On a Stream in the Woods

9/19/07 Meramec- Recovery fishing day

2007-09-21T07:00:00.000-07:00

Went down to Cardiac at about 2:30 pm. I was taking my last recovery day off after racing this past weekend and just wanted to be outside for a bit. I had a couple afternoon beers on the walk down to the water which was really rewarding- cold beer in the middle of a hot day is pretty tough to beat. Kinda reminds me of that scene in Shawshank Redemption. My plan was to high tail it upstream and fish all the way down to Suicide Hill as the sun set. As usual I found myself flogging holes with no hungry fish convincing myself I was doing something wrong. It was HOT and I was sweating in my waders like crazy. The thunderstorms were no where to be found and it was bright out. Poor summer fishing conditions. Up at the Dry Fork I caught one nice rainbow, about 18," but that was it. The structure had changed quite a bit and looked really good but still no eager fish.

I started to make my way back downstream and had a nice fish rise for a hopper in the big run before the house but that was it. It was almost 6 pm and nothing was happening. I headed down to Cardiac and fished that half heartedly for another 1/2 an hr and then realized I could still GET A SLURPY, STOP AT TACO HELL, AND MAKE IT HOME FOR THE SOPRANOS AT 9 so I split. I was making such good time and had convinced myself that this would be my last day off before the big race and stopped for a Kit Kat blizzard at DQ with hot fudge on top. Jen and I were amazed at the Kit Kat content.

Meramec 7/12/07

2007-07-12T14:55:00.000-07:00

Left the house at 4 am to get on the water for the sunrise. Why? I don't really know but it sure is peaceful. No fish in Cardiac hole. I was hell bent on fishing dries today which lasted about 30 minutes until I tied on the olive woolie again. Down at the next hole I had a fish chase but couldn't dredge any up. Around the corner I caught a decent rainbow at the tail end of the run.

After trying every dry in the box I gave up and started to bounce the woolie again. When I got down below Suicide Hill things started to get good. For the next hour I hammered the fish, maybe 7:30-9 or so. I caught my first two smallies ever, one of which was probably 18" and 2 lbs?? They didn't fight quite as well as I thought they would, especially when I was catching 20 inch rainbows every other cast. These fish were hungry. I was running low on woolies after breaking off on a decent fish since I didn't retie after the last 5 and got hung up. I invaded their space to get it out and either that or the sun shut them down.

I caught one more at the rock below Suicide on a woolie and had a miss on a caddis. Up a ways I threw a big hopper repeatedly at the angry fish who I see every time but have never hooked. He came after it once and turned away. One more real nice sized ugly stocker at the base of Cardiac and I as off the water by 11.

I have never caught so many fish from that river in a day of fishing, never mind 5 hours. I ended up with 10+ trout, all rainbows, plus the two smallies and lost 3 more. Some of the trout were 3 pound stockers but pretty ugly fish....

Meramec 5/16/07

2007-05-16T14:50:00.002-07:00

What a perfect day. Woke up and rode for 3 1/2 hrs and then hurried to get on the water. I went down to Cardiac and made the walk at around 3:30 pm. I opted to fish downstream after trying the first hole with no luck. At the first bend I landed one nice 16" brown on a woolie. Just around the corner before the stump I hooked into a much nicer rainbow, maybe 20" and had a couple other hits. I worked my way down and had a couple more hits on the long straight before the Suicide acess pond-pool but didn't hook up and some guys fishing in a boat went around me so I headed back up to the elbow where some floatees were making a racket. I was leaving and hit the Cardiac hole from both sides and had another nice brown on for a little while but it dropped the hook. It was around 7:15 when I split. The water was off-color and flowing at around 415 CFS. Fair amount of bugs in the air but I didn't see any risers...

Meramec 5/16/07

2007-05-16T14:50:00.001-07:00

Meramec River, 3/15/07

2007-03-15T06:39:00.000-07:00

Got down to Cardiac around 2 pm. Started moving upstream and passing by other holes with anglers. I caught my first fish in the timber up behind the house hole on an olive wooly as usual. Then I headed straight up past the Dry Fork to the first set of timber and caught another fish the same way. THere were a few fish rising and I tried a caddis but no takers. I worked my way down slowly but no more fish. It was an awfully nice day, mid 70's and a little cloudy and the water was running at around 250 CFS. I caught one more fish right at the base of Cardiac and headed home around 6. There was still some more daylight but I was beat.

