Trout Fishing Roaring River SP and Bennett Spring SP, Late July 2011

I took a few weeks off with the kayak, and decided to dust off the trout gear and fly rods and head out to Roaring River SP (near Cassville, MO) and Bennett Spring SP (near Lebanon, Mo) on this particular week.  It felt good to get the waders on again, but it was very hot out. 
At Roaring River we fished about 1/2 day, and I caught one on a silver/blue Little Cleo spoon.  We also worked powerbait trout worms and eggs, but that was all we caught for the day.  The fishing seemed to be a bit slow, possibly due to the heat.

A few days later I hit Bennett Springs.  I caught one nice trout on a spoon, and fished every zone.
Started in zone 3 with soft plastic worms, then I went to zone 2 and threw a Little Cleo Spoon (this is where I caught my fish at Bennett, and finally I ended the day in Zone 1 with a fly rod (no luck there).  Overall, it was great to get out and do this type of fishing.  A lot of things differ between going after bass/panfish type fish and going after trout.  It was good to at least get re-versed again in the differences.

Fish ON!

Mike

Busch Wildlife Conservation Area, December 30th: Trout Excellent once again

Another great day of fishing. Fished Lake 24 (one of my favorites). The lake had a partial freeze toward the road, so went out near the dam. They were hitting right where the freeze line hit the non-frozen water. I really think that the depth of the water had more to do with it than the ice, however. Went out around 1:00- had my limit by 2:00.

Once again, Spoons are the key. I think with spoons, Super Dupers, Rooster tails, the action is different than bait. It seems that when you do hit, the action is WILD! and when you do not catch any, you do not catch any for hours.

I am glad I limited out- we smoke these for the new year- it is our annual event.

Busch Wildlife CA, St. Charles County, MO, December 29th: Trout Fishing Good

Trout fishing was good, but not at first. Walked all around lake 22 (needed the exercise, anyhow) with no luck. It is amazing to me how low these lakes still are. We need a heavy snow this winter to get them up again.

Most of the people out were fishing baits (power baits, some hatchery powder baits) and having some success. After fishing about 2 1/2 hours, I almost changed my approach. I forgot my tackle box that had all the baits- I was getting ready to switch over to bait fishing. I am glad I stuck with my guns, however.

Around 4:30 got to some brush and BAM! They started to hit on the little cleo gold/red spoon. I limited out within about 1/2 an hour, and came out with more fish than the guys who were bait fishing it.

Lesson learned: When you have experience with something that works, and you know it will work- never doubt the "game plan" you started with. I think most of my "non-success" in the past had to do with second guessing the "game plan."

This sounds like something I could use in one of our business talks. Principles in fishing and business really have a lot of similarities, do they not?

Fish ON!

MLT

Bennett Spring: Day before last of "catch and keep" season (October 30th, 2007)

Great day at Bennett Spring. Caught 6 or so nice ones (catch and release). Good crowd- water a bit skinny (we need some more rain) I cannot wait until catch and release season and the winter keep season in STL.

Meremec Spring Trout Fishing- September 28th

Great Day of fishing at Meremac Spring- Arrived about an hour after the horn went off (I always underestimate how long it takes to get there from my home). Dallas needed a break from school and I needed a break from work, so this was a great fit. Caught one nice size one, the rest were small. I am actually saving these in my freezer- plan on smoking them on the smoker grill.
Tried a lot of things, caught them on gold little cleo spoons, used a little trout gravey on them as well. Fishing was slow for most, but people were cleaning fish, so some things worked. Meremec can be a bit of a challenge. Probably has to do with the fact that the stream is not zoned out.
Couple of cool hatchery pictures as well. You could not have asked for better weather.

Fish ON,

MLT

You can wait until spring- or you can catch fish now!

What a great day of fishing at Busch Wildlife CA in St. Charles County, Missouri!
I am incredibly thankful that all of the lakes are now unfrozen- they had been ice covered for almost a month!
Take a look at the photo- the large trout on the stringer to the right measured out at 16". This is the highest water level on this lake in about 2 years (should be a good spawn this spring!)
Caught them like I have caught them all winter- 1/4 copper colored "Super Duper" and Silver/Lime green Lil Cleo Spoon- (2) 7' spinning reels with 4# test.
Here is something I found interesting about today's fishing. The first fish hit real close to shore (strike was around 2' from the shoreline. This got me thinking that the back of the lake (the more shallow portion) would be the best place (opposed to right on the dam). Once I found them, I caught my limit in less than an hour. They were shallow and up in structure (thankfully, I only lost one spoon). It was real windy and cold (at one point, it started to sleet fairly heavy). Temperature about 38 f. Water temperature was probably close to the air temp.
You can wait until spring- or you can catch them now!

MLT

Roubideaux Creek- Are there any trout? Not in the spring!

This is a photo of Roubideaux Spring in Pulaski County, Missouri. If you are familiar with Hwy 44, it is right off 44 in Waynesville, which is very close to Ft. Leonard Wood. I got a chance the other day to fish this spot on the way down to Springfield. You know, it is interesting- the temperature was around 50 degrees, and I parked by the spring and walked down to fish it. I visited this spot this summer, and the actual spring had a ton of trout in it. It has a platform sidewalk that you can actually look right into the spring (this is one of the top diving cave/springs as well, so the access is good). Well, I took a look- not a trout visable, so I walked down to were the spring hits the creek and fished the structure- my usual favorites, Super Dupers, Little Cleo's and Rooster Tails- not bad structure- had some trees in the creek and deep holes- not a bite. I brought my waders and probably should have "gotten in the drink" and fished it a little more extensively. Time was short, so I decided to go hit another part of the creek.

