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Spring Steelhead Trip

Five hard days - 9 fish landed out of 18 hookups. The percentages were good, but the number of hook ups were low. This was a result of very few fish in the section of river that I fished. I was told by several fishermen that the upper section of the river had lots of fish, but it also had lots of fishermen. I don't travel that far for combat fishing. I would much rather have the space and water to fish and only get a few hook ups than fight fishermen for that space. The largest fish I had on and landed was a hen about 30 inches. A drop back on her way to the lake to feed and rest after a hard journey up the river and working the spawning gravel to deposit her eggs.

My good friend Barry landed this beautifully colored, 30 inch, double red stripped, buck the same day that I landed my hen. Barry is an excellent fisherman and knows this section as well as and better than most guys that fish here. I am fortunate to have met him and to have him as a fishing partner. We were 5 for 7 the first day, I was 2 for 5 the second day, we were 5 for 6 the third day, I was 2 for 5 the fourth day and 1 for 1 on Friday.

To give you an idea of the river we fish, it is about the same size as the upper Meramec River by Cardiac Hill. Average is about 75  feet wide. It is full of log jams and buckets. If you are wading you need to be very careful about stepping into one of these drop offs. You can go from knee deep to chin deep with one step. The log jams are mostly a result of the stream bank sliding into the river and carrying the trees with them. Great places for the steelhead to hold up and great places for them to break off.

The river is a beautiful stream with clear water most of the time. The River level does not change much. When it gets high it may go up 3 feet. When our streams get high they go up 10 feet plus. The river bottom, and the river banks are primarily sand. The key to finding steelhead is finding the gravel and the key to catching steelhead is fishing below the gravel. Unfortunately too many fishermen target the spawning fish and as a result disrupt the reproduction process. One of the methods used by fly fishermen is to swing weighted flies, attached to a leader with an ounce of lead, through the redd, resulting in foul hooked fish. That much weight isn't made for a fly rod and defeats the purpose of a fly rod... in my opinion it isn't fly fishing. They would be much better off using a spinning rod with that kind of weight. Swinging streamers in front of an aggressive male is a good way for fly fishermen to produce a hard strike. IN FRONT of the redd not through the redd should be the target for the streamer.

  This is a gravel bed with a deep hole just below... Perfect Location !                     Late evening hen with some excellent silver colors.

A beautiful River, but there are some heavily used fishermen paths that run up and down the stream that deter from the natural beauty. Unfortunately there are some fishermen that leave behind evidence of their visit. I always picked up what I could, at the end of the day, on my way to the truck.

A Great Steelhead Trip!

I may never have another Steelhead fishing trip like the one I had this fall. I heard on a television report in South Bend Indiana that fishermen had not seen steelhead this size for ten years. Someone caught a 17 pound steelhead in the St. Joseph River the day I was in South Bend. I was making a presentation to the St. Joseph River Valley Fly Fishers about the fly fishing opportunities in Missouri. This group of fishermen is a fun bunch with a large membership. The presentation went well, but hearing that report on television got my adrenaline flowing and made me eager to get on the water the next day. Tim Scott told me he would find a club member to take me to a local stream so I could have a chance to fish for some local steelhead. The following morning John Carr took me to the Dowagiac River, which is a tributary of the St. Joseph. On my second cast I had a take and a silver bullet shot out of the water about 3 feet and headed for the far bank. After a short battle the tippet broke and it was gone. I managed one other hook up and worked it down stream toward John. He made an attempt to tail it, but it made one last roll and the hook came out. I fished about 6 hours with two hook ups and a near landing. I am pointing to a seam, for John, where I hooked up the first steelhead.

It was time to head to Kalamazoo for a presentation with the Kalamazoo Trout Unlimited club. Terry Wittorp meet me there and introduced me to several of the club members. The Kalamazoo club is very active with community and stream projects. After the presentation I headed north two hours in a driving rain. I was wondering what this would do for the fishing. Normally it means that a fresh run of fish usually enter the river, but too much rain would mean high and dirty water.

I meet Barry, my Michigan fishing buddy, about 8:00 AM. After all my eager anticipation it was pretty slow fishing. The rain would not stop and it made the river banks extremely slick. Barry fell on his butt setting the hook and I had just fell on my side stepping down to get in the stream earlier. Felt soles have very poor traction on slick mud banks. I ended up falling down twice more before the day was over. I managed to go 0 for 2 on Friday and Barry was 2 for 4. I had one hook up in the evening at the lower end of a run that broke me off after a fast and hard run toward the tail out. I did catch several trout in the late afternoon, but no steelhead. Saturday was also going pretty slow until about 2:00 PM. The river started to rise a little and the fish turned on. I hooked and landed an eight pound hen then a little smaller male out of the same hole. I had another one on in that same hole, for about 2 minutes before it went into a submerged tree and broke off.  I walked up the stream a little ways and fished a spot that I usually fish from the other side of the stream. I made a few casts and hooked up, but it didn't last long. This was a big fish that I couldn't stop and it broke off on something along the bottom. I moved up and fished a spot where I can usually find a steelhead holding. After about 5 casts I finally had the presentation where I wanted it. The hookup lasted about 10 seconds, and the hook was out. I crossed the river at a low spot (waist deep) and fish another spot I like. I was able to land an 8 pound hen at the head of the hole and at the tail of the hole a 6 pound hen. I decided to walk back up and try the one I lost earlier. Two drifts and it hit again. But once more I only had it on for about 10 seconds and the hook came out. That afternoon, I hooked up nine times and landed 5...a great percentage, especially for me. The last steelhead I hooked that evening was on a very long drift back under a cedar. After going up and down the hole a couple of times it went on a fast and furious run downstream about 50 yards. It went under a tree that was laying in the stream and was jumping on the other side of the tree. I reeled in line as fast as I could and headed down stream to close the gap. I had to go around a submerged log and just about went in over my chest waders. I got down to the tree in the river and stuck my rod under the tree to clear the line from the branches. The only way I was going to land this guy was to wade out and around the tip of the tree and I didn't know if the rising river was going to go over my waders or not and I couldn't see the bottom in the fading light. I did know that if I could get to the other side of the tree I would be in waist deep water. I had to make a decision and Quick... I decided to take a chance and swim if I had to... I wasn't going to lose this fish. The water was probably about an inch below the top of my waders as I bounced around the tip of the tree on my tip toes... if the hooked didn't pull out and if the line held I knew I had a good chance to land it here. When I got around the tip of the tree my line was under another submerged snag, so I waded out and reached as far as I could to get my rod tip around the snag. It was a good thing I was using a 10 foot rod, because a 9 would never have reached and it was deep and fast at the sang.. it would not have been an area that I would have been able to get around. Once I cleared the snag I was in good shape if the hook and line held. This guy didn't give up for another five minutes up and down the hole. I fumbled for my landing glove and guided it over to the bank. I had it!  What a great fight and what a great fish. The Boga Grip measured 12 pounds. I took several photos, but all of them clumsily, because I was using one hand on the Boga and one on the camera and I couldn't see if the camera was focused. I had hooked this fish in the exact same location I had one break off on me the evening before and there was a piece of tippet hanging out of it's mouth, but it must have thrown the hook by the time I tried to get a photo or my line caught it or something, because it was gone. By now it was pushing 7:00 PM and getting dark. I released her and thanked her for a wonderful memory, one I will keep the rest of my life. I broke the rod down and headed back to the truck. I was without a light and I had close to a half mile hike through the woods to the truck. I knew the trails pretty good after fishing here for the past five years, but it was going to be a little different in the dark. The first thing I did when I got to the truck was make a couple of phone calls. 

Not a great photo. That's a size 12 boot for comparison.

Sunday the river was running about 8 inches higher than it was on Saturday and I wasn't getting any hits in the holes where I usually find them. I had to add more split shot to get down and keep it where I wanted it. I fished about 6 hours before I made, what I considered a terrible cast, to a shallow sandy flat. I had a take, but it turned out to be brown trout. I decided what the hell, if the trout are over there, maybe a steelhead would be there. The following cast, another brown trout. I didn't think anything would be on this shallow sand flat, but the trout were there. Two more casts and I was into a good steelhead. With lots of room to play it I had a pretty good chance to land this one. She was a fresh hen that weighed 8 pounds. Three more casts and I had another steelhead, but this one was smaller. Another fresh hen that was probably about 5 or 6 pounds. The rest of Sunday afternoon I managed to land exactly zero and lose two.

 You can tell from the photo how dark (tannic looking) the water was when I took a photo of this fresh 8 pound hen.

Monday the river was still running dark, but I was going to fish with Barry and he knows the river extremely well and where they hang out, so my hopes were high. The fresh dark water gave the steelhead some cover and the rainy cloudy day would really help. They were on a feed and we were the only boat on the river. Sometimes it works out that way, but not very often. Usually a lack of fishermen means the fishing is terrible, but it would not be the case on Monday.  We drifted the first good looking spot, nothing. The second stop also produced nothing. BUT the third stop was the honey hole. We found some salmon on gravel, which is always the first place to look for steelhead in the fall. Barry lost one after a quick, but short fight. I hooked up next and I lost one. Then Barry was into a big one that ripped line and finally got off. I landed the first steelhead, in between several trout hook ups, but it was only about 7 pounds. Barry landed one that looked like a cookie cutter to the one I landed. We moved a little further down the hole and found more salmon on the gravel so we dropped anchor. Barry was into a heavy brute on his third cast. The fish was getting a lot of line and headed for a log, but turned and moved back into the current. After about a 10 minute battle I netted it and we weighed it with the Boga. A hefty 10 pounder. Our first double digit steelhead of the day.  We released her and moved further down, but Barry didn't like the location and tried to move the boat over. Pulling back hard on the current the right oar broke at a spot that had been worked on to steady the oar in the oar lock.  We managed to get close to the bank and Barry jumped out to find a branch that we could attempt to splice to the bottom half of the oar. Fortunately he is good with his hands and he is creative. He lashed the branch to the bottom section of the broken oar with his spare anchor rope. It ended up getting us down the river and actually worked pretty good under the circumstance.

I made a cast to a seam on the far side of some gravel and the float went down. I knew it was big when I set the hook because it was solid... like hooking a rock. The line took off down stream and the steelhead came up. Barry was pretty excited and said that is looked like a toad. I managed to hold on as line peeled off the reel. Then it made a turn and headed up stream. I reeled in as fast as I could to keep the tension. After a deep hard battle it came up and Barry made a pass with the net. Back down it went, but seemed to lack the strength it once had. The "toad" headed down stream, but without the energy it once had. Pretty much dead weight now I was having a difficult time gaining line, but it finally got close enough for the net and we had it in the boat. I quickly grabbed it with the Boga to make sure it didn't thrash around in the boat and put him back in the river so he could begin to relieve the lactic acid.  I gave him a couple of minutes and pulled him up to get a weight. 13 pounds! He would probably be a steelhead of a life time for me, so we took several photos, with lots of dips back in the stream between shots.  

We ended up getting 15 hook ups out of that single hole. It was simply amazing. We figured that the high water from the all day rain Friday pushed up a much of steelhead, because this hole was packed. We continued down the river and picked up some more steelhead at a couple more stops, but had to row out to make it by dark. We took out at 7:00 and immediately started making plans to get some oars for Tuesday. All in all we had 21 hookups on Monday and didn't see another fisherman all day.

Tuesday it started about the same as Monday with sprinkles and some wind. We got on the river about 7:30 and headed for the honey hole where we had 15 hookups the day before. As Steelheading goes and migratory fishing goes Tuesday wasn't the same as Monday. We had to work had to find them, but the trout were cooperating. Barry hooked and released a couple and I lost a couple. I managed to get an 8 pound hen in the net and we moved down a little in the hole to where we had hook ups the day before. I made about 3 casts to where I thought they would be and then Barry made a cast just a little more inside from where I was fishing and he was into a big one. And this guy was headed for the timber. Barry turned it and had it headed up stream, but the steelhead had other ideas. Once again it headed for the timber and this time it was going to make it. Barry could feel the head shakes on the other end of the line and the line rubbing on the timber. There was no way it was coming out. He decided to give it some slack line, but that didn't help... he was hung up. We fished that hole pretty hard, but didn't have near the day we had the day before.  Tuesday would turn out to be a good percentage day for me going 3 for 3 with the largest the 8 pound hen. Barry would hook and land what he called a Skamania, a summer run steelhead which had a lot more color than the fresh steels. On Tuesday we had 14 hook ups and Barry had 11 of them landing 7. His experience over mine was pretty easy to tell in the last two days of our fishing together. While I'm flogging the same water he covered some places that I didn't even think about fishing and it paid off.      Barry, please apologize to John for me, for that little white lie I told him about how many steelhead we had hooked. I made my confession for forgiveness yesterday in church.  I have to get better with tactical answers about fishing success.

