Missouri State Record Brown Trout!

[Boobie]

Bill,Everyone is glad for you. Take that and run with it!!!!! You are a true angler and very generous to everyone that soaks up your posts. It was YOUR day and you landed the big one. Not many people would have even got that fish to the boat. Congrats!!!!!!!      What would Bill Beck say if he were around? I know what he would have said.😎🐳

[rps]

23 hours ago, Bill Babler said:

 

Triploid Brown Trout, Lake Taneycomo September 4th. 2019  Girth 28 inches, length 41 1/4 inches weight Forty pounds 6 oz.  Certified Missouri State Record.

Really at this point I have no idea for a title for this post or a reason that God made it possible for me to catch it.  It was simply his plan.  For sure a day I will never forget, with a sad note in that we were not able to get it properly released even with the amount of care that we provided.  Again it was not to be and there is a reason for everything.

On a much brighter note, I just caught the State Record Brown trout and got a big congratulations call from the Director of the Missouri Conservation Department.

Today was a pleasure fishing trip for me.  Seems like there has been a few lately just getting back from Alasky with Phil, but never the less my long time best friend from Grade School came down to trout fish today and we were going to get him a couple of nice plump rainbows to take home.

If you have been following our reports you know that the fish have been all over the Power Worm.  Bubble Gum.  Don't buy any.  Both Duane and I have been fishing the same stretch of water just below the restricted zone for a week.  Duane more than me, as a matter of fact I keep wanting to fish a scud in the restricted zone and he as they say, "made me do it."

None the less, since we were going to keep a couple we started  below the mouth of Fall Creek, with the Pink Worm.

At this point I will tell you there is never a day that my equipment is not gone totally over.  I never fish terminal line or tackle two days in a row.  Never.  Everything is broken down and rebuilt, everyday.  Never fail and what I and Mark were fishing was put together last night.

Main line on the Daiwa Fuego,   BP Excel mono in 4 lb. to a carrot float.  Below the float a Spro, sampo style swivel and then 7'6" of Orvis 6X tippet 3.1 lb. test at .005 diameter. 

 All fished on a Rod Shop 7' Signature White River Outfitters Custom Rod.  We were using of course the pink worm.  Worm was on a 125th. oz. full micro jig.  First super glued and then cemented. Prior to Turner Jones passing, he made me 100 heads with out bodies on size 12 mustad hook.  They are very good, in the Full Micro size but a bit weak in the half micro size of 14.  These were the Full, they work perfect with the PW as the  head glues directly to a wide flat jig head surface.

We were running a bit late and not on the water till 8 as Mark drove down about 60 miles.  Our first pass he put a nice rainbow in the boat while I got him going, just like I would on a guide trip.  Here is the great deal.  Very much unlike a guide trip I was going to get to fish.  On the second pass I grabbed a rod after he was drifting nicely and about that time a cloud came over and it got kind of dark on the water.  Looked great.  My float dipped under and before i could even lift the fish came to the surface and just swirled.  I told Mark this was a big fish, then I said a HORSE as the drag started whirling and buzzing, smooth as silk.  We were fishing a trough and the fish immediately headed for mid-stream.  By then just a 1/2 minute or so Mark had reeled in and grabbed the net.  I hit my bow switch and trimmed my main motor out of the water and pointed my trolling motor to the middle and let it pull drag keeping the rod high letting it absorb the pressure instead of the line.  The drag was set perfect, I never had to touch it, it just peeled off like string after a kite.  The fish made 2 circles in front of the boat and then headed to the back.  Went under the boat and then came out with its head up.  We were not quite ready and back he went under the boat.  He did the same thing again and we were ready.  Right into the Fish Pond net.  As we lifted him into the boat his nose went thru the basket as I lowered him and he rested on the carpet.  We immediately put him in the live well and did our best to keep him frisky and he was fantastic until he wasn't.

I have 3 people in this world that I would have loved to share that type of an experience with.  First is my son Steven and the next two are my buddy Mark and of course Phil.  However Phil and I have had similar experiences in strange lands.

Just feeling so blessed and again, right place, right time.

Good Luck 

Sometimes luck only barely has anything to do with thing. I don't think the typical trout fisherman equipment would have had the same result, even if they accidentally were in the right place at the right time. Well done Bill!

