nymphing during the rain showers. Nymphing was slow and to be honest was not the best technique to use this weekend. With the cloud cover and showery conditions I changed to a #22 Blue Wing Olive and it was donwright silly. I had 10 hits on the my first 10 casts and hooked up with 6 fish. We decided to begin working upstream and I kept picking them off as we slowly waded up the stream toward the spring. This continued until 11am when the next shower started and the fishing slowed down. Total count for the morning was around 25 fish and probably 50 hits. Those small flies can make it tough to hook up at times. At 11 we broke for lunch to unpack at the cabin and meet a few other guys. After a quick lunch we hit the stream and started off in the bait are for something different, but not many fish behind the lodge and we changed plans and headed up to the C/R area. My buddy finally decided to tie on a BWO and caught his first few fish on a dry fly. He was hooked on dry fly fishing and we were having a blast drinking a few beers and messing around in the C/R area. The BWO was again the choice, but the fish were getting a little jumpy so I tied on #18 Caddis and dumped it in. A really nice brown took it and then proceeded to run straight upstream and below the pipe where the rearing pools dump in at the head of the C/R area. I had heard of this happening to other anglers. My fly line was all the way up into the area below the pipe...I guess the fish wanted to go back to the hatchery. It was an amusing, but rather impressive escape. Afterwards we headed up to the spring and worked our way back down to the dam. I continued with the BWO and continued to catch fish...not as fast as earlier, but steady and caught another 15 or so on the way back down. My buddy hooked into a nice rainbow probably 4-5 lb's that ran him into some vegation on the other side of the stream. Took his fly line all the way in as well. We spent a half hour digging his fly line out. By the time we were done the horn had long since sounded and it was pretty much dark. Wading back in the dark, drizzly, and foggy night was a bit eerie. Bat's were everywhere...I hate those things. Saturday: The morning started off pretty good again. The BWO continued to shine along with a midge dry and a few PMD's. Small was the key #22 or smaller. I picked off a few on the Caddis, but they didn't want that much this weekend. A few looks at Trico's and a small Adams, but they were not the perferred flies. We took a break at 10:30 to get some breakfast at the lodge and the skies opened up. It rained hard for about 4 hours and finally stopped at 3:30. We geared up and went back to the stream. It was again BWO time and I caught fish after fish. I did land my biggest fish of the weekend on the way back in a shallow little riffle betweens some moss beds. A gorgous 3lb rainbow with amazing colors that gave me all I could handled and jumped about 5 times. Just after catching the fish my other buddy walked up as I neared another feeding lane and watched me catch 4 fish on 4 casts. He called me something that rhymes with trucker and we all just laughed as we traded jabs on the way back to the car. Sunday: We woke up on Sunday, had some breakfast and packed up and hit the stream by 7:30. the forecast was calling for rain and a alot of it,but it must have fizzled over night. It was much the same as Friday with showers and sprinkles and a few minute downpour mixed in. The BWO was hot the first couple hours and then that was it. The dry fly fishing turned off and the fishing was tough by 10am. I tried nymphing for a bit, but the fish were just sulking. I was spoiled all weekend so it was tough to just watch the indicator. I was getting short on time and was getting anxious. I decided to put on a natural colored slumpbuster and it got crazy in hurry. I caught fish on the first cast and must have had 6 all swarming it and swiping at it. I guess they thought it was a sculpin or something, but I was getting hits on every cast. They tore up all three I had of that color and that was it. The black or Olive didn't not produce much at all. Right before we left I tied on a white and grizzly hackled streamer that took the big fish in the hole. He came unbottoned and it stared pouring. Time to call it weekend and start the long depressing ride back home and reality. Highlights: I went through a dozen BWO's this weekend. I still have a fully stuffed bly box from all the flies that I "had" to have before the trip The fishing was silly, but they were very selective, I got a bit lucky in that regard. I am not an expert on dry fishing, but the smaller the fly the better this weekend. I forgot how much fun streamer fishing is...that tug is the drug as they say All in all we had a great time and this was by far the best dry fishing I have ever had. We had alot more fisherman this year and 2 guys trying out fly rod's for the first time. They did really well for first timers and everyone had a great time fishing. The stream was pretty deserted and we all could fish together wilth plenty of room. We drank lot's of beer in the evenings, had some great steaks, and had a great time with some old buddies. So much fun that I never did make it down to the Blue Ribbon stretch. If only dry fishing was this good all the time....

Thanks man. Good luck to you. This what I like to hear...hoping the cool and drizzly weather get em moving.