Who needs trout?

Here at CTD, we spend much of our time on the water going after 2 species of fish in our region. During the winter and spring, we are in pursuit of trout on any of the miles of trout streams found in the Ozarks while during summertime we will chase smallmouth on the fly. To fill in the gaps between these trips, we have a local fishery that can deliver a smorgasbord of fish species that can all be caught on the fly. We mostly fish this river for stripers during the spring and early summer when they make their spawning run but you never quite know what you're gonna hook up with on this river...

That was the plan for the day when we decided to do some fishing on Memorial Day. We got on the water early to try to beat the bait bucket brigade to the primo holes and hopefully find some stripers feeding in the early morning hours. We struck out on the striper bite but what we got in exchange was pretty freaking sweet...

We spent the next few hours hooking up with just about everything that swims in this river. We like to joke about getting the "Trash Slam" on this fishery, well we more than covered it by all the species we caught. If my memory serves me correct, we caught a ton of sauger and white bass along with some drum, kentucky bass, spotted tail gar, and even some small channel catfish...all on the fly! Not a bad way to spend a morning all the while having the downtown skyline in sight. 

Until next time, keep chasing the dream...

Searching....

With a long weekend upon us, the CTD crew set about to find some un-crowded water to chase some smallies for a day. Memorial day isn't exactly the best time to be looking for solitude in the Ozarks since many streams/rivers are popular float destinations but after some discussion with our local smallie creek ninja, JoeyC, we had a creek picked out and made a plan of attack.

Cody and I met up with JoeyC on sunday morning and then proceeded to "Creek X" do some exploring for big smallies in skinny water. Armed with our 6 weights and some meaty streamers, we took turns leapfroggin' each hole as we made our way upstream hitting all the good holes. We had a slight setback at the put-in as we got behind some bait slingers who proceeded to keep every smallie they were catching and wouldn't let us fish by them. Every time we would start to hike past them, they would reel in real quickly and head for the next hole. This proceeded to ruin the first few holes for us but luckily we were able to get past them and have some fresh water to ourselves.

Overall, the fishing was pretty slow. The creek was super low and clear which made the smallies very spooky. We had to make a very stealthy approach to get a few casts in. We were rewarded with a couple of solid bronzebacks in the 1st couple of holes but only managed to stick a handful of average fish the rest of the hike.

All in all, it was a beautiful day to be out wet wading an awesome Ozark smallie creek. Days like this is why I love summertime in our region. Its pretty tough to beat!

Until next time, keep chasing the dream...

It won't be long...

Crik and JoeyC hit up our fabled local smallie waters this past weekend to check up on the fish to see how the spawn is turning out and to see if they are ready to chase a fly again. Fishing was a touch on the slow side for the guys from the cool night time temps from the previous week and some fish were still on their beds. They were able to stick a few fish though to keep things interesting. It won't be long...it won't be long...

Until next time, keep chasing the dream...

Lazy weekend at the house

May has been a slow month for the CTD crew. JoeyC took an afternoon on the Elk to catch some smallies and The Professor did take a trip this weekend to fish the White for the trout and then hit Crooked Creek for some epic smallmouth action.

The rest of us have been sitting on our butts attending to other "non-fishing related chores". Someone needs to go wet a line but motivation seems to be a problem. I guess I need to light a fire under our rears...

On a positive note, we have been tying in preparation for chasing bronzebacks. The spawn should be done on most of our rivers this week and then it will be on like donkey kong!

He's at it again...

Our local smallie creek ninja, JoeyC, was lucky enough to sneak away for some afternoon smallie action. The dude knows his local waters and will slay the bronzebacks anytime he is on the water.

I think I just might hate him...

Drunk Rowing?

After some excited texts from the rest of the crew about a recent pic posted on the Headhunters Facebook page, I had to see what the fuss was all about.

Leave it to my crew to get excited about a keg in a drift boat. Gotta appreciate their enthusiasm! I guess I better watch out, a keg of PBR might show up for the overnight smallmouth float trip this year.

Can u get a ticket for "RUI" aka Rowing Under the Influence?