 

[tjm]

1 hour ago, Bill Babler said:

The reason for tippet length is to present the fly at the proper depth

Thank you sir for the reply . I still don't 'get it'  because my spinning line would go to the bottom with no tippet; but I never caught a big fish either so I'll just take your word for the reason and maybe someday the light bulb in my head will blink on. 

Congratulations on a job well done.  Post some pictures of the mount when it's done.

[Terrierman]

Nicely done Sir!  Of all the people I know, I cannot think of anyone more deserving. 

[Bill Babler]

1 hour ago, tjm said:

Thank you sir for the reply . I still don't 'get it'  because my spinning line would go to the bottom with no tippet; but I never caught a big fish either so I'll just take your word for the reason and maybe someday the light bulb in my head will blink on. 

Congratulations on a job well done.  Post some pictures of the mount when it's done.

First, remember we are fishing a strike indicator.  We do not fish carbon on a small spool reel due to memory and of course carbon line will sink immediately and is heavy.   It is also almost impossible to mend or to keep from dragging the float/indicator.  We want the indicator to ride as high as we can especially in current for visibility.  We also want it to ride as drag free as possible and that will never work with carbon as a main line, just physically impossible due to the make up of carbon.  Mono or braid is the primary line that spincast and I'm saying this with a grain of salt, spincast fly fishermen use.  As in all reality we are fly fishing to an extent with a spinning rod, we are deep nymphing.  Some of these deep spin/fly cast nymph fishermen are using rods to 12', so some are longer than a traditional fly rod.  Not only to cast and retrieve the deep nymph, but to help monitor the drift and maintain it in natural order.  Another function of the 7 plus foot rods is they allow you to use much lighter terminal tackle such as 5-6-7X small diameter tippet material.  They are tremendous shock absorbers as when fished at a high attitude they take the pressure off the light tippet and transfer it to the rod.  With the quality of the reels and the drag systems we have today you can fish very light line with excellent results if your technique is good and you take your time.

From the strike indicator down, we DO want the weight of the line to help sink the fly or nymph as they are usually small and very light.  Usually no bigger than a 12 or 14 and sometimes a 16 or 18.  So most if not all of us use a light carbon tippet in the 5X to 6X range, usually with small diameter almost always at .005 or there abouts.  It sinks and maintains a very low drag.  Even a mono of 2 pounds will be way thicker on the diameter and will not sink at the rate of the tippet.  a very low diameter mono is .046 at the very best and it is not a sinking line like the carbon.  You would have to add a lot of additional weight to the line to get it to the depth we want.  Right now in flow most are deep nymphing with a fly or spinning rod at around 10' below the indicator, depending where you are fishing and the depth and speed of the water.  7' to 8' is good right now where I am fishing.  I want a gentle tick along the bottom presenting the nymph directly into the face of the fish, I do not want the fish to either rise or move side to side, i want it right in their face.

Phil or Duane can jump in here, but when I'm guiding, I'm for the most part not fishing for fish.  I know that sounds strange, but I'm fishing for bites  From the day before thru the entire trip I'm setting equipment and technique to simply get another bite.  Any legal step and legal action I can use to get my client one more bite is what I'm looking for.  Not every bite is a fish, but most every bite or non-bite tells you something if you will listen and then practice that and then modify your practice to make it as perfect as you can.  I have been doing this full time for almost 30 years taking folks that fish once a year and trying to get them the maximum amount of bites I can in a 4 or 6 hr. trip.  I learn something from everyone of them and I learn something everyday.   What I'm doing now has taken me 40 years to learn and I'm far from done learning and hope that continues.

Currently every guide on Taney that knows their business are fishing a similar method when nymphing with either a fly or spinning rod, it is a technique that has been developing really since I was going to school here in the middle 70's and continues to be modified and perfected.

Good Luck and i hope this explains it.

[RHoward]

Your old friends from S of O, in Southeast Missouri, send congratulations on your accomplishment.

[Sore Thumbs]

Amazing. 

[Bill Babler]

Hey Rich, thank you very much.

[Travis Swift]

Mr Babler I'm sure I saw you on the water this weekend right above the narrows and I sure wish I would of spoken up because I wanted to congratulate you sir!!  I have a question, what size of Daiwa do you use? I'm in search of a replacement for all my Shimano trout reels as they are plum wore out.  I fish jigs straight on mine if that helps answer the question. 