Current River 2/21/07

2007-02-23T06:38:00.000-08:00

The day started off great hearing that my little brother had a baby boy this morning! What a great way to start the day.

First day on the water in way too long! Started at the Baptist at around 10:30 and worked my way down to the first hole to leapfrog a couple other anglers. Right away I caught a nice 15" rainbow in the upper part of the first hole on the olive wooly. I let it go quick thinking it was going to be gangbusters action but then someone came splashing though the bottom of the hole with a spinning rod and not a clue. I was a little disgruntled but at least I was able to stick to my plan of seeing more of the river. I didn't put in too much of an effort until I got down to the next big hole because I felt like I was being chased and didn't want to get leapfrogged myself. There were fish in there and I got a couple hits but someone else came up from downstream and spooked the fish. I was trying to be friendly but I just wanted to keep moving.

Around the corner was another angler downstream and come rising fish. I tried some caddis (which there were lots of) and a couple midges but the fish weren't interested. I got up on the bank and kept moving. It was about this time that I realized that the cats had got to my Camelback bladder and I had no water left which kinda sucked, good thing I brought a Rockstar Energy drink and some sodium laced jerky! It wasn't long before I caught this brown and then the rainbow two holes apart. There weren't many signs of other anglers and the structure was great. I kept moving and saw a couple rising fishn below the feeder creek (Welch's??) but it was getting late and I wasn't really sure how far downstream I had made it.

What a great day for February. Water was a little off color and the temp was in the 60's!!!

Gauge height 1.45, CFS 340

Meramec River 1/7/2007

2007-01-08T07:42:00.000-08:00

Headed down with Ted and Larry and were on the water at Cardiac by 9:30 am. It was drizzling and overcast, maybe 45 degrees but didn't feel all that chilly. I fished right in front and they headed upstream. I flogged that hole from very angle, unwilling to give in and then finally headed downstream. I fished around the bend from the big timber elbow hole where I caught the two browns last week- nothing doing. There was a guy fishing the deep hole and then three guys down below so I packed it in and hustled upstream. I was pretty surprised to not even have had a hit so far.

Ted was seeing fish rise in the flat pool above the house and hadn't fished any higher ustream. There was a bald eagle hanging out in a tree overlooking the river which was pretty cool. A little further up I found Larry who had found some fish. He had high-tailed it up above the Dry Fork and was catching them on the olive woolies I had given him. I hung out with him for a couple and then headed up there myself.

Right away I caught one in the elbow of the junction. Nice fat 14" rainbow. I was letting the woolie drift into the hole and it hit on the second strip. I moved upstream to the next big flat and then started working down. I landed this fish the same way fishing it into some nice timber structure, there was lots of it.

I didn't land any more fish until I got down below the junction but they were definately there. I had some hits and saw a couple fish following the woolie out of holes. They were deep. Around the corner I fished on the opposite side of some timber and caught one more fishing the woolie the same way. The rainbows are defianately concentrated upstream.

We left around 2 pm. Larry ended up with 3 rainbows and a brown, Ted with one small smallie and I got 3 decent rainbows. Ted is the only one who didn't fish above the house.

CFS was right around 310 and it was pretty overcast for most of the morning, I think there would have been a lot more fish caught had I followed Larry to begin with. Also, the number of people fishing below Cardiac was amazing, but there were hardly any tracks upstream.

Meramec River, 1/3/07

2007-01-03T18:46:00.000-08:00

Was fishing by about 9:30 am. Chilly and sunny. Hooked into a nice fish on an olive wooly at the Base of Cardiac and lost it after a couple minutes, rolling in the rip. A couple of other hits fishing into the tail from the far side of the river but no more fish.

I worked my way downstream and got a couple nice browns just below the next elbow. The big brown that lives in the next elbow chased but didn't take. Down below suicide I hook up once but it was pretty quiet. I fished down it 3 times and didn't see anything going on. From there the next couple holes upstream were taken and nobody was into any fish. I headed straigt up to the house hole. I fished it a couple times with wollys and tried some dries in the big run but no more hits or fish.

