Niangua Sunday-Monday

[podum]

4 of us fished on a float from Bennett to NRO on Sunday and for 3 hours at Barclay Monday morning.  In a word - tough.  Low water, clear water, bluebird sunny skies = very few fish.  Wrench, I saw you were planning to fish the same area.   I'd be interested in hearing your results.  We had a little success in a boulder run about halfway through the float.  All of the fish came on #20 micro mayflies (as a dropper).  No strikes all day on leeches/buggers, soft hackles or larger stonefly patterns.  We did have a few of the new stocker browns play with us at the canoe take out on small dries.

Monday at Barclay was a zero for 4 of us.  Descent sticks too.  Two strikes among us.  Beautiful weather, fun float, great campfire Sunday night, but tough fishing.  I hope it keeps raining for a while to get some flow going.

[fishinwrench]

Thanks for the report.  The river should be loaded with fish but I know that quite a few got skewered a week or two ago, and it's likely that even more have been stabbed since then.  We are gonna give it a shot, will probably just hit a few key areas to get a feel for it and if it sucks we will form a new plan.  The Osage fork is close, free of giggers, and definately on our radar. 😀

[Flysmallie]

Ohhhhhh, Osage fork sounds nice. Giggers huh? Poor fishing down to Barclay? I'll go check the stretch below Barclay down to Leadmine. I'll report back on Monday. 

[podum]

I'd appreciate the info from both of you.  Back down there next Thurs thru Sat.

[oneshot]

I fish now by the park but down by Lead Mine I like the stretch just before the ramp, catch anything there but Trout.

Like to go over and catch bunch of Redhorse.

oneshot

[Flysmallie]

On 10/6/2017 at 1:31 PM, podum said:

I'd appreciate the info from both of you.  Back down there next Thurs thru Sat.

I'll do a report Monday night. My fatass is tired. 

[fishinwrench]

I had an extremely good time.  Mrs. Billethead caught a few on drys, and that turned out to be the climax of our upper river fishing efforts.  I took a boat but never got it wet, there was just too much other stuff going on and we were enjoying the party.   The Billethead's whipped up some of their famous goose fajitas Friday night and pretty much changed my life. I had the leftovers for my dinner tonite and they were just as good the second time around.  Delicious stuff!  

The kid and I hit the park for a quickie Saturday evening after getting skunked on the stretch from Sand Springs to the lower access (I'm blaming that on Spiderman underwear). We caught several in the park and at least got some slime on our hands. 

Sunday we went for the full grand slam in the park. My daughter completed all but the dry fly part, she needed 2 more but ran out of time.  I completed all of mine in one 40' stretch of the high bank hole 😎  My dry fly fish all ate a fly that BH turned me onto.  Not because it's a good fly....it was just because I was wearing the right underwear.  

The Home Waters & F3T shindig was a super good time in spite of being partially rained out. Some really good deals were made and I got to see some guys that I hadn't talked to in ages. Met several other really cool guys.... and one batshit crazy one.   

I really wanted to stay at least one more day after the crowd cleared, but the calls and messages from the Big Bass Bash were piling up so I figured I'd better get back to the wrenches.  Gotta make hay while the sun shines, right? 

[BilletHead]

8 hours ago, Flysmallie said:

I'll do a report Monday night. My fatass is tired. 

         Looking forward to the report Ronnie!  

4 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I had an extremely good time.  Mrs. Billethead caught a few on drys, and that turned out to be the climax of our upper river fishing efforts.  I took a boat but never got it wet, there was just too much other stuff going on and we were enjoying the party.   The Billethead's whipped up some of their famous goose fajitas Friday night and pretty much changed my life. I had the leftovers for my dinner tonite and they were just as good the second time around.  Delicious stuff!  

The kid and I hit the park for a quickie Saturday evening after getting skunked on the stretch from Sand Springs to the lower access (I'm blaming that on Spiderman underwear). We caught several in the park and at least got some slime on our hands. 

Sunday we went for the full grand slam in the park. My daughter completed all but the dry fly part, she needed 2 more but ran out of time.  I completed all of mine in one 40' stretch of the high bank hole 😎  My dry fly fish all ate a fly that BH turned me onto.  Not because it's a good fly....it was just because I was wearing the right underwear.  

