Weekend Report

[ozark trout fisher]

I enjoy all my time spent in the deep Ozarks, but this weekend was especially good. I managed to get out of the house about noon on Friday, and headed down to my destination-Paddy Creek Wilderness area, where I would be hiking. But along the way, I passed one of the little Blue Ribbon streams in that area, and I just couldn't resist the temptation to pull off and take a few casts. I rigged up with my standard small stream rig, a #16 Hare's Ear Nymph under a little stick-on indicator. The first riffle I came too didn't look very promising-less than a foot deep except in a couple pockets-but just to be sure I took a quick cast. Just as the drift was ending and the nymph was starting to swing in the current below me, I felt a hard tug and was into a fish. After a surprisingly tough battle, I brought a beautiful 9" rainbow to hand. It was a knock-out, the classic wild trout with the dark green back, the dark spots, and the incredibly bright pink stripe. After that fish, I started to notice that there were fish rising all through that riffle-really an incredible concentration of trout for this marginal little creek. Even after they started rising, I still managed to catch a couple more small trout. But finally they started refusing the nymph. The hatch was a typical mix and match small stream deal, some little Blue Winged Olives, some big Caddis, and I don't know what all else. In any case I tied on a #14 Ausable Wulff, a little attractor dry that is easy to see and will generally fool unpressured trout. It worked fine, and I was able to finish off the evening with five more fish on the dry fly.

I devoted Saturday to hiking. The trails through Paddy Creek Wilderness provide some of the best views I've seen in the Ozarks-in one stretch of ridge-line trail, you could see miles of hills, bluffs, and low mountains for miles in all directions, with very few signs of civilization. It's amazing that we still have areas so truly wild right here in Missouri. The fall colors are pretty much at their peak now, and it just made it that much better. I'd reccomend the trails at Paddy Creek to just about anyone.

This morning I fished the Big Piney. I didn't have enough big streamers or crayfish imitations to give it a go with the fly rod, so I spin-fished. I started out fishing a very nice pool. This pool had a good amount of current, but was also deep and had lots of cover. But there just didn't seem to be any life. The water did seem to be very chilly, and if there were fish in that pool then I sure couldn't find them. I tried everything from spinnerbaits to crankbaits to soft plastics, and just nothing. So I moved upstream to a deep, slow pool and started working the water. This pool is really only marginally wadeable, but with the low water, I could just barely make it work. In any case, I finally found some fish there. I was using a rooster tail spinner and it worked well. I caught quite a few smallies and a couple largemouth-none bigger than about 14 inches, but still I'm not complaining. Someone may come along and find something completely different, but just based on my short experience today, I'd say the smallies are starting to head to their winter lies now-there just didn't seem to be any fish in the faster water. In all it was a great weekend exploring a great area of the Ozarks.

[laker67]

Sounds like you had a great time in addition to catching fish. Thanks for posting.

[creek wader]

I enjoy all my time spent in the deep Ozarks, but this weekend was especially good. I managed to get out of the house about noon on Friday, and headed down to my destination-Paddy Creek Wilderness area, where I would be hiking. But along the way, I passed one of the little Blue Ribbon streams in that area, and I just couldn't resist the temptation to pull off and take a few casts. I rigged up with my standard small stream rig, a #16 Hare's Ear Nymph under a little stick-on indicator. The first riffle I came too didn't look very promising-less than a foot deep except in a couple pockets-but just to be sure I took a quick cast. Just as the drift was ending and the nymph was starting to swing in the current below me, I felt a hard tug and was into a fish. After a surprisingly tough battle, I brought a beautiful 9" rainbow to hand. It was a knock-out, the classic wild trout with the dark green back, the dark spots, and the incredibly bright pink stripe. After that fish, I started to notice that there were fish rising all through that riffle-really an incredible concentration of trout for this marginal little creek. Even after they started rising, I still managed to catch a couple more small trout. But finally they started refusing the nymph. The hatch was a typical mix and match small stream deal, some little Blue Winged Olives, some big Caddis, and I don't know what all else. In any case I tied on a #14 Ausable Wulff, a little attractor dry that is easy to see and will generally fool unpressured trout. It worked fine, and I was able to finish off the evening with five more fish on the dry fly.

I devoted Saturday to hiking. The trails through Paddy Creek Wilderness provide some of the best views I've seen in the Ozarks-in one stretch of ridge-line trail, you could see miles of hills, bluffs, and low mountains for miles in all directions, with very few signs of civilization. It's amazing that we still have areas so truly wild right here in Missouri. The fall colors are pretty much at their peak now, and it just made it that much better. I'd reccomend the trails at Paddy Creek to just about anyone.

This morning I fished the Big Piney. I didn't have enough big streamers or crayfish imitations to give it a go with the fly rod, so I spin-fished. I started out fishing a very nice pool. This pool had a good amount of current, but was also deep and had lots of cover. But there just didn't seem to be any life. The water did seem to be very chilly, and if there were fish in that pool then I sure couldn't find them. I tried everything from spinnerbaits to crankbaits to soft plastics, and just nothing. So I moved upstream to a deep, slow pool and started working the water. This pool is really only marginally wadeable, but with the low water, I could just barely make it work. In any case, I finally found some fish there. I was using a 5" Zoom Curly Tail Plastic Worm, Texas Rigged, and it worked well. I caught quite a few smallies and a couple largemouth-none bigger than about 14 inches, but still I'm not complaining. Someone may come along and find something completely different, but just based on my short experience today, I'd say the smallies are starting to head to their winter lies now-there just didn't seem to be any fish in the faster water. In all it was a great weekend exploring a great area of the Ozarks.

