Montauk (Current River), Wednesday March 26th: Park a little torn up, fishing very good!

Great evening of fishing. Arrived at the park around 4:30 or so. I knew I had a limited time, but it was great to fish Montauk State Park again. I had not fished Montauk in a couple of years. I think the last time I was at the park was in 2005 during the catch and release season. Forgot how beautiful of a park Montauk truly is .

Started off in the fly area. I picked up a couple of nymphs a few days ago, so I thought I would try them out. Threw those as well as black jigs (real overcast conditions). No luck. Spoke with a gentleman who had been fishing the area all day. Montauk has so much sand due to the flood that they had a backhoe dredging the area right before the dam earlier. Probably should have throw a San Juan Worm.

Went back to the car and got my Quantum w/ 2# test and decided to throw my go-to: Spoons. Started to catch them right under the bridge. If you look at the photo, there are about 3 large trees that were uprooted and are jammed under the bridge. What is cool is that water is flowing under them. The trout were suspended underneath the trees under the bridge! So I got downstream and threw the spoons up stream so the current would take them back. Caught the largest one (measured out at 18") in the structure. Caught another good size fish (about 17") right in the current. That was the one I thought I was going to lose.

I cannot wait to go back to Montauk!

Fish ON!

MLT

Bennett Spring, Lebanon, MO: Monday, March 24th- Caught my biggest Rainbow so far this year!

Check out this NICE SIZED Rainbow Trout. Caught this one in zone 2 with a gold/red little cleo spoon on my Quantum 5' rod w/ 2# test.
Drove up to zone 1 to throw some jigs on the fly rod, but the spring is still chucking out an incredible amount of flow- most of the area in Zone one around the spring is still flooded out like last week.
Hit Zone 2 (near the cliff) with the fly rod, but with the water up, just did not feel like I was getting in front of the fish like I needed to. The water is still super murky (not quite brown, but almost) so you need to get right up on the fish- sounds like a job for spoons!
Drove the car around towards the bridge and started to throw little cleo gold spoons. Caught a nice on on the second cast. Kept missing on- could not figure out what was going on. Either it was a real small fish (as if the hook might be too big), or a really nice size fish (as if I was not setting the hook hard enough to penetrate the kipe). Missed this fish (2) times before the 3rd time. I threw it almost to the bank and brought it in REAL SLOW. When I felt the tap this time, I made sure to give it more than a wrist set. This large fish is the end result. It felt good to let it go- maybe it will become a monster someday?
Started to feel cold around 6:30 so I took off. Great couple of hours of fishing!

Fish ON!

MLT

Bennett Spring- March 20th, 2008: Water is WAY high- fishing challenging!

Here are some cool photos of Bennett Spring State Park, Lebanon, MO. We had SO MUCH rain over the last couple of days, I am really surprised it was as low as it was.
Fished Zone 2 first using a gold/red spoon and a Quantum rod with 2# test. I figured we would have some success with this- no such luck. The water is so murky and fast moving that you almost need to get whatever you are throwing right in front of the fish. I think the challenge fishing when the water is this high is not "what" to throw out, but "where" are the fish are.
Fished Zone 3 (bait and naturals) for the first time ever. Had a rod with a slip sinker and egg hook. Used PowerBait Eggs (both Chartreuse and Nymph Red) with no luck as well. One person was bank fishing and using a PowerBait White paste w/ treble hook. Probably should have moved over to that while fishing.
Hit the fly area near the spring before I took off. Threw jigs of all colors: White, Chartreuse, Black- to no avail.
First time I have been skunked at Bennett, but no problems. I was just glad I got an opportunity to fish it. I spoke with a person from Lebanon, MO. in Zone 3 earlier. He had said that the water had dropped 17' since dawn. Wow!

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife CA, St. Charles County, Mo: Lake 22 produces both trout and bass!

I did not know if I was going to be able to get some fishing in Saturday due to all of the rain that was predicted, but it looked like it was heading south so I decided to head out to Busch Wildlife CA, St. Charles County, MO.
Started off slow. My daughter and I went to lake 24 yesterday afternoon and did not catch a thing. Walked along the dam and threw rooster tails and little cleo spoons- no success. Started to get colder, so I almost entertained the thought of going back to the house.
I am glad I decided to go around the lake. Started to throw a gold/red little cleo spoon (my favorite in water that is high and murky). Caught a typical stocker sized rainbow right away (about 13").
A little later on caught a really small rainbow on a bobber w/ Mike's Atlas Shrimp Salmon egg close to shore- real small one!
I set some rods out with blue/green power bait and orange power bait on the bottom- not a touch! It started to get around 5:30, so I was getting ready to pack up. Threw the little cleo spoon out and BAM! got a big hit! It was a 14 1/2" bass (measured it) caught on my ultra-light spinning rod, 2# test in cover- What an achievement! I really thought I was going to lose him due to the light tackle and all the cover I had to pull the fish through. What a rush! First bass of the year!

Fish ON!

MLT

Bennett Spring, Lebanon, MO- Wednesday, March 12th- Trout got a work out Today!

Here are some great shots of Bennett Spring State Park, MO. The temperature got up to 72 degrees- spring is on the way!

Started at the spring with a fly rod and small white jig. Caught a nice rainbow- fought me for 5 minutes! Every time it got close, it would jump back in the current or try for under a rock. Thought I might lose the fish a couple of times. What a rush!

After fishing that spot for some time, I went to Zone 2 (artificial and flies) and grabbed my spinning rod and threw a Gold/Red Little Cleo spoon (caught a nice one close to the bridge) and switched it up (after moving to the cliff area between the two bridges) and caught another nice one in a deeper pool using a White/Rainbow colored Cleo Spoon (lost it a couple of cast later in some structure)

As much fun as the spoon fishing was, just had to get the fly rod back in action. I am starting to realize there is NOTHING as much fun as catching any kind of a fish on a fly rod. The video shows the last attempt. I was not catching much on the white jig. I had a nice conversation with a couple from Indiana, who said they were "tearing it up" earlier with dark green and black jigs. So that got me thinking "you know, I have not changed the jig color up much- let's try a black jig." The video shows the end result. Caught it between the spring and flow gauge house. What an incredible day!

Fish ON!

MLT

Busch Wildlife CA St. Charles County, MO: Lake 24 produces after a 3 week freeze-over

Here is a photo of my limit as well as my friend, Ray Schrader and his limit. We had both fished this lake earlier in the season with some great results. We had fished on of the other lakes earlier that day, due to the fact that 24 was still frozen over that morning. We waited until after 12:00, got some lunch, and then hit 24

We limited out within 2 hours. Once again, PowerBait paste on a small treble hook, with a slip sinker rig, 2# test was the key. Ray used Orange and I used both purple nymph color and Rainbow Orange (Mike's Atlas Bait- more of a anise smelling paste).

Fish ON!

MLT