Saturday, October 1, 2011

The Pineys

This morning I fished Little Piney Creek just south of Rolla in Phelps County. I set out with the intention of catching four species: Rainbow Trout, Rock Bass, Smallmouth Bass and Longear Sunfish. In the end, I caught all of my targets except Rock Bass, but I also managed to bring in several Largemouth Bass and a Bluegill.

The morning was chilly (a bank in Rolla pegged the temperature at 43F), but by the time I left I was drenched in sweat from walking against the current in 70F sunshine.


It's a fairly small stream, but it's full of wild-reproducing trout! I ended up catching six Rainbow Trout this morning. The largest was right around 12" long.


The water in Little Piney Creek is crystal clear.



My next stop was the Big Piney River, just a bit west of the Little Piney in Pulaski County. The Big Piney is much larger than the Little Piney. The current is also much more swift, but the section I was in was fairly shallow and lacked many fish-holding holes.


The fish were few and far between in this part of the Big Piney, but I did catch two of my target species for the day. A little (5 1/4") Longear Sunfish:


And a couple of small Smallmouth Bass:



 On my way home I stopped at Painted Rock Conservation Area to try for a Warmouth, but all I caught were a couple of small Largemouth Bass.



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