Wednesday was the about the same scenario. We were on the river by 7:30 and headed to where we knew they would be holding. Just like Tuesday, it would be all Barry and very little Sam catching fish. I managed to get some trout, but I was having a pretty rough morning hooking any steelhead. We drifted down to where Barry lost a very big one on Tuesday and remembered exactly where that fish was holding the day before. I probably made a dozen casts to that seam without a take. Barry decided to try the far seam and it took on the first drift. The water exploded and he was into a very big steelhead. This guy made a couple of long pulls down stream and decided to head for the timber once again, but stopped a little short when Barry put as much strain on the line as he could. The steelhead decided to head up stream and swam next to the boat and netted it. A short and surprisingly quick fight we just got lucky that he decided to swim up stream right next to the boat. This big ole boy weighed in at 12 and half pounds and had a hook mark in its mouth from a previous encounter... we figured it was the same fish Barry lost the day before... it was in the exact same location.

12 and half pound male                                                                                 Males seemed to be more prevalent on Wednesday

We continued down the river and made three more stops. I finally managed to get some hook ups in the afternoon, landing a couple and a pretty nice 22 inch brown. We had three very big ones break us off in some timber, and we had some get off the hook. Which is exactly what you can expect with steelhead and all of the timber that is down in the river. Barry once again kicked my butt with 11 out of the 15 hookups we had on Wednesday. All in all we counted at least 70 hookups between the two of us. I fished 7 days and Barry fished 4 and half days and out fished me every day but one.  If I had not meet Barry on the river when he helped me land a very nice 30 inch male in 07, I wouldn't be half the steelhead fisherman I am today. With the very limited success I was having before I meet him, I may not be fishing for them today. I have a huge amount of gratitude for his patience and guidance over the seasons.

Not a heavy one, about 7 pounds, but very long and very fresh.   This brown was laying right next to a steelhead I had just hooked.

I thought this was a great departing shot on our last day, of a lodge what was along the float and up stream from a location that we fished pretty hard each day.

Four Days Of Spring Steelheading

This past week I took a trip to Michigan for some spring steelhead fishing. I have never fished for them in the spring, so this was going to be a new experience for me.  Lucky for me I have a good friend up there that has a ton of experience and is an excellent fisherman and sportsman. I met Barry two years ago when he helped me land a big beautiful male that was coloring up quite a bit for a fall fish. Apparently this guy had been in the river for awhile, because the fresh runs are totally silver. Anyway, Barry and I fished together for awhile that day and the next couple of days we met on the river and fished together some more. Ever since then we have been good friends and landed several nice fish together. His knowledge of the river and where the fish are holding is amazing.

Leaving Missouri and arriving in Michigan, 11 hours later was like night and day. When I left it was about 70 degrees. When I got there, the parking lots had snow plowed up in piles that were 8 feet high. There was snow on the ground and the temps were in the high 30s during the day and 20s at night. The forecast was for 40-50 degrees during the day and 30s at high... with the hard wind, rain, and sleet it wasn't going to be 50.. they said it was, but I can tell you it wasn't. I knew it was going to be cold and I took the appropriate clothing for maximum comfort. I checked the local fishing report when I arrived and found out that the water temperature was 38 degrees. Ideally it should me in the mid 40s for good steelhead activity. It was looking like my trip was going to be a lot of casting and not much catching. 

The first day on the water proved to be just that. After 12 hours of fishing I had three fish on and landed a total of ONE. A female that took my Estaz egg pattern.  It was difficult taking photos by myself without a net. I used a landing glove so I wouldn't have to carry a net around. I do A LOT of walking when I go up there to fish and it does make it a little easier when I don't have that large net to carry around.

Barry and I were going to float the next day, so I was hoping that he could help me improve my hook ups. Barry has a nice little drift boat that works great for two people. It will sit 3, but that makes it pretty crowded. His boat is light enough that he can handle it himself when he floats alone, which he does on a regular basis. There is no substitute for time on water if you want to learn where the fish like to hang out. Barry knocked on my door at 5:30 AM, which was a surprise, since we had agreed to meet at 6:30... I rushed around getting my things together and told him I would meet him at the put in. We got started just about daylight and it didn't take too long before the first fish was in the boat.  I picked up a nice silver fish, and Barry caught a couple more. We got a photo of a nice colored up male I  took in a fast run. Then we hooked up with some smaller fish including some rainbow and brown trout. I lost a big brown and Barry landed two more big fish before the day was over. A nice colored hen and a not so nice looking male that had seen better days. We didn't get photos of all of them, but 11 fish in the boat is an excellent day of steelhead fishing. I only contributed to 2 of the 11. I managed to lose more than I should have, but that says a lot about my experience with this powerful fish. If you don't get the hook in solid and keep them from the large amount of timber in the stream, the steelhead are going to win most of the battles getting off or breaking off.  As we were driving back from our float I noticed the time on Barry's dashboard clock. That was when I realized why he knocked on my door at 5:30. Michigan is an hour ahead of us and I forgot to reset my watch. We used my watch to tell time all day... no wonder we got home in the dark.

First big fish of the float                                          Not a big one, but it was clean and a pretty fish         Nice hen with good colors

The last big fish of the float                                 The first nice fish I took on the third day                      A hen about 6 pounds - fog on the lens

This was a pretty double red lined male.                  Underwater shot of the same fish                      This was the last fish of the trip.

I had a great time and ended up landing 11 out of 23 hookups. I counted my first run fish in that total, but Barry doesn't count his. Maybe after I get more experience and confidence I can increase my goals to another level. Maybe next year, but for now I'm counting them all.  I am already looking forward to our trip next fall. I love catching these fish because of their power and their great leaping ability. They are magnificent creatures.

Two Rivers Four Days

When Dave called me in June he said he had a deal for us in the fall. He asked me what my schedule was like, and at the time it was open for the week he had planned. It doesn't take much arm bending for me to go fishing so I marked my calendar for the 10th - 13th of November. We arrived at the North Fork on the afternoon of Sunday the 9th and planned our day on the water for a float from Patrick to the Taylor's. The temps were pretty low in the morning and I had to scrape frost off the windshield. It stayed cloudy all day and the rain set in that afternoon. It was slow fishing to say the least, but we had competition with another boat for the best runs and unfortunately we were beat to the best spots all day.

The next day we floated from McKee to Blair and had a very rewarding day with several nice streamborn rainbows in the net. The largest was a 16" male that jumped six times. The first two jumps must have been three feet out of the water. We had our rigs set up with stoneflies and eggs or woollies and eggs. All of the fish we caught were on eggs or woollies. The weather was ideal all day, cloudy and cool.

Wednesday morning we headed to the Eleven Point river in the heavy fog and rain. We didn't get started with our float until about 10:30 so I knew we were going to have to do some hit and miss fishing to get in before dark. The combination we used on the North Fork didn't work as well on the Eleven point with no fish taken on the egg pattern... all the fish we caught on Wednesday were on the woolly. The weather was rain all day and sometimes it came down pretty good, so we had to bail water quite a bit. We did see several eagles and two osprey, but probably the same birds over and over. There were at lease two adult bald eagles and two juveniles and two osprey but there could have been others. We also witnessed a boulder break loose from a bluff and tumble down breaking smaller trees like toothpicks. It finally lodged up against a large tree, but a small boulder was knocked loose as the larger one tumbled down, and it made a nice splash as it ended its trip down the hill. The nice thing about our float on Wednesday was that we were the only fools on the river. It did clear off late in the day and provided some nice photos of the sun bouncing off the bluffs.

Thursday as another perfect weather day cloudy and cool, and the fishing as pretty good all day. We were targeting the fast chutes and runs for streamborn rainbows instead of the slower water where we were finding stockers. We did catch our share of stockers, but after you catch streamborn rainbows, catching a stocker is a disappointment. We were rigged with stoneflies and woollies with the wooly taking 2 to 1 over the stone. Dave managed to pick up a nice 15 inch streamborn above Turner just before we finished the float. It was an excellent way to finish a very good day on one of Missouri's great float streams and our four days of sharing stories, ideas and our great Ozarks.

Steelhead Trip 2008

For the past couple of years I have ventured north in an attempt to catch fall run Steelhead. My first year resulted in one hook-up and I landed it. I caught it on the first day and first thing in the morning. After that I didn't get another hook-up for three days. My second year also resulted in one landed but several hook-ups. The amount of timber in the stream that I fish is amazing compared to our Ozark streams. Keeping those silver bullets out of the timber is a tremendous challenge. One day last year I met a fisherman coming down the stream. It was the same time I had the only fish on that I landed and he helped me land it. He took the photo and released it. We introduced ourselves and of course exchanged information. Barry was using a spinning rod and fishing with spawn bags. I had never fished with spawn before so I was curious how it was done. I asked him if I could observe and he obliged to show me how he fished for these marvelous sport fish.  We parted ways and he went down stream to look for another spot. The next day I ran into Barry again and watched him make about a half dozen casts through a hole that I had just fished and he was on to a nice Steelhead. He landed it and released it after a short battle. I told him about a big one at the tail of the pool that I lost yesterday. He made two or three casts and had it on for about 10 seconds before it broke off. After that I asked if I could watch him fish for awhile... we fished together the rest of the day.

Through out the year I stayed in contact with Barry and we planned a week together for my fall trip in 08. The first day we decided to float the stream in his drift boat. It was his home waters so he knew the steam like the back of his hand. It was a little chilly that first day with temps in the lower 30s, snow and freezing rain and very windy.... what a great day it was to be for Steelhead. We started off catching some trout and one "skipper". A skipper is a two and half year old steelhead that returns to the stream of its birth and weighs 2-4 pounds. We anchored across from a huge tree in the stream and on my second cast I had my first Steelhead on. She was a strong fresh fish, with good girth. There was plenty of open water to fight her, except for the tree where she was holding. After a few minutes she was ready to be netted.  We guessed her to be about 6.5-7 pounds. Not long after that Barry had his first Steelhead of the day. Another excellent fresh hen with plenty of fight. I made a couple of attempts to net her, but missed both times. She finally tired enough and Barry dropped her down stream into the net. His fish was at least 8 pounds.  He has caught a ton of these wonderful fish so I took his word on their weight.

My first steelhead of the trip                                                                                Barry with a skipper... a young Steelhead

We hooked up with a couple more skippers and a few trout, but the middle of the day was pretty slow. About an hour or so before we reached our takeout spot, we came across several salmon on redds so we pulled over and studied the current flow. After 20 or 30 casts by each of us we decided that the Steelhead must be further down stream so we drifted about 15 yards and dropped the anchor. I made a cast a little upstream of a pocket and got an immediate take when the drift got to the pocket. This was the largest fish I had on the entire trip and I couldn't stop him. He came up and rolled on the surface, but then turned down stream and headed for the timber. I tried to turn up but couldn't and he broke off. I got one of those empty feelings in my gut... I had waited all day for a fish like that and now he was gone. I told Barry were I had the hook up and on his next cast to that same pocket, he was into a very strong fish that took a lot of line off the spool. He managed to turn it just before the log jam and worked it back to the boat for me to net it. It was a magnificent fresh female chromer, 8.5 maybe 9 pounds. (above photo). I retied my rig made a couple of casts to that same pocket and I was into another one. Not as strong as the last one, but still plenty of fight. Barry netted it and took the photo above. He guessed it at about 7 pounds. It was the only male we landed all day.

The next day turned very cold and we had to dip our rods in the stream to get the ice out. The radio station I tuned in said it was 26, but I knew that it was going to be a few degrees colder on the stream... it was. The fishing was still good the second day. We caught a few trout to start with then Barry had a nice one on that got off. I caught a skipper, he caught a skipper and we made our way down stream. We walked a lot and caught a few more trout and skippers but no Steelhead. We spooked up a Steelhead as we passed by a little run and decided to come back for it later. Moving down stream a little ways we fished a nice long run and Barry had a nice one on, but it broke off. I caught a skipper and he caught a skipper in the same run. We decided to go back up and try to catch the one we spooked. I missed it twice, and that was that. I guess I was just a little too slow on the set. We found a spot where a couple of guys were fishing for salmon. They thought they were casting to Steelhead, but it was the little Jack salmon they saw darting in and out of the redds trying to mate with the females. I made one cast in a run below the salmon and was into a nice fish. It took some line and headed down stream. It turned and came back up along the near bank and under a small log. The line had looped around the fish and he was lassoed. Barry tailed him and I had my first Steelhead of the day. It was a nice 7 pound male that had been in the river a little while and was starting to color up. We didn't get a photo of this one, but that's OK, there were to be more. We moved on down stream and Barry came up with a heavy fish at what we ended up calling the persistence hole, because that seemed to be what you needed to pick one up there. I was just around the corner beating the water when I heard him yell fish on. He battled it for a while before the hook came out and went flying into the tree over his head. We switched places and soon he turned another one in the run just below me, but lost it too. He moved on a little down stream and hooked up again but this was in a very fast and deep run and eventually broke it off. He needed to leave so we parted and he headed home. I fished about another hour and managed to pick up a skipper on my way back to the truck.

