Dee Rought! Dryness Is Upon Us.

[MOPanfisher]

Some more water in creeks would be good, but the amounts I heard forecasted will be good for soaking in and helping lawns and gardens but not do much for the creeks.

[Smalliebigs]

I hate to say this but, it needs to be said.....it's getting to the point if you care about fishing for bass on rivers you might want to consider waiting to fish until we get some rain. The fish with the water temps skyrocketing way too early and the extreme low water conditions for this time of year will kill alot of the fish that you release back into the river. Most guys wont even consider giving the Smallies and Largemouth a break when conditions like this come about.......and that's too bad....soapbox over continue to pound the rivers even though we are about to be in real bad shape if we don't get some rain.

[ozark trout fisher]

I hate to say this but, it needs to be said.....it's getting to the point if you care about fishing for bass on rivers you might want to consider waiting to fish until we get some rain. The fish with the water temps skyrocketing way too early and the extreme low water conditions for this time of year will kill alot of the fish that you release back into the river. Most guys wont even consider giving the Smallies and Largemouth a break when conditions like this come about.......and that's too bad....soapbox over continue to pound the rivers even though we are about to be in real bad shape if we don't get some rain.

I agree with you. The water temps on my last trip were just fine for smallies in the low 70s, but it won't take much more of this crap for the fish to get pretty stressed out. The fish are already almost exclusively hanging out in well shaded areas where there isn't much sun on the water, even a lot more than usual. Very few fish in the riffle sections that don't have good shade, even in areas that have been good to me in the past. Probably a sign that they are looking for cooler water.

This will also be true, probably even to a greater extent for trout. It's time to at least bring a stream thermometer and please don't fish if it's at or above 70 ...especially on the Blue and Red Ribbon streams. They generally won't survive release in those conditions.

[Wayne SW/MO]

This will also be true, probably even to a greater extent for trout. It's time to at least bring a stream thermometer and please don't fish if it's at or above 70 ...especially on the Blue and Red Ribbon streams. They generally won't survive release in those conditions.

You don't think that Crane and Mill creek aren't a little to low and likely to lose some stock, without any help from fisheremen minding a thermometer?

[ozark trout fisher]

You don't think that Crane and Mill creek aren't a little to low and likely to lose some stock, without any help from fisheremen minding a thermometer?

Certainly they will. But no need to make it worse.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Maybe I misread you, I thought you were saying go, but bring a thermometer. My bad. I think it is a good idea to use good common sense and probably stay away from any small streams.

I saw on the news where Harrison AR only 1/4" rain this month, they've had two rains that we haven't, so most of the streams coming off the south side of the plateau are hurting.

[jdmidwest]

When you speak of dormant grass, do you mean brown and crunchy or disappeared back into the ground leaving bare soil? I have alot of both.

It did cloud up here this morning and I saw what looked like a rain cloud, then it cleared off and got hot.

[Al Agnew]

In Montana, they shut off trout fishing when the water temps get to 73 degrees consistently during the afternoon...out there, with normally cool nights, the water temps will vary from 5 to 8 degrees during a 24 hour period. So it can be below 70 degrees in the morning when you start fishing, and get up above 73 by mid-afternoon. When that happens consistently, they put on what they call "hoot owl" regulations, where you can't fish after 2 PM.

While MDC doesn't do anything like that, I think every ethical trout angler should be smart and err on the side of caution. I too wouldn't fish the smaller trout streams like Mill Creek under these conditions, and even on the larger ones, fish only during the mornings and only after a cool night.

As for smallies...they can do okay in water temps up into the mid-80s. The floatable streams should be okay for the most part. Smaller wadeable streams should probably be avoided, or at least fished only in the mornings. And DON'T pound the same water over and over. The fish in all the smaller streams, including the smaller floatable ones, are going to be concentrated in more limited areas than usual, and often easier to catch due to being easy to find and also due to the competition when they are schooled up...they race each other to food. So if you find a sweet spot, it's easy to keep catching fish out of it but not good for the bass population in the long run. Spread your fishing "pressure" around, different streams and different stretches of streams.

I won't stop fishing, but I'll be as careful as possible to not pound the same water, and to get fish in as quickly as possible and release them as quickly as possible as well. I think I'll also get a lot more religious about crushing the barbs on my hooks to facilitate quick releases. Right now, things aren't too bad yet, no worse than ordinary mid-summer conditions. But if this weather continues, it could get much worse.

[eric1978]

When you speak of dormant grass, do you mean brown and crunchy or disappeared back into the ground leaving bare soil? I have alot of both.

It did cloud up here this morning and I saw what looked like a rain cloud, then it cleared off and got hot.

I'm talking brown and crunchy...that's dormant. If you have bare spots, your grass is dead and gone there...time to reseed.

We're gonna get a good soaking tonight and tomorrow. That might help for a couple days. We need a week-long rain event to recharge the aquifers and rehydrate the vegetation. I'm not holding my breath.

[ness]

We got only about a quarter inch last night, chance of more coming but not much.

For you weather geeks out there, this is a pretty fun website: http://www.weatherspark.com Tons of info all presented graphically.