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

Roaring River, Cassville, MO. March 17th, 2010: Trout hit on San Juan Worm

Got to the Roaring River around 3:30 or so...I was on my way from Joplin to Branson, so I had a couple of hours this week to get into the water for a short spell. Fished just zone 2 (Flies, Catch and Release only) at Roaring. This is one of my favorite areas in one of my favorite parks..had this streach of the river all to myself. Threw some Wooley buggers first, then a few brown/tan Zebra Nymps with no success. The river is real low right now and gin clear....I went ahead and tied on some 7x tippet as well, just to give myself a better shot at getting on a fish.

Hiked past the first riffle into a deeper, slower moving pool area and switched to a red San Juan worm with a yarn strike indicator. Caught this gorgous fish on my 4th cast out....barely knew I have one on...was getting ready to pull it back to cast again and there it was!

Very nice sized Rainbow Trout! Largest one I have caught on the fly rod this year! Kingfishers were going crazy....spring must be right around the corner. Left around 6:00 p.m. .....started to really cool down. Cannot wait to get back to Roaring River!

Fish ON!

MLT

Roaring River, Cassville, MO. October 14th & 15th: River up, Trout hitting on Wooley Buggers big time

I got a chance to get on the Roaring River for two short spells this week. I got a new pair of waders (we finally retired the old Hodgeman waders due to leaks that we could just not fix) so I wanted to give them a try out as well. They performed excellent and were so much lighter than the old Hodgman rubber/canvas one boot waders. I got a pair of Simms goretex w/ seperate felt soled boots....big difference!

The first visit I got out on the water around 4:00 p.m.--fishing closes at 6:30, so I only had a couple of hours to really fish. My favorite part of Roaring River is the fly fishing/catch and release waters. Started off throwing a Zebra Midge...I have had success throwing these along with a yarn strike indicator. The water is up about 5-7 " with quite a pace, so I figured maybe I should move to something else. Tied on a grey wooley bugger and started to get hits right off the bat. Caught a nice one right before the horn went off, but it snapped the tippet I had on....I had a 7X tippet tied. After some thought, I realized that the tipppet really needs to be adjusted to the water conditions. Light tippet is great if you have gin-clear waters that are low and especially if you are fishing midges, but for these conditions, and throwing heavier flies like wooley buggers, I realized I would need something like a 5 or 6x tippet. Weather was overcast, cold, with moments of drizzle....perfect!

The next day, I came back to the same spot. I only had a two hour break, so I knew I need to be more efficient. I changed the tippet out to a heavier one (5x) and started to throw grey cone bead wooley buggers with a couple of pieces of split shot as well to get it down in the water column.

Here is a technique that worked out really well for me. Cast straight out into the current, and then start stripping line. got it about 20' downstream, then started to slowly stripping it back...got it right in the seam where the main current and the slack water hit. These streams are like a conveyor belt of food for the trout, so that was the perfect spot. Caught 4 trout that day using this technique. Cool and totally overcast skies. I think this brought the trout out of structure and into the main channel.

fish ON!

MLT

Roaring River, Cassville, MO. August 19th, 2009: Trout hitting on Dry Flies

Hit Roaring River Wednesday around 4:30 p.m with my friend Jeff Bain, our newest chapter president of BNI Branson's Power Team. Fly fishing is a great way to have relaxed business conversations...I understand how people who golf get things done....fly fishing can do the same thing for you and your business!

We went to the Fly only, catch and release section of the park...I have always had a good amount of luck on this stretch. The trout parks seem to be clearing out now the kids are back to school. I started out throwing a zebra nymph with a strike indicator, with no luck. They were pooled up big time, so they should have took. Jeff got a dry on and started to get some strikes. I was watching him and decided to tie on an Adams and see what went down. Caught one and got several bites as well. The pictures above are before I tried to horse the fish in (totally knobbed out- grabbed the leader instead of my net--lost the trout and my fly (only one in box). Just goes to show.....great time!

Fish ON!

MLT

Roaring River, Cassville, MO. April 15th, Tippet made all the difference!

Weather was really nice....got a chance to hit the river around 4:00 p.m. or so, so I only had a couple of hours to fish. Started off with the normal spot I like to hit, but with no success. I hiked across the overgrown shoal and hit a nice run w/ structure. I knew they were in that spot, I just could not figure how to get on them.

Here is what I decided to do....tie on some #7 tippet to the end of the leader. When I get these leaders out of the package, I just assume that the line is thin enough from the package. So I figured, why not, nothing else seems to work- let's see if this theory is correct. Within less than a minute, I had a trout on the other end.....I realized a valuable lesson- you need to have thin tipped on the end of the leader, even if it is new. Lesson #2: I do not really care for the 9' leaders...for now on I am going to get the 7.5' leaders.

Great day of fishing!

Fish ON!

MLT

Roaring River, Cassville, MO. April 8th: Fly Fishing Excellent- I think I am becoming a Nymph....Oh!

Here are some nice shots from Roaring River. The weather was absolutely beautiful and warm. I fished the normal "haunts" in Zone 1 the first hour or so with my standard, go to gear (Ultralight rods, Little Cleo Spoons, Panther Martin spinners) but was not having a terrible amount of success...lots of bait fishermen in the area- hard to get a spot to fish.

I decided to break out the fly rod for the first time this year. I was in the parking lot getting it rigged up. It was kind of funny, because I was attaching some real, real thin tipped (I believe 8x) to the leader, and it was like I forgot how to tie a surgeons knot....must have tried for a good 10 min. or so before I finally got it to work (people get rusty just like gear!)

Got my hip waders on and my vest and wandered into the water. I was using some really small nymphs (the photo w/ my thumb shows size) and found a nice little spot...first one I got on I horsed and lost not only the fish but the nymph. You have to really be able to play these fish if you are going to use that thin of tippet!

I started to really get on some. If you watch the video, the tree clumpet to the right is where I was catching them at. Caught and released all of them (about 5 fish total)....I did a better job playing them out. They were exhausted, so I had to rock each one back to life when I got them in the water- they all recovered after I did that.

A few observations: They have some of the biggest crawdads I have ever seen- look like mini lobsters! Have a dark shale color- may have to get some crawdad crank baits in that color- the crawdads at Bennett seem to have a redder hue to them.

Second thought: I really underestimated how incredible the fly waters are at this park- I really was under-utilizing what was available.....goes to show you never want to assume you know everything about a spot. I will wear my chest waders next time as well- we had a little issue w/ the hip waters towards the end of the trip (interpretation: I got too deep and a little water poured in- looked like I pissed myself when I left the park).....I am glad I do not take myself real serious!

I am really stuck on Fly Fishing and especially Nymph fishing...cannot wait to get back out on the water!

Fish ON!

MLT

Roaring River, Cassville, MO. April 1st, 2009: Trout action good, seem a bit small

Got a chance to fish Roaring River SP on Wednesday for a few hours after work. Park had a semi crowd, but was not too bad. This park has real skinny waters, so it is not very conducive to wading, even hip waders.

Caught my first rainbow on a Gold/Red little cleo spoon like right off the bat (first 5 min.) in the first zone (soft plastics and artificals) right by the second bridge (in front of the pro shop). Walked around a little bit and caught the rest in the pool in front of this amazing water fall...had to film it just to have a "moment of zen" to go.

This pool was a bit of a challenge so I went to something that moved a little slower than a Little Cleo, a gold/red Super Duper on an ultra-light rod, 2# test. Caught a total of around (6) fish in about a 3 hour period. Not a bad day, weather was real nice- real windy! Went to the back of the park and fished Zone 3 w/ no real success.

Fish ON!

MLT