The Home Waters & F3T shindig was a super good time in spite of being partially rained out. Some really good deals were made and I got to see some guys that I hadn't talked to in ages. Met several other really cool guys.... and one batshit crazy one.   

I really wanted to stay at least one more day after the crowd cleared, but the calls and messages from the Big Bass Bash were piling up so I figured I'd better get back to the wrenches.  Gotta make hay while the sun shines, right? 

     Yes the homewaters event and F3T was a pretty neat event. Both a first for The BilletHead's. Friday the Mrs. and I did a couple hours in the park. Actually pretty fun when we went as it was after most folks had caught their fish and not too many people out. Caught quite a few and missed one rather large brown. As we got to Fridays "Garage sale" we found some bargains at the vendors. While I was flapping my jaws and visiting I could see the Mrs. looking at the river. It wasn't long until she said I have to wader up and get into the water. She did and as Wrench mentioned she worked down river to the Wrench and friends camp. She caught and did some big smile bragging on the secret "buzz ball" fly. I think three red tail shiners were landed too. We had taken a grill and goose fajitas to cook and really had nowhere to cook and Wrench and company let us do them in their camp site.  Fired up the grill and went to work with the holy wok. Glowing coals, smoldering hickory and a few flames made the meal just right.  Wrench watched and asked a few questions. I am not going to eat any of that goose. I gave him a slice of the flying fajita meat. He smelled it and popped the slice into his pie hole. His eyes opened wide and he smiled. When the onions and peppers finished the Mrs. and I heated the tortillas on the coals and we all dug in. Five of us hit the river behind camp and fished some. I think three red tail shiners were caught and one stocker trout between us. As far as the meal The only complaint I heard the next morning was from Wrench's daughter, seems as though it made him fart all night even running her out of their vehicle once for fresh air :). No one else had that side effect so I think it was from something else that may of been consumed after the BilletHead's had left.  

   Next morning the BilletHead's awoke early to humid cloudy skies with rain in the morning forecast. We headed to the park not to fish but do some walking and to hear and observe the siren going off and the may lay  of casting and first fish being caught. As this was going on we did the loop from where we parked from the spring to the hatchery trail and back on the other side about a mile and a half round trip. Back to the Wrench camp to find Wrench's friends doing biscuits and gravy, eggs and fried taters. We had done our morning bowl of Mrs. BilletHeads homemade granola cereal but was invited to partake to more breakfast. We had a biscuit and gravy and it was great. For some reason Wrench slept through breakfast and had to be awakened to eat before it was all gone . It began to rain and we got out of the mess after helping pick up. The mornings several half hour talks at the event got cancelled during the off and on hard rains. When it did clear the weather and northerly cool winds made things quite nice.  That evening before the movies we again went to the Wrench camp for a visit. This is where we had to witness and hear about the spider man undies and witness the burn in our eyes as he modeled them. I think he may of lost his Spidey sense or his mind temporarily . His daughter just lowered her shook her head back and forth. We all grabbed our lawn chairs and headed to the boat and canoe ramp for the movies. Yep it was a neat set up with the screen at the bottom part of the ramp and the slope is where everyone set up to watch. It began to get pretty cool and the long pants and sweatshirts felt nice. Our first time at the F3T viewing and the selections shown were neat. We said our goodbyes to our new friends. Next morning we were out of there and headed back home.

    We enjoyed meeting Wrench's friends and visiting them. Especially Amber Wrench's daughter. He did good there with her. Great young lady and she was quick putting it on her dad every chance she had need to. We could see that the nut doesn't fall far from the tree. A lot of Wrench DNA in her but much, so much better looking than him ! Mrs. BilletHead and I were impressed with her for sure,

   BilletHead

[fishinwrench]

4 hours ago, BilletHead said:

I think it was from something else that may of been consumed after the BilletHead's had left.  

Lesson learned:   Never be disrespectful to a bartender, they have ways of getting even.

Halfway through a fish bowl sized margarita I realized that I was way drunker than I should have been.  Come to find out the only thing that made it a "margarita" instead of a giant glass of straight tequila.....was a little squirt of lime juice and some salt.   

[snagged in outlet 3]

Man down!!!