Luyen’s Reel-Time FLog

Low 80’s after an unexpected downpour. 4PM. Low water conditions. Berry’s Bridge section.

Yom Kippur weekend was supposed to be picture perfect, but we awoke Saturday morning to rain and grey skies. Thankfully, the skies cleared by mid afteroon, although a brief rain passed through again around 2PM. I decided to hit the Berry’s Bridge section of the Mo. The water was running very low and clear, despite the morning rain. I waded beneath the first pool. As expected, I spied the regular rises of the pool’s local denizens. They were subtle dimples, with the occasional fin breaking the water’s plane. I had tied on a large black ant, and quickly, I hooked a wild brownie on the downstream side of the drop off along the right hand bank. I caught another brownie along the bank soon after the first – this one greyhounding right to left in pursuit of the big ant. But the trout in the middle of the current ignored my offering repeatedly until I tied on an emerger. This resulted in two good hits, but I failed to set the hook. I replaced the emerger with a bead head hare’s ear nymph. In quick succession, I hooked four fish, and landed a big, feisty rainbow who dunked the indicator ant almost as soon as the nymph hit the water. Lesson learned: the trout along the bank were opportunistically keying on terrestrials, but the fish in the middle of the current were showing their dorsal fins as they feasted on bugs in the middle of the water column.

Next, I hit the second pool. Again, I could see the subtle dimpling of fish taking emergers. I caught two fish in quick succession on the nymph. Wading further into the pool I was startled by an explosive splash. A monster trout? A wayward pike? Nope: a giant fruit from an overhanging tree unloading its payload against an unwitting angler. As I moved up into the middle of the pool to cast to upstream fish, I noticed a pack of suckers holding near my feet. A trout darted out from the rocks along the right bank and back under the rocks, startled by my proximity to his hideout. I watched as a sucker swam into the trout’s lair, and laughed aloud as the trout chased it away three times while desperately avoiding my wader-clad legs. Splosh… SPLOSH! Two more explosions, each closer to my unprotected head. I called it an afternoon having hooked a dozen trout and landed two beauts.

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Originally uploaded by Luyen Chou

80’s, blue skies, seasonal flows

Wow, it’s been quite a while since I’ve posted a report.
Late August, a beautiful, but windy day. I decided to visit the concrete factory and fish a beetle under the overhanging brush.  Seeing no rises as I walked the first section of the beat, I dropped a small bead head nymph behind the beetle and lay a cast under a deep pocket along the far bank.  The beetle went down almost immediately. I set the hook and was fastened to a good fish.  The 15" brownie was in full spawn regalia and fought hard before succumbing to the net.  I failed to catch another fish the rest of the afternoon!