Shaken it up a mite

[Bill Babler]

Guys, I know that we have an excellent following of wade fisherman on this forum, but take a listen from one of the old timers that has been fishing this pond since the 7, I can't remember when.

The fishing from Branson, to the base of the restricted area, and I flat don't care if you are using powerbait, night crawlers, any fly you can think of or a gold hook, without bait, is in my oponion at a level we have not seen since the 70's.

These fish have been in here a couple of weeks now and they are mean, mean, mean! 14 inchers, no problem. 16 inchers, no problem. 18 inch fish, they are there. 20 inchers also have been stocked and I have seen them today on stringers coming from in front of the landing.

We had at least 50 fish on my 4 hr. trip today, with very few under 15 inches and all were very acrobatic. High energy, High flyers. WE broke 4 off on 4 pound test, and the folks didn't seem to be putting that much prussure on em.

They are just big and fight hard. We have had nothing like this in at least 20 years.

You everyday wade boys, come and have a blast before they are gone.

You can access these fish anywhere from Scotty's to Bass Pro, grab your long stick and come on down.

Better yet, rent or put in your boat and get after them, it is a true blessing.

[Phil Lilley]

I can see the headlines now...

"Fly fisherman hooks Famous Dave patron on his back cast"

Don't let one of those guys in orange catch you fishing off the wall.

I got down there a little this evening but I was fishing for crappie, not trout. But I couldn't help catching these rainbows Bill's talking about. They are big and make some impressive runs.

[Greg]

I think it's just flat out good right now. I talked to Carolyn at river run outfitters earlier today and she said it's been great for waders as well - if you can catch a time when the water is off.

I got out for the first time in weeks this afternoon. It was just fantastic fishing for me as well. Started out just below the cable at about 3 PM. They had been running one generator but they shut it off shortly after I got there. For the next few hours the action was pretty much non stop for me. I was using a mohair leech part of the time and a zebra midge the rest but it didn't seem to matter - they were hitting just about anything.

I was counting for a while but lost count after 20 or so. Caught 40 - maybe even 50 fish in the 4 hours I was there. Some small stockers but a lot of fish in the slot. Nothing huge but quite a few in the 14 to 16" range. All I caught were rainbows today - no browns. Like Bill said they were extremely healthy and full of fight. I fished until they started cranking up the generator again at about 7 PM.

It felt great to be out. This was my first time out in 07 due to the ice storm and some family illnesses. I hope this is a sign of a good year to come! I think most would agree that 2006 was a bit of a down year.

Greg

[Fozzy]

I agree Sunday i was fishing powerbait around the Island, and i was catching Bigger & more quality trout that i have in years here...

The fish seemed to be in better health, and they definately fought harder. They were 14 -15 inch size...