Taneycomo 10/22 "The Return Trip"

I don't think a single day had went by since my last trip to Taneycomo that I didn't think about getting back on the water and chasing those big browns again. After checking the generation schedules and patterns every day for a week it looked like the stars might align and give me an opportunity for another day on the water. My only free day was Friday and SWPA was predicted to keep water off at Taney until 4:00 according to the posted schedule. That was all I needed to make plans for a return trip. I called up a good friend that I knew had been wanting to get the opportunity at a big brown, I told him things looked promising and I'd pick him up at 5:00 am on Friday.

Despite the prediction of rain the weather turned out to be perfect, which coupled with the low water prediction made for quite a crowd below the dam. I was a little surprised at the numbers of people for a weekday , but the brown trout run gets some serious notoriety on the White River tailwaters these days and you can expect to have some company on about any day. Rob and I rigged up in the parking lot , both using the same setup of a soft-shelled scud trailed by a bit scud on 5x tippet. This setup is by far my favorite rig for sight fishing to tailwater browns and has accounted for more nice fish than any other fly combination. We scouted the North Bank for a while before deciding on a good position to present our flies to the pods of browns that we could see moving through occasionally. Rob hooked into the first fish of the day within the first 15 minutes, landing a very nice brown on the black soft-shell I had given him to start with.

This was what we had driven 4 hours one way for and it made the trip a success in our eyes with that one fish landed. We stuck with the North Bank all morning with Rob landing another really nice brown and myself losing a good fish right at the net.

We weren't catching any numbers of fish but this was the trade-off we were willing to make for the opportunity at a trophy brown. Several pig rainbows were caught but we didn't pursue the idea of switching tactics and probably landing good numbers of nice rainbows, opting to stick to our guns and sight fish to the browns we could see.

We broke for lunch and ate a quick sandwich in the parking lot while discussing our plans for after lunch. Just as we were finishing up, the inevitable happened , that damned horn began blowing the sound all wade fishermen have grown to despise. Two long blasts told us that they were starting up two generators and our wading opportunities were about to become much more restricted. We hurriedly threw our gear back on and headed for a spot I thought might still give us a good opoortunity at some quality fish even with the generation. Within just a few casts the decision was paying off as I landed the first of several more nice browns we would do battle with before the afternoon was over.

We decided to call it a day sometime around 4:00, as Rob released another beautiful rainbow that just seemed like a good one to quit on.

Another day when the fishing gods were smiling on my partner and myself , a spectacular day in even the most jaded fishermans mind I would have to think, but most certainly a day to remember for both of us.

This is the kind of trip that will keep you up at night thinking about the bend in that 5 weight as another nice brown takes off upstream with your soft-shelled scud securely in his upper lip. This is the kind of trip that has us thinking about when we can get back down here before we've even pulled out of the parking lot. This is the kind of trip that keeps me flyfishing every chance I get.......chasing trout in another beautiful ozarks river.

Niangua River 10/18 - 10/19 "Family Outing"

The wife had some vacation time to burn this week and asked if I wanted to get out of town for a couple days and do some camping. I'm always more than happy to get away and it's a real no-brainer when the campsite is located ten feet from one of my favorite trout streams.

It worked out that we both had Monday and Tuesday off so we got up Monday morning, loaded the truck and headed for the NRO Campground on the Niangua River. We got there just before lunchtime , set up our camp for the next two days and then cooked a quick lunch of hot dogs.

The campground was totally empty and it was nice to just kick back and relax a little for a change. We cooked all of our meals over a campfire , which worked out well because a cold front moving through had temps hovering in the 60's and a campfire felt pretty good all day long.

The wife was content sitting around camp and just enjoying the peace and quiet while I couldn't sit still for too long with the water that close. The section of water along along NRO is one of my favorites to fish on the Niangua and there is plenty of wadeable water both up and downstream of the campground.

The dog and I snuck away every chance we got and hit the river for a little fishing.

The action was pretty much the same story it has been the last few times I've fished this river , plenty of willing fish but they're all small stockers.

I think this abundance of small fish in the river has something to do with the construction work going on at BSSP trout hatchery nearby , but I'm just guessing. I didn't expect anything more though so I was totally happy to catch small rainbows out of pretty much every hole I fished.

The weather remained cool and cloudy both days which kind of suited us , it just made lounging around a campfire seem like all the more logical thing to do.


We had a great time , eating some good food and just enjoying the beautiful fall weather on another ozarks trout stream.

