3/22/12 Middle Creek State Fishing Lake..."In Search of.....Well , Anything."

After 3 straight days of persistent rain around here it finally broke for a few hours yesterday on what just happened to be my day off. I could tell Joe was tired of being couped up and was anxious to get outside , it's amazing how much we think alike.

With a few hours to kill in the morning we decided to take off and go hit a small public fishing lake just South of home. I didn't expect to find much of anything except a soggy trail leading to an off-colored lake still on the rise from the recent deluge of rain. My intuition wasn't too far off base. No matter , the sun was trying to peek out from behind the thick clouds and Joe and I were both happy just to get out. We walked along the dam of the small lake , mostly because it was one of the only areas we could hike without slopping through six inches of mud.

This lakes inhabitants include saugeye , walleye , white bass and a few hybrids along with the usual mix of warmwater species for this area. I threw a chartreuse and white clouser haphazardly as we walked along , not really expecting to catch anything but still hoping I might get lucky and pull the ol blind squirrel trick. Despite my best efforts (well not really) the fish eluded us.


It was a nice little hike from one side of the lake to the other and we got to see a flock of wild turkeys strutting out in a field as well as several geese chasing each other around along the dam. A nice little nature walk if nothing else.
I still had one other spot that I wanted to give a look before we headed back North towards home , this particular lake has an overflow that I'd had some success fishing back in my pre-flyfishing days. The one issue with this spot is that the only parking is on the shoulder of a 4-lane highway and you have to climb a 60 inch barbwire security fence to get to it. I suppose you could say that I had to tresspass to fish it , but that seems like pretty harsh terminology to me . The water in the lake is public so it only seems right that it still belongs to the taxpayers on the other side as well , elementary thinking at it's finest. A short drive and we arrived at the spot.

Joe had to stay in the truck to his dismay ,I just didn't feel comfortable getting him out on a busy highway and besides that he could explain the situation to any highway patrol officer that happened to stop and check out my vehicle. This spot's really nothing more than a pothole and isn't even fisheable unless we've had a good amount of rain and the lake is topping the overflow level like it was on this day.

Still not much to look at , even when full , but I just had a feeling there was a fish or two in there somewhere. Still using the same clouser , I worked my way around the small pool , basically pitching my fly into likely looking current seams. On about the third cast I felt a tug that turned out to be a decent sized white.

At least the skunk was gone I thought to myself as I released the fish and made another short cast. I didn't linger too long , working my way around the small pool quickly, glancing back up towards the highway occasionally to make sure I didn't see any flashing red lights. It ended up being worth the effort , landing two chunky white bass and one dink crappie before calling it quits.

Definitely nothing to write home about but at least I didn't have to ride home with that skunk on my back...I'm easy I guess.

3/15 - 3/18 Hillsdale Lake... "Just Horsin Around"

This past week my wife had a few extra days scheduled off work and with the weather forecast resembling June instead of March it seemed a no-brainer to get away. A couple of our friends that just happen to work for the school district had some time off for Spring Break as well so we set to planning a three day camping trip to one of our local reservoirs that has over twenty miles of equestrian trails.

While I don't ride (not seriously like these guys anyway), I go along just to enjoy the company and spend a few days relaxing around camp with the dog. I can almost always find some water to wet a line relatively close by ,although it's not always a productive endeavor.
Of the five who ended up making the trip I was the only non-rider in the group, which meant I'd be what I like to refer to as the "Camp Bitch" for the weekend. It really isn't as bad as it sounds , the menial camp chores that go along with the trip are actually a big part of what I enjoy about camping.



Between cooking meals , splitting wood , fire duties and last but not least making sure the beer coolers always have sufficient ice, a guy can stay pretty busy.
Joe and I pretty much just hung around camp for the most part , it was a good chance to peruse through a couple of my favorite fly fishing mags and finish a book that I'd started reading recently.

Joe requires even less to make him happy , a patch of green grass in the sunshine and he's quite content to lounge the day away...can you blame him??


