Opening Day Adventure 2023

Well, it wasn’t the craziest thing that I had ever done (but nothing else seems to come to mind at the moment). Getting up at 3:30 am to arrive at the 6:30 am siren for the opening day of trout season IS crazy, right? Am I weird? The fact that my wife didn’t even bat an eye when I told her what I was planning should’ve been a tip off. So I loaded my gear in the car and packed the cooler with my lunch plus a peanut butter & jelly & jalapeño sandwich for breakfast. (OK maybe that is a tad weird.)

By the time I went through Rolla near 5:30 am there was a fair amount of traffic. Those country people get up so early for reasons I’ll never understand.

Rolling along VV and turning into the park at 6:15 am everything seemed normal enough. Rounding the bend, heading downhill, just before sighting the stream, I knew nothing normal was going to be ahead. And I was right !

First, thing I spotted was a traffic jam & police lights down by the fish cleaning station (do any FATC guys even know where that’s at ?).

All along the river side the granny holes were stacked with lawn chairs and people milling about. The police lights soon turned off and traffic moved along thanks to the park people directing traffic. Parking everywhere was scarce.

As I made my way across the bridge, I looked upstream and took a picture.

The oak hole had no place to stand; every place along both sides and on the sunken bridge were shoulder to shoulder. Even more amazing was the number of fishermen just below the spillway/dam and above it.

The lodge was not as crowded as you’d expect, possibly because it was only 10 minutes prior to the siren.

Back at the mill there were plenty of parking spots thanks to the traffic control guys. The mill was even decorated with bunting. How festive !

While I was putting on my waders the siren went off. I think there was a shot gun to signify the start.

I stopped at the spillway to get some pictures both up and down stream. People were everywhere along both sides.

Funny thing, with that many people fishing I would only observe 1 or 2 at a time landing fish among the 50 (approx.) fishermen in sight. I was expecting some flurry of activity and didn’t see it.

Made my way up to the stretch 50 yards below the boulder [only 2 guys at the boulder at the start]. I wanted to get to where the sycamore tree hangs out waiting to snatch any fly that comes close. There were fishermen in the spot I targeted, but they moved along, and stretches would open up for me to strip my olive leech on my full sink line. Moving along, I picked up 6 fish in the first hour, a couple 10-12 inchers, three in the 14–15-inch range and one 17 incher.

About 9 am the “march of the living dead” commenced. This was the situation where people who had one (or no) fish on a stringer would amble up and stop in for a few casts before giving up and going elsewhere.

Surprisingly most were courteous in giving you space or if they intruded, they didn’t stay long.

I had made plans to meet Harold Bates and Steve Baker who bravely came down for the adventure arriving around 8:30. Harold took a picture of someone who left their 4 fish on a stringer outside the lodge in the grass while they went inside. (“Got m’ limit in only an hour. Now back for breakfast”)

I later made my way upstream along the path toward the powerlines. Along the way, I saw a young woman catch a huge, beautifully colored trout at the hole I call “Muckerman’s kitchen”. I got a picture of it and advised them that it was probably a lunker and to get it weighed. It was nearly 20” and had a huge girth. They had forgotten their stringers and were going to buy one at the lodge anyway. Later found out it weighed 2 pounds 12 ounces. Not enough.

Made my way up along the stream surveying and scouting until I got to the stretch above the powerlines, which I call the aircraft carrier: long, wide, and flat.

There was an opening between fishermen, and I settled into the cadence as we all worked our way downstream. Again, most everyone was pretty courteous. The exception being the numerous roving bands of young guys and their girlfriends (usually 4-5 people) who fished the opposite, steep side within a couple feet of each other. These were guys with spinning rods who were standing on the opposite bank which had the 3-4 feet drop offs. Any attempts to fish a far bank while they were there were futile. Again, luckily, they didn’t stay long and never caught anything. So, the best tactic was to fish in closer to your feet until they moved on. A few minutes later, you could hit the banks.

I switched to stripping a crackleback with my full sink line and had pretty good success netting 9 more before lunch, missing several nice ones.

I encountered Steve & Harold who had parked at the first lot on the way to the spring and we made plans to meet for lunch. Steve kindly gives me a ride back to the mill parking.

We had no trouble finding parking or a table by the picnic shelter across from the mill. There was a good-sized group of people who were having a fish fry under the shelter  everyone enjoying themselves.

After lunch Steve and Harold started at the bridge where Steve caught one right away. I later found out that was the only fish he caught for the next couple hours. Below the bridge and down past the turn they reported they didn’t even see fish. I fished behind the lodge. Competing with the bait, spinning rod fishermen, only landed 1 fish there.

Although Harold caught 4 just above the fallen tree below the boulder, neither Steve or I did well in the afternoon, as it often goes. Harold was the clear winner of the afternoon session, using the Y2K, House of Payne, and Cerise worm, Harold caught 7 total, 3 in the am and 4 after lunch.

By 4:30 we were all flat worn out. We packed up and were on our way.

Steve ended the day with 8 including a nice 16” fish picked up along the cut bank. All but one of his were caught on a BH,CDC,FB,PT Nymph (his new favorite).

I had 17 stripping streamers or a crackleback.

Takeaways:

> Lots of fish were stocked: 5500 according to the sign in the lodge.

> Many lunkers were caught through the day (see the picture). At least a dozen were 4 pounds or more. One went 7.7 pounds !

> Good fishing in the morning not so much in the afternoon. Coincidence ? Who knows.

> Tons of kids fishing (don’t they go to school ?) teenagers and much younger in the fly area.

> Fishing Etiquette was not always applied since there were so many inexperienced fishermen.

> Spinning rods ruled the day and outnumbered fly rods, three or 4 to 1. Many were fishing glow balls (eggs) and catching lots of fish.

Cool sight: Saw two turkeys scampering across the road on the way out of Montauk. Both had beards. Lovely !

We “gourmet dined” at American Taco, where we caught up with our new best friend,  “Scruff” the owner.

I guess I was too anxious to get home and got a ticket from St. Louis county’s finest going 70 in a 55 zone at 109 and Pond Rd just before the Etherton exit. So, watch that spot!

To those nattering nabobs who would say “see, you shouldn’t have gone!”, I say “yeah, Whatever !”

We three all caught fish and some nice ones. We experienced Opening Day with the circus surrounding it and lived to talk about it. Do I want to go again next year? Probably not. Will I ever go again ?  Maybe. Next Opening Day at Bennett ?!?!  Hmmmm…

DanStag March 2, 2023