Barry was going to meet me a little later in the morning on the third day, so I headed for the same spot I caught the male the day before. This time I decided to cross the stream and try it from the other side since I was by myself and needed a good place to land one, if I was lucky enough to hook up. I had a nice fish on with my first cast, but it made a strong run and broke off. The night before I had switched to 6lb tippet and forgot to adjust my drag accordingly. A dumb mistake cost me a fish, or so I thought. I retied and made another cast into the same run... fish on. Two steelhead with two casts.. this was going to be a great day. This guy made a good run down stream and across then turned and came back toward some logs. I kept his head up and managed to tail him. Then I saw my rig with about 6 inches of tippet hanging from his mouth. This has never happened to me before as far as I know, but I hooked the same fish with two consecutive casts. As I was lifting the fish up to lay on the bank for a quick measurement and photo I was losing my grip, so I switched hands... big mistake! He bolted under a log and I was hung up. I tried pulling on the line, then realized that it was snagged in the log. BUT the Steelhead was still holding under the log. I slowly reached down and tailed him with my glove hand and lifted him out of the water and on to the bank. As I pulled my tape measure out of my vest I noticed that his lower jaw was split and that he had a Lamprey mark on his side. I quickly measured him at 26 inches, 14 girth, took a photo and after taking the tippet and hook out of his upper jaw released him. I made another cast, nothing and then on my fourth cast I was hooked up again, but this time it was a skipper about 3 pounds. Barry showed up, I told him about what had just happened. He made several casts into the same run and picked up nothing. We moved down a little and he was into a nice Steelhead pretty quick, but it broke him off. We went down to the persistence hole and Barry hooked up with a nice heavy fish. We were both using 6 pound tippet, so there was no horsing these guys. Taking his time he worked the fish down stream and managed to corral it against the bank. This was a thick female around 8 pounds. We took the photo and released her. After that the fishing slowed down a lot. We were hooking up early and late in the day with the middle of the day pretty slow. As we walked the stream looking for fish holding in familiar locations, Barry found a nice one mid stream below a birch. He spotted for me as I made my casts so I could get it right where the fish was holding. Barry saw the take and I was hooked up with a nice Steelhead. Keeping it out of the log infested hole was going to be a challenge, but this guy stayed down stream from the timber and Barry tailed it for me. We took the photo below and released it. I was going to be on my own the rest of the day, Barry had a prior commitment for that afternoon. I managed to get a couple more hook ups that evening, but lost both of them including the Steelhead I missed twice the day before.

Thursday morning was still a little chilly, but it was going to get warm pretty fast. We went down to the persistence hole and Barry picked up a skipper at the tailout. I beat the water without a look for about 30 minutes. I moved down a little and cast pretty close to where I knew a big log was sunk in the stream. I had a hard take and I was into a very heavy fish. It rolled then made a little run up stream and turned back toward the log, my line went limp....It was a very large Steelhead and the only one that I was to have on for the entire day. We walked a lot and caught a few trout and then Barry found a couple of Steelhead holding next to the bank immediately above a huge log jam. He made one drift and the largest one moved out to take his offering. Hook Up, but it only lasted about 10 seconds when the brute headed for the log jam. Barry applied the pressure to turn it, but it broke off. Late afternoon, the day before, a high front moved in and the fishing went south pretty quick. It was a beautiful fall day, but not a cloud in the sky... I hate to fish on Blue Bird days. Give me the rain, or snow any day for catching fish.

I fished alone on Friday, another Blue Bird day. I caught a trout early that morning, then nothing. I decided that if I was going to catch a fish I would have to hunt for one by slowly moving along the stream and looking for them in the familiar holding spots I had learner from experience and from fishing with Barry. I managed to find a nice one in the exact same spot Barry had hooked one the day before at the enormous log jam. I decided that if I was going to catch this one I would have to switch to an 8 pound tippet and crank my drag down and hope for the best. If it got any kind of a head start it would be tangled up in the logs pretty fast. I made several drifts but this fish wasn't going to move. I would have to put it on his nose to get a take. I finally got the drift I wanted and it moved about 4 inches over and I saw the take. I pulled back hard and managed to keep it from the log jam. I was really surprised that I was able to stop it. I had a hard time finding a place to land this one, because the water was pretty deep and there was only one place I could reach it with my glove. Finally after about 5 minutes I was able to move her into position for me to get a grip on her tail. I took a quick photo and got her back in the stream... she was pretty stressed out, so I held her there for a good 4 or 5 minutes until she swam away on her own power.  I was pretty close to getting skunked again, but fortunately my hunting paid off.

This was a Great Trip!

I have been hooked with Steelhead fishing from the first time I ever caught one. Most of the time they are tremendous jumpers and extremely strong, but this year the water was much colder and they didn't fight as hard and none of the big Steelhead we caught jumped... The little skippers did, but none of the big ones. I am told that the reason is because of the water temperatures. Winter Steelhead behave the same way.. they are still strong, but not like they are when the water is warmer. 

August Float on Eleven Point River 2008

The trophy trout section of the Eleven Point River is one of our favorite stretches to float and fish. We base out of Alton just 10 miles south of Greer access on Highway 19. We always use the Eleven Point Canoe Rental for our portages. Brian Sloss and Ryan Griffin do an excellent job and best of all they are fly fishermen so they have the knowledge and expertise on this river to get you into fish. 11pointcanoe.com  . We always stay at the Piney Creek Lodge. It is located in Alton. This is a great place to stay. Super rates and always clean. They are set up for home style accommodations for singles, families, or small groups. They have King and Queen size beds, Fully equipped kitchen, satellite TV. It is a local rental home that has the capacity for sleeping up to 12. We always stay here on our trips to the Eleven Point River. 417-778-6164 

The temperatures were in the upper 90s and the heat index was over 100, but we were comfortable both days of our trip. If you get on the river early and stay in the shade as much as possible, the cool water will keep you very content. An occasional dip of the hat always helps and reminds you of just how cold the water is. Both days of our trip were excellent catching days. We estimated that we released 40 on the first day. The second day we actually counted each one. My wife released 26 and I released 24, making it exactly a 50 fish trip. Sandy used a crank bait both days and I used my crawfish pattern with a sinking leader both days. Included in the days catch were some nice smallmouth and one stream born 15 inch rainbow.  You will always be able to tell the stream born fish when they get on the end of your line. They fight twice as hard, go on long powerful runs and are beautifully colored compared to the stockers. Look for white tips on the fins, an orange spot at the tip of the dorsal fin, bright cheeks and more brilliant colors.  Below are photos of a stream born rainbow and a stocked rainbow... I think it is pretty easy to tell them apart. I took these photos a couple of years ago. Notice the heron injury to the fish on the right. 

 ©     ©

We use our Coleman Scanoe for just about all of our float trips, and we just about always take our 1/2 Brittany Spaniel Augie. I have included a few photos of our trip and some photos of fish. We fished about 5 to 6  hours both days, getting on the water around 7 AM, fishing down to Mary Decker by 12:00 or 1:00 and paddling out the rest of the distance to Turner access. 5 or 6 hours is about all my wife can take in the boat with her back so we try not to push it any longer than that. If you want to get in some excellent fishing, head down to the Eleven Point. Contact the Eleven Point Canoe Rental for advice, canoe rental or shuttle service.

Steelhead Trip 2007

I like to make a Steelhead trip to Michigan as often as possible. Fly fishing for steelhead isn't for the fair weather fisherman, the occasional fisherman or the fisherman that likes to catch a lot of fish, or the fisherman that loses interest if they are not "hitting". If you can get a couple of hook ups a day you are doing well. There are days that I have fished sun up to sun down and not had a single fish on. Steelhead fly fishing is only for those fisherman that are totally committed, in one way or the other. My wife thinks I should be committed for making the trip just so that I can have the opportunity to hook a couple of fish and maybe get real lucky and actually net one. But if you ever get the "bite" you will be hooked on Steelheading for a long time. They are an amazing fish on any tackle, but on a fly rod they can't be beat. They come out of the water immediately on a hook up. Flipping and twisting then a long run and another leap and another leap, then a dive to the bottom head swinging back and forth trying to shake the hook, then another leap and another long run and maybe a few more leaps. Hooking a Steelhead and landing a Steelhead are two completely different things, I love it.

This trip was a good one, in that I had a couple of days of 4 fish hook ups. The first fish I had on was an early run male, that had started to color up a little. When they first come in from the lake they are totally silver and after awhile they start to colored up like a rainbow. This guy took my estaz peach egg on about the 5th or 6th drift through the hole. There were several Chinooks bedding above the hole, so I had a pretty good idea that a Steelhead was holding below them eating caviar. As they almost always do, this guy came out of the water immediately and I knew I had a good one. Now it was a matter of trying to keep him out of the rocks and the lumber. The current was swift and the hole was deep, with a tree in the water just below. He dove to the bottom and I could feel him shaking his head trying to get rid of the annoyance. Then he came up again twisting and flipping, what seemed to be four feet above the surface. He headed for the tree, but I managed to turn him and he swung back down to the bottom, after about 5 minutes of his head shaking and short runs of give and take my Galvan Rush drag did the job and he was netted. Fortunately for me another fisherman was near and helped me net him. I want to thank Barry Hicks for his help with this fish and for allowing me to fish with him for the rest of the day and the next day. I learned a lot, made a friend and a fishing companion for future trips.

© This guy was 30 inches long. I was told that it is a nice Steelhead for this river. In the background you can see the trees in the stream. Unfortunately there is a lot of lumber in the water, making it very difficult to land a fish if you are fortunate to get one on. They like to head for the timber and usually they don't have to go very far to find it.

I hooked 3 other fish the first day, but didn't land any of the them. Two broke off in some timber and the last one threw the hook. The second day of the trip was a repeat of the first day. 4 hook ups, but this time no fish were netted. Three of them tossed the hook and one found a log jam for protection. The stream was pretty clear and we had to get down to 6lb tippet to get any hits, making it even more difficult to handle these 8-10 pound silver bundles of muscle. The third day was very cold, with temps in the 20s, windy and not a cloud in the sky. It was what we call a "blue bird day". Great for sightseeing, but terrible for fishing, especially Steelhead. The rod guides were icing up, and the line was freezing on the reel. Steelhead fishing is better when the conditions are stable and nasty outside. Rain, snow and wind make for a good Steelhead day. I knew where several  fish were, but none of them were on the bite. I could see them holding in the log jams, and some of them in runs, but they were not feeding, they were just hanging out. I did find one hen that was working below a bunch of salmon, but I spooked her with my first cast. I decided to take a break, it was about lunch time anyway, get some warm soup and tea at the truck and return a little later. When I got back to the spot a couple of guides were there, fishing on a day off, but they also spooked her.

 It can be frustrating when the weather doesn't cooperate. I know what my clients feel like when they come down here to fish for smallmouth or trout and it is a "blue bird day" and the fishing is slooooow. You can make great casts with just the right fly, to the perfect spot and the fish don't do a thing. You would think that they would eat all the time, but they don't. Just like you and me, there are times that we are not hungry and not interested in eating, especially after consuming our fill. Just like after a huge Thanksgiving dinner. Well I guess fish can be the same way, but maybe for different reasons. I have not discovered the secret of getting fish to bite when they don't want to. If you find out let me know, I promise I won't share it with anyone else.

Michigan 2007

I think, no I know that this is the first fishing trip I have taken with my wife that we didn't get a single picture of a fish that was caught. We went to a different part of Michigan this year in search of new waters to wade. As it usually does for a first time to any new area, it takes a couple of days to get your bearings, and locations that are open to the public for fishing. We fished in the Platte River and at mouth of the river into lake Michigan. We also fished the Betsie River in Benzie county. The two rivers differ in that one is primarily a Coho stream and the other a Chinook stream. The Betsie River is about the size of the Current River at Cedar Grove and the Platte River is about the size of the lower end of Little Piney Creek. They both have good current flows with no dead water.

