PB at Crane Creek

[Johnsfolly]

I went down to Crane creek yesterday to try to catch two more species to complete my annual total species caught during the MO license year goal. My hope was to catch a McCloud river rainbow (separate subspecies so considering this different from the rainbows released elsewhere) and a grass pickerel. I left the house at 4 am, stopped to drop off a care package to my daughter in Warrensburg, and still able to get on the water around 8 am. I could not believe that there were no cars in the parking lot when I arrived. I fished the upper section of the creek where I had success there in the past. The first observation was that a lot of the logjams and wood piles where moved out of many of the holes that I fished in the past. There was no shoreline vegetation. I did have my Mad turkey blind with me and was wearing camo jacket and pants. The wind was really strong throughout the day. As with past trips, I was fishing with spin tackle and 2 lb P-line fluoroclear line. So my bait were not going to have much weight to help with casting. I started fishing with a hopper and copper john nymph combo using the hopper as a indicator and to add additional weight for casting. The wind really prevented me from standing further back from the creek to make accurate casts. So I had to fish closer to the creek than I would really prefer. So I tried to fish fast moving water sections so that the trout were less likely to see me. That worked. Once I was able to drop my bait in the current seem I got bit. The trout caught me off guard and ran downstream and broke me off on some wood.

I moved down stream and fished an S curve that cut under a large sycamore tree. I did set-up the miniblind and cast from behind the blind drifting my baits down the stream to below the undercut tree. I did not have any more copper john baits, So I switched to a beaded Prince nymph and got bit by a large trout, but did not get a hook set. I let the nymph drift a couple of more times and let it go further downstream. I only had one fish go after that bait again and it was a large striped shiner and not a rainbow. I switched to a gold ribbed hares ear nymph and again missed another trout. After several more casts I decided to fish off of the roots of the sycamore roots. I could see one large trout and several smaller ones and a plenty of chubs and shiners. I switched to a multicolored egg. The large trout did hit the bait and again I did not get a hook set on this fish. I did drift the egg a couple of more times and caught a 6 " rainbow with heavy parr marks and a fat 10 " trout.

Now with two McClouds caught, I was trying for a pickerel. I switched to a Panther martin spinner. I caught several large creek chubs and may have one pickerel follow this bait. I just didn't see as many pickerel as I did on my last trip to Crane. Maybe they are more active in the summer or the lack of wood cover resulted in less pickerel. I did fish another big sycamore over a big hole and again was standing on the roots drifting baits below me. I saw a decent trout and drifted my bait towards him and he bit I had to fight it down the bank to get to a spot that I could land him with my net.

He was 15.5 inches in length, but really thin for his length. It’s possible that he was recovering from the spawn. It was a good thing that he swallowed my minnow before I landed him to give him a needed protein boost. Alright I was not using live bait. I caught him on the same egg pattern that I caught the other trout this morning.

I did not catch any other new species towards my goal, but I had a great day on the creek. 480 miles round trip in one day was worth it to fish such a great stream and catching my personal best for this creek. Priceless.

[Amery]

Sounds like a fly rod would be more effective. Seeing how you are fishing flies. 

[Johnsfolly]

Amery - I would agree about a fly rod to be better able to cast out the small flies that I was using. That assumes that I am that good at casting. I have to seriously home those skills to be able to effectively fish this small stream without spooking every trout with the fly line going over their heads. I have fished all of the wild trout streams in MO with my spinning gear and do find that the line and bait rarely spook the trout even if they can clearly see me when I cast to them. I can currently forget about trying Blue Springs with a fly rod at this time. I lost a lot of tackle using a rod that I can cast well on that little stream.

[trythisonemv]

A roll cast and patience have been my best help down there.  They aren't super line shy as long as you aren't stomping around you can get away with line upping them.  Great trip though I really like the upper access.  Its very quiet. Congrats on the pb.  

[Ryan Walker]

On 3/2/2016 at 1:58 PM, trythisonemv said:

A roll cast and patience have been my best help down there.  They aren't super line shy as long as you aren't stomping around you can get away with line upping them.  Great trip though I really like the upper access.  Its very quiet. Congrats on the pb.  

I agree with trythisonemv. Go to YouTube and search "Joe Humphreys nymphing", and you'll see him casting to creeks you can lay across. Mostly roll casts and bow/arrow casting. I fish Crane regularly and rarely cast overhand. Get good at the roll and it will open up the water at Crane for you....Congrats on the PB btw...