Rising water,

[bkbying89]

I fished the river below the park with two friends Thursday, the water was murky and rising. We waded across above the bend and fished for a couple of hours with just one small brown taken. When we decided to move downstream the water was too high and to wade to the rifles, so we crossed back over, the water had risen a good bit and the flow was pretty stiff. We took the trail down the opposite shore and hade two more trout added to the board by the only guy lucky enough to catch fish that day. the rubber-leg stonefly and an olive Wooleybugger were the flies of the day. The river was moving so fast that a drift was short-lived and it took a lot of weight to a fly down. It seemed like by the time a fly got into the zone the drift was over. We quit earlier than we had planned. The water volume and height was increasing and just standing in it wore us out. 

Bill

[Foghorn]

Drove to the park Friday for the winter C & R opener at Maramec Springs. Had called the James Foundation to see the water conditions and check on stocking numbers. The nice lady said the water was good but they hadn't stocked any trout for the winter season. Thought that was strange but figured I would go take a look. Arrived a little later than I wanted as a light snow had fallen and traffic was moving slow. Water was in great shape but didn't actually find a lot of fish. Started in the upper end below the cable along with another 5 fishermen. Caught a nice 3.5# bow within the first couple minutes but didn't see 10 fish caught in the first half hour. Ventured downstream and caught fish sporadically with a couple more fish in the 16-17" range. Ended up catching maybe 15 fish in three hours-not what I'd call a great day but did get out of the house. Overcast all day and a slight breeze did cut down visibility somewhat. Did see several nice smallmouth in the spring branch.