Congrats again! 

Travis Swift 

[laker67]

On 9/4/2019 at 5:02 PM, Bill Babler said:

 

Triploid Brown Trout, Lake Taneycomo September 4th. 2019  Girth 28 inches, length 41 1/4 inches weight Forty pounds 6 oz.  Certified Missouri State Record.

Really at this point I have no idea for a title for this post or a reason that God made it possible for me to catch it.  It was simply his plan.  For sure a day I will never forget, with a sad note in that we were not able to get it properly released even with the amount of care that we provided.  Again it was not to be and there is a reason for everything.

On a much brighter note, I just caught the State Record Brown trout and got a big congratulations call from the Director of the Missouri Conservation Department.

Today was a pleasure fishing trip for me.  Seems like there has been a few lately just getting back from Alasky with Phil, but never the less my long time best friend from Grade School came down to trout fish today and we were going to get him a couple of nice plump rainbows to take home.

If you have been following our reports you know that the fish have been all over the Power Worm.  Bubble Gum.  Don't buy any.  Both Duane and I have been fishing the same stretch of water just below the restricted zone for a week.  Duane more than me, as a matter of fact I keep wanting to fish a scud in the restricted zone and he as they say, "made me do it."

None the less, since we were going to keep a couple we started  below the mouth of Fall Creek, with the Pink Worm.

At this point I will tell you there is never a day that my equipment is not gone totally over.  I never fish terminal line or tackle two days in a row.  Never.  Everything is broken down and rebuilt, everyday.  Never fail and what I and Mark were fishing was put together last night.

Main line on the Daiwa Fuego,   BP Excel mono in 4 lb. to a carrot float.  Below the float a Spro, sampo style swivel and then 7'6" of Orvis 6X tippet 3.1 lb. test at .005 diameter. 

 All fished on a Rod Shop 7' Signature White River Outfitters Custom Rod.  We were using of course the pink worm.  Worm was on a 125th. oz. full micro jig.  First super glued and then cemented. Prior to Turner Jones passing, he made me 100 heads with out bodies on size 12 mustad hook.  They are very good, in the Full Micro size but a bit weak in the half micro size of 14.  These were the Full, they work perfect with the PW as the  head glues directly to a wide flat jig head surface.

We were running a bit late and not on the water till 8 as Mark drove down about 60 miles.  Our first pass he put a nice rainbow in the boat while I got him going, just like I would on a guide trip.  Here is the great deal.  Very much unlike a guide trip I was going to get to fish.  On the second pass I grabbed a rod after he was drifting nicely and about that time a cloud came over and it got kind of dark on the water.  Looked great.  My float dipped under and before i could even lift the fish came to the surface and just swirled.  I told Mark this was a big fish, then I said a HORSE as the drag started whirling and buzzing, smooth as silk.  We were fishing a trough and the fish immediately headed for mid-stream.  By then just a 1/2 minute or so Mark had reeled in and grabbed the net.  I hit my bow switch and trimmed my main motor out of the water and pointed my trolling motor to the middle and let it pull drag keeping the rod high letting it absorb the pressure instead of the line.  The drag was set perfect, I never had to touch it, it just peeled off like string after a kite.  The fish made 2 circles in front of the boat and then headed to the back.  Went under the boat and then came out with its head up.  We were not quite ready and back he went under the boat.  He did the same thing again and we were ready.  Right into the Fish Pond net.  As we lifted him into the boat his nose went thru the basket as I lowered him and he rested on the carpet.  We immediately put him in the live well and did our best to keep him frisky and he was fantastic until he wasn't.

I have 3 people in this world that I would have loved to share that type of an experience with.  First is my son Steven and the next two are my buddy Mark and of course Phil.  However Phil and I have had similar experiences in strange lands.

Just feeling so blessed and again, right place, right time.

Good Luck 

 

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I enjoyed reading this.  Your name was part of this household.  I think Rick bragged about your fish as much as he did his own. That call from MDC was a thrill for him, as were all the other congratulatory calls and comments.  Happy fishing!  And as my hubby often said, "Now go catch another one!"