Mourning The Passing Of The High Bank Hole

[Outside Bend]

What I am seeing here is a few people that think they are better than people that fish trout parks. People that fish shoulder to shoulder at the outlets at Taneycomo even feel that the trout parks are a joke too.

The trout parks provide anglers an easily-accessible way to catch trout. It's a bummer the area's been messed with, but I don't think it should really surprise anyone that MDC/DNR would try and make the area more accessible to anglers. That's sort of the point of the Trout Parks in the first place- offer an easily accessible area for folks to catch trout.

[fishinwrench]

Maybe wrench is just trying to stir the pot a little and get us all riled up for nothing.

Now would I do that ?

The reason I started the thread was because when I saw it I said "Aww WTF, what a darn shame", and I knew that there's some guys out there that would feel likewise.

I don't fish the park much anymore, matter of fact last Sunday was the first time I'd fished it in over a year, but I have always used that stretch to learn or perfect techniques. Trout park fish bite just like wild'er trout so a little practice in the park where you're likely to get alot of bites is excellent sparring practice for learning to detect strikes, experimenting with weight placement, setting the hook, and testing all types of flys that also work elsewhere.

The High Bank is the only stretch along the Spring branch where you have complex currents and actual "lies" where fish hold in current seams and overhanging branches demand some casting skills. It is a good place to learn, and then later practice "real flyfishing".

Plus, the weedbeds there never got trampled through so they hosted excellent hatches of baetis mayflys, midges, and little brown caddis at certain times...and YES the fish get darn selective to them. The weedbeds are also loaded with scuds at times and that section never sees the weed cutting boat.

Another plus to the High Bank was that (if you kept an eye out for copperheads, and hikers on the trail) you could duck into the woods on the river-right and take a leak without having to stop fishing completely and hike a darn 1/4 mile.

So, when I said that the HB was the only "natural" stretch of the Spring creek.... those are the type of things I was referring to.

For myself and a bunch of others it holds some fine memories and it was always comforting to know that it was there. I taught my oldest kid how to flyfish there and I have another one coming of age in a few years that I hoped to be able to do the same. Big blue plastic tubes spewing hatchery overflow, concrete stairs, walkways and pruned trees take alot more away from that stretch than it adds. Especially since the only plus to that disgusting modification is cheaper trout for the city mudholes during the Winter.

[laker67]

The reason I started the thread was because when I saw it I said "Aww WTF, what a darn shame", and I knew that there's some guys out there that would feel likewise.

I would imagine that it will end up looking like the lower raceways structure at montauk. A huge chunk of concrete, with a blow your socks off stream of water.

[Justin Spencer]

What I am seeing here is a few people that think they are better than people that fish trout parks

put in more easily accessible water or a concrete pad and another channeled pool for people to sit on the bank on a bucket and fling a spinning rod

Seems like you are doing the same thing with the bucket sitters.

I agree that it stinks when things change in a way I don't think is an "improvement" but even the natural streams are not immune to change. Every time it floods different holes fill in and others are scoured out making some areas easier to fish and some great areas harder to fish.

Shallow water with fish hiding in small pockets of water and somewhat of a challenge to most anglers. A lot of the fish caught in the riffles are more natural acting than any fish at the parks.

Sounds like you are wanting the natural experience but think you need to be in a park to catch fish. It doesn't take any effort at all to find good natural water in the state with the parameters you mentioned. Yesterday caught 6 fish in an hour right here in front of our campground, you can fish here all day (many times by yourself) for $5. Riverside on the NFoW also has a great stretch to fish, and there are several other public accesses here that are good. This is just one stream, look at the others on this site and I'm sure you can find one close to home.

I think many of you are "wild trout" people but are afraid you will have No Luck catching fish if you venture from the parks. If you can cast and mend and aren't consumed with having 20 fish days everytime you go out I think you will find the rewards of catching fish outside the parks greater than catching 30 stockers in an afternoon. Parks are great, I grew up fishing Roaring River and Bennett, and still go back from time to time, but once I figured out how to catch fish on the NFoW I seldom venture elsewhere.

[fishinwrench]

Sounds like you are wanting the natural experience but think you need to be in a park to catch fish.

Justin, seriously ? Do I need to come down there and hand you your butt on your own river..... without a bobber

I grew up fishing Roaring River and Bennett, and still go back from time to time,

And I bet you have preferred stretches there, and would be disappointed enough to bitch about it on here if they installed an outflow pipe in the middle of it.

[Justin Spencer]

And I bet you have preferred stretches there, and would be disappointed enough to bitch about it on here if they installed an outflow pipe in the middle of it.

