Trip report: Poor fishing

[Mark]

Five of us spent this past Wed and Thurs nights camping at Whitten. The good news is absolutely perfect camping conditions, low 80s during the day and low 50s at night, clear skies both days, and a full moon Wed night. Great spot for a bunch of seniors to camp out of vehicles. We had 2 jetboats and a canoe.

Word around the boat ramp was nobody catching many fish. We met a local gentleman Jim who lived nearby most of his life and he said it's been the worst year for fishing he could remember. He said it is still getting stocked regularly and we discussed whether the extremely low water could be the cause. He mentioned the otters and how no one traps anymore. Jim said otters were reintroduced to the 11 pt but he didn't say how long ago that was. It sure seems like I see more of them now than I did 20 years ago. I saw one swimming by camp the first evening there.

Terry and I arrived late Tues. Before the others arrived on Wed, I hauled Terry early up to Turner's Mill with his canoe. He did the 7 miles in 4 hrs and said he maybe had a couple taps but didn't land a fish. He said it was tough canoeing in low water and made canoeing trickier and more paddling. By midafternoon the others had arrived, set up camp, and got the boats in the water. Joel and Snap caught 3 at Bliss Springs. That was it for the day.

Thurs was worse. I think only 2 fish were caught all day, but admittedly we got discouraged and didn't fish very hard. We were limited on how far we could get upstream and downstream from Whitten due to low water. Everyone we talked to was having the same luck. We did see Mike Jones from Huffstedler's guiding 2 ladies and he said they had caught 21 fish but mostly farther upstream, and I'm not sure if they fished the trophy area. And nobody knows the river and fishing better than Mike.

My hunch is the otters are getting overpopulated, the low water and summer heat has the fish holed up in deep water, and the otters are having a summer feast. Sure doesn't seem like we have had any 20-30 fish days in a long time like we use to have years ago. 

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1 hour ago, Mark said:

Sure doesn't seem like we have had any 20-30 fish days in a long time like we use to have years ago. 

I think it’s like that on most of the Ozark rivers now.   Trout and smallmouth catches have really declined over the past 20-30 years.   Public MDC lakes are the same way.  IMHO.
 Thanks for the report though.  

[Ham]

The otters I have seen on the 11 Pt were eating crawfish. Lots and lots more people on the 11 Pt than otters. Just sayin. 

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27 minutes ago, Ham said:

The otters I have seen on the 11 Pt were eating crawfish. Lots and lots more people on the 11 Pt than otters. Just sayin. 

When Rona started it seems the crowds grew exponentially.  

[Jerkbait1]

MDC should look into this issue…trout were reproducing and that needs to continue.   I agree more traffic and fishing on river in addition to possible otter population has affected trout population.  May need to  consider reducing limits and size restrictions until healthy population can be restored

[FishnDave]

Elk droppings poisoning the waterways.  2.5 times more elk now than 10 years ago.  🤔😅

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2 hours ago, Jerkbait1 said:

MDC should look into this issue…trout were reproducing and that needs to continue.   I agree more traffic and fishing on river in addition to possible otter population has affected trout population.  May need to  consider reducing limits and size restrictions until healthy population can be restored

My guess is stocking is likely down dramatically like everywhere else.  

[Jerkbait1]

Good one elk droppings 🤣

[snap]

I don’t remember catching three fish at Bliss but we may have? Fished in May and caught many…. I blame it on the drastic temp change from one week to the next! 

[jdmidwest]

We were down on Sunday and Monday and stayed with Mike at Riverton.  They did not stock trout since the July stock, so trout fishing was barren.  We did bass above and below 142 at narrows and did well. Few smallies in 16" range.

River was very low and jet boat was running skinny over riffles, no drift thrus.  Weather was perfect and crowds were nil.  Little cloudburst on Sat nite muddied up Frederick Creek and had water muddy below it on Sunday, cleared by Monday.

I am guessing MDC failing to stock due to low water conditions.  I don't think I would put a boat with a load of fish on and go with it.