I enjoy fishing in the surf of the lake, but the fishing can be pretty tough with a fly rod, especially when the wind is blowing, and it seems to blow up there all the time. We could see the Salmon swimming around, but they were not on the "bite" as they call it up there. The weather was great for sight seeing, but terrible for fishing. Bright sunny skies and temperatures in the 80s. The salmon were stalling out in the lake waiting for high water and cooler temperatures. When the weather turns cold and rainy they seem to move up the streams a lot better. Someone told me that if the temperatures get cold for several days in a row it triggers a good "push" up the streams. 

If you look close you can see the bait rigs stuck in the sand in the background. The bait fishermen were not catching many fish, so you can imagine how hard it was for the metal flingers and of course the fly flingers as well.

Our trips are family sight seeing trips as well as fishing trips. This is my wife with our going on 18 year old family pet and one of the light houses we visited. This is actually the Old Mission light house at the tip of Old Mission Peninsula in the Grand Traverse Bay.

This was another stop for us on a day of sight seeing. Sleeping Bear Dune is a must see if you are ever in the north country of the lower peninsula. This is a National scenic area that covers several square miles of shoreline. The tallest sand dune can be seen for miles and miles. It stands 450 feet above lake Michigan and looks like a white wall from a distance. We could see it clearly from Point Betsie, about 15 miles away.

The Platte River is clear, tight and an excellent fly eater. If I return, I will take a short rod the next time. A 9 foot rod is not a good choice for this stream. I recommend an 8 foot 7-8 weight rod. These guys are very strong, and can get up around 12 pounds, but most of them are 5-8 pounds. The gentleman you see next to me is a local fisherman named Andy. I was fortunate to meet him and get some excellent advice on fly fishing for these elusive silver flashes. Andy has been doing it since 1953 so he knows how to get it done. For those of you wondering, because I preach clothing colors all the time, my shirt and my hit are actually an olive color. The photos make them seem lighter, so don't send me emails giving me a hard time.

The Cohos that migrate up this tiny stream have the ability to find every snag, and log in the stream. They don't jump like the Chinooks, but they are called the silver bullet for a good reason. They can get from point A to a snag in the stream before you can spit. I talked to a fisherman that had been there a week, and he told me he only netted 6 fish. The problem with fishing for these migratory fish is that you are dependent on the DNR allowing fish to swim up the river for spawning. The Michigan DNR has two Weirs (fish dam) on this stream. A lower weir, close to Lake Michigan and an upper weir where they stop the fish and transfer them to a hatchery for milking. When the numbers in the lower weir reach an acceptable number they release them for their trip up the river. I was told that the DNR actually harvest some of the fish for sale to a cannery and that after they take the eggs and milt from the acceptable donors those fish are also sold to a cannery. The exception to harvesting is with the steelhead. The same steelhead can return year after year to spawn so they are milked and released, but all the salmon die after they spawn the first time so they are havested.

The largest fish of this trip was a 19.6 pound (38 X 20) Chinook I caught on the Betsie. We brought home 1 king and 3 silver bullets, all the other fish we caught were released. I did let one fellow have a couple of kings that he helped net. I didn't measure all the fish, just the fresh one that I kept for the smoker. Some were smaller and some could have been larger, I just didn't measure them. I do know that I straightened out a #8 TMC streamer hook 5 times on fish that were foul hooked, or headed to a log jam just a little up stream from where I was fishing. Most of the time, if they are foul hooked, you can give them some slack line and the hook will fall off. If  the hook is in too deep you can hold the line to the rod and the hook will usually come out when they make a run or the hook may straighten out if it is small enough. The Chinooks are difficult to net by yourself, especially if they are over 20 pounds. The only problem I had with fishing on the Betsie river, was all the snagging going on. I would guess that 8-9 out of 10 fishermen were snagging fish. They put a blob of roe on a hook, or a charetruse piece of yarn about 3 or 4 feet below 3 #2 split shot and when a fish swims into the line, or they see the yarn close to a fish, they jerk the hook into whatever flesh the hooks find and then drag the fish in with 30-40 pound line. Most of the fishermen were using big spinning tackle and some of them had fly rods, but I wouldn't call it fly fishing. I wouldn't even call it chuck and duck, it was more like slinging or tossing. It was disheartening to watch them use that type of method to catch fish. I always keep walking further and further up or down the stream from the parking lot to get away from as many of those guys as I can. Most of the time I can walk far enough to get away from all of them or maybe just one other guy that has the same idea as I do. 

Michigan 2006

Last week my wife Sandy and I went on a fishing trip to Michigan for Chinook Salmon. It was our second trip up there so we kind of had an idea of where we wanted to fish and a pretty good idea of how we wanted to fish. This year was a little earlier than our last trip, so the leaves were not as brilliant, but we did get over to Lake Michigan for some fishing in the surf and at the mouth of the Big Sable River. If you have ever fished along the shores of lake Michigan, you will know what I am talking about when I mention WIND. Casting flies with the wind coming off of the lake is an enormous task, and a whole lot of work. But the scenery was fantastic, and we managed to pick up a couple of  fish.

This was the smallest Chinook we caught on this trip, about 12-14 pounds. I caught a larger one earlier that morning, but I was by myself and didn't get a picture of it. This is a picture of our dog, Augie enjoying the beach. I caught another Chinook that evening when Sandy dropped me off at the river for a couple of hours.

We fished the river the second day, even though it was dingy from the rains the week before, I managed to land one that morning and two that afternoon. Fishing, for me, in dingy dark water is not my preferred method of catching Salmon. I like to see the fish I am trying to catch. With the number of fish in the river, there is too much of a chance of foul hooking fish when you cannot see where they are.

                 These fish were caught in the afternoon of the second day when I was fishing with my wife.

The leaves and grass stuck on the fish is from beaching them on the river bank.

This fish was the largest fish of the trip. This big ole boy was 40 inches long and had a 24 inch girth. Estimated weight (using a formula for estimating the weight of trout was 28 3/4 pounds.  All of the fish were released.  I probably broke off a good dozen or more fish that were foul hooked. Lost 7 to the brush or broke me off. I landed 11 fish in four days, 10 males and 1 female. 3 on the first day, 3 on the second day, got skunked on the third day, (bad location) and 5 on the last day. I found a terrific spot in the afternoon of the last day, but the current was swift and the water was about thigh to waist high in most of the run, except over the gravel. That run was where I lost the most fish. Some of them I couldn't stop at all and they got me in the brush or just broke off. I was into my backing a half dozen times, The last fish I hooked on this trip took me about 60 feet into my backing.  I didn't land that one, she was headed for Lake Michigan with 3 foot of my tippet hanging out of her mouth. Next year I will have to take some heavier tippet for that section of the river. I was also by myself, and it is tough landing them by yourself when they get over 20 pounds.

The river was very dingy from earlier rains, but was clearing enough to see your fly by the fourth day. I sight fish for them, so being able to see my fly is very important. I also have to find them in less than two foot of water for me to be able to fair hook them. If I get into water deeper than that I end up foul hooking too many fish. I target the large dominant males that are on the beds. They are more aggressive and seem to take flies better, not so much to eat them, but to kill them.

You never want to take the fly out of their mouth with your fingers. They have some nasty teeth, especially the males.

It is a hoot to catch fish this large with a fly rod. I learn a little more each year and each outing. One of the best ways to learn where to go and how to fish for them is to talk to some of the older fly fishermen you meet on the river. It is very difficult to land them by yourself, especially when they get over 20 pounds. Fishing with a partner is so much easier and recommended. Last year I broke a rod trying to get one of these monsters in my landing net by myself. We are already looking forward to returning to Michigan next year to tackle the big boys once again.

Michigan 2005

Two weeks ago my wife and I took off on a 3,000 mile round trip to Pennsylvania, New York, Ontario and Michigan. Our favorite part of the trip was our day at Niagara Falls and the last 3 days in Michigan. The fall colors where almost in full display, the Chinooks were running and the Steelhead were just getting started.

On our way through Pennsylvania we stopped off for a couple of days in Warren, to visit with my good friend Patrick Jordan and his family. Patrick has the distinction of being the fastest fly tier in the East. An honor he won a year ago during a fly fishing consortium in New York. Patrick has a great imagination and can be very creative with his flies. He takes custom orders and also ties for several shops in his part of the state. He has tied flies for Lefty Kreh, and Donald Trump Jr. Give him a call at 814-723-0778 for some custom tied flies for your next trip. Or contact him at 125 Pleasant Dr. Warren PA 16365.

After talking to Patrick, we decided to not fish in New York because of the projected crowds. We were planning to fish the Salmon river for a couple of days, but after hearing the reports decided against it. We did take in Niagara Falls for a day while we were there. I think anyone that is ever in that area should not miss the opportunity. It is just spectacular to see, hear and feel the enormous power. If you look very carefully at the middle left, bottom section of the picture you will see some blue dots. The dots are people with blue rain gear.

NIAGARA FALLS American side.

We stopped off at Houghton Lake in Northern Michigan for 4 days to fish for Walleye. We only came up with one Walleye, a few small Northern , one Red Ear Sunfish, Bluegill, Pumpkinseed and a little Yellow Perch. On the last day of our Walleye fishing we were told that the winter and summer fishing on the lake was about as poor as anyone has seen it. Nice to know after the fact. If we had known ahead of time we would have fished another location for Walleye. We had a good time despite the poor fishing, and we had a great place to stay at the Sands Beachfront Resort. Good people, great prices. You can contact them at 989-422-5295 or visit them at www.sandsbeachfrontresort.com .

We spent the last three days of our trip fishing for Chinook Salmon on the Pere Marquette River. This was a new experience for us and we didn't know what to expect. The first day I went alone to try to find us a good location, as few fishermen as possible and hopefully some fish to catch. Finding such a location on the PM this time of year was difficult. The river is very well known for the fall salmon runs and it draws people from all around the world in September and October. After about half a day of driving around I decided on a spot where we would be able to have room to cast, just a few fishermen and there were plenty of fish. I landed the first fish I caught on Monday and it only took two casts. I thought this was going to be easy. I went 0 for 12 the rest of the day. I hooked up with 13 fish total on Monday and only landed 1. I had lost every egg sucking leech I tied up for the trip in one day. My 10 pound tippet wasn't holding up too well and my leader had taken a ton of abuse.  I decided to change my leader and tippet for the second day with much stronger line. Switching to a heavier leader and 13lb tippet the next day was the key to our success. The change allowed my wife and I to land several fish. The largest one we caught was 37 inches. Despite breaking one rod, burning up the drag on one reel and destroying a couple of leaders we had a great time. We found out that these fish required some heavy gear, and a lot more respect than we were lead to believe. Our next new adventure is going to be for steelhead and we can't wait. 

If you look closely you will notice eggs falling out of my fish.

The river was a little off color, but we could still see fish about 4 feet down.          27 inch PM Steelhead

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the gracious people from the state of Michigan. Everywhere we went and everyone we met in Michigan was very helpful and very kind to us. A special thanks to Ray Kade for all of his help and advice.

Annual Memorial Day Trip To Alton 05

My wife's family is from Alton Missouri, so we take an annual memorial day trip to visit the graves and pay respect to loved ones. This annual pilgrimage allows us to take some much needed R&R with family members. The trip includes reminiscing childhood days in granny's home town, shopping in local businesses, some leisurely fishing on the Eleven Point River, nothing hard or serious and fun filled nights of knock rummy at the Piney Creek Lodge.

