Fishing Report - 10/26

[Paola Cat]

Wade fished the Niangua with Ksbass on 10/26. Fished the BSP public access from the canoe put-in to the first boat ramp. Had enough action in the riffles to keep it interesting. Brought to hand 20+ (all rainbows) between us. Missed at least that many. Fish were caught on a variety of patterns. Slumpbusters, buggers, glowballs, SJWs, jigs, and scud imitations. Ksbass found a pod of fish in a small shady area in the afternoon and did well. Saw a bald eagle and the weather was nice. PC

[oneshot]

I must of not been holding my mouth right.I fished up by the Bridge that evening.Had problem with all the leaves and junk in the water,didn't catch a fish.

oneshot

[ksbass]

>>Had problem with all the leaves and junk in the water

I hear ya... With the wind, the trees were really shedding. Amazing how the leaves hit on anything we threw! Nearly every cast too. Some even put up a good fight! The falling acorns were something too. This was the first time for me on the river and I was really relaxed. No crowds, bigger water and fewer tree snags. What I noticed about the fish we caught was the lack of the spawning colors. Only one that I caught had that glow. Much different than 2 weeks ago in the park where nearly all had colors. Good fighters though. Beautiful day to be down there. Can hardly wait till the C&R. KBS

[oneshot]

I caught a Big Sow the other day.Picked her up got Major Egged.

oneshot

[willber]

It is a small world. I was there on Saturday and Sunday also, with 4 guys from work.

We went into the park, and just couldn't handle it. It was a complete zoo, way too crowded.

I must not have been holding my mouth right either

We ended up catching some late in the afternoon Saturday in that riffle just up from the bridge.

The best time I had all weekend was helping one the guys to catch his first trout on a flyrod. I set him up with a white san juan worm and showed him how to do a tension cast and mend a little bit. That was pretty rewarding.

[fishinwrench]

Congrats to PC and KSB, sounds like you guys ruled the river last weekend. I wheeled thru the park Sat.about 11am, it was "assholes to elbows", so I stopped at the park store for a soda and to see when the last river stocking was (I believe they said 300 were stocked on the 23rd) so I headed for the river. Crossed the 64 bridge and took a look downstream....you guys already had that "under control" so I headed on downstream via gravel until I found a piece of river to myself, not that I mind joining-in but I was in one of those solitary moods. I ended up a little below Maggards and there was a killer brown caddis hatch going off (mixed sizes) along with some #18 white mayflys and tons of itty-bitty white midges. No risers were apparent so I started out by drifting and swinging a few soft hackles, caught a few little smallies and twice as many chubs but no trout so I changed over to a sink-tip and worked over a nice stretch of water (good tailout, and a pool with some wood cover) with muddlers, cougars, and leeches hoping to get slammed by a decent Brown but it never happened. The caddis' were coming off even heavier by then, some of them were huge...like a size 8 ! and the wind was blowing them across the water in textbook "crackleback skating fashion" but I never witnessed a single surface splash....I started to think that there were either no trout in that area or they were holding tight in the pocket water, so I switched back to the floating line and a weighted nymph rig and set out to just avoid a skunkin'. Finally after getting my weight adjusted right I started getting some bites. Caught 7 fish total, 1 or 2 rainbows apiece on a RFSN, a copper john, a hares ear, and a big rubber leg stonefly nymph but only if I put it right on their nose, they didn't seem to be willing to move more than 6 inches to take ANYTHING. The fish down there appeared to have been in the river awhile, nice colors, all fins present, and really scrappy when hooked. Best fish was a pretty 14-15 inch bow which I snapped a quick pic of just to prove to my g/f that I actually fished instead of hanging out in at the flyshops shooting the bull and spending money all day.

I stayed late, clear up until I couldn't see the end of my line hoping to cross paths with a decent Brown cuz the weather and water just seemed "right" for it.... but no dice.

The trees sure are pretty now...I love Fall on the river ! Did you guys catch any Browns up there ?

[Paola Cat]

Wrench .... Just like you we weren't even tempted to hit the park. I'll wait until the C&R before I hit the park again. Really looking forward to fishing Zone 3 again (some of the best water in the park as far as I'm concerned). Anyway, didn't catch any browns. Didn't even see any. Didn't catch any smallies either. We did see the caddis and the mayflies. The creek chubs were working them pretty good at daybreak. Maybe a few trout rising early but not many. Early the fish were in the middle of the river in the riffles. Later the fish moved to the shade. Almost all of our fish came from 3 feet of water or less. Our best fish were in the 15" range also. I think Ksbass snapped a few pictures also. I forgot that I had my camera with me. Looking to get back down maybe later this week. PC

[brittsnbirds]

PC-

Dixie and I are headed down tomorrow morning. Hopefully stay till Saturday.

Wrench-

Thanks for the report, may try and hit the river if the stream is crowded. Anyone use any streamer patterns on full sink. Cadilla was telling me that he was tagging them on crawfish style baits.

Thanks again.

Pat

[Paola Cat]

Pat .... and anybody else. If I can get out of the office. I'll be down on Thursday. I'll look for you. Not sure how big the crowds will be at the park the last couple of days of the regular season. I'll fish the river if it's elbow-to-elbow in the park. PC

[brittsnbirds]

PC-

That's my thought, hopefully it won't be too bad. Considering this is one of the few times this year that the bssp has been normal. My boss was grumbling that he has only been down 2 times. Neither were very good conditions. I've been numerous and have had 1 time that I can think of that the water was normal.

Just look for the Dixie truck with the OAF sticker in the back window of the cover.

Pat