Striped Bass In Boeuf Creek?

[hank franklin]

I was fishing Boeuf Creek in Franklin County this evening and caught several small striped bass. I'd never caught this kind of fish in a stream (or anywhere) and really wasn't sure what to call them. Unfortunately I didn't have my camera. Upon returning home I checked the MDC website and the fish are dead ringers for striped bass. However MDC says striped bass are generally only found in reservoirs and larger streams.

Do any of you have experience catching striped bass in smaller streams? Boeuf Creek is quite small and silted in mostly. Fair to possibly poor quality, which apparently striped bass don't tolerate well.

I'm sorry I don't have pics but I know what I saw. I've caught white bass before and it certainly wasn't that, didn't have the humped head for one. The black stripes were prominent and distinctive.

Boeuf Creek is a Missouri River trib but I was well above the Missouri, at least 10 miles if not further. But maybe that is the explanation.

[drew03cmc]

They are most likely whites or hybrids. Either way, they are a lot of fun and you can get a nice meal from them if you catch enough (within legal limits of course).

[hank franklin]

This picture is a close approximation to what I caught. The fish pictured is bigger but they look very similar.

[drew03cmc]

That is either a white or hybrid. How many tooth patches were on the tongue?

[Al Agnew]

Hank, they were probably white bass. The shape of the fish in your picture is typical of smaller white bass, and white bass will run up a stream like Boeuf Creek to spawn. This time of year after a spring with lots of high water, you'll find young white bass in lots of seemingly odd places. Gavin caught one in the middle Gasconade during the Float and Boat last weekend. It was about 6 inches long...they apparently grow fast during the first months of the summer.

That's not to say it couldn't have been a hybrid, because the same high water that lets white bass run farther up tributary streams than they normally would also allows other fish, including hybrids, to do the same thing. But if your fish were indeed shaped like the one in the photo, it wasn't a striped bass because young striped bass are considerably longer and thinner.

[hank franklin]

I'll take your word for the white bass. I've caught them in the Meramec and of course they are unmistakable. These Boeuf Creek fish had the distinctive black stripes. My first thought was it was a crappie, then I thought it was just a large shad, then upon bringing it to hand it was clearly a bass. What kind who knows. Guess I'll have to go down to the Bouef again this time with my camera.

Also caught a small gar, small catfish, one (yes!) smallmouth and the rest either spotted or these mystery bass. Not one largemouth. Also a few green sunfish and one classic bluegill.

[ozark trout fisher]

I'll take your word for the white bass. I've caught them in the Meramec and of course they are unmistakable. These Boeuf Creek fish had the distinctive black stripes. My first thought was it was a crappie, then I thought it was just a large shad, then upon bringing it to hand it was clearly a bass. What kind who knows. Guess I'll have to go down to the Bouef again this time with my camera.

Also caught a small gar, small catfish, one (yes!) smallmouth and the rest either spotted or these mystery bass. Not one largemouth. Also a few green sunfish and one classic bluegill.

Sounds like a pretty nice day on the creek all said.