Our fishing trip was based out of the Riverton Picnic Area...there is a clue about the seriousness of the fishing. We put the scanoe in across the river at the access point about 10:00 AM, another clue about the seriousness of the fishing. Then the girls drove the vehicles back over the bridge to the picnic area. They unloaded the coolers and lounge chairs while I prepared the fishing gear and the boat for our outing. BJ, a close friend of the family and I headed up stream for some fishing while the rest of the crew greased up for some sun. It was going to be a blue bird day and the forecast was 80 degrees. The humidity was low and I figured the fishing was going to be low also. Bright skies usually means slow fishing, especially this late in the morning. We tied on a brown jig for BJ and I tied on a #6 hellgrammite. I told her we were going to concentrate on the shady areas just off of the main current. It was going to require some casts close to the bank and probably some sidearm casting to get under the tree limbs. I wasn't going to fish much, because this trip was for her and I wanted to concentrate on getting her into fish. We didn't go up stream very far when I decided to stop and fish narrow chute. She worked the edges of the current and the large rocks that we could see. Just down stream a few yards we found a large group of gar laying on the bottom. These were big gar, 3-4 feet long and stacked together like logs. I asked BJ if she had ever caught a gar, and she NO and didn't want to. I told her that I have caught them with live bait or fresh cut bait and that they would give her a good fight, especially fish this size and with the water current running this hard. I asked her if she had ever ate one, she said NO and had heard they were full of bones. I assured her that they were good to eat, and that they didn't have bones. A Gar is hard to skin, but once you get the skin off there is a long snow white strip of meat along the backbone without a bone in it. She tried a few casts, but couldn't get a look. I tossed my hellgrammite in up stream to give it time to settle and on the third cast got a pick up. The fish started off with the fly and I let him go about 5 or 6 feet and set the hook, I had him for about a 10 seconds then he let go. I told BJ if we could catch some minnows we could probably catch some of these, but she wasn't interested, so we decided to drift back down stream and try a few spots. I anchored above a good looking place and gave her instructions on where I thought she needed to cast to get the jig to where I thought the fish would be holding. Hook up on the first cast, then the fish came off. Two more casts, another hook up, then that fish came off. I asked to see her jig. The point was dull and the hook was bent up. I suppose from an earlier connection with an Ozark rock on the bottom of the eleven point river. After some sharpening and readjusting of the hook she was ready for another try. At least we know the fish were there and that they liked the jig. A couple of casts later she was hooked up with a nice fish. It turned out to be a 16" rainbow, a nice healthy fish with a lot of fight. It had been about a year since BJ had caught a fish, actually exactly a year ago on our last memorial day outing. She was ready for more, so out to the river went the jig once again. Nothing, nothing and then another fish, smaller this time. A couple of minutes later she released a 12 inch smallmouth. This brown jig was working well and needed to get back to the water, the sooner the better. Her next fish was a nice 16" smallmouth that put a big grin on BJ's face as we landed it. This fish put on a great fight, as smallmouth always do. A few casts later another 12" smallmouth. I was glad she was catching fish, last year only produced a couple of fish for her in an all day outing from Turner to Whitton. It was getting up into the afternoon when she picked up her last fish of the day, a 15" smallmouth on that same brown jig. We needed to head in for the day, because we had plans for an early supper. 

  A leisurely afternoon on the Eleven Point River.

 Montana 2005

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The Yellowstone River

A good friend of mine, Tom Manion, an Engineer with Bloomsdale Excavating, has been trying to get me to go on a fishing trip to Montana for the past few years. There always seemed to be a reason that I couldn’t go…OH I remember now, I had to work. Funny how much more fishing opportunities I have had since I retired from teaching and coaching. The trip to Montana with Tommy has been on my mind for a very long time. When I called Tom a couple of months ago and told him that I was going to go to Montana this year, he was excited, but told me that he was already going up with our friend the famous wildlife artist, Al Agnew. You have probably seen work by Al with Bass Pro Shop or the cover of Outdoor life, or maybe his work in a gallery somewhere. Al is also an accomplished fly fisherman, preferring streamers over just about anything else. I needed to find someone to go with me and I immediately thought of my good friend Corky Stack, who is also an engineer. Corky has his own business in St. James MO., Stack Design and Consulting. Corky thought about the idea of going to Montana for about 2 seconds and said YES. I started getting our flight, hotel and car rental lined up immediately. A month later Corky and I were in the air headed to Livingston Montana. We met up with Corky’s son, Lance, during our lay-over in Denver. Lance had a couple of days of vacation coming so he flew up with us for some R&R. The three of us checked in to our hotel in Livingston that afternoon and immediately called our good friend Tom Coleman. Tom, a bioengineer, was a fishing guide in Livingston, before he developed his own business, Aquatic Design & Construction in Livingston. The office and nursery are located on an island on the Yellowstone. Corky, Lance and I spent the rest of the afternoon fishing off of Tom’s island. We caught several white fish and I caught a couple of browns. That evening Manion and Agnew arrived in town. We all got together for a great meal at the Rib and Chop Restaurant and planned our float trip for the next day. We were to meet our guides at the “Crack of 8:30” and go to Dan Bailey’s fly shop to get our fly supplies for the day.

YELLOWSTONE FLOAT TRIP

Just before lunch I took this picture of Al Agnew and Tom Manion throwing streamers along the south bank of the Yellowstone. Tom Coleman is rowing the drift boat; he was their guide for the day. The picture on the right is Lance Stack, our guide Dennis Alverson and Corky Stack in the background.

We all started with streamers in the morning, woolly buggers and double bunnies mostly. I actually caught a whitefish on a #4 yellow and brown woolly. A Whitefish is a rare catch with a streamer according to our guide Dennis. Dennis spends most of his time guiding fishermen in the summer and running an Elk Hunting camp in the fall. I believe you can find it at Montanaelkhunting.com. Fishing was very slow that morning and a break from throwing those heavy flies and a need to satisfy the growling in my stomach was necessary.

As we rounded a bend in the river we saw the other two boats in our party set up for lunch on a rare gravel bar along the north shore. The box meals of shrimp and rice gumbo had been prepared ahead of time and boy were they delicious. A nice cool Neptune beer (local brew) would have been great, but I would have to wait until supper at the Rib and Chop for that. While I was taking pictures of our party, Tom Coleman’s Lab, Molly, ate my Scone cookie. At least I got to take one bite out of it. Manion had bought them that morning at our breakfast gathering hole, the Montana Cup. Just down the street from the Murray Hotel

 Lunch on the Yellowstone.

After lunch we started to see some caddis coming off. Could this be the famous Mother’s Day hatch? We sure hoped so; it was one of the main reason’s we went to Montana. A chance to see for our selves the enormous hatch the river is famous for. As we came around another bend Dennis decided to row us over to a foam eddy to see if fish were on the caddis. The further down the stream we went the more caddis we saw. Sure enough, they were taking the little critters off the surface in the foam. They were trapped in the eddy foam going around and around. The fish just followed the foam eating the flies as they drifted down and got caught in the eddy. I tried using a dry fly, but couldn’t find it in the foam. A cast outside the foam didn’t attract attention. I decided to use what I usually fish with, soft-hackles. I had tied some up before I left just for this hatch. If I couldn’t see my dry, I knew I could feel the wet. Two casts later I was into a 16” rainbow that went crazy. I ended up catching a cut-bow and two more rainbows out of that hole. Lance broke off a good fish and Corky landed a very nice 18” brown. We had more water to cover and the wind was really starting to blow. It was very common and tremendously frustrating to make a cast and have your fly land 20 feet upstream from the target. 20-30 MPH winds make it very difficult to cast and a hard day for a guide trying to row a drift boat, especially with the wind blowing upstream. Our guide, Dennis, earned every penny that day. I can only imagine what his back felt like at the end of the day. We made a couple of other stops when we could see heads rising to the bugs. Al and Tom found a nice eddy and caught some good bows off the hatch. The caddis were popping out of the water like popcorn out of a pot like my father used, when I was kid, long before microwave popcorn bags were thought of.

In the last riffle eddy we pulled off to fish for the day, I broke off a 5X tippet stripping a caddis soft-hackle. I was holding the fly line when I set the hook and all I felt was the tap and the snap. Of course, I had visions of a monster brown breaking that brand new tippet. I think all of the fish I break off are huge, except for the ones I see….reality…probably a bad spot in the line or maybe I forgot to wet the knot when I pulled it tight. I do that sometimes when I am in a hurry to get a line in the water… “Fish are rising”, need I say more.

©

End of the day on the Yellowstone just above Springdale Montana

We ended the day catching a few fish, but we had a grand time. Al caught the fish of the day that morning, a 20” brown on a #2 black woolly right on the bank in about 8 inches of water. Maybe the hatch will be tomorrow?

We were planning to fish the Yellowstone again, but guess what? Yep you guessed it… surprise, surprise the Yellowstone blew out over night. The unseasonably warm weather started the melt down in the mountains and the next morning the Yellowstone was pretty much going to be a waste of time. But the nice thing about Montana, it isn’t very far to another stream, so Corky, Lance and I decided on the Boulder for some wade fishing, Tom and Al decided to float the Madison

 © BOULDER RIVER

As you can see from the picture the Boulder River comes by its name honestly. The entire stream is almost entirely made up of boulders. Huge ones and lots of nice round bowling ball size rocks with just the right amount of algae to make them dangerous. A great stream to wade, but it can be a little hazardous. The lower section of the river has white algae that reminds one of wet toilet paper. We didn’t like messing with the stuff on just about every cast, so we decided to fish the upper stream the next day where there was suppose to be very little to no algae.

Corky prepares to land a Boulder Bow, on the lower part of the river. His son Lance is taking pictures on the far side.

Lance had to head back to Denver on Tuesday morning, so Corky and I headed to the upper Boulder. The Whitefish were very cooperative and we managed to fool a few rainbows and browns.

Corky and I split up. I went down stream and he headed up. One of the drawbacks about fishing alone is taking a picture of a fish you catch. I managed to catch some bows and browns on my usual flies. There was a small hatch of mayflies and caddis coming off so I had help locating feeding fish. One of the things I regret was not taking a picture of an ugly Whitefish. I know there are several Missouri Fly fishermen that have never seen one. But they are easy to catch especially if you use any kind of bead head fly… kind of like catching Chub minnows on the Current River… they like bead heads.

  A couple of 16” Boulder River Trout. These trout are built long and strong with beautiful colors. No pellet fed pigs here. This is what a trout is supposed to look like. “Torpedoes”

 My good Friend Corky at the Upper Boulder River Valley. At the very top of Corky’s head you can see a groove in the landscape… that groove is the Natural Bridge Gorge

 The Boulder River falls into a hole in the ground at the Natural Bridge Gorge, exits as a water fall about 50 yards down the gorge and disappears again underground coming out at the base of the gorge at the Beaver Meadow Ranch.

DePuy Ranch

The last day of our trip was spent on the DePuy. Al and Tom did not do well on the Madison the day before, but salvaged part of the trip by going to the Armstrong Spring Creek. Al caught a 23” Brown on the Madison but it was only one of 6 fish he caught. I think Tom caught 4… very slow. We heard of one boat that was skunked on the Madison the same day.

We decided to spend the last day on the DePuy Spring Creek; actually the DePuy and the Armstrong is the same stream. We woke up to 26 degree weather and a snow storm. The weather channel was predicting 3-5 inches of snow before it was over. Snow has never stopped us before, so we headed to the stream. The wind was blowing about 20 mph. I guess it always blows in the Yellowstone Valley. It was the only day that I was cold, and we fished in 30 degree temps every morning. The difference was the snow and wind.

 ©  Al Agnew, Tom Manion, Tom Coleman and Molly on the DePuy Spring Creek. Molly was loving it.

It was time to switch from 3X and 4X tippets to 5X and 6X tippets. I didn’t think we would need to get much smaller. It was a perfect Baetis type day. Snow storm and wind. They started coming off about 30 minutes after we arrived. Not a huge hatch, but the fish were rising to them. I managed to hook up with a nice brown that broke me off, then another one and another one. I was getting frustrated breaking off these fish. I decided to switch to 4X and try a larger soft hackle, not a good choice. They wanted the floaters so I had to switch back to a 6X dry. I did mange to catch and land some smaller fish, but I wanted bigger ones. I knew they were here I had seen them at the end of my line. The weather changed in the afternoon, the snow was gone by 2:00 PM, I mean all gone and the temps were only in the lower 30s. It is amazing how fast the snow melts. Three days before we arrived, Billings had an accumulated 17 inches and it was gone when we got there. I switched over to a pheasant tail and changed by tippet to 5X… good decision. I managed to turn more than I hooked, but at least I was getting lots of action. I caught a Cut-Bow that had been hit by a Heron or maybe an Eagle. I decided to take a picture and share it with you. If you look close you can see the chunk taken out of it just at the back of the head. We saw Bald Eagles every day, but this looked just like the Heron injuries I told you about last October. You can find that picture on my website story page I wrote last October. Corky had a good day landing about 18-20 fish, most of them around 15-16" with the biggest about 18". Tom Manion and Al, particularly Tom had a great afternoon. They must have had the right fly and the right location, because they probably caught 40 or 50 apiece.

As Corky and I were putting away our rods on the last evening of our trip I just had to take this picture. What a great sight to remember for a wonderful fishing trip to Montana.

©

Sunset looking up Paradise Valley from the DePuy Ranch just south of Livingston Montana.

