guide trips 12/16 & 12/17/06

[Brian Sloss]

I took a couple of guide trips this past weekend and also got to see first hand some of the changes to the river from the flood. Just above the 19 bridge, we have a tree almost entirely accross the river. At Turner Mill there is a tree all the way accross the river that you need to portage around and the boat ramp on the South side is covered with a gravel bar. There are new holes and new shallower areas through out the blue ribbon area. The flood did a job on the river. So how was the fishing?

On Saturday, I took Andy and Jeff fly fishing from Greer to Turner and they caught between 20 & 30 fish (didn't keep count)with 1 being a smallie. The water was about a foot higher than normal and the flow of the river was fast (about 1000 cfs). That meant heavy flies. The rig to use that day was a heavy stonefly with an egg dropper. The seams between fast and slow water were key, as were drop-offs in the shoals. All and all a good day with a couple of funny KC guys.

Sunday I took Gary and Ferrel from Kentucky out for a day of spin fishing from Greer to Turner. They wanted to catch a little of everything. Spin fishermen often ignore the blue ribbon area because they can't use soft plastics and that is a mistake. There are very good smallies there. We caught similar numbers to the previous day, but we caught just about as many smallies and pickerel as we did trout. Smaller deep diving crank baits that looked like crawdads were most effective. We found trout in the same areas as the day before and fished slower waters and sloughs for smallies and pickerel. A good day with good company.

[Flysmallie]

Brian,

are soft plastics the only restriction in the blue ribbon area? I would like to go after a few of those smallmouths. And catching a few trout in the process wouldn't be a bad thing!!

[Brian Sloss]

No soft plastic or scented baits. No live or synthetic baits. 1 smallie @ 15 inches is the limit everywhere on the river. If you look up the blue ribbon trout regs., that will let you know exactly what is and isn't legal in case I left something out. Give it a try between Greer and Turner sometime, there are some nice smallies there.

[jdmidwest]

The regs are designed to discourage bait and soft bait. Trebles are fine. We fished Greer Spring to 19 parking lot last Superbowl weekend. We caught and released 20 smallies in the 12" to 20" range on shad raps that day in about 3 hours in 30 degree weather. We did not pick up any trout in that section. What used to be premium trout water is reverting back to what it was naturally, a smallmouth stream since the monthly stocking of the Blue Ribbon area ended. Less competition from the stockers on the forage is my opinion. The best water for smallmouth is above Greer Spring or below Riverton.

[Gavin]

There are some good smallies in that stretch and plenty of big chain pickeral. Youll be perfectly legal if you stick to crankbaits (bomber A's, wee craws, and rapala type baits), larger inline spinners, and some bass sized marabou & hair jigs (pork or plastic trailers are a no no). Bring some long nosed pliers to unhook those pickeral. Cheers.

[Brian Sloss]

Just a quick note, from the confluence of the spring to the 19 bridge has lots of trout as well.

[superfly]

Is the legal limit of chain pickerel 6 on the 11 point. Is there a lenght limit. Are they good to eat? (recipes?) Thanks, Matt

[Brian Sloss]

I think your limit is right, but as for eating; there are those who do eat them, but they are awfully boney. I've never eaten them, so I don't know how they taste.

[jdmidwest]

Chain pickerel are fine eating if you fillet them right. They feed mainly on other fish so the flesh is like walleye or sauger. They have a row of Y shaped bones along the back above the lateral line that need to be scored before frying in hot oil. It usually cooks up the bones so you can eat them. But they are alot better released so they can be caught again......

[jdmidwest]

Brian, I don't know how long you have been fishing the 11 pt, my experience dates back to the early 80's and my fishing partners on 11 pt date back to the 50's. Since the monthly stocking of the entire area between the spring and Turner's ended and the drought of the last few years, trout numbers and quality of fish are way down in that area. In recent years, our best trout have been below Whitten with the exception of last summers 32" rainbow I landed slightly above Whitten. Which, by the way, is probably still in there. Recent bonus stockings have helped, but it is still not the same. It has been a while since I have seen a flood like this one so maybe it helped.