Taneycomo 10/09 - 10/11 "Early Autumn Browns"

It's already that time of year again, the leaves are just beginning to show a hint of fall, there's a brisk touch to the morning air that will soon require a more substantial piece of outerwear, and most importantly the autumn browns are beginning to show up below the ozarks tailwaters in all their fall splendor.

It had been way too long since I'd visited my favorite tailwater for a weekend of fishing and the recent cool mornings had me itching to get down to Taney and check things out.

After talking to Kevin it was decided that he, myself , Don and Terry would camp at Table Rock state park for three nights and fish Taney Saturday through Monday, maybe getting the chance at a few browns if we were lucky.
Our first opportunity to get on the water was Saturday morning. After checking the generation schedule and seeing that a mild two units was online (tailwater level of 704.7) we headed down to the first parking lot on the south side of the river to start our day fishing around the island.

Their were several people already fishing the lower end of the island so I headed up top to hit one of my favorite holes which was still open. I rigged up with a two nymph rig consisting of a #16 bit scud trailed by a #16 g-bug, this fly tandem in various sizes and color patterns is pretty much unbeatable in my opinion on the area tailwaters where we have an abundance of scuds and sowbugs. Today was no exception and it wasn't long before I was hooking up with some nice rainbows.

The fishing was good and lots of rainbows were caught including a couple fish pushing 18 inches. Having fished the island area pretty well and seeing that it was almost noon I suggested to Kevin that we drive over to the North side of the river and check out some areas for browns before heading back to camp for a quick lunch. There was a parking lot full of cars when we arrived, but the vast majority of fisherman were crowded into the three hatchery outlets as usual, leaving plenty of river for us to prospect.

My first two spots weren't holding fish of any size but the third area we checked seemed to have some larger fish moving through. I switched my fly setup over to a #16 soft-shelled scud trailed by a #16 g-bug and made a couple casts before hooking up a nice brown.

Kevin and I each caught several nice browns pushing the 18 inch mark before the hunger pains in our guts forced us to head back for lunch.

A quick sandwich at camp and we were back on the water again. It seemed that more browns were migrating up through the area as the day went on and we began seeing and hooking up more fish after lunch. Fishing the same soft-shell scud / g-bug setup all afternoon I caught a couple of very nice fish that were pushing the 25 inch mark and several others over 20.

All three of the biggest browns came on a soft-shell scud pattern from Chartered Waters, by far my number one fly choice when chasing big tailwater browns. Kevin was having a great day as well, staying hooked up pretty regularly with some very nice fish.

It was one of those times when you just pick the right day to be on the water and it all comes together for you , I guess that's what they call being lucky. Regardless, it was one of "those" days , and for me they don't come often enough so I was definitely savoring the success.
Sometime around 6:00 in the evening, after having just released another hefty brown, we decided to call it a day , a great day for sure, and go celebrate with a few cold beers and a good dinner.
As good as the fishing was over the weekend , it might have been surpassed by the campfire cooking we got to enjoy.

Terry didn't spend much time fishing and instead opted to hang around camp and prepare some of the best cast iron campfire meals I've ever had. We had everything from dutch oven homemade biscuits and gravy for breakfast to beef stew and dumplings for dinner.

I was glad someone was taking the time to cook meals because if the task had been left to me the guys would have been eating granola bars for breakfast and sandwiches again for dinner. When the fishing is good I'm like an addict needing a fix , I just can't get enough of that shit. Thanks again to Terry for all his work in keeping my ass fed.

Saturday night Kevin and I decided to set our alarms and get up early for some night fishing. We got on the water about 3:30 AM and found the tailwater dead low with no generation. Perfect conditions which unfortunately had attracted several other night owls , there were six cars in the lot when we pulled in. After rigging up some streamers we started up by outlet #1 and worked our way downstream towards the big hole, having to skip around several other anglers in the process. Fishing was about average for me at night, probably landed 12-15 rainbows and lost just as many.

I think Kevin did about the same or a little better. None of the big boys we were looking for though, and all rainbows. Around 6:30, as the fog was beginning to roll in, we decided to head back to camp for a quick nap before breakfast and then hit it hard again afterwards.
Generation was scheduled to be off all day on Sunday and this brought out the crowds in full force. Some of the areas that we wanted to fish were simply too overrun to even attempt so we focused on some areas further downstream with less pressure. We found lots of willing rainbows , a couple of them over 20 inches , and even landed one or two respectable browns but nothing the size of Saturdays fish.
I spent a little more time looking for fish on Sunday than actually fishing , hoping that come Monday morning when the crowds were gone I might have a couple of spots already pinpointed. Another great day on the water followed up by an even better meal and a cooler full of cold ones , life is good for sure.