Check out the photo of the ducks. I need to find out what type of ducks these are. I was smallmouth fishing this summer down on the James River, near Springfield, and we came across some of these ducks. They have quite the "personality". It appears people come to the park and feed these ducks.

I drove north of Waynesville and fished the area close to where the creek enters the Gasconade River. Once again, tons of structure- caught (3) very small rock bass on white rooster tails. Makes me think- I bet there are a ton of smallmouth there in the summer- I will have to check that out.

Later

MLT

Cooking and Smoking fresh trout- very good!

Happy New Year everyone! If you look back a couple of blogs ago, you noticed that we had a good couple of days worth of trout fishing and a whole stringer of fish- now to cook them! We now have a new holiday tradition for the new year- smoked trout! The photo next to the text is my brother-in-law, Charlie Hankins. I caught them, and he cooked them- my compliments to the chef- they were awesome.

I think it is important to note how they were cleaned before we start with how we cooked them. I learned how to clean trout down at Roaring River State Park, in Southern Missouri quite a while ago. It was my first time trout fishing, and I really did not know how to clean them. I have friends who like to leave the head and skin in place (in certain trout areas, you will need to leave the stream area with the fished cleaned as such). I had a gentleman from Arkansas show me how to do it- he cut the bottom of the fish from the head to the back. You then remove the cuts, snap the head back, and use your thumb to clean out the mudline along the spine, and while pulling the trout head back, use your thumb to seperate the skin from meat. Once that is done, get a towel to hold the "meat section" and pull down on the head and skin- like peeling a banana- very easy!

I keep them in freezer bags, fill the bag with water, and drop in the freezer- ready for whenever you would like.

Charlie had a smoker-BBQ set up (I had a photo, but it was to dark to display). He cut the trout into two pieces following the cut along the spine. Once the trout were "halved", he put lemon pepper dry rub and a cajun rub (had some cayenne pepper in it). It was interesting because when I cook trout in foil, I use a lot of butter and such, but when you smoke, you really do not want to use this on the trout. The charcoal was spread out once it was white, and a tub with 1/2 water and 1/2 white wine. the trout were placed directly on the grill, and mesquite and hickory chips that had been soaked in water were added to the grill. We smoked them for about 2 1/2 hours- meat fell right off the bone and the taste was incredible!

Last thought: as much as I enjoyed the trout, and the harvesting of the trout, I enjoy the pricipals of selective harvest- which means out of all the fish I caught this year, I probably released about 2/3 of them- keep our resources pure for the next generation.

To Our Success,

Mike

Trout fishing difficult, Could it be the weather? or me?

Went back to Busch Wildlife CA in St. Charles County, MO. Fishing was challenging today. Weather is still fairly warm, but a front was moving in, day ended in rain. It seemed like everytime the clouds moved in, the trout stopped. Noticed that the people fishing on bait got hard hits right before the front moved in. Started at Lake 24 (the exact same place that I did very well yesterday). Threw just about everything you can imagine (silver super dupers, gold and silver little cleos, white rooster tails, black rooster tails, brown rooster tails, gizit inline spinners, etc). A gentleman next to me did well on gold colored power bait eggs fished on the bottom. He caught (2) right away, but he shut off as well once the heavy clouds moved in.
After about an hour at this lake, went over to lake 22, fished along the dam. Had a nice size trout chase a silvery/red gizit inline spinner, but I did a poor job setting the hook (hit right before lure got to dam- saw the fish chase it and roll away). There were some kids catching them on power bait and Scooby Doo rods- think I am going to trade in my spinner rods for the Scooby Doo!
Interesting day none the less- might go out to Lake Sherwood in Warren County tommorrow if I do not stay out too late tonight

MLT

Busch Wildlife Report- 29 December 2006

What a Day! Started fishing around 10:00 a.m. at Lake 24, (that is a catch and keep lake) for Rainbow Trout. Had (2) rods with me- a Quantum Spinning reel loaded with 4lb test and a Little Cleo Spoon and an Abu Garcia Spinning reel with 4lb test as well, throwing a Silver holographic Super Duper.

Took about an hour walking around the lake until I hit the "sweet spot". The Missouri Department of Consv. has done a good job stocking this year (rumor at the bait store is that the oxygen at the hatcheries is not working well, so they have released larger trout). All I know is that all of the trout I have caught this year have been at least 14" and beautiful (not the "silvery" A-typical stocker trout, but nice, dark green with deep rainbows, large spots and developing Kipes).

Here is what happened- once I hit the spot, I caught my limit within 1 hour throwing spoons- smoked the rest of the lake- which is what we will do with these trout- smoke them on New Years Eve! Trout fishing is funny- sometimes you look like Bill Dance (which is what happened today) and some days you look like you have never fished before in your life!

More posts to follow- fishing is life!

To Our Success,

Mike