I won't bore you with the minor details , especially since this really doesn't qualify as a "Fishing Trip" in my book. Even though we were camped only a few miles from Hillsdale Lake , the relentless 20-30 mph winds that started building at sunrise each morning made the idea of fishing that much less appealing. Joe and I still managed to make it down to the lake a couple of times , walking along the shoreline with the flyrod in tow and even making what might pass for an ugly cast into the wind occasionally.


Joe didn't seem too bothered by the fact that no fish were caught on these forays and honestly I wasn't either. If the fishing had been better I'd have had a lot less time to drink beer and nap in the sun!
I did get to try out my new dutch oven for the first time and really enjoyed using it. Although nothing fancy was on the menu, I didn't hear any complaints from the group about homemade biscuits for breakfast or the campfire fruit cobblers that I made on two of the evenings.


As a matter of fact it was noted that I'd taken my status of "Camp Bitch" up just a notch or two by adding the dutch oven to my cooking repertoire.
The only real fishing that happened was on the last afternoon , we'd packed up and were headed back to the barn to unload horses and take care of the multitude of chores involved with owning a 1200 pound animal that eats constantly. Thus I found myself with some time to kill while the others worked for a change. I decided it was a good time to make my first trip to a little pond just down the road so I assembled the 3-weight and tied on a size #8 wooly bugger and off I went.


The next hour was spent catching hand-sized gills and small bass almost at will. I'm pretty sure I was the first to fish it this year and the residents were hungry and more than willing to play , I sure love those little feisty bluegills.



Of course I had to make the wife think that I was "sacrificing" a perfectly good weekend when I could have been standing in a river somewhere , hoping the notion might just get me a hall pass the next time I need one. Just between you and me though.....I can't imagine a better way to spend a few days. Sitting around a campfire with friends after dinner each night and staring up at the stars isn't such a bad thing , even if you are just cheap labor for the rest of the group!

2/29 - 3/04 Niangua River & Blue Ribbon Trout Streams..."Old Traditions and New Waters"

It doesn't seem possible that another year has come and gone again , bringing with it my personal indicator for the arrival of Spring...March 1st. While this date may hold no special significance for most , here in Missouri it brings with it the annual opening day festivities at the four Trout park destinations here in the state. There was a time when that meant the first trout fishing trip of the year for me , along with five thousand other folks who show up at the four areas to start off the new season. These days the first trip of the year most often occurs much earlier for me and the excitement of the actual "Opening Day" scene has lost much of it's appeal as far as fishing goes.

The insane crowds and the whole idea of fishing in a stream where the fish were residing in a concrete raceway just the night before doesn't interest me any longer. That being said , it's still a date that I look forward to every year, if nothing else for the chance to get together with a group of family and friends and carry on a tradition that's been ongoing for almost thirty years now. There's still an original cast of about six who havn't missed an opening day for going on twenty years , myself included , and those kinds of tradition are something special and just too important to let fall by the wayside.
It's one of those trips that doesn't require any worrying about weather , water conditions or if you're going to be able to put up with the guy snoring in the bedroom next to you. The fishing takes a backseat to the comaraderie of the group, so the simple fact that you'll be spending five days with people whose company you enjoy makes all other variables a mute point.
As far as fishing trips go it's pretty much the standard recipe for success..eat too much , drink too much and take comfort enjoying all of the things you couldn't get away with around home and still have a place to sleep the next night. You know how it goes , what happens on a fishing trip stays on a fishing trip.
This year March 1st was on a Thursday so I arrived on Wednesday morning with a truck full of gear and $500 worth of groceries for the upcoming event. It's always interesting to see the look on the face of the person checking you out at the grocery store when you wheel up two shopping carts and start unloading 10 dozen eggs , three gallons of cooking oil and 14 bags of powdered donuts onto the conveyor (did I mention that we call this little get together the "Gutbuster Trip"?).

Somehow I even managed to squeeze in a little fishing over the five days between all of the eating, drinking and general laziness that ensued. As has become my tradition the last few years I took along my pontoon and spent Wednesday afternoon floating the Niangua.




The weather was spectacular and the fishing was some of the best I've had on that river for a long time. I fished small (size 4 and 6)streamers the entire float , with an olive sculpin pattern being the most productive for me.


Most of the fish were average sized bows , but they were good healthy fish.


