My 2nd Opening day...

[JestersHK]

Hello guys, I am a new guy around here and found this place a month or so ago and have been lurking.

I am on my 3rd trout season now after my fishing buddy got me hooked on this trout fishing stuff, but have fished pretty much since I can remember. This will be kind of wordy, but wanted to share my opening day experience in full.

For the TLDR crowd.

Had a white knuckle driving trip from STL. Had awesome BBQ. Got car stuck at my camper at Weavers because I had a brain fart. Caught Buckets of fish on Sunday and Monday!

Ok so here goes it. Part one is me blah blah blahing about my trip and my inability to respect the weather. Part 2 will be mostly all fishing.

Part 1

Started out from STL around 11 or so Saturday. I have a 4x4 and a RWD but latest forecast still said an inch maybe 2 so I grabbed the MIL's little Nissan Versa to save on some gas and headed off. Hit the heavy snow on 44 right before Rolla. Started to see the accidents and slide offs. Missed the major pile up at Rolla and the little versa kept chugging along behind the semi's. Last 20 miles were rough and snow packed, but I pulled into PigPen BBQ in Lebanon around 2:30 or so. Awesome BBQ and I had lunch with the guys who own the place after meeting up with a guy who I met off a gun forum. Good people and the food was awesome. I highly recommend it to anyone who has not been there yet. They are right behind the Walgreen's there in Lebanon.

The voyage then continued to my camper at Weavers. Last year my fishing buddy and I purchased an old camper together and rehabbed it into our own little trout lodge. We towed this old camper from the middle of Arkansas and dropped it off at Weavers for its now semi permanent home.(that's a story all on its own). After some TLC we now have a perfect jumping off point to all the trout parks and Tanycomo with Bennett being our favorite. No more waking up at 3:30 to make the whistle in the morning. After I finished up lunch I rolled into Weavers around 4 and stopped in to say hi to Rick and Lucy the owners there.

There was about 2 inches of snow now and it was still coming down. It was here I made one of my first critical errors. I drove down to the bottom of the hill to unload all my gear and proceeded to open the camper up. Thought about pulling the car back up to the parking lot and leaving it, but got busy and figured hey its a light little FWD car its just an inch or 2 of snow. Should be fine. Not one of my brightest moments... So I settled in had some dinner, warmed the place up, and started in on a book in my solitude without the normal sounds that accompany a wife and 3 kiddos and a busy life. Set the alarm and dozed off...

I was awakened at 5:30 to my annoying phone blaring its alarm. I had my fishing bin prepacked. I layered up and went out to start the car to let her warm up. I then quickly realized the critical error of the prior day. Probably a good 5-6 inches of snow was covering everything. I tried a few times to get the little car to make it up the hill but it just wasn't happening. I was stuck... I tried for about 30min the usual tricks, but it wasn't happening... I walked up to Weaver's and told them of my predicament, and figured maybe I could hitch a ride with someone down to the park. Rick and Lucy are amazing folks and Rick offered to drive me down there. I was blown away by their generosity of giving me a ride and telling me to just call when I was done and they would pick me up! Truly great folks indeed. Many Thanks to the both of them!

Part 2

Now onto the actual fishing. I will warn you ahead of time I brought no fly rod with me this trip. 1. I suck at fly fishing but am getting better as I learn... 2. Me fly fishing on a crowded river is no good for anyone involved lol. I took my trusty little spinning rod consisting of a Quantum Energy PTi mated to a 4'6 St. Croix ultralight in a fast action running 2lb maxima for the line. This combo has worked very well for me so far and had been super reliable with accurate casting and very rarely will I get any backlash. Rod is very tight and sensitive, yet gives me a nice buggy whip effect so that even in its short length I can still reach out to those holes on the other side of the river.

I made it to Bennet around 6:45 after everything that had occurred thus far. I went in and picked up my tag which read 861. Now after last year at Bennett opening day where it was packed this was a nice surprise and I looked forward to the sparce crowds. I headed down to my usual starting spot above the darn by the retaining wall and had a solid white 1/32 jig on with a red neck. I walked out by where the 2 benches were and cast out. I began jigging and immediately I was rewarded with a hard strike and a fish on my first cast. Not a huge fish, but about average size from last year, but felt good landing a fish on my first cast. Last time I fished was end of November in Tanycomo so was great to knock the rust off at this relatively easy spot for me to reel in some fish. I saw some guys who were also staying at Weavers fishing next to me, we chatted about what we were using and such and soon after that one of them hooked into what would be the biggest fish I would personally see Sunday and Monday. He was using a spinning rod and a rooster tail and hooked into a nice fish. After a bit of a fight he landed him and we realized it was bigger than we first thought. Was a beautiful fish and I think he will be the first on Weaver's lunker board and weighed in right at 3 and 1/4 lbs.

