11-8-09 Baptist Camp To Cedar Grove

[Troutdude]

Great looking fish!!!!

[FishinCricket]

Great looking fish!!!!

Thank you.. That look on my face is a particular type of proud. My mom refers to it as "goofy proud".. I'd more refer to it as "giddy as a school girl" in honor of my capri pants... lol

[eric1978]

That section of the river was freakin sweet! All of it looks like killer smallmouth waters.. But no soft plastics means my trusted tactics for the monsters is OUT so I'll have to think on that one for a while.. Maybe early spring topwater? Like the Niangua?

I can almost guarantee that with the weather we've been having, if I was where you were Saturday, I'd be chucking a small, white, tandem blade spinnerbait all day (as usual). You should get one and try it out...one good day with it and you won't go back to plastics until it's cold again.

[FishinCricket]

I can almost guarantee that with the weather we've been having, if I was where you were Saturday, I'd be chucking a small, white, tandem blade spinnerbait all day (as usual). You should get one and try it out...one good day with it and you won't go back to plastics until it's cold again.

How would you fish it? Close to the surface or deeper? Perpendicular or parallel with the bank? The fish all seemed to be holding on the deep holes even with the upswing in temp, do you think the smallies are down there in the depths next to those bluffs too, or do that move up into the shallows or on the transition area of a riffle into a deep hole..

thanks for the answer, sorry that it brought up so many questions...

[joeD]

Oh Gawd. Enough with the twin spins. I'm sure next year the smallies are going to have so much metal plunking them all over, that they'll think their streams have been overrun with overzealous orthodontists.

Upon further review Cricket, those pants can also, correctly, be called "clam diggers." A reference of course, to days gone by, when women went out at low tide to dig for clams, without having to roll up their pants. Just sayin'. Not that there is anything wrong with that...

[eric1978]

How would you fish it? Close to the surface or deeper? Perpendicular or parallel with the bank? The fish all seemed to be holding on the deep holes even with the upswing in temp, do you think the smallies are down there in the depths next to those bluffs too, or do that move up into the shallows or on the transition area of a riffle into a deep hole..

thanks for the answer, sorry that it brought up so many questions...

It all depends. If the water gets near 60 or higher, I find they'll chase it close to the surface, and you could really be throwing a topwater at that point. I usually throw spinnerbaits around every piece of cover I can find in water with some current. The colder the water, the less current I look for, but always some current. If the fish seem to be deeper, I'll usually put the spinnerbait away and first try a Wiggle Wart, then a Pointer, then a jig, tube or Senko (if you can use plastics). I generally find that in streams, the deeper the fish are, the less likely they are to be active. I usually fish in less than 6 feet of water year-round, unless the water is gin-clear, then I'll go deeper in the cold months. I just haven't had that much luck fishing really deep in the pools most of the time. I'll usually spend more time throwing lures in areas that are near deep water instead of in the deepest parts themselves.

During a wacky weather pattern like we've been having, with way higher temps than normal, my guess would be that the fish are kind of roaming back and forth between their winter holes and nearby feeding areas. Logs and boulders in 2-6 feet of water in some current near a deep hole would be ideal. Once we get into the really cold weather, they'll spend more time tucked under deeper cover, and less time hanging out near shallower cover. That's when I'm usually throwing Pointers and jigs. But during the spring, summer and fall, I'll always have a spinnerbait tied on one of my rods. Always.

[eric1978]

Oh Gawd. Enough with the twin spins. I'm sure next year the smallies are going to have so much metal plunking them all over, that they'll think their streams have been overrun with overzealous orthodontists.

No, I don't have any twin spins. What I meant was tandem willow leaf. A traditional one. I don't actually see that many people throwing spinnerbaits on the streams. A lot of Rebel Craws, but not a lot of spinnerbaits.

[Nortrad]

Excellent work, beautiful brown.

[ozark trout fisher]

Okay, so it's been a while since I typed up a report.. It's not been because I haven't been fishing, it's just because there's really been nothing to photo recently, and I always like to include a photo when I post a report. In fact I am always embarrassed that I don't take photos of all the beautiful scenery, but alas it's just a phone camera...

