stlfisher

Certaintly there are no 100% effective ways to ensure survival of fish whether they are caught with bait or flies/artificials. You bring up a good point that there are irresponsible flies and arificial guys as well. No faction is 100% immune. Exhausting fish with light tackle is an issue. I use the heaviest tackle that I can get away with. However, look no further than C/R areas and the Upper Current for a great example of how tighter regulations do help a fishery. Take a walk through the bait area at Montauk then talk a walk through the fly area. The numbers of fish are dramaticaly better in the fly area. The point is that bait areas almost always have lower fish counts than the artifical areas even in cases where the harvest regulations are the same. In a pefect world each person would have enough knowledge of the individual stream they fish to know what is best for it. I will always be in favor of a test that should be administered when you first get your fishing license. I don't believe the average angler is informed enough to understand how his/her fishing is affecting the water they fish. This includes the irresponsible fly guys too. Then discussions like these would be a mute point, because the fishing is so good it doesn't matter what technique you use to catch them.

I would be in favor of no bait for trout and smallmouth. I enjoy the challenge as much if not more than the catch. Now that I think about it, I think the use of bait bother's me more than the actual harvest. Maybe if people had to make an effort to learn how to catch the species they are after they would have more respect for it. Using bait just doesn't seem very sporting to me. The only reason we need to have these regulations anyway is because we would ruin or have ruined fisheries wihtout it. That is really kind of pathetic if you think about it.

I love fishing this time of year. It can be tricky and it is going to be chilly this weekend, but I will be somewhere casting a line for something. Sunday will be tough I think, but fall always seems to have a few surprises. One of my biggest bass came on a 40 degree night in the middle of November. Last November, I caught a nice Catfish on a black bugger while trout fishing at an Urban lake....thought I had the mother of all trout for a split second. Anyway, I love fall fishing, the C/R season, the urban trout program (close to home trout fishing fo me)less crowds on the Blue Ribbon streams, and the changing scenary. Give me a nice crisp morning, a cup of coffee, a fly rod, and a changing landscape and I am a happy man.

I agree with everyone else. I may glance at them from time to time, but never really pay much attention to them and certainly wouldn't plan a trip around them.

IMO The advantage's of having coverage outweigh the negatives. I have to be on call for work so at times I need to have reception. This allows me to fish more. Secondly, as Eric mentioned it is nice to have the option to call if I need it in an emergency. Thirdly, it makes it much easier to meet up with friends who might be arriving at different times or fishing different spots. On those solo missions when I am not with friends or on call the phone stays off, but with me if I need it.

Yeah it is electroshocking and pretty common on most lakes and streams. I have not participated in one either, but I just read an article on it not more than two days ago. The basics if I remember correctly are: The MDC sticks a low voltage rod in the water that attracts the fish and slightly stuns them for a few seconds. This allows the fish to be scooped up easily. I think you have to be within a few feet of the fish. The fish are then placed in a makshift holding net/tank in the stream and then taken out one by one to be quickly measured, weighed, counted, and then released. The informatin is used to gauge the overall health of the fish populations etc.

I have a pair of Cabela's G2 stocking foot waders that I got on sale for less than $100. They work great and I couldn't be happier but.... If I didn't also own a pair neoprene's and if I had a $75 gift card at the time of my purchase I would have bought the Freestones. They look sharp IMO and I usually hear good things about them.

I agree with you. I have never had a problem at Feathercraft, but I go to Hargrove's now for the same reasons that you mentioned. Hargrove's has always been more than helplful and they have a local feel to it which I like as well. They will get my weekly business and first crack when I purchase another fly rod. There always seems to be guys in the store tying flies, talking fishing, and just hanging out.

I have not tried the Current at night, so I will let others comment on that, but I bet it would produce. I am to chicken to wade around in the dark by myself.

I imagine it will be crowded in both areas, but thinning out by Sunday afternoon. I was down for 3 day last weekend and fished both inside and outside the park. There was plenty of fish in both places. In fact there was a ton of fish in the fly fishing area...I would imagine they will stock even more this upcoming weekend. I didn't fish the bait area but my buddies reported is was pretty much cleaned out. I actually caught a lot of fish out of the lake if you want a little diversion. It is a little tricky casting, but walk out on jetty and hug the left side. Cast way back into the little cove and watch out for the tree branches on your right.

I wish it was in St. Louis as well. Looks like it would be pretty cool.

Are you looking to keep your face warm in the winter or are you thinking of one to keep out the sun and sweat in the summer? They make a neoprene face guard that I have used in cold weather for skiing. It would probably be great for winter trout fishing. I am sure there is something along those lines on the market.

It is funny how those little things can influence your purchase. I used to drive the extra few miles to the Cabela's store simply because I like the layout of Cabela's better. I don't know why, but the Bass Pro shop in St. Charles reminds me of a school cafeteria or something. That being said I spread my money around to all of them at one time or another.

Will do.

I have heard of guys carolina rigging floating crankbaits/and jerkbaits to get them just off the bottom. Just a thought that might be worth experimenting with.

Nice photo's...I need to float that stretch sometime. I think the guys from Hargrove's floated the same water as you on Friday and Saturday. At least Craig mentioned it last time I was in. Anything, a rookie paddler couldn't handle in that stretch?

Yeah, that cold front certainly did not help much. We spotted a few trout, but I was really surprised at how warm that water felt. I wonder if high water warms it up. I seem to remembering hearing that it does. There may not be many trout in that area, but I bet there are some huge browns roaming around.

If it was up to me the White Ribbon areas, that can support it, would be changed to Blue Ribbon areas. Those borderline could remain the same.

We moved out of the way when they passed us and gave them plenty of room. We weren't going to make the situation dangerous for anyone. Sounds like maybe it is more common than I thought in that area. Maybe I will head to other areas that have less boat traffic.

Sounds like a great trip. I need to get to Bennett soon....only been there once this year.

Regardless if there are trout in high numbers or not is besides the point. No doubt the fishing around Cardiac is tough, which we expected, but that is not an excuse to blow through someones hole....regardless if there are fish there are not. Just because you can doesn't mean you should. To be honest I am surprised they didn't sink a boat dragging out those root wads.

I ran into 4 jet boats today zipping around and above Cardiac. Is this normal? The boaters had chain saws and were removing trees extra etc from the stream so they could travel further upstream. The noise and debris was very annoying. They passed us three times with one guy accelerating through the holes as they passed us blowing them out. Totally @#$#ed me off. Is this normal that far up? BTW I caught one trout and my buddy caught one, both barely fought. The fishing was very tough and the water seemed very warm...I would say warmer than the air.

Just out of curiosity what species have been pushed out because of trout?

BWO's is what I actually thought they were. They seemed to be too big for Tricos.

Yeah it wasn't until Sunday afternoon and evening when I started to get into a little topwater action. The first couple days for me was mostly down and dirty to get the fish. I couldn't believe that hatch on Saturday morning didn't bring up more fish...it was massive.