Greer to Whitten. 4/10-4/12.

[top_dollar]

              I floated the 11 point with some friends back in early April.  We did Greer to Whitten.  We spend a few hours on Friday hiking back to, and hanging out at, the spring.  It is one of my favorite spots in Missouri.  The river was a foot or so lower then it was the last time I had been there.  Fishing was pretty good for trout and goggle eye.  A few pickerel and bass were also caught.

             Friday afternoon and Saturday morning I fished mostly with a 1/16th and 1/8th oz maribou jig.  I only caught a few trout, but caught 15+ goggle eye.  Most of them came out of one little area.  Saturday afternoon I tied on a shad rap and immediately started catching trout.  I wish I would have done that sooner!  After about the 3rd fish though I began to cringe every time I hooked one knowing I would have to try and dig the treble hooks out of it without hooking myself.  Once we got to Turner mill and soft plastics were legal, I switched to a small swimbait which worked great and was less of a hazard.  The 11 point is pretty far from where I live, and I really don't care for trout fishing that much, but it probably is my favorite river that I have been on.  It is a pretty incredible river!

             

 

[WestCentralFisher]

That's an incredible river and looks like you had a great trip. There are better places to catch fish in Missouri, but dang few that are wilder and prettier. 

I have largely switched to single barbless hooks on my trout spinners, and it's about 50/50 for my own safety and that of the fish. Those tiny treble hooks are a menace. On a float on the Niangua last summer I had to do some fairly major league self-surgery after removing a Panther Martin from a trout directly into my finger. Resulted in a nasty infection, and soon after that I started switching away from the treble hooks lol

[jdmidwest]

What caused the little trout to die on the gravel?  Did not catch that one.

 

 

[top_dollar]

12 hours ago, jdmidwest said:

What caused the little trout to die on the gravel?  Did not catch that one.

 

 

Probably the 2 sets of treble hooks in its head and my terrible handling of trout. 🤣 I caught it on a shad rap.  It swam off, but probably died later.  

[gotmuddy]

Thanks for the report.  the 11pt is a special place.

[jdmidwest]

11 hours ago, top_dollar said:

Probably the 2 sets of treble hooks in its head and my terrible handling of trout. 🤣 I caught it on a shad rap.  It swam off, but probably died later.  

Mashing the barbs down helps.  A good pair of pliers usually shakes them off over the water for me pretty easy.  Trout are pretty fragile, letting them bounce around on a gravel bar does not help them.  Probably worse than hooks.