New Trout Management Regulations Sign

My wife and I went on a short outing down to the Little Piney Creek this morning. We had a beautiful wet snow overnight and we just had to get out and enjoy it for a little while. It was great to be out in the water, throwing some line, even for just a little while. I wanted to share with you, the NEW Trout Management Signs you need to look for when you are out on the streams this year. I took this picture this morning of the BLUE Ribbon signs posted on the Little Piney Creek. You will find similar Blue Ribbon signs on the Current River from Montauk Park down stream to Cedar Grove. The new regulations on the Current River limit the amount of trout that may be kept, to 1 and the minimum length has increased to 18". These are the same regulations on Mill Creek and Spring Creek. To avoid a ticket and a paying a fine, be sure to familiarize yourself with the new trout management regulations, before you take to the water. The trout steams in Missouri are now categorized into Blue Ribbon, Red Ribbon and White Ribbon waters.

The Current River can rise very fast. Fishermen, canoeists and especially campers need to be aware of the dangers of flash flooding on this stream. Montauk Park is usually evacuated at least once or twice a year for flooding. The flash flooding usually occurs in the Spring and occasionally in Winter months. 

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April 20, 2005

"Barbless or Mirco Hooks for Stockers"

Last week I had the privilege of helping the Missouri Department of Conservation stock the Upper Current River with 6" to 8" Brown trout. I didn't realize how much work goes into a stocking venture, so I'm glad I had the chance to help out. This isn't like the stocking they do in the trout parks. There is a lot of coordination that is required to get the correct amount of fish distributed evenly through out the 7 mile stretch of Blue Ribbon water. Only Brown trout are stocked in this section of the river. The rainbows in the blue ribbon section have come down stream out of Montauk Park or have come up stream from the stockings below Cedar Grove in the White Ribbon section.

In the trout parks the fish are hauled to the various dump sites and unloaded. Connect a hose, open a gate and let them out, or dip them out of the holding tank with a net and drop them in. The stocking of trout on a river is much different. The fish are brought to a designated location and placed in holding tubes. The tubes consist of a frame with a net stretched taught around it. The frame is then attached to a large inner tube. Each river jon boat or canoe will have two tubes of fish floating along side. The workers are given a topo map with instructions on how many fish are to be dipped out and placed in the marked sections of the stream. The amount of fish distributed in each section is predetermined by the fisheries biologist with the data they keep from year to year. A lot of the information they gather is done with the electro shock surveys conducted each year. If you are wondering how they get the two tubes of fish and the canoe through some of the tight spots on the river, they untie the tubes and walk them down the rough spots. The fish are precious cargo and need to be taken care of so that they don't accidentally all get dumped at one spot or the tube lost in the various hang-ups along the way. So there is a lot of getting out untying and retying the entire stretch of the stocking. The vehicles needed to bring the workers and pick up the workers, especially if they can only work a partial day, is a lot of coordinating in its self. 

Dave Mayers, the fisheries biologist for the Current River, and his staff need to be commended on the fantastic job they do managing the Current River. I have never caught a more healthy fish than the ones we catch on this stream. They are all full bodied fish, long and full of fight. I have never caught a skinny fish on the stream, that didn't have some kind of injury to cause it to be that way. Current River trout are Healthy and thriving.

These little stockers will begin to feed on anything that moves. They have had to compete for food since they can remember and they have a tendency to swallow food pretty quick so they can get more. A fisherman not using barbless hooks or micro hooks is going to injure a bunch of these little guys. They have enough to worry about with the Otters, Eagles and Mink with out worrying about fishermen tearing them up with oversized barbs. A good reason to use barbless or microbarbed hooks is so that you can release fish easily and fishermen easily. I personally use Tiemco hooks just for this reason. Any hook over a size 10 or over gets the barb squeezed down and the hooks smaller than a 10 have very tiny barbs that do very little damage. I know, because I have had to remove them from myself and friends over the years. There is a little sting, but they come out pretty easy if you press down as you back it out. People have asked me how I keep from losing fish when I use barbless hooks. I tell them that I do lose a few but I land a lot more than I lose. A barbless hook that finds bone will stay put, especially if you can keep firm pressure on the fish while you play it. I don't keep the trout anyway, so there really isn't any big loss if they get off. I like the challenge and it makes it so much easier to release the fish.

"A Bad Day Fishing is Still a Great Day"

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April 7, 2005

"A Slow Spring So Far"

Normally spring time means high water for the area streams and a great time to hook up with some big fish. But this spring, so far, the fishing has  been very inconsistent especially over the past 3 weeks. Two weeks ago the fishing was good, despite the cold temperatures and the rain. Last week we finally got some warm weather and the bugs started to come off the water. I was excited to see the Caddis, Baetis, Midges and some Mayflies in the air all at the same time. The warmer weather also brought lots of sunshine, and lots of sunshine usually means poor fishing and it was poor last week. 

When I was fishing in the rain and the cold a couple of weeks ago I was hooking up with some nice fish. Nothing big, but lost of fun with 12-14 inch rainbows and browns. It took me awhile to figure out what they wanted and where they were, but once I did I was able to get into several fish. I had to work for them and it took some time between hook ups, but I had some pretty productive days all in all. This past week was  a busy one for me, with three clients, but it was probably the slowest fishing I have ever witnessed. A very slow day for one of my clients is normally 5 or 6 fish for an all day outing. But when they catch less than 4 fish for an all day outing that is down right poor. A man could starve to death if the fishing was that bad all the time. And two of my clients were very experienced fly fishermen, so I don't know what the deal was. Too much sun too many people on the water? Whatever the reason the fish did not cooperate at all where we were fishing.

Fortunately for me I get to go whenever I want to and today was one of those days. With the promise of rain all day, I was excited to get to the river this morning with my good friend Tom. We arrived about 6:00, put on our waders, covered up with our rain gear and put our rods together, while it was sprinkling. Tom and I just knew this was going to be a good day, but by late morning the skies started to clear and we could see the sun peaking through the clouds. We did move some good fish and we each hooked a nice fish. Tom caught a good 16" brown that gave him a great fight and I caught a pretty 15" rainbow that had been in the stream long time. It had beautiful makings with those gorgeous white tipped fins, just like the one I caught and took a picture of last fall. ( scroll down to my story of October 13 and check out the picture of the rainbow with the white tipped fins ). What started out to be a promising day turned into a slow day for the both of us. Tom and I probably only caught 12 to 15 fish between us. I know I lost twice as many as I landed and broke off one good one.

The forecast for tomorrow is just about the same as we had today. A 50% chance of rain and cooler temps means I may have to go fishing again tomorrow.

"A Bad Day Fishing is Still a Great Day"

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March 7, 2005

"Dead Fish" 

My basketball season ended last week in the District Semi-Final game. The ending of the basketball season, with a loss, is never pleasant. Unless it happens to be for 2nd place in the state final 4. A coach always wants to end the season with a win. The end of basketball season means the beginning of fishing season for me. Although it never officially has a beginning and an end for me, the winter months just means a lot less time on the water, when I have to share my time with my team. 

One week after the opening of the trout season in the Trout Parks, I decided to drive down to the Current River and fish below Montauk Park. I knew there would be a few fishermen hanging around from the first weekend of the Park Season and I wasn't  disappointed. I saw about a dozen fishermen along the road in the park as I drove by the camp ground. I decided to park at TanVat, walk the road back up to the Montauk Park boundary and fish downstream to the truck. When a arrived at the boundary, I met a new found friend parked along the road, getting ready to do the same thing. Norm Crisp of Stream Side Adventures, was just getting his gear ready when I walked up. We had met on the stream about two weeks earlier. Norm had been on a week long fishing excursion hitting Capps Creek, Crain Creek, the North fork and was finishing his week on the Current. While we were standing there exchanging stories, the owner of the cabin next to the road at the park boundary, walked up and accused us of cutting his fence to get through to the river. I tried to explain that we had just arrived and that we had nothing to do with his fence. I was explaining to deaf ears. This man was yelling at us to move the vehicle and that we weren't suppose to be on the road next to his cabin, we were suppose to be in the parking lot in the Park. There was no reasoning with this man. It didn't matter what I tired to say to him he wouldn't listen. Norm decided to drive down stream and fish another section so we said our goodbyes and I walked down to the stream. 

I knew there would be plenty of stocked rainbows to catch that swam downstream from the park. I immediately began to see some dead trout, all of them rainbows. Occasionally I see a few that wash down from the park but this was an abnormally large amount. The farther downstream I fished the more dead trout I saw. By the time I got to the second bend in the river I had counted 18. From the second bend to the parking lot at TanVat I counted another 14. These were just the fish that I saw, who knows how many others there were that I didn't see. 32 dead trout in less than a mile, is the highest mortality I have ever seen. I don't know what to attribute the kill to, but it has been my experience that when a group of guys fishing with bait hits that particular section of the river there are always dead fish left behind. I'm just guessing here, but I would say that it was illegal fishing below the park or culling stringers in the Park. Usually, when a bait fisherman catches a trout in the park, it goes on a stringer. Bait fishermen usually don't release fish, unless they are culling their stringers, which does occur, but it is not the norm. Most honest bait fishermen keep and eat what they catch.

I did manage to catch several fish, mostly rainbows, using a variety of flies. The fish of the day was a very fat 20" brown. 

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February 20

"Just a Day On The Stream"

Sam Potter TightLine.Biz

There really hasn't been a trip for me, not what I would call a trip. I have been out every week, but just for a few hours. A trip to me is an all day affair or more. Lately I have been taking short outings trying to catch a very large rainbow. It has been several weeks now.  I know where it lives, I have had it on a couple of times, but I have yet to net it. I went there today, but found two trucks in the parking area. I could have tried to catch that fish today, but decided to try another area, and return to the "spot", later in the week, when no one else was around. The fishing was good today, the river was in good shape, there was a good caddis hatch and the fish were cooperating. Dry fly fishing in February isn't a common practice everywhere, but you can sure do it in Missouri. I was very fortunate today to catch several nice 12-14 inch browns on dry flies. The Caddis hatch, I was told by two gentlemen I met on the stream, began about 10:00 A.M. They were still coming off at 11:00 when I arrived. There were different sizes and different colors, but the primary color was a dark brown size 16. I decided to use a CDC caddis, and it turned out to be a good choice. The fish were eating my fly, the weather was nice and I it felt good to just be out on the stream. Later in the day, when the dry fly fishing slowed down,  I switched to an olive leech and started catching some larger fish. I concentrated on the deeper slower water around large rocks and logs. I picked up a couple of 15-16 browns and the fish of the day was a 22" brown. The only rainbow I caught was a nice 16"  just above the spot the 22" brown was laying.  I decided to call it a day, a good day all in all considering the amount of fishermen I shared the stream with. A reminder of why I prefer to fish during the week. I know one stretch of the stream was pounded by 5 different guys. It makes it very difficult to catch fish, especially large fish when they get that much attention in one day. OH well, I did catch of fish, and I had a good time. I always catch a few fish AND I always enjoy a day on the stream.

Remember "A bad day fishing is still a Great Day"

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"I Love To Fish For Wild Trout"

January 15

Sam Potter TightLine.Biz

Just 10 minutes from my home is a quite little stream called the Little Piney Creek. A couple of weeks ago it was more like a raging river than a creek. Out of the banks and running hard, it was the highest anyone had seen for several years. School let out early so the buses could get the kids home, for fear of it covering the bridge out of town. 

About a week after the flood, I took a trip to the Creek to throw some streamers. It was still up a couple of feet above normal and just about perfect for big ugly stuff stripped along the bottom column. A time when the big guys are vulnerable to close approaches and in an eating mode. I would have rather it been on the rise, but that didn't happen so I settled for the late drop. Not the best time to fish, but I needed to get out anyway. 

I used my sinking leader and I had to add a #4 split to keep the fly down. I like the Anchor double-cut splits because they are a lot easier to take off the line if you need to switch tippets and open back up to recycle them. I never throw my split shot away in the stream or out on the bank. When I finish using them, I drop them into a pocket on my chest pack and take them home to be reopened and used another time. The same pocket I use for my worn out tippets or any line I may find that a careless fisherman threw out on the ground or left hanging in a tree. My wife calls it being tight, I prefer the term environmental conscious recycler. The term doesn't roll off of the tongue, so I just accept tight. I know why I do it and I believe in what I am doing.