Down to the report:

On a whim the wife decided that she just had to get out of the house and do something.. We kicked around a few ideas, like heading down to the Landing and meeting Phil, hiring a guide on Table Rock or LOZ, running off to Mexico for good, you know, the usual stuff..

We ended up heading down to the Current river. The water levels have been crazy recently (flooded two weeks ago) and the levels were still up a bit, the water was a bit murky and running a little faster than it usually is (I am told), but it made for a pretty comfortable float on the trophy waters..

We didn't put in til about noon (almost didn't find a shuttle company open, but Aker's Ferry took us up and put us in) and I figured we would be pushing it to get off the river by sundown. I was right, we were pulling in to the low wter bridge just as the last fading sunlight left us.

Along the way we saw some amazing stuff! The wife spotted a couple different deer, a raccoon, a Bald Eagle, a Heron.. etc, etc.. Lots of pretty scenery, and the spots where the bluffs come down to meet the river are just amazing!

Seemed like fishing deep next to the bluffs was the ticket too... We'd float down through the lower water and the rapids, then I'd hop out and hold the boat in the slack water next to the bluffs. Most my fish came from the lil Maribou jig i'm so fond of, but I did have some good luck with the big swimbaits from above those rapids as well.. Seems like the fish find the deep holes and stage at the top or bottom of them behind boulders and such.. Really had to get the lure down there into the sand to do any good.

Patty hooked the first fish (she used the same one inch wonder that's been tied on all freakin' summer), a 12 inch trout.. Then I missed a couple goggleye, got one small one to the boat, missed a pretty big smallie, then immidiately hooked a 2 pound rainbow in the deep blue hole we came to (that wasn't already populated by guys in waders with canoes tied to them..to be honest, the first 1000 yards or so was like paddling through Bennett or something, we were dodging fisherman left and right!)..

All in all she ended up with 10 fish (Rainbow, Brown, Smallie, Perch, goggleye, chub minnow) and I ended up with 18 (Rainbow, Brown, Smallie, Goggleye)

Highlight of the day was the big brown I caught. I was forwarned that this hole might contain some monsters, so I walked the canoe slowly downstream and kept my eye on the deep spot downstream. BIG BROWNS!! I actually saw three of them swimming around in the hole... I fished for them for about 30 minutes with my different big swimmers, but only managed to scare them off by hooking their lil buddy, a 12 inch smallie with a belly like a football!

So I gave up on the swim baits, got in the canoe (so I could cast out that far) and got out the ultralight and the lil maribou. first cast to the hole, bounced it twice and BAM!

This rod is not the rod I was planning to bring.. It is my original Ugly Stick Ultralight (bought 15 years ago) and I (when I say I, what I mean is my wife) inadvertantly grabbed it instead of the one with the fresh string on it. Didn't realize it until that fish was on and he took me all the way to my knot (which was only about 30 yards, but luckily was a far as the deep water went), he jumped two or three times and gave me one of the best fights I have had in a while. He wasn't big enough to keep (17 inches or so), but he would have went back anyways.. Took a bit to revive him.

The only other note I can think to add is that Aker's dropped off two guys along with us, each of them piloting his own canoe, and their plan was to paddle down to Akers Ferry before dark! Now, I can't say I have attempted it on this river, but I am guessing they ended up paddling (and possibly wading) late into the night.. 16 miles in 6 hours or less? Including at least three portages that I am aware of... You tell me, but I think they were freakin crazy and I told em so... to their credit, the Outfitters did try and talk them out of it for a minute, but quickly gave up and took their money.. lol

Hope you enjoyed the report as much as I enjoyed the river! (onlly picked up a few pieces of trash and two outfitter supplied trash bags, the river up there is pretty clean!)

That's a heck of a brown. Good job.

[FishinCricket]

Thanks for the kudos guys, I was real happy with that fish..

And thanks Eric for a very thorough response..