Going To Have To Wait

[oneshot]

River is just up too high and still coming.Ponds still have ice so can't do that so I'm wating.

oneshot

[Greasy B]

Good lord have I got a bad case of the shack nasties. From what I can tell by the usgs gages today the river will be coming down and probably still off color for the weekend. 500 csf should be about right, maybe a foot or a little higher than the dead low water we had. Maybe we’ll get lucky and a little drizzle will keep fair weather fishers away.

[oneshot]

I took a look today off 64HWY and its up but creeks and springs running into it are about normal so should be ok in a couple days.

oneshot

[Greasy B]

Things are looking up, thanks.

[jdmidwest]

Head south, the rivers are low and clear. Current River, Eleven Point, and Spring River are all great.

[dennis boatman]

guage height at Tunnel Dam is 3.5. Is this the only guage that is assesible online? And if so, what would it need to be for the river to be at "normal" at bennett springs access and/or Barclay? I'm thinking about 2.5 or 3.0. Thanks.

[Greasy B]

Yea if Saturday’s level was 3.5 then 2.5 or 3.0 sounds about right. I judge the river best by the volume or cubic feet per second (cfs). Depending on the contour of the stream bed a ½ ft difference can mean double the volume. There are two gages upstream from the confluence of Bennett spring branch and the Niangua. This Morning the volume at Windyville was about 362 cfs, Bennett Spring was at 191 so the volume below 64 HWY is in the mid 500’s. Yesterday it was probably closer to 600 cfs; at that level the river was barely wadable in a few places and probably dangerous to anyone not surefooted. I would say a canoe or other boat would be the only effective way to fish this stretch until flows go below 300 cfs.

One brown I caught had an 8 inch chub or stoneroller half swallowed head first, a sculpin half swallowed tail first and my fly in its mouth. The fish also had a large gig scar on side. As I was releasing this wonderful fish I had to wonder it had lived through. If it was 8 or 10 inches when it was stocked it had probably spent two years or so in the river to get to this size. The gig scar was well healed so it more than likely survived 2 gigging seasons. I can’t imagine how many bait, lures and fly’s it refused in this time. I would guess it has been released at least once or twice, probably broke off someone’s line once or twice. For one reason or another it didn’t follow its instinct to migrate which would have stranded it outside the Niangua’s short cool water area. Even in the area of suitable water quality it had to survive periods of thermal stress. All that plus it survived otters, eagles, herons and mink.

[dennis boatman]

will be there wednesday and report back

[Greasy B]

The brown trout with a mouth full.

[dennis boatman]

I'm yet to catch my first Niangua Brown...Do pretty good on the rainbows...took a few trips to figure some of that out. Im due for a Brown.