I managed to catch a couple of 6 inch bows, almost the same length of my streamer. I don't know how they would have eaten a minnow that size, but they hit non the less.  I also hooked and landed a couple of holdover stockers that had made their way up stream. No color and not the fight of a wild fish. You almost know immediately what they are when you hook them. After about another hour of casting and stripping, came the strike I was waiting for. I knew when it hit what it was. My reel was singing, line was cutting the water and it headed up stream against a very strong current without a hesitation. Turning at the top of the hole the fish headed for the far bank, I lifted the rod high trying to keep it out of the rocks and the debris piled up from the flood. Just before the fish got to the mess of sticks and rocks it turned and headed down stream. I ran down stream trying to keep up so I could take the extra drag of the fly line out of the water. It turned and headed back up the hole, I was reeling as fast as I could to pick up the slack line. The fish came up and rolled, I had my first look, I was shocked how big this one was. The biggest, by far I have ever had on in this stream. I guessed it at 24-26 inches, and that's all I could do, guess, because the hook came out. One of the drawbacks of using a barb-less hook is lost fish, unless you get it stuck in some bone. Oh well, I know where it is now, and I am going back in a couple of days. I will take my camera this time just in case.

"A bad day fishing is still a Great Day"

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"Watch Out For The Traps"

December 22nd on the Current River

Sam Potter    TightLine.Biz

Has it been a month since my last story? I guess coaching basketball has taken up more of my time than I thought. I have been fishing a few times since late November, but just didn't find the time to write about it. We played our last game of 2004 two nights ago. I gave the team a week off for a holiday break, then it's back to practice after Christmas to get ready for the rest of the high school season. 

Today was cloudy and very cold. 17 degrees when I left the house late this morning and 16 degrees when I got home at 4:30. The weather man missed the forecast. It was suppose to snow a couple of inches and get up to 29. I can stand it at 29 but 17 degrees with the wind blowing 15 MPH is down right crazy. My fingers needed to be warmed, with my breath several times during the day, just to feel them. The rest of me was fine, especially when I was waist deep. Fishing was about as cold as the weather. I picked up a couple of bows with Mike's Olive Leech and a couple of small browns with a #20 olive dry fly. I am a sucker for fish rising, even if they are only 8-10 inches long. I couldn't see what they were feeding on, but the olive worked so I was happy. I had a devil of a time trying to tie on a #20 with frozen fingers. I really must be crazy to be out in 17 degree weather fishing dry flies. I'm not sure that the fish weren't hitting the snow flakes anyway. I had to dip my rod all day, to clear the ice, so the line could get through the guides.  Oh well a day to remember, and an opportunity to share an observation.

What in the world does trapping have to do with fishing? Nothing I guess as long as you don't step in trap. But how many fishermen realize, or even think about traps set along the river during the winter months. I know I don't think about it until I see those makers along the bank. I took a couple of pictures of a trap line today just so fishermen will realize what the bright red markers are for. I wouldn't bother walking over to investigate if I was you. You never know where the trap is set. Sometimes they are on the bank and sometimes they are out away from the bank in the water. I suggest that you keep a wide berth, the trapper doesn't need your scent around his trap and beside "your hide won't fetch much on the market", as they say in the Ozarks.

Look carefully, you can see the red markers of the trap line along the bank and another in the upper middle of this picture.

I took my chest pack off and laid my rod down to take the pictures of the trap line. When and came back up the stream I found my dip net frozen stiff. I couldn't resist taking the photo.  Get out and enjoy the great Ozarks, but wait until it warms up a bit.

 "A bad day fishing is still a Great Day"

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“Big Water”

November 20

Sam Potter      Tightline.Biz

In October I wrote an article titled “The Illusive Eleven Point Pickerel”. My wife and I had taken a trip to the Eleven Point River for a couple of days of fishing. We spent one day in the blue ribbon water fishing for rainbows and the next day we fished from Whitten to Riverton. It was on the 2^nd day that I met Chuck. He and 3 friends were also floating from Whitten to Riverton. They had pulled over to a rare Eleven Point gravel bar for a break. In an exchange of hellos and introductions, Chuck recognized my name from my web site and articles I had written. A couple of days later, I received an e-mail from Chuck Whittom. We exchanged a few e-mails and he asked me if I would be interested in trading a trout guided trip for a walleye guided trip. I didn’t even hesitate, and asked him to tell me where and when, and that I would be there.

We decided on the middle of November, because it was suppose to be a good time of the year for Walleye and he nor I deer hunted. After several e-mails everything was arranged. Chuck was going down early to visit his father and take him fishing before I arrived.

On Friday, the day before the trip, I went to the basement to dig out my spinning gear and tackle box. After dusting it all off, I hadn’t used it in a year, I checked the line on the reels and made sure I had the baits I needed. Plenty of jigs and crank baits and I threw in some of my fathers live bait hooks and weights just in case we used minnows. That’s when I remembered to set the minnow trap. I set it in a little creek on my way to school that afternoon and checked it after school. It was empty. I decided to move it to another location and check it after our basketball scrimmage that night. In the headlights of the car I stumbled down the bank and lifted the trap. It was empty. When I got home I checked my e-mails and found out Chuck and his father had caught some nice crappie, smallmouth bass and one walleye that day. I went to bed early because I had to be up by 2:00 AM to leave for Doniphan.

It was the 20^th of November and the 2^nd weekend of the deer season. I knew the deer would be moving around this time of year because of the rut. On my 3-hour trip to Doniphan I saw 7 deer but could only make out one buck and he was a very small yearling. When I arrived at 5:30, Chuck was waiting in the Country Mart parking lot. We loaded up my gear into his Explorer and headed to the river. It was foggy, cool and there was a little mist in the air. As we came out of the little side stream, where the boat was docked, I couldn’t believe that this was the Current River. It was big water! Where I fish on the upper Current River there are places that I can almost jump across, Below Doniphan there are places that the River is about 200-300 feet across. Chuck later told me that the Current gets big about 4 miles below VanBuren, where the Big Spring branch enters the river.

We headed up stream to a spot called Laurie Chute. What a beautiful spot that is. The river hits a huge rock bluff at a right angle sending the main current south and creating an enormous eddy to the north. We caught a few smallmouth there and Chuck decided to go down stream to a few more locations. It was at our next stop that I was witness to a site never seen by myself. I have been fishing for about 50 years and this was a first for me. Chuck had made a long cast, and developed a knot in his line. He decided to cut it and retie the lure. As he as pulling in his line hand over hand a fish hit. Chuck played him well and eventually I netted him. It was a beautiful smallmouth. We measured it at 19 inches and released it. Later that day Chuck hooked and lost a second smallmouth about the same size.

It was about noon, we had a few crappie in the live well, and we had caught several fish, but no walleye. We stopped for a little break, ate some sandwiches and planned our afternoon. It seemed like we would get into fish catch a few and then they would stop hitting. It was the same pattern all day. By late that afternoon we were still catching fish, but the walleye were not cooperating. Eventually that evening we ended up back at a hole we had fished earlier that morning and Chuck started picking up a few crappie and then our first and only walleye of the day. We watched a small flock of turkeys fly up to roost and decided that we had better get back to the dock before it got dark.

All in all it was a grand day. A very long day for me, after getting up at 2 AM, and driving the 3 hours down there, but a very enjoyable day with a new found friend. We had caught several species of fish: Crappie, Largemouth, Smallmouth, Kentuckies, Goggle-eye, Bluegill, Longear sunfish, Sauger, Whitebass and a Walleye. What a trip!  THANK YOU CHUCK

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"The Day Before Deer Season"

November 12, 2004

Sam Potter     www.TightLine.Biz

It was about 9:00 AM when I arrived at the river. I was excited, the stream was up and cloudy. When the water is like this, it is usually good for streamer fishing. I walked up stream about a mile, intending to fish my way back to the truck. It is always easier to walk down stream after a long day on the river. I tied on a#6 double X double bunny in olive/white. Usually a good producer for me in these water conditions. I hooked two nice little browns in the first 10 minutes. I thought to myself, "this is going to be one of those days!". Three hours later I had caught and released a total of 0 fish. I was tying on a new fly about every 10 minutes, and tying on new pieces of tippet almost as frequently. The river was on its way down from an earlier rise, so that may have had something to do with it. I was told that fishing was good yesterday when the river came up about a foot.  I caught 2 more browns on an Olive wooly #10, one on an olive mohair leech, two on an orange/gray partridge soft hackle, and three on an elk hair caddis #16 in dark brown.

Cave Bluff Hole

There were some tiny Olives, Tricos and some small Caddis in the air today, but not very many. The wind made it tough throwing a yarn indicator, especially when it was placed 6 feet up the leader. I had to switch from the streamers to an indicator over a mohair leech, and an orange/gray partridge. My shoulder was starting to remind me of the surgery it had a few years ago. 

All in all a slow day, if you are counting fish, but a great day to be out. I only saw one fisherman the entire day. 

I never get out on the stream during the gun deer season. I must have heard at least 30 shots today by guys targeting their  guns the day before. Makes you wonder what they have been doing the past 50 weeks to not get their guns sighted in prior to today.  If you are planning a trip to the Current River in the next couple of weeks, ( I don’t advise it ) make sure you wear an orange vest, and possibly an orange hat. Deer hunters could mistake you for something they want to hang on their wall. 

Sun setting on the camping hole

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"Beaver Pond Trout"

October 28, 2004

Sam Potter - www.TightLine.Biz

I only had about a half day to get out and stretch a line so I thought I would go down the road about 10 minutes from our home, to the Little Piney Creek and cast dry flies for wild trout. It was raining and I was tired of working on my deck, I just needed to get away for a little while. Fortunately for me I have been able to make some good friends down along the creek, that allow me to fish on their property. Most of the Little Piney Creek flows through private property, so getting to know people is a very important requirement for fishing on this quiet little stream. There are several farms along the banks of the Little Piney creek, so expect to find a few cattle, and where there is cattle there is usually a bull, but if you know enough about cattle you will know which one is the bull, and which one you want to avoid. This quiet little stream also has an abundance of wildlife, including beaver, and today I had an opportunity to fish in a beaver pond.

  ©         ©

I usually have opportunities to fish in beaver ponds when I go to Pennsylvania to fish for Brook trout. AND yes occasionally I will find one on some of our local creeks here in Missouri, like Mill Creek or Spring Creek and the Little Piney Creek. This particular pond dam was about 4 feet high. It was made of sticks, mud and stones...yes I said stones. Most people think of beaver dams made out of sticks and mud, but not many people realize that beaver also use stone. And some of the stones they use are surprisingly large. The picture above gives you an idea of how large some of the stones are that are used in the construction of a beaver dam. These stones were at that top of a section of this dam. If you look carefully at the picture on the left you can see my fly rod at the top of the dam in the center and just above my rod is a very large gray stone, twice the size of the stones in the picture on the right. Beaver are incredible creatures and amazing engineers.

Fishing in a Beaver Pond for trout is like fishing in a Lake for trout. Unlike a stream where the current brings the food to the fish, and they are always facing upstream waiting for some tasty morsels to drift by, there is very little current bringing the food to the fish, so they have to swim about trying to find something to eat. If you cast to a rise on a stream, you know that the fish is holding somewhere just a little up stream above that rise. If you cast to rise on a pond you will almost always cast behind the fish, because a feeding fish in pond is moving. When you see a rise on a pond, is better to sit tight and try to get a pattern to the direction the fish is taking and time your cast accordingly. OR if you can see the fish, better yet. You just have to lay the fly out softly a couple of feet in front of his nose and hold your mouth right.

©   

Beaver Pond trout are very spooky, not Halloween spooky, maybe shy would be a better word. If you try to fish for beaver pond trout, use a very long and fine leader, and don't get the sun to your back. If a shadow is cast with your line, the fish will head for cover and you may not see them again for a long time. When one or two fish "spook" it alerts the entire area, and all of them spook. You have to remember that these fish have to defend themselves from Osprey, Eagles, Herons, Otters and Fishermen. They are not accustomed to someone hand feeding them pellets every day of their lives. These are very wary trout and if they have reached 12 or 13 inches they have done an excellent job of dodging danger for a long time. Wild trout are very firm when you touch them. Not anything like those soft flesh fish at the trout parks. You find out how strong they really are when you are fighting one on the end of a fly rod. Even little 8 inch trout give you a battle before they are netted.

We are very lucky in Missouri to have the quality of water and habitat for rainbow trout to reproduce naturally. Get out and enjoy the Ozarks and remember " A bad day fishing is still a Great Day"

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" My Good Friend Tommy"

October 17, 2004

Sam Potter - www.TightLine.Biz

It was a bright sunny "Blue Bird" day when we arrived. We didn't get to the river until late morning and there was only one car in the parking lot. Late morning isn't a sin in the Fall or Winter, because the Baetis and the Midges are just getting started about that time of day. I noticed a fisherman casting dry flies in the pool at the parking lot, so I went down to watch him while Tommy took care of the coffee he had on the trip down. There were some small fish that were rising and I asked the man fishing what he was using. He told me that they were feeding on Trico spinners, but that he couldn't get them interested in what he had. Puzzled I looked closely and noticed that there were indeed some Tricos flying but I knew that this time of year usually had very few Tricos coming off. I asked the man if he had tried any tiny olives, and pointed out that the majority of the flies in the air did not have extra long tails, and that I suspected they were keying on olives instead of Tricos. 