Pretty long day out there for just two fish but I was able to locate enough to know they were there. It was pretty chilly, maybe a high of 47 and there were 6 other guys out there on a Wednesday! Hopefully just because of the holiday.

CFS was right around 315.

Meramec River 12/24/06

2006-12-25T07:27:00.000-08:00

I got a late start and decided to check out Blue Spring Creek since it was a little closer to home. There was already a couple trucks at the parking area right after the bridge so I headed down to the next access just to check things out. I parked at the second bridge and fished downstream with a number 10 olive wooly. That place is some skinny water. I fished downstream, almost to the Meramec, half- heartedly. I was tempted to do some more exploring but after fishing Little Piney so much I was a little burnt out on small rainbows and wanted to see what shape the Meramec was in.

I was on the water at the Cardiac access by 2pm. The water was still pretty high, ripping and a little off color but I had decided to fish it in earnest. I had the same wooly on and pinched a split shot about an inch above the eye. I hooked up twice right away. I didn't catch on at first but the fish were picking it up just before the bend so the were actually rising for it as it was sinking since I was throwing it in front of them from the bend. I had hooked three fish that came off before I managed to actually catch one. I got it holding the woolie in the current at the end of the swing. It was a decent rainbow, a not so pretty stocker that was fat and about 18" long. I was feeling good already though.

A couple more casts and I decided not to get too locked in to this hole and headed upstream to the next big hole. As I was crossing a nice sized fish came out of the water but I was making quite a racket getting through the stiff current so I didn't waste much time. Up below the house I tied on another split shot and still wasn't getting it down. I hooked up once but that was it. The water was coming through those riffles really hard and concentrated and it was pretty tough to fish. I fished the pool above it but I wasn't able to get a decent drift and it was getting dark and chilly so I hit the dirt road and went back to the first hole.

Since I was coming in from upstream I decided to fish a little further up before the bend and hooked up right away. Another really nice stocker about the same size as the first one but not as fat. A couple casts later and I had another one the same size. Three really nice fish! These fish were all picking it up right at the end of the drift, before i started to lift, just in front of the bend.

Wooly Buggers are getting expensive. Today I figured out that if you put the split shot too far, say 3" above the eye, up the tippett the wooly gets lodged between the rocks and breaks off. If you put it just about 1" above the wooly still wiggles and the whole unit bounces along the bottom.

Today was mid-high forties, chilly and got progressively more cloudy as the day went on. There were some bugs around but not too many.

CFS/477 FT/2.25

Little Piney CFS 11/14-12/14/06

2006-12-14T12:43:00.001-08:00

Little Piney CFS 11/14-12/14/06
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

LIttle Piney FT 11/14-12/14/06

2006-12-14T12:41:00.001-08:00

LItttle Piney FT 11/14-12/14/06
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Current River CFS 11/14-12/14/06

2006-12-14T12:34:00.001-08:00

Current River CFS 11/14-12/14/06
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Current River FT 11/14-12/14/06

2006-12-14T12:33:00.001-08:00

Current River FT 11/14-12/14/06
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

Little Piney 12/13/06

2006-12-14T10:00:00.000-08:00

Fished from Hwy 63 downstream. Was on the water at 8 am, ice on the guides for the first couple hours. Water was very high, off color and moving very fast. I tried a big #8 brown bead headed wooly in "the good spots" but kept moving trying to discover more of the river. Hooked two nice fish in the rifles just before the spring, casting to the other bank. They hit right off the bank. Both came off. Worked my way down and caught one 10" fish in another riffle nymphing it.

I couldn't get any kind of drift going, the water was moving too fast. Downstream, well below the big log jam I hooked 4-5 small ones at the tail end of a riffle close to the bank. Down below that I caught another 4 stripping a olive wooly from the bank before the red barn.

It warmed up quite a bit, around 60*. I caught another couple fish here and there but it was tough fishing.