I was pleasantly surprised to get a couple of browns as well , recently they've been few and far between on this river.



Wanting to see some different water , I took the advice of some folks I talked with on one of our local forums and floated a different stretch of river down below where I normally would fish. Not only was the fishing good , but I didn't see another soul on the river all day. Needless to say it was a fine way to start off the trip.


Day two my buddy Rob and I decided to leave the opening day crowds behind and visit one of the small Missouri Blue Ribbon Trout streams , B.R.T.(4).

While I've visited several of the Blue Ribbon areas, this spot was one that I hadn't been to yet which made it that much more enjoyable. We had a little over an hours drive to get to our destination so after stuffing ourselves with a big breakfast we loaded up and hit the road.

I've grown extremely fond of these wild trout areas over the last year or so and this little creek didn't disappoint either. It was another glorious weather day with temps in the upper 60's , definitely not the norm for this time of year but who's complaining?

We picked an access that looked like it would afford us good water both up and downstream and then started working our way upstream. Right off we noticed some tiny BWO's and larger caddis coming off in several sections of the small creek but although a couple of fish were taken on dries the majority of them fell for a nymph setup. We just took our time and enjoyed what the little creek had to offer...solitude , beauty and small pools inhabited by a handful of wild rainbows.


Most of the fish were the size I've come to expect from places like this but we managed a few nicer fish thrown in the mix as well. What else could a guy ask for?

We covered a pretty good size section of stream in one afternoon but didn't even come close to hitting it all , I guess that'll require a second trip.

We packed up and hit the road just as the Western sky was turning a light shade of orange and the light breeze was starting to cool off. Dinner was fried crappie with al the fixings and we didn't want to be late!


Friday dawned considerably colder and with a strong wind out of the Northwest. I'd planned ahead of time to spend the day kicking back a little ,just relaxing, and with the cold bite in the wind this morning it sounded like an even better idea. Another friend , Kevin , was set to arrive later that afternoon and I had told him I'd be around when he showed. I spent a couple hours in the morning fishing the upper access on the Niangua without much success , only a couple of small bows to hand.


When the fingers got cold I retreated back to the cabin and spent a few hours tying flies and telling stories with other members of the clan who were hanging out as well. It was nice to take it easy for a change , I usually find myself running from sunup to sunset when on a fishing trip. I guess my mentality being that I don't get nearly enough opportunities to be out there so I'd better not waste any of the time I do have. Kevin arrived around 3:00 PM and after getting unpacked we decided to head back down to the river and spend the last couple hours terrorizing a fish or two. We finished up the evening with several rainbows and two little smallmouth bass to hand. A cold beer on the way back to the cabin for the Friday night steak dinner was the perfect ending to another fine day.

After enjoying our day on Thursday so much we made a collective decision to hit the road again after breakfast on Saturday and head back out to another wild trout stream. We chose a different stream this day with plans of checking out some new water again , B.R.T.(3).

I'd previously fished this creek but it'd been awhile and there was plenty of new water to explore. After getting geared up we decided that Kevin would work his way downstream while Rob and I went in the opposite direction. These creeks aren't big enough for more than one guy to fish at a time so Rob and I took turns hitting spots as we came to them. I know Kevin fished a dry for awhile but Rob and I stuck with nymphs for our presentations. Once again the fish were pretty cooperative and each of us managed to land a fair number of fish to hand.

While we did see another vehicle parked at one of the access areas we still didn't see another fisherman on the stream all day , considering that it was a pretty nice Saturday in March I was kind of surprised.

Obviously small wild trout just don't draw much interest in this part of the country for some reason , not sure if it's the average size of the fish or the number of flies you lose to the tree limbs while you're fishing. I'm definitely not complaining , I have to say that the lack of people I encounter is the biggest draw for me , that and those beautiful little white tipped fins on those rainbows that I never tire of looking at.

With the sun setting once again we headed back to the cabin for one last "Gutbuster" dinner to finish out the day.
Sunday I chose to forego the fishing and work on packing stuff up after we had finished breakfast. I'd had four great days of fishing and enjoyed the comaraderie of a great group of guys. I'm thinking that this is one tradition I won't be giving up anytime soon...here's to that next "Opening Day".