It was time to get dressed for a day of fishing with my good friend Tommy. When I returned to the river the fisherman had moved up stream and Tommy decided to go down stream. I decided to try to catch some of the fish that were still rising in the pool by the parking lot. Moving slowly ( the subject of my next article for the White River Journal ) into position for the fish rising at the head of the pool, I tied on a spent wing olive in #24.  A half dozen casts later I had the first brown of the day. Not a big fish, but I didn't expect it to be. Usually the average size trout feeding on insects this small is about 10-12 inches. Occasionally we will catch some 15 or 16 inch fish and every now and then an 18-20 inch trout will take them. I ended up taking 5 browns out of the parking lot hole and headed down stream to catch up with Tommy.

  Current River in October

He was set up on a nice fish and he said that he had been in the same spot for about 20 minutes. While working his way down stream the fish had come up for something on top and that is how Tom found out it was there. Two hours later, Tom had not moved, and the fish he was after wasn't interested in anything he was throwing. Tommy ended up taking about 5 or 6 fish from that spot but never did hook up with the one he wanted.

While Tommy was trying to get "his fish" interested in one of his flies, I was fishing down stream below him in a shallow flat using an elk hair caddis, and a caddis emerger for a dropper. It was getting late afternoon and I knew they were coming soon. About 3 PM I started seeing the first ones and by 4 it was a full hatch. The caddis fly on the Current River is almost always a sure thing, late afternoons in the Fall. Tommy and I worked our way back to the truck, stopping every now and then to make casts with our dry flies. Unfortunately we both had to get back to town early and did not have an opportunity to finish the day on the river.

Recently I helped the MDC with an electro-shock survey. During the survey we measured some trout that had puncture wounds in them just behind their heads. I was told that the punctures were from Great Blue Herons, and recently a National Park Service agent told me that some friends of his watched a heron spear and try to eat a large sucker, but he never did get it down.  The photo below is one that I took this past Saturday, of a rainbow I caught on the Meramec River, that has the exact same type of wound we observed during the electro shock survey.

Great Blue Heron puncture wound

 When trout have a serious injury they get a dark, sometimes black area around the wound. You can tell from the photo, that the front third of this fish is very dark compared to the back 2/3. A heron can't eat a fish this large, this rainbow was 17" long, but they still try. If the heron can spear the fish and get it up and out of the water, and on shore he will then try to pick up the fish and swallow it whole. The problem is, that fish this large are too heavy to pick up and almost always get away, but carry a life long scar. Sometimes the puncture wound becomes infected and the fish dies.

Until next trip...remember "A bad day fishing is still a Great Day"

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"Mid October on the Current River"

October 13, 2004

Sam Potter - www.TightLine.Biz

It was a sunny day after a week of rain. I was expecting the river to be up a little and cloudy so I could throw some streamers. I was very surprised to find the river clear and normal. I arrived about 10:00, just in time for the tiny olives or so I thought. They were hatching when I got there but to my surprise there weren't very many. I saw a couple of fishermen in the stream and eased slowly down to them. I asked them if the olives had already hatched and they told me no, but that they really came off yesterday. Yesterday was a cold, rainy day - I guess the old saying about it being a baetis type day is correct.  I went up stream and found a nice brown in about 18 inches of water. I tied on an orange and gray softhackle. The first cast was short, the second cast was closer, but not close enough. The third cast was on the money and he took it. A great fighter, he took me down stream about 20 yards and headed for a tree in the water. I waded quickly to the other side of the stream and turned him back to the middle. We were headed downstream toward the two fishermen I had just talked to. I finally got his head up and netted him. They were nice enough to take a couple of pictures and I released him. He was about 18 inches

I walked downstream about a quarter mile and found another nice brown but this time there wasn't anyone to take the picture, so I laid him on the net and took it myself. He measured 19 inches. It wasn't too long after I netted this one that I got into a bigger brown. This guy must have been caught earlier today, because he just didn't have the fight he should have for his size. I netted him, measured him and was getting ready to take a picture when he suddenly had a burst of energy and swam out of the net. He would be the biggest fish of the day at 22".

I decided to take a break and fish another section of the river,,,,,,Ray King just gave up a homerun....sorry I'm watching the Cardinals and Astros in the first game of the NLS. Back to the river. I fished one of my favorite holes in the afternoon and managed to net some nice browns and one beautiful rainbow. I took some more pictures and let them go. I ended up taking 4 pictures of the rainbow, because it was so beautiful. This is a 16" fish that I caught about a month ago and didn't have my camera with me. I did however get to see this fish again, one week ago when I helped the MDC with an electro-shock survey they were doing on the Current River.  CARDINALS WIN GAME 1     The following pictures were taken late this afternoon. 

       ©

Hatches? Tiny Olives #22 mid morning, small tan caddis #20-18 evening, Miller #12 at dusk. 

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"Is it Snagging Season at Taneycomo?"

October 9th, 2004

Sam Potter - www.TightLine.Biz

Each fall I take about a half dozen trips to Lake Taneycomo to fish at night for LARGE Brown trout. I like throwing big ugly stuff, mostly black and olive Sculpins that I make. My goal each fall is to catch at least 20 trout over 20 inches. Last Thursday night I caught a 23", 21" and a 20". I also caught a 19", two 16"s and several other smaller fish. Not a great night, but Ok. I usually arrive about 8 PM and fish until 8 or 9 AM the next morning depending on the water flow. It rained all night, sometimes very hard and most of the guys that were there didn't stay long.

These are a couple of the fish I caught. There wasn't much opportunity to take pictures, because of the rain and because I was by myself most of the night. I really didn't want to get my digital camera wet, it cost too much money to ruin. I don't know what's up with the anus of the rainbow, maybe someone can tell me?

It is each fall that I am reminded why I stay away from outlet 1 and 2 in the mornings and during the day.  It's "snagging season" for Brown Trout. If you fish there you know what I mean. Guys standing shoulder to shoulder at the outlets jerking their "snagging flies" out of the water. Oh, I know that there are so many fish that it is difficult not to foul hook one occasionally, but if the rod is lifted instead of jerked out of the water there wouldn't be as many foul hook-ups. Using smaller flies, like 18s or 20s also reduces the amount of foul hook-ups. It really is not necessary to jerk the fly out of the water to hook a fish in the mouth. And it is especially important not to jerk the fly out of the water if you don't have a bite. There are so many fish foul hooked just because guys are ripping the fly out of the water when there isn't even a bite. The lifting pressure and the weight of the fish are all that is necessary to set a hook.

I was amazed while watching one guy that "snagged" several big fish. He weighed them and then got his picture taken with these fish that he had just "SNAGGED".  I suppose he will go home and show off the pictures telling anyone that will listen what a great fly fisherman he is and about the big brown trout he caught last weekend. The water he was fishing in was about 18" deep. His indicator was set at about 3 and half or 4 feet. He had a couple of large, probably #2 shot about a foot above the fly. As near as I could figure out, he was using the "strike indicator" just as a reference point. The indicator wasn't going under, but he would set the hook anyway. I never did see a single fish that was hooked in the mouth from eating his fly. Most of them were tailed or hooked in the back. Everyone knows that you need to use 6x, or 7x line when they are not running water, if you want to catch a lot of fish, but this guy must have been using 1x, because he was literally dragging 6 and 7 pound browns out and never did break a fish off.  It didn't take this guy 15 or 20 seconds to get those large fish in.  I guess if you are "snagging" fish it doesn't matter how big the line is?

The thing that upsets me the most is that this practice seems to be becoming the norm and acceptable just like the "shuffling" that goes on. BUT I must admit that I have not noticed as much shuffling as there use to be. Hopefully if enough people start complaining about the "snagging" and fishermen realize that this type of fishing it is unethical for trout, maybe we can get it stopped.

I am getting off the soap box now, but this has been on my mind all weekend and I just wanted to express my opinion.

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"The Illusive Eleven Point Pickerel"

October 5th, 2004

Sam Potter  -  www.TightLine.Biz

I was disappointed that a silly little grass pickerel did not get into our canoe this weekend. I tried several different flies, we had some follows but no takes. But I am getting ahead of myself.

          My wife Sandy and I had a wonderful weekend on the Eleven Point River. We fished the Blue Ribbon waters on Friday and dropped down stream a few miles on Saturday to fish for smallmouth and I tried to catch a Pickerel on a fly.

          We made arrangements with Brian Sloss and Ryan Griffin at The Eleven Point Canoe Rental in Alton for a shuttle from Greer to Turner on Friday and a shuttle from Whitten to Riverton on Saturday. We always make arrangements with them, because they are knowledgeable fly fishermen and because they are really nice guys. They give us some good advice on patterns, locations and hatch times. We are confident that they will pick up our vehicle and boat trailer soon after we put in and have it ready for us about an hour before we take out.

FRIDAY was a cloudy, drizzly day with a few showers in the afternoon. I was throwing a nine foot 6 wt with a sinking leader. I tied on a crawfish pattern that was given to me by my good friend Patrick Jordan of Warren PA. Patrick makes excellent custom files for the Northwest part of PA and the southwest part of NY. He is often asked to participate in seminars demonstrating his unique method of spinning hair. Anyway, Sandy started with a parachute adams and a #14 prince dropper about 3 feet below. It doesn’t happen very often for us, but these two combinations were the only ones we needed all day. And you know the ole saying “if it aint broke don’t fix it”. I really don’t know how many trout we caught, but it was a lot. Unfortunately none of them were wild trout. I have always told people that when you catch a wild trout you will know it. I rigged up a parachute and prince dropper on my 4 wt and switched to it when we got to the tail end of the holes where the water was a more shallow. I prefer to use the 4 wt, but chucking heavy flies is hard on the 4 wt and makes it hard on my shoulder. When I ran out of crawfish flies, I switched to a wooly bugger. ( Make a note, take plenty of flies if you fish the heavy guys ) The Eleven Point has lots of big rocks covering the bottom.

Rainbow on the Wooly.

About a month ago I bought two Temple Fork rods for float trips. I really don’t like to take my Winston or my Sage on float trips, because I am always in and out of the canoe, and there is too much of a chance of breaking a rod. I really believe floaters miss a lot of fish in the fast water because they don’t stop to fish it or they don’t walk it down. I have always walked our Scanoe down the fast water and Sandy has picked up some really nice fish that most people float by. I was amazed the first time I threw the Temple Forks. I could not believe a rod at this price could cast this well, but they do. Don’t be fooled by the price, Lefty has come up with some quality rods. Don’t get me wrong, I wouldn’t trade them for my Winston, but they are ideal rods for float trips.

Rainbow on the Prince

SATURDAY was sunny but it was down in the 40s when we put in at Whitten. I have caught a lot of different fish with a fly, but I have never caught a pickerel on a fly. I know the habitat they like and I have caught them on spinning gear, but I wanted one on a fly. I told Sandy that my goal for the day was to catch a pickerel, but it was not to be. We were actually rushed to finish the nine-mile float in the time we allotted, so I didn’t get a lot of casts to the ideal pickerel spots. If we don’t stop or drop the anchor during the float I usually don’t get to make a lot of casts. But that’s OK, because trips with Sandy are mostly for her to fish, unless we have a slow day and she gets tired, then I get to move to the casting seat.

          We did catch several smallmouth and some goggle-eye, oh and shiners and chubs if you want to count them, But no PICKEREL. There were four gentlemen floating and playing leaf frog with us for most of the day ( if you float you know what I am talking about. We stop they pass us up, they stop we pass them up), you get the idea. Anyway, they were throwing spinning gear, I’m not sure what they used, except I did see a 4” gitzit hanging off one of the rods. I told them that I was trying to catch a pickerel and they would tell us where they had caught some during previous trips and during this trip. Maybe I can get one on our next trip to the Eleven Point River.

There are just a few places to stay in Alton. We always stay at Piney Creek Lodge. 417-778-6164 They are good people and they have excellent prices.

It was a beautiful weekend in the Ozarks with the leaves starting to turn. I expect them to be at their peak in about another week or two. Get out and enjoy our beautiful state, and remember "a bad day fishing is still a great day".