8 am gauge height 3.63 cfs 400
4 pm 3.46 341

Little Piney 12/10/06

2006-12-13T10:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday. On the water by 8:30 am. No one else on stream. Perfect. Chilly in the morning, warmed up to about 45.
Water was close to perfect, maybe a little low. Fished from 63 down. Fish in all riffles either nymphing an olive wooly or stripping it slowly. Lots of fish.

Fished down to big log jam and caught two nice fish in a row, one 16" and one a little ssmaller. I had been focusing on all the riffles so by the time I got down there I had to start heading back (3 pm). I also caught a couple fish on a small dark soft hackle ttrailing a wooly and a grey sow bug in the first pool below the spring. Caught one on aa caddis but there weren't any fish rising and very few bugs.

Water was quite a bit lower by the time I left.

I ended up with about 20 fish and fished down to the big log jam. Pefect day.

8 am- 2.11 ft / 388 cfs
4 pm- 2.09 / 379

Finding Good Water in WInter- Little Piney Creek 12/6/06

2006-12-07T12:20:00.000-08:00

I was out the door by 6 am. It was still dark and 30 degrees out, a thick layer of ice still underfoot in the driveway. I had packed my gear the night before and was armed with a stiff cup of Peets Celebration Blend. I don't know what it is about Peets but you have to really lay it on thick to get it strong enough. I had planned on heading down to the Current River for the day but as I neared Rolla I was entertaining thoughts of fishing Little Piney Creek and checking out the Lane Spring Campground. I pulled out my Gazeteer and Missouri Trout book that live in the backseat to see where the access points were. I decided on getting another cup of coffee and exploring some back roads.

It doesn't take much to find back roads in Missouri. I was only 10 miles outside of Rolla, 1 mile off of Route 63 and on dirt; actually snow and ice. It's a really pretty area. Lots of cattle and one small bison farm. I wanted to stop and take some photos of two bison head to head at the crest of a hill but I pushed on, somewhat eager to wet my line. This was some old school farm country.

I came up on a low water bridge, luckily the water was below the single lane concrete bridge with no rails. I stopped and looked around a bit but other than the outflow of the bridge the water looked un-appealing both upstream and down. The No Tresspassing signs with a bullet ridden bullseye on the tree next to it wasn't so welcoming either. I decided to push on to the main road which appeared to be about 4 miles away on the other side of the creek and head to the next access downstream, towards the end of the Blue Ribbon section. My old front wheel drive Audi pulled it's way up the ice covered dirt road.

I got off the barely plowed paved section again and as I got closer to the Milldam Access the other tire tracks got fewer and I was crossing some small feeder streams, steam rising off the engine. I came to a small parking lot with "White Ribbon Area" postings and a sign for the access further ahead. I stopped to look around at some decent water but was more intrested in fishing the purely wild area so pushed on, but not for long. Having to back out of failed attempt on a steep hill and knowing that it was a long walk without cell phone reception I decided to call it quits. It was about 8:30 now, my coffee was empty again, it was warming up a little and I had enough rally car action for the day.

There was no easy way to get to the other access aside from backtracking so I opted to head north and get back on US 64-40. I considered leaving this stream without fishing it and heading back to the Meramec but as I neared the Rolla exited again I instinctively got off and headed south again.

The Lane Spring Recreation Area was closed so I parked at the gate, packed my daypack and hiked in. I walked upstream through the campground and then out to the water, I would come to find out later that was pretty close to the start of decent looking water. I tied on a Rio 6X leader, 6X tippet a a #10 olive Wooly and began to work my way downstream.

Right off the back I lost a big fish (16 inch range) and caught a couple small rainbows. I worked my way downstream to the big pool before the spring catching fish in riffles and stripping.

I wanted to fish the Meramec as well so I head back to the car around 1 pm and was at the Meramec by 2. I hiked in through the snow at Cardiac. It was out of control. The water was very high and ripping by. I couldn't see any of the stucture at the access, made a few halfhearted casts and then decided to resurrect the day and go back to Little Piney.

I found the access point off 63 and managed a couple more fish. All in all about 10 fish for the day, all in the 6-12" range.