I would be disappointed and would bitch, but I wouldn't act as though they were messing up a pristine stream and act like there is no other natural water to be found. You can come down and hand me my butt anytime, glad to learn from you. But I still won't give up my bobber, unless you can show me I can catch fish without it! I'm too lazy to be that good a fisherman, too much slack in my line.

I know you don't need to be in a park to catch fish, but I need my bobber to catch them.

[Wayne SW/MO]

If you're saying we shouldn't truck rainbows from Bennett to urban areas, why should we truck browns from Shepherd of the Hills or Neosho hatcheries to Bennett?

You've never taken, or wanted to take, an once in a lifetime fishing trip? Is it meaningless because you were only able to do it once?

Hybrid stripers, walleye, pickeral and bowfin all have this nasty habit of eating each other in hatchery raceways. They're far more expensive to produce than pellet-fed rainbows.

The sum total of these "privileged few" is more than three million residents, or about half the state's population.

You would have to ask the feds about Shepard and Neosho now wouldn't you?

Take a lifetime trip? Of course I have, and I've taken a few because they wouldn't bring them to me.

Yet the MDC raises both Walleye and Stripers, why is that?

Privilege few are your words, not mine. If you're telling me that 3 million people fish those ponds I have to ask just how big are the ponds and how many truck loads does it take to entertain the "privileged few"?

Justin are you a politician? You promote trucking fish to the big cities and then tell Wrench to get off his butt and go look somewhere else for fish????

:rolleyes:

[NoLuck]

Justin,

The bucket sitter comment was meant to draw a mental picture as opposed to the current setting. Either way you slice it, it will no longer be the same as it has been. Why is it so hard for some of you guys to understand that there are some people that like fishing at Bennett and Montauk??? It is the same as a guy who chooses to hunt with traditional bows as opposed to a compound. We all have choice to do what we like to do.

If and when I do get the time to get down to some of the other trout streams other than the Current and Meremac. I will be happy to do it too. But with my limited time off and my wanting to catch fish when I do go, I'll just fish Bennett and Montauk. Another thing is some people don't like to see another person all day while fishing. It don't bother me to see a small amount of people as long as they don't crowd you.

Most of the fishing I do is with natural stuff. I do use on occasion a Y2K or a brassie, but you will almost never see me fishing the run of the mill trout park lures. I feel that my flyfishing skills would be fine to catch fish where ever I may decide go. Maybe if I had a ton of off time from work I would have a different view of things I guess but, for now I know with an on demand 24/7 type of job I have to limit my scope of places that I can go to.

Maybe some time in the future I will have more time like others and my opinions will change.

[Justin Spencer]

Justin are you a politician? You promote trucking fish to the big cities and then tell Wrench to get off his butt and go look somewhere else for fish????

I think Wrench finds plenty of places to fish! It doesn't bother me how or where people fish as long as it is enjoyable to them, who gives and eff what others think. I just got the feeling a few were stuck in a park rut (not that there's anything wrong with that), thinking that if they ventured outside the parks they might not catch fish. That is a true worry, and if you are limited in time to fish (most are) and don't want to risk a poor catching trip then the parks are the place to go. Hopefully the state can make it look natural at Bennett without messing up the hole (look at Dry Run creek) this is a fake river with outlet pipes and a boulder lined shore, but is super cool. Hopefully the state can continue to make neccesary "improvements" without changing the feel of these streams.

I think as Missouri trout fishermen we are maybe the luckiest trout fishermen in the country with any type of fishing available to us. No matter what kind of fishing you want to do we can all go fish for and catch trout within a half day's drive from home.

[Outside Bend]

You would have to ask the feds about Shepard and Neosho now wouldn't you?

MDC owns Shepherd of the Hills, and it's irrelevant. If your position is trout shouldn't be trucked from one place to another, it makes no sense to support trucking browns from Branson to Lebanon but oppose trucking rainbows from Lebanon to St. Louis or KC.

Take a lifetime trip? Of course I have, and I've taken a few because they wouldn't bring them to me.

Some folks don't have the luxury of time or money to do that. You like fishing for trout, what's the harm in sharing that experience with others?

Yet the MDC raises both Walleye and Stripers, why is that?

MDC produces about 370,000 of each (hybrid/striped bass and walleye) a year. Shepherd of the Hills alone produces more than a million trout a year, and a large part of that difference is due to the cost of producing the different fish species (highly predatory fish require specialized diets, more space, etc when compared with trout). Trout are simply easier and cheaper to produce than walleye or stripers, and you can be more liberal with your distribution of a fish that costs a quarter than you can with a fish which costs you two bucks to produce.

Privilege few are your words, not mine. If you're telling me that 3 million people fish those ponds I have to ask just how big are the ponds and how many truck loads does it take to entertain the "privileged few"?