Stream Of Dreams, 2012

[Al Agnew]

Nah, just sounds better to call it a grandpa rather than a gramma.

[Al Agnew]

All I'll say is that it's somewhere in the Ozarks.

Mitch, I've got about five or six hook punctures in my fingers, including one slit about a half inch long, and my left thumb is raw both on the bottom and on the top. Other than that, though, I'm in pretty good shape. Not like this trip last year, when I stuck a hook past the barb in my calf and had to use the rope trick to get it out.

A few other observations from the trip that I found interesting...the second day, the topwater was working well in the morning, but by mid-morning it wasn't doing much, while the twin spin was very good the rest of the day. Understand, I fish the twin spin fast and just under the surface so it makes a bulge on the surface, so it wasn't like the fish weren't looking up. They just weren't looking for walk the dog topwaters.

And even though I caught the biggest fish on that Dog X, the Sammy 100 was definitely the best lure this trip. I tried the Sexy Dawg, the Sammy 85, a Zara Puppy, and a Gunfish as well as the Dog X. None worked as well as the Sammy 100. Even though the Sexy Dawg has been my best lure this year overall.

The big pools were not nearly as good as the short, shallow pools this trip. The best looking water was mostly unproductive. I could understand the middle of the big pools, where there was no real current, being unproductive, but even the heads and tails of the big pools weren't producing very well. Could it be that other people are fishing this stream and concentrating on the big, deep pools?

Most of the bigger fish were lying in shallow water up against the banks, but as always on these very clear streams, you couldn't cast close to the banks without scaring them. As long as my casts were about five feet away from where the fish were, they went after them. I saw a LOT of wakes coming to my lure as soon as it hit the water. One 17 incher was lying on top of a big rock where there was no more than eight inches of water, while all around the rock it was three or four feet deep. My cast landed five feet away before I saw the fish, and all I saw was the wake starting from atop the rock and headed to my lure.

Funny too how some of those wakes were barely visible yet I knew. Just very slight nervous water a few feet away when my lure hit the surface, but I'd immediately be ready for a strike, almost without realizing why.

I lost a few fish on both lures that just didn't get hooked solidly, but fewer than I often do.

A 14 inch smallmouth, hitting a topwater lure in less than a foot of water, often looks and sounds like a 20 incher.

Lots of fish were at the tails of pools in less than a foot of water. And lots were on the shallow side of pools, or out in the open in shallow water.

[jdmidwest]

Nah, just sounds better to call it a grandpa rather than a gramma.

But we all know the female snakes are bigger. But when you call it a granny, it does sound less menacing.

[Smalliebigs]

All I'll say is that it's somewhere in the Ozarks.

Mitch, I've got about five or six hook punctures in my fingers, including one slit about a half inch long, and my left thumb is raw both on the bottom and on the top. Other than that, though, I'm in pretty good shape. Not like this trip last year, when I stuck a hook past the barb in my calf and had to use the rope trick to get it out.

A few other observations from the trip that I found interesting...the second day, the topwater was working well in the morning, but by mid-morning it wasn't doing much, while the twin spin was very good the rest of the day. Understand, I fish the twin spin fast and just under the surface so it makes a bulge on the surface, so it wasn't like the fish weren't looking up. They just weren't looking for walk the dog topwaters.

And even though I caught the biggest fish on that Dog X, the Sammy 100 was definitely the best lure this trip. I tried the Sexy Dawg, the Sammy 85, a Zara Puppy, and a Gunfish as well as the Dog X. None worked as well as the Sammy 100. Even though the Sexy Dawg has been my best lure this year overall.

The big pools were not nearly as good as the short, shallow pools this trip. The best looking water was mostly unproductive. I could understand the middle of the big pools, where there was no real current, being unproductive, but even the heads and tails of the big pools weren't producing very well. Could it be that other people are fishing this stream and concentrating on the big, deep pools?

Most of the bigger fish were lying in shallow water up against the banks, but as always on these very clear streams, you couldn't cast close to the banks without scaring them. As long as my casts were about five feet away from where the fish were, they went after them. I saw a LOT of wakes coming to my lure as soon as it hit the water. One 17 incher was lying on top of a big rock where there was no more than eight inches of water, while all around the rock it was three or four feet deep. My cast landed five feet away before I saw the fish, and all I saw was the wake starting from atop the rock and headed to my lure.

Funny too how some of those wakes were barely visible yet I knew. Just very slight nervous water a few feet away when my lure hit the surface, but I'd immediately be ready for a strike, almost without realizing why.

I lost a few fish on both lures that just didn't get hooked solidly, but fewer than I often do.

A 14 inch smallmouth, hitting a topwater lure in less than a foot of water, often looks and sounds like a 20 incher.

Lots of fish were at the tails of pools in less than a foot of water. And lots were on the shallow side of pools, or out in the open in shallow water.

Al, a buddy of mine fished your creek last Tuesday and had similar results, we only fished from the upper bridge to his uncles cabin which I have a feeling is where you saw your group of big fish?? We caught a 19 1/2 and an 18 in their cabin hole as I call it. We also caught a good number above there of long skinny fish, a few on topwater but most fish were caught on softplastics. It's good to hear that creek still produced something for ya as we just hammered the upper half of that creek....the number of fish was staggering and we also saw two groups of floaters who put in kayaks on their own.....one was a fishing group and the other was a pleasure, sight seeing deal I think. There no sacred cows anymore....thats for sure. We went down to the only access point on that creek and there was 7 vehicles in the lot....several people fishing with minnows....didn't look good, but that access get buried.

[Gavin]

Glad you had a nice trip! Cant wait for pictures.

[Al Agnew]

Here are some pictures from the trip...

This is the long, lean 20 incher I caught the first evening:

This was the view downstream from the first night's campsite, the next morning just before I pushed off:

Here's a quick snapshot I took of the double, before I figured out how to get them in the boat:

Here the two fish are still hooked together:

One of the cottonmouths I encountered...this one was really nicely colored:

[Mitch f]

It's an awesome sight to see bigger fish that do not have old gig marks...those fish are truly beautiful and seem to not have any hook marks either. A testament to low fishing pressure.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I think Al might have divulge this flow in a post several years ago, but I ain't saying what I remember.

[id10t]

But we all know the female snakes are bigger. But when you call it a granny, it does sound less menacing.

Well let me just say I feared my Granny way more than my Grandad.