A Year In Review

[WestCentralFisher]

The year isn't over yet, and I'm nowhere near done fishing, but when I drove down to a little trout creek it was drizzly, and the leaves were finally starting to turn. Something about that scene put me in a reflective mood. As I casted a little Panther Martin, I let my mind wander a bit further than usual. 

I started my year January 1st on the Niangua with my dad. The fishing was slow. I caught a couple little browns, and my dad did about the same. It was a strangely warm day, and as I remember, our shore lunch bled into and afternoon spent sitting on a gravel bar and not a whole lot of fishing.

Despite starting literally as soon as I could, things slowed. Other than a couple trips to the local trout pond, I don't believe I made it back out for 6 weeks. This again was a family meet up, this time on a little wild trout steam. The fishing was brutally slow, but the trout were almost iridescent when compared to the snow covered background. 

The spring was something of a wash. Between bad weather and an insane schedule, I did not get out much. There must have been at least 2 trips to the Niangua, and at least one on the Osage, because my photo reel says there were. My photo reel also says that I caught a few fish. I somehow have only the foggiest memory that any of this occurred.

Somewhere in there, there was a move, and the discovery of what seemed like it would be my new home creek. It was close to home, held a few smallmouth bass, and was clear and pretty enough. I still like it, though I'd learn that when it drops down to summer flow, it's nearly impossible to sneak up on the smallmouth bass, and can feel unsatisfyingly like yanking a goldfish from a tank on the rare occasions I succeeded. 

As we all know, the weather has been strange. A wet spring and early summer was followed by the faucet turning off in late July. But of course there was a sweet spot in there where things were just right. 

As it happened, our big summer trip was scheduled for mid-July, after the rivers were blown out, but while they were still a little high and that dark green color Ozark rivers get at medium-high flows. Any Ozark stream fisherman with a beating heart gets excited when they see that. 

And the fishing was exactly as good as it should have been. We spent four days on the Big Piney, Little Piney, and upper Current, and it was one of those rare times where almost everything worked. Occasionally the fishing required somewhat more than actually hitting the water with your casts, but not too much more. 

Of course, that wouldn't last. Just days later, the drought started to set in. There were more good days, of course. There was a nice float on a rare cool day on the Niangua where the trout fishing was positively decent, and an oddly good day catching above average sized smallmouth on a low, skinny river. But for the most part, it stunk. I never quite got skunked (I am aware that typing this out is the worst idea possible) but there were more than a few trips where that took a fair amount of persistence.

But seasons change. Now, the air was cool, recent rains gave the creeks the slightest of bumps in flow, and the fall colors were finally starting. More to the point, I wasn't having to work all that hard for the little trout in this creek today.

A missed strike from a trout larger than I've seen in awhile on this creek snapped me back to the present. Of course, as the year starts to wind down, any fisherman worth their salt would ask themselves if things were just now starting to get good.