Monday morning dawned cloudy with a brisk North breeze that smelled of rain. We cooked breakfast, hash with chorizo sausage, and then began taking down camp, hoping to beat the rain. Generation had started sometime during the night and the corps was again running two units with a tailwater level of around 705'. The talk around camp after breakfast was that most everyone was going to head back towards home , wherever that might be, and call it a weekend. I had other plans and wanted to stop by my buddy Brett's fly shop, Chartered Waters , and pick up a few more soft-shelled scuds and then hit the river again for a few hours before making the 4 hour trek back to KC. After dropping a dime or two at the shop and catching up on fishing stories with Brett I headed back down to the water. Water levels were slowly rising and hovered around 705.5'. I spent several hours plying the same areas that had held nice fish the day before but with the higher water levels the fish were much more difficult to spot. Several rainbows came to hand but I couldn't raise any of the browns I knew were there.

I finally gave in , knowing that today was a different day and those fish just weren't eating like they were less than 48 hours ago. That's just fishing. I ended up finishing my morning over on the South side around the islands again , catching enough rainbows to almost make me forget about those autumn browns I came to chase.

It was a great weekend spent with good friends , good food and rounded off with some great fishing. Does it get any better?? We'll have to wait until the next trip to find out!

Niangua River "Playing Hooky" 9/28/10

With a 70 degree sunny day forecast I just couldn't resist sneaking away for another day on the river. I had some work that I was supposed to be getting done , but what the hell, life is short. I asked my fishing buddy and he just wagged his tail in agreement so it was decided to head back South for a one day trip.

Pulled into the parking lot at the 63 bridge access about 8:00 Tuesday morning and found it empty as usual on a weekday. While I hate working weekends, the one benefit is time on the river when most everyone else is at work.

I parked at the South end and got rigged up with an olive bugger on a sinking head line. The river looked to be just a little high and slightly off color just as it had been several days earlier. Perfect water for this river in my opinion. I started off swinging the bugger through the rocky riffles in front of the canoe launch area and had a fish on two of my first five casts.

Not much to look at ( the majority of fish caught were fresh off the stocking truck recently and had the look of a fish that spent it's life swimming around in a concrete tank) but I was standing in a cool river with my best friend at my side and a flyrod in my hand , life is good!

I spent a couple hours working through my favorite holes down to the boat ramp , catching a fish or two out of each spot.

Saw one other fisherman as I was walking back to the truck and we visited for a minute or two. He was fly fishing as well and said he had been doing pretty well on the river the last couple days also. I wished him luck and continued on to the truck. After a quick drive through BSSP to grab a cold drink and a spool of tippet from Larry's I headed to Barclay Access about 7 miles downstream of my first stop.
It was getting close to noon by the time I arrived at Barclay and no one else was in the parking lot so we sat down to eat a quick lunch before hitting the water. Note to self : one sandwich isn't enough when you have to share it with your fishing partner.

This water lends itself more towards nymphing so I switched over to a two nymph rig consisting of a GRHE and a SJ worm for a dropper. I started upstream of the parking area and worked my way downstream hitting all the areas that normally produce.

The fish were everywhere they were supposed to be and seemed to approve of my fly choice. Lots of small rainbows were caught and a couple that were obvious holdovers and had escaped the onslaught of the powerbait brigade, for now at least.

Still no browns, which has been the case my last two or three trips to this river. Obviously the MDC hasn't been keeping up with their stocking of browns on this water or maybe they just quit altogether. That's really too bad as I think the Niangua has some great habitat for browns.

It was around 4:00 when I decided to call it a day and head back for the parking lot. Even my fishing buddy had chased enough hooked trout up and down the bank to look tired , but satisfied.

Another great day on the water in Missouri.

Current River 9/20 - 9/23

Hit the road on Monday after meeting up with a buddy from work and loading up the Blazer. We were heading down to the Current River with plans to meet up with Kevin , another fishing buddy of mine. Kevin had been down fishing since Saturday so we were hoping he had some hot patterns nailed down while leaving a few stupid fish for us to try our hand at.

Due to a late start we didn't get into Montauk State Park until around 3:00 in the afternoon , leaving us with just enough time to get tents set up and hit the river for a couple hours before beer-thirty. Kevin was the only person in the entire campground so locating his camp wasn't too difficult. Tents were set, waders donned and we were on the water by a little after 4:00. Kevin was already fishing down at the first bend below the park so we drove up to the start of the blue ribbon trout waters and started working our way downstream.

Lots of fish in this section of water and it wasn't long before we were hooked up.

