Missouri Trip Report - May 11-12 - Days 2-3

So yesterday was awesome, but wore me out. I hit up the St. Francis River at Millstream Gardens Conservation Area for smallmouth and hypothetically gar, though none of the latter showed themselves to be fished to. This stretch of the river flows through Tiemann Shut-Ins and during high water is by far the roughest navigable river in the state, running class III-V. Flows here fluctuate wildly, though, since at the river's headwaters it is a losing stream in spots (meaning it sinks into the ground). I've seen flows vary by as much as six or seven feet, with the river still fishable at the high end except for the kayakers you have to dodge.

Here are a few shots of the river and surroundings. As you can tell, it's beautiful country:

Large numbers of panfish were rising when I arrived, to a mixed hatch of caddis, mayflies, and what looked to be Yellow Sallies, though as far as I know there aren't any here --water temps reach 85 degrees at midsummer, since there aren't many springs on the St. Francis.

Fishing started off sporadic, with a couple fish coming to large crawfish patterns. Then I decided to try a more neutral-colored version of the Mega Murdich from the day before. Action got hot right away, with the fish often busting the fly within 6" of the surface. Most of the bass were around a foot long, with the top end I landed around 14, though I hooked a fish in the 3lb class. This division is common for this river --lots of solid river smallmouth bass, with an occasional really big one but not many in between.

Here's the first and a couple of the nicer fish:

Considering how well it has worked, I probably ought to provide a recipe for the fly:

Wiese's Mega Murdich Minnow
Hook: Gamakatsu SP11-3L3H, #2/0-4.
Thread: clear mono.
Tail 1: bucktail, not stacked. Good colors are white, yellow, and chartreuse.
Tail 2: pearl Flashabou, slightly longer than bucktail.
Tail 3: Flashabou to match back, same length as pearl.
Tail 4: Icelandic sheep hair, slightly shorter than flash. Good colors are white, gray, chartreuse, and brown.
Gills: red sheep fleece (sculpin wool).
Cheeks: Ice Fur to match Tail 1.
Body/head: large MFC Lucent Chenille, color to match Tail 1. Color back with a Prismacolor marker to match Tail 4.
Eyes: 3/16"-3/8 doll eyes, color of choice.

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Today was a bit tougher. My dad and I fished Sunnen Lake, a small impoundment near Potosi, Missouri, that we hadn't fished since I was around 8 years old. Back then we fished with crickets and caught a lot of slab bluegill. We caught plenty of bluegill (and longear and green sunfish) today, as well as a few small bass, but the fishing was nowhere near what it was when I was younger. The best fish was a 12" largemouth that ate my dad's small Chernobyl Ant. Fun on a four-weight. We did see one nice bass, but unfortunately this 3-4lb fish was eating the bluegill I had hooked and quickly broke off. Ah well...

Maybe we should have been using crickets.

Tomorrow I'm off with dad to float the Big Piney River for smallmouth.