I left my starting spot and went down below the darn. I switched to a Green and Drab wooly bugger with a gold head in 1/32 variety that you can pick up at BassPro. I swear by these little guys and they come in both Olive and Brown variety. They have a longer body for a jig and have a bunch of metallic in them with a trailing tail. When jigging them you get a sweeping side to side action out of them that the trout can't seem to resist. I caught some decent fish below the darn and had 2 fat little 15 inchers on my stringer thus far. I fished from the bottom of the darn all the way down to the whistle bridge and was rewarded with right at 29 fish from my starting point to where I ended. I caught one last little chunker which would make some nice filets and called it a day as I was worried about my car situation. All in all I started around 6:50 and ended up fishing till around 1:45. Not a bad day at all and plenty of action on the line.

I made it back up to Weavers after cleaning fish and started working on the car situation. They had plowed the main hill down to the gravel and after a little bit of working the little car out of the ruts I was able to get her pointed back up hill. A few nice gentlemen who were staying down there helped me with a push and I was able to get unstuck and back on solid ground! I was relieved as I now had a vehicle and was no longer stranded. I rolled into Lebanon and had some early dinner made it back and went back to the quiet solitude and reading until I dozed off at the end of a great opening day!

Day 2 I was again awakened by the annoying alarm. but well rested I hopped up, loaded up and was ready to go. It was much colder and in the teens, but I grabbed some hand warmers for the gloves and headed out. I started again in my usual spot using the same Green wooly bugger from above. I caught a few fish and then they got bored with it. I tied on a 1/16 maribou jig with black and brown and a black head with a red neck. First cast BAM! a fish hammered that thing and jumped right out of the water. He was a jumper and after a few more I had him landed and released. Next was my first keeper of the day which was a really nice rainbow right at 16 or 17 inches probably a little below 2 lbs. She was long and super skinny though, but a beautiful fish. Goal was to make a nice stringer that day so on she went. Around 7:30 or so I was fishing next to another gentleman and he made the observation that the dam was completely empty already. I guess it was too cold for some and the place really cleared out, but usually there's always at least one out there in the morning. He remarked he never saw such a thing and went to get his camera to document this LOL.

I followed my routine of heading down below the darn, and got into a nice hole under the bridge where I was catching them on about every other cast. Caught some decent fish down there then headed down stream when it started tapering off. I fished the faster shallower parts and landed some smaller fish down that way. I hit the big rock wall and caught some there as well. It was allot of find a spot, catch a few, and move on type of day. I made it right to where the fast water inlet empties out and I caught my 2nd keeper of the day. Was a nice fish about the same length of the first, but filled out a bit more and laden with eggs to find out. At this point I was at 21 fish already for the day.

The amount of fish and lack of people was turning this into a great day indeed. I hit the whistle bridge again, cleaned my 3 fish and then planned on C&R for the rest of the day.

I went back to the top of the darn and started working my way towards the start of the spring. Things slowed down when I broke off the black and brown maribou on a nice fish. I went back to the wooly bugger, and bumblebee maribou, even a solid brown was slow. I eventually found a magnet in the form of a black and tan wooly bugger with some yellow highlights and a gold head in the 1/32 size. Closely resembled the coloration of a pale bumblebee. It was a trout gold mine after this. I started wading and would catch a few and move along in and out of the other fishermen who braved the cold. I made it all the way up to the overflow when my jig head broke off from the hook... Low and behold that was the only one in that variety I had. I must of caught around 15 fish on that jig though it lived a good life while it lasted. I finished up with my last fish landed around 3 in the afternoon. Tired and hungry I turned towards home with 37 fish total caught on the day.

With raw cold hands I packed up and headed out. This was an awesome first weekend I have been looking forward to since november of last year. The snow and the spring were beautiful. The fish were plentiful, and anytime you can catch close to 40 fish in one day for me is spectacular! Most everyone of the guys out were friendly and nice to chat with. A very relaxing weekend, and even now as I write this up at work I wish I was back down there. For those of you that read all of this I hope you enjoyed it. Hopefully for those that couldn't make it, it gives you a taste of the new season. If you see a guy in a red hoodie, a red cardinals stocking hat on, and in tan waders say hello!

JestersHK

[Tarheel2288]

Fantastic. I got snowed in opening day but made it out Mon and Tues. Caught several fish on orange eggs and brown wooly buggers. Say what you want about trout park fishing, but for a beginner it's great practice for technique, and a good confidence booster.

[sms_alum]

Great report, I don't get to Bennet very often but its a great place to fish.