Ron managed a couple fish on an elk hair caddis while I opted to dredge the bottom with a couple of nymphs. I quickly narrowed my fly selection down to an olive beadhead nymph (always one of my favs)trailed by a caddis pupa pattern and began picking up fish regularly.

Nothing big , just average size rainbows. It was about 6:30 when we decided to head back to camp, while it's always tough to quit a good bite, the suggestion of a cooler full of cold ones and a chair around a campfire usually does the trick. After a dinner of ribeye steaks and campfire settlers beans we sat around discussing techniques , fly patterns and fishing plans for the next day. It was decided that we would start out below Baptist access in the morning and work our way downstream to some water we hadn't fished before.

After an evening of knocking back beers around a campfire the mornings fishing never seems to get started as early as planned , and this day was no exception. A cup of coffee and a quick breakfast and we were headed to the water. When we arrived it was still early enough that the river was mostly shaded so I started throwing a streamer pattern hoping to coax one of the rivers many browns into action.

After working through one of my favorite sections and not drawing a strike I decided to hang up the streamer and go back to my nymphing setup that was working so well the day before. Within several casts I was hooked up once again and the morning was looking up, as each likely looking pocket began producing a fish or at least a strike. It took us all morning and into the early afternoon to work our way downstream from Baptist and then back to the vehicle. All agreed that it had been a great morning of fishing and we decided to head back to camp for lunch and relax for a bit.

Over lunch it had been decided we would fry up some fish for dinner so we packed in the car and headed up to Montauk Park where we could catch and keep a few fish for the nights meal. The fishing was equally good inside the park and it didn't take long before everyone was catching fish. We spent the rest of the afternoon fishing inside the park and while there were still a few more people than I like it really wasn't bad. Each of us kept two small bows for our dinner and we finished up the evening with fried trout, fried potatoes , leftover beans and the obligatory cold cerveza.


Wednesday morning we had planned to fish the stretch of water from the cable all the way back to camp (about a 5 hour hike if fished decently) but a few thunderstorms had rolled in overnight and the likely chance of severe weather in the area prompted us to fish a little closer to the access and the safety of a vehicle if needed. We began below the park again and encountered several pods of fish rising to small bwo's and trico's just before the gauging station. Each of us took several fish apiece on tiny dry patterns before we got frustrated and headed on downstream.

By this time the rain was coming down pretty good and you couldn't see your dry fly amidst all the raindrops so I switched back to a nymphing setup. Working our way downstream all of the usual holes produced good numbers of fish, with Ron taking a nice brown out of Sycamore Hole.


We made it down to the Rock Garden about 11:30 and with the rain still coming down steadily decided to skip fishing our way back and take the trail to the truck and get to camp for lunch.
To our surprise the sun made an appearance after lunch and the day turned out to be picture perfect despite the mornings weather. We spent part of the afternoon in the park again , killing some time during the heat of the day, and then Ron and myself decided to hit the section of river below Tan Vat to finish off the day. This stretch usually holds some nice browns so I decided to throw a sculpin pattern on my way downstream and then work a nymph setup on the way back. I caught several rainbows on the sculpin pattern but couldn't raise a brown and the same story on the way back upstream, bows in every hole but no brown trout to be found. Ron and I finished the evening right at dusk and walked back to the truck , only seeing one other fisherman all evening.

More cervezas and a dinner of smoked turkey legs and grilled veggies finished off another perfect day.
Thursday was our last day and Kevin decided to forego fishing and just pick up camp and head back to Springfield after breakfast while Ron and I had plans to get in as much fishing as we could before the long drive back to KC. After breakfast we parted ways with Kevin and headed back to the section of water below the cable as this spot had been producing well for us all week. This morning was no different and we had some great fishing from the cable all the way down to the Rock Garden. It was noon before we noticed the time and decided to get back and take down camp and eat a quick sandwich before hitting the road. Another great trip on the Current for me , although it was a little dissappointing that I couldn't get any browns to play with my streamers. I think a week or two of colder weather might get the browns chasing larger flies , just an excuse to get back down in another couple weeks, not that I need an excuse to fish one of my favorite rivers.

Just to break up the monotony of the five hour drive home we decided to stop and fish the Niangua River for a couple hours on the way back. Being limited for time we chose to fish the public access below highway 63 bridge down to the boat ramp. Fishing the same nymph setups as we were using on the Current, about a dozen fish were landed between Ron and I.

As the sun began to set we headed for the truck , in my mind I was already unpacking the rod I hadn't even put in the case yet and planning the next trip.