Nobody Fishing?

[NoLuck]

I guess all the hot weather has kept the stream empty and unfished by OAF anglers. I"m back in town for a couple of weeks and I'm headed down to Bennett Tuesday for the day. Look me up if you are there. Red F-150 4X4 Ext cab with a #20 sticker on the back window.

Cya all,

Rich

[oneshot]

Pretty Low and Clear.Same with the River.But they are catching fish.

oneshot

[Bob A]

Just seems to me like there hasn't been much activity at all in the B ennett posts, especially when compared to a couple of years ago. Maybe many of the old posters have simply hung up their rods, found alternative fishing locations or simply gave up on Bennett, for lots of reasons....one of which is a percieved decline in fishing quality over the past few years (not saying there is or isn;t". I have seen lots of changes over the years also yet everything changes in some way or the other over time..just the way it is. My wife and I still fish Bennett a lot and especially so when we can't fish Taneycomo. So, it is a good alternative to Taney. And at the same time, I can assure you there are many who travel long distances to fish Bennett and would give anything to have it in their own back yard. I still fish to catch fish! At the same time, I've caught plenty in my life time so if I don't break any records at Bennett, I can still enjoy sitting back, watching the water flow by and simply admiring a great caster and ocassionally cooking up a cup of brew.

Bob A

Springfield

[laker67]

Like Bob, I fish bennett alot because it is close. Just not much to talk about these days. If I have 2 to 3 hrs and its a weekday then I will make the trip of 37 miles. I grew up fishing bennett and have learned alot about fish on that stretch of water. Again, like Bob stated, fishing quality has been on a downhill slide for several years. Actually, Bob did not say those exact words, but things are not even close to what we had up until 04. These days, when I spend 4 hrs at bssp, I have spent 2 hrs longer than I should. I will be bored stiff when I leave the parking lot. I have walked every bank and seen every fish in the first 2 hrs and spend the next 2 hrs wondering how did things get so bad in such a short period of time. And I know that people will come on here and say, "I catch alot of fish at bssp". And what have you caught, 39 fish in one afternoon of fishing, and every one would be a slot limit keeper for upper taney. And I am referring to the bottom of the slot. Like I said before, not much to talk about these days.

[NoLuck]

Laker I can relate to your assesment of the quality of fish lately at Bennett. I have not been down since the end of April but I'm sure it hasn't changed much. I fished montauk the first weekend of May and I was pretty impressed with the size of fish there. For some reason they just are not stocking Bennett with the same quality of fish as Montauk. Same as you I have never had any problem catching fish but, they just are small fish. Once in a while you will catch a few decent fish but not regularly.

It's easy to see that if Montauk was as popular as Bennett the same thing would likely happen to the quality of fish. The flyfishing spike I think is due to the higher prices of gas. People just don't have to spend as much money as the would if they had a boat to bass fish and such. So I think we are getting those people coming down and wade fishing and keeping a bunch of fish that are normally left by the regulars at Bennett of years past. Rough times call for creative ways to feed the family and wildlife has taken a hit in my opinion. I could be wrong, but that is just an observation on my part.

I'm hoping that the new hatchery operation gets the fish but up to the quality that it once was. It will take a few years but, I think it will help.

[laker67]

Hi Noluck. I surely hope you are right about the new hatchery. It would great to see a creek full of quality fish once more. Bssp is like an old friend to me and I hate to see it in this condition.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I guess I've never seen that there is much to talk about when it comes to the parks. I'm not knocking anyone who fishes them, but they don't change much and I guess it would seem reports wouldn't change much.

[fishinwrench]

I'm really hoping that the new hotrod hatchery results in at least a somewhat better fishery BELOW the park.

[Jeff Tief]

wife Susie and I have fished 3 of the 4 trout parks and Rockbridge in the last 2 weeks while on vacation.We started at Roaring the first of the month and all the reports on this website about water conditions were dead on.Hardly enough water to get a good drift nymph fishing and the fish were running small.Back home after a few days and then fished the upper Current and caught some nice fish,then caught a lot of fish in the fly zone this last Monday.Went to BSSP late Monday to fish the park on Tuesday; caught a lot of small fish,say several good browns in zone 2 and lost a brown in the 5-6# range in the Rock Hole.We enjoyed the day but it hasn't been near the quality we had come to expect. Drove to Rockbridge Monday night for a day and one-half C&R.Talked to legendary BSSP fisherman Jack B. Monday and discussed the state of fishing at he park and he said it was his worst year in a long time but thought Rockbridge was too expensive.I told him to check the prices of a guide trip out West and compare;sure the fish are wild and the scenery may be cooler but if your looking to catch strong fish close to home without the crowd of Taney or the parks it's not a bad alternative;plus it's easier for my Susie to fish.

[NoLuck]

Jeff I was there Tuesday till about 7pm. I fished Z1 and Z2 and the fish in the stream are pretty much dinks. I caught a couple of decent fish in 2 just below the riffles in the highbank hole but they were few and far between. I walked the stream up to the Holland Dam and that is probably the least amount of fish I have seen in Bennett in 10 years. I still caught good numbers though. I rolled in about 8am and started fishing about 8:30am. Caught close to 20 in the first couple hours but all small fish. Moved down to Z2 and caught about 25 there in about 3 hours. Then they just seemed to shut down. Went to get a bite to eat and returned to spotty fishing at best so I stayed till about 7pm and headed out.

I'll head down to Montauk in the morning Friday and then down to the river below the park to try my luck a little. Maybe I'll hook up with one of those nice browns that have moved up if there are any left from the bait fishermen.