An Urban Creek, 10/10/2020

[Johnsfolly]

1 hour ago, FishnDave said:

That is a very interesting and useful observation!  Maybe I should put off the pursuit of a MO rock bass until next season.

Hey don't forget that there are actually three species of "rock" bass in MO, the northern rock bass, shadow bass, and Ozark bass.

In most Ozark creeks, I would tend to agree with @tjm that spring and summer are when I catch most of the rock bass that I have caught in those creeks. But I also don't fish many of those same creeks in the late fall or winter.

However, don't give up yet. There are spots that you can find actively feeding rock bass and shadow bass in the winter. You would have to travel a bit further to get to them. You might even be able to catch a brown trout as well. 

[FishnDave]

In northern Illinois, I used to catch Rock Bass and Smallmouth Bass in the winter time in a deeper hole of a small river.  The pool was lined on one side with an almost vertical wall of concrete rip rap. Back before I got serious about fly fishing, I used a piece of nightcrawler on a jighead.  Drop that down on a tight line into the crevices between the slabs of concrete would get 'em.  They'd spit up big dragonfly nymphs they were gorging on.