Niangua Decline?

[copfisher]

Over the last three years I've noticed is steep decline in the amount of trout caught out on the river per trip.

Occasionally, in the past, I would have a rough outing where you might get skunked or maybe land one or two. But usually, you used to be able to almost always pick up a fish at just about every Riffle in the typical spots.

Now it seems like every time I'm either getting skunked or maybe just catching one fish per trip. i typically fish the section from Bennett Springs to NRO and only rarely fish the area from an nro downstream to Barclay. So, for the most part, these observations are just with respect to that three or 4 mile stretch of river. Has anyone else noticed a similar pattern in terms of having difficulty picking up trout?

Does anyone have any knowledge about whether the stocking patterns have changed over the last several years?

[fishinwrench]

What was the Windyville guage reading the last time you failed to find enough fish ?

When the river is at 2.0 or below the rainbows school up like crappie in specific little spots. If it is a little above 2.0 then they kinda spread out and act alot more like trout.

As far as the stocking goes, no I don't believe they stock even 1/2 of what they claim they do, but IMO they stock enough, considering their method.

If they stocked more heavily then they should "float stock" instead of merely dumping them in at the accesses....but they don't seem to have the time or energy to do anything that involves that much effort.

[oneshot]

Got to agree. At first I thought they was holding fish back before redoing the Hatchery. Then I thought well they are working on the Hatchery. Got done with it I thought well they are just trying to catch up.

I have to agree last few years no matter how the river is the Trout are not there. If they do like last year first of the season for couple weeks caught largest Trout I ever had. Once they were caught out Nothing!

Use to be Winter you could go anywhere on the river all Winter long and catch Trout. This Winter I caught two and one of them was where the spring comes into the river. I have seen the river Low and Clear before, yes Trout School in holes but being clear you can see them. I haven't seen any Trout.

Something is going on and I don't like it. Getting away from Trout and fishing for other species.

Another thing yes they are stocking the spring, what has been hollered about very loudly but nobody is listening is small Fish.

Won't being doing this again until changes are made.

oneshot

[dembones]

Otters?

[fishinwrench]

Otters, yeah....no.

How productive was our hatchery this year?

"Very productive, sir".

Can we see the results of your productivity?

"Sir, we threw it all in the river, here's the paper with numbers on it..."

Very Good, Holmes.....Carry on.

[laker67]

Thanks to a friend, I have a copy of the 2015 update for the white ribbon trout area of the niangua. It says that the river has been stocked on a monthly basis since 2003. Numbers range from 400 to 900 each month with yearly totals at 7500. March and april are 900 each. Now for the brown trout. In 1995, 2090 brown trout were stocked. Starting in 96 10,000 to 13,710 were stocked annually for the next 5 years. Those fish were supplied by bssp hatchery. In and about the time the new manager took over, the numbers fell out like a snowball headed for u know where. FRom november of 01, 3320 to 5000 brown trout have been the annual totals. October and November are the prime months for brown stockings. Since 09, all fish have come from Shepard of Hills hatchery. They used to alternate fin clipping to show age groups, that has not been done since 03. According to this chart, rainbow numbers have stayed the same, but browns have taken quite a hit. Average stocking size for brown trout 7 to 15.5 inches. No mention as to how the river is stocked. In years past, I once witnessed them dumping fish over the side of the hwy bridge. It shows 11.5 miles of river in the white section.

[fishinwrench]

Yep, another "paper with numbers on it".

Anyone that fished the Ni regularly back when they actually stocked it RIGHT, and still fishes it today, KNOWS darn well that those numbers are bogus.

[Greasy B]

How long since it has been stocked right?

My experience only goes back 15 years or so, I can't recall anything better than mediocre last 5 years.

[fishinwrench]

Mid-90's to about 2001-03 was the peak of Brown trout stocking.

I had them figured out really well and knew almost all of the holding spots. I could tell that they had stopped stocking at Prosperine 2-3 years before they let the word out simply because there was only 5 spots between there and Ho-Humm where the trout held...and they had disappeared. After that there were still fish in the same spots they had always been in between Barclay and Ho-Humm for a couple years, and IF you did catch one below Ho-Humm it was a bigun (a holdover).

2003-04 was a crazy high water year and I can't imagine that they did much, if any, stocking during that 4-5 month period while the river was basically unfishable. They also had a bad fish kill at the hatchery during that period.

It hasn't been really good like it was pre-2003 since then to my knowledge.

The Niangua isn't a hard river to fish, the good holding spots are very predictable and if you are a reasonably good fisherman and fish it regularly then you know the difference between a tough bite and when fish are simply not in the river to be had.

[copfisher]

I only started fishing the river in 2007. So my observations don't come with as much background as you all. Those numbers are fascinating Laker67. Thanks for sharing.

I would have loved to fish this river back in the 90's/ early 2000's. It sounded great. Maybe with better management it could return to its former glory.

Over the 7-8 years I've fished the river, though, I've noticed a marked decline. I agree that fish typically hold in the usual areas. Prior to the last three years, although the size and numbers were never spectacular, I could usually do relatively well and pull fish from the usual spots. I guess what I'm saying is I fancy myself a good enough fisherman that I can tell the difference between a tough bite and when fish are not in the river--over the last few years things have definitely begin to shift from the former to later--but I understand it was even better earlier on. Sounds like things have gone from bad to worse.

This is disappointing because this is one of the closest cold water fisheries to KC. When I come down I spend money on shuttles when I float, food, gas, etc. I don't mind supporting the area, but absent a change, I may start going elsewhere . Its a shame.