Little Piney
9 am- 2.61 ft 131 cfs (perfect!!)
5 pm- 2.6 130

Meramec
2pm 2.45 557 (WAY TOO HIGH)

Current River 11/26/06

2006-11-26T11:35:00.000-08:00

Big as my Arm
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

So, the fly fishing thing. Last weekend myself, Russell and Larry McDumpster went down to the Current River to do some camping and trout fishing. The camping lacked a couple key elements- mainly smores and a campfire. I love smores and I love a good campfire. Larry was had set up camp that afternoon and I didn't get down there until about 8 pm and set up in the darkness. We promptly opened a fresh bottle and had a couple sips of Jameson Irish Whiskey. Feeling refreshed and somewhat warmer, even without a fire, I went about setting up my tent. Car camping for me includes a queen size deluxe air mattress that has to be pumped by foot- no easy task. Calls for more whiskey.

Russ showed up about an hour later. Pretty funny to see a blinging Porsche roll into a quiet campground in Southern Missouri at 10 pm in November. Looked like the meth had arrived. Sweet. Russ grabbed a glass a went for the whiskey. We had saved him the better part of a sip.

The next morning was pretty freaky. I woke up to what I was sure were werewolves howling outside. Come to find out they were only some crackas hound dogs running around chasing each other.

Other than the werewolf attack things went pretty normal. We shook out the cobwebs, made some breakfast, broke down camp and headed down some dirt road to the access. Larry, who had fished the day before, was ready before I was. I am methodical and anal in my preparation and don't like waiting for anyone. I always like to be the first one on the river. Larry not only was ready first but he then chose to go fish upriver, virgin water for me, and I trudged downstream to water I had fished once before in August. We all had wet our lines by about 9 am.

After about an hour I had caught one small brown trout. Russ caught up with me and we flogged some rising fish for a little while. I got one more on a tiny 24 fly which is about the size of this letter J. I headed downstream to find more fish, which I did.

It was warming up now and I had started to get into some slightly larger trout when Russ catches up with me again. Larry and himself had caught a couple fish, were beat and wanted to get home. I was just around the corner from a part of the stream I had never fished but I walked back with him hoping either he or Larry had some frosties for a mid afternoon snack. All I got was a mouth full of dust as they drove away.

It was about 2:30, sunny and the fish were biting so I headed down the trail to the spot I had just been fishing. First cast and I had another decent rainbow on. As I turned the corner I saw some sweet deep water and snuck around behind it on the bank so I could get the drift of my dry fly right behind a big rock into some pocket water.

It was like seeing a whale enter the water after breeching. A kind of rolling suction. My fly disappeared and I was on. At first I didn't think it was that big. One solid run and I thought it would have been like all the others. But then this fish started tearing line off. Keep in mind that I have a 6X 3.4 lb tippet on and there are lots of rocks and branches. The fish continues to take me downstream and every time I get it in close it tears off more line. Finally I get the fish in close and drag it (I haven't bought a net yet) up onto the bank and just as I do the line breaks, no joke. The fish almost flopped back into the water.

The sad part of the story is the only pics I could take alone offer this beautiful wild rainbow no justice. I would guess it was about 4 lbs and was right around or a little over 20." By far the biggest I have caught so far. It was pretty exiting for me.

Curre
167 CFS

Current River 11/22

2006-11-22T12:19:00.000-08:00

Current River 11/22
Originally uploaded by furryblackcat.

CW and I went down and fished the water below Tan Vat on the Current. On the water by 9 am. Unreal weather for the day before Turkey Day!! We fished down to the big log jam and caught a couple fish each. I caught a fish in the riffles on a #12 olive wooly, one in the log jam drifting a grey sow bug from the tail at me, and one more at the base of the cliff on a caddis. On our way out we fished the small log jam just above the access. I was fishing a caddis from below and a fish came up for it . It was the fish of the day. It ran right at me and I literally jumped and pulled a bunch of line with the other arm trying to keep it tight. Not tight enough. It came off right in front of me. Ahhh, too bad.

We each managed to bring a couple more fish up on dries before we had to leave. The fishing, weather and bugs seemed to be heating up right then; around 2:30 pm. Didn't want to leave, had to. Would have liked to have seen what happened...

9:30 1.04 ft/178 cfs
stayed the same....