Missouri River Sardines

I think the Mo ( Wolf Creek to Cascade) is best known for large and
oft times numerous fish. During a good hatch groups of fish will pod
up and froth the water....

I ve fished the river almost daily from April to Dec for the last
5 years and I ve never seen anything like this. The big fish are gone.
There was no great die off, they were there a month ago tho maybe not
in the same numbers as years before. In their place are seemingly
thousands and thousands of little fish. Many in the 2-3 " range! A "
larger" fish is around 8". Another strange thing is the majority seem
to be Browns in a river heavily dominated by rainbows.

The only explanation I can think of is all the large rainbows
followed the Browns into the tribs for the fall spawn but this doesn t
make all that much sense either.

In years past if I saw a couple 8" fish a season it was remarkeable.
Thoughts that whirling disease had taken all the little fish were of
great concern. Any idea what could be going on now ? Trout are
endlessly mysterious....

MT

"mark tinsky" wrote



In years past if I saw a couple 8" fish a season it was remarkeable.
Thoughts that whirling disease had taken all the little fish were of
great concern. Any idea what could be going on now ? Trout are
endlessly mysterious....

in the thirty plus years i have fished hazel creek, i have noted similar
phenomena, albeit on a considerably less spectacular scale. there seem to
be seasons, several in a row, when the creek is absolutely full of 4-6"
fish, and catching mature (9-12") fish is rare. then, almost immediately,
the little guys nearly disappear, and the average fish caught moves into the
"mature" size group. fewer are caught, but enough so that for a few years
the water seems transformed into mini-montana. then, slowly, it becomes
difficult to catch *anything*. the sterility is blamed on too much
pressure, poor fishing technique, our own advancing ages, too much whiskey,
wives...
this big mandela has gone through maybe three ill-defined cycles since
the early '70's. like you, i just can't figure it out.

yfitons
wayno

On Fri, 03 Nov 2006 14:16:39 GMT, "Wayne Harrison"
wrote:


"mark tinsky" wrote



In years past if I saw a couple 8" fish a season it was remarkeable.
Thoughts that whirling disease had taken all the little fish were of
great concern. Any idea what could be going on now ? Trout are
endlessly mysterious....

in the thirty plus years i have fished hazel creek, i have noted similar
phenomena, albeit on a considerably less spectacular scale. there seem to
be seasons, several in a row, when the creek is absolutely full of 4-6"
fish, and catching mature (9-12") fish is rare. then, almost immediately,
the little guys nearly disappear, and the average fish caught moves into the
"mature" size group. fewer are caught, but enough so that for a few years
the water seems transformed into mini-montana. then, slowly, it becomes
difficult to catch *anything*. the sterility is blamed on too much
pressure, poor fishing technique, our own advancing ages, too much whiskey,
wives...
this big mandela has gone through maybe three ill-defined cycles since
the early '70's. like you, i just can't figure it out.

I thought that what y'all _generally_ describe was just nature being in
a constant state of "rebalancing" itself. The time to worry is when the
cycle doesn't seem to be repeating itself.

TC,
R

yfitons
wayno