On the streams that I fish, most all the fish are in the deeper, slow moving holes. Have been for several weeks. Not sure if it is because winter is coming on, or the low water. Anyway, that's where they are, right now.

[ozark trout fisher]

On the streams that I fish, most all the fish are in the deeper, slow moving holes. Have been for several weeks. Not sure if it is because winter is coming on, or the low water. Anyway, that's where they are, right now.

It could be the low water... But they didn't seem to be anywhere there was any current, even if it was deep. It just seemed like the didn't want to fight the current for some reason or another-and the smallmouth bass seemed to be located in areas that I'd generally consider frog water.

[drew03cmc]

Low water must be prevalent across the region. We floated the Little Niangua last weekend and it was extremely low and clear. Fish the deep holes and don't overlook any piece of cover.

[ozark trout fisher]

Low water must be prevalent across the region. We floated the Little Niangua last weekend and it was extremely low and clear. Fish the deep holes and don't overlook any piece of cover.

There's supposed to be rain down that way today. Hopefully that will help. It is needed very badly for sure.

[mic]

I enjoy all my time spent in the deep Ozarks, but this weekend was especially good. I managed to get out of the house about noon on Friday, and headed down to my destination-Paddy Creek Wilderness area, where I would be hiking. But along the way, I passed one of the little Blue Ribbon streams in that area, and I just couldn't resist the temptation to pull off and take a few casts. I rigged up with my standard small stream rig, a #16 Hare's Ear Nymph under a little stick-on indicator. The first riffle I came too didn't look very promising-less than a foot deep except in a couple pockets-but just to be sure I took a quick cast. Just as the drift was ending and the nymph was starting to swing in the current below me, I felt a hard tug and was into a fish. After a surprisingly tough battle, I brought a beautiful 9" rainbow to hand. It was a knock-out, the classic wild trout with the dark green back, the dark spots, and the incredibly bright pink stripe. After that fish, I started to notice that there were fish rising all through that riffle-really an incredible concentration of trout for this marginal little creek. Even after they started rising, I still managed to catch a couple more small trout. But finally they started refusing the nymph. The hatch was a typical mix and match small stream deal, some little Blue Winged Olives, some big Caddis, and I don't know what all else. In any case I tied on a #14 Ausable Wulff, a little attractor dry that is easy to see and will generally fool unpressured trout. It worked fine, and I was able to finish off the evening with five more fish on the dry fly.

I devoted Saturday to hiking. The trails through Paddy Creek Wilderness provide some of the best views I've seen in the Ozarks-in one stretch of ridge-line trail, you could see miles of hills, bluffs, and low mountains for miles in all directions, with very few signs of civilization. It's amazing that we still have areas so truly wild right here in Missouri. The fall colors are pretty much at their peak now, and it just made it that much better. I'd reccomend the trails at Paddy Creek to just about anyone.

This morning I fished the Big Piney. I didn't have enough big streamers or crayfish imitations to give it a go with the fly rod, so I spin-fished. I started out fishing a very nice pool. This pool had a good amount of current, but was also deep and had lots of cover. But there just didn't seem to be any life. The water did seem to be very chilly, and if there were fish in that pool then I sure couldn't find them. I tried everything from spinnerbaits to crankbaits to soft plastics, and just nothing. So I moved upstream to a deep, slow pool and started working the water. This pool is really only marginally wadeable, but with the low water, I could just barely make it work. In any case, I finally found some fish there. I was using a 5" Zoom Curly Tail Plastic Worm, Texas Rigged, and it worked well. I caught quite a few smallies and a couple largemouth-none bigger than about 14 inches, but still I'm not complaining. Someone may come along and find something completely different, but just based on my short experience today, I'd say the smallies are starting to head to their winter lies now-there just didn't seem to be any fish in the faster water. In all it was a great weekend exploring a great area of the Ozarks.

Do you know which blue ribbon you were on and where the trail crossed it? I'm sure its obvious, but I'm learning the lay of the land in the area.

Mic

[ozark trout fisher]

Do you know which blue ribbon you were on and where the trail crossed it? I'm sure its obvious, but I'm learning the lay of the land in the area.

Mic

The trail didn't cross the creek- I just stopped to fish it on the way down. The stream I'm referring to is accessible by road

The stream is very small and would be sensitive to pressure, so I'm not comfortable posting it's name. I'd love to help you out, but I'd feel kinda guilty posting it on a board that gets this much traffic.

Here's my best hint- it's public water, and it's somewhere in the Gasconade watershed-which narrows it down to three or four streams that I can think of. Past that I cannot say.

[2manyhobbys]

The trail didn't cross the creek- I just stopped to fish it on the way down. The stream I'm referring to is accessible by road

The stream is very small and would be sensitive to pressure, so I'm not comfortable posting it's name. I'd love to help you out, but I'd feel kinda guilty posting it on a board that gets this much traffic.

Here's my best hint- it's public water, and it's somewhere in the Gasconade watershed-which narrows it down to three or four streams that I can think of. Past that I cannot say.

Living in Rolla, I fish the "three or four streams." October is a great time to dry fly fish on some of these creeks. Seems like some of the creeks, like the little piney, are getting low. Little Piney is lowest now as I have seen all summer. But some of the smaller streams than the Piney still have more water in them than they did about 4 years ago. I am surprised at the quality of fishing in some of these little streams this year. Fish would and should be considered "spooky" however since its "home waters" I don't seem to notice it anymore and it just comes natural.

"Ozark Trout Fisher" did you see the hornets nest? Big hornets nest at the end of the trail leading to the stream, hanging over the water. Its right above the Old homestead place and the two small spring raceways dumping into the stream..