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Anyone fish Bennett last few days

2K views 24 replies 8 participants last post by  MO-APE 
#1 ·
Just curious on conditions an any info would be appreciated , getting burned out on Montauk an meramac for the moment so thinking about heading down tomorrow.
 
#8 ·
I'll be down next weekend as long as work or too much rain don't keep me. Hopefully the flys I normally use are starting to work again. The water looks to be starting to clear up to a normal color for this time of year. A little stain actually helps. On the opener it was tough, but Still managed to catch fish.

I won't even pick up a spinning rod to trout fish anymore. If it's too tough with a fly rod I just stay at the camper and chill and grill. I like to be able to see the fish react so I can adjust accordingly. I've never been skunked before but I've came close a few times. Everyone that says it's too easy to catch fish in a trout park hasn't fished them very much. Fishing at the whistle can be pretty easy most times. But wait till Sunday afternoon on a busy weekend and see how things go for ya. I've literally seen dozens of people go without catching fish for hours after a long busy weekend. That's when the experienced savvy anglers are separated from the novices.

I rarely if ever get to the stream before 9:30am. Most of the fresh stockers are pulled out by then. It takes a little more skill to catch trout when they've been in the stream awhile. I haven't fished the bait section of the stream since I was old enough to wade on my own in waders. Maybe 11-12 years old I believe. But bait fishing isn't my thing anyway. I catch and release fish for the most part. Occasionally I'll take a few fish home for friends and such. I'd much rather eat a crappie or bluegill anyway.

Hopefully the dry fly action starts to pick up here shortly. Then I'll get the Sweetgrass 4wt bamboo out. Fun times!!
 
#10 ·
So why the burnout at Montauk? I fished there Sunday afternoon on 3/3/18 and did ok. Most of the fish were small, in the 11 inch range, and water conditions weren't great at the time. But I usually enjoy my visit there as much as I enjoy going to Bennett.
 
#14 ·
I haven’t heard anything. But last weekend, I caught a bunch of fish on a #12 Y2K flo orange and chartreuse. Drift under an indicator. Fished for about 3 hours and caught a couple dozen fish.

The water was kinda murky but fishing seemed OK if you could get down deep to them. I should be back down this weekend if I get home tomorrow at a decent time.
 
#19 ·
I need to go again. Been a couple years since we've camped there. I miss it.
 
#20 ·
It was a rough drive there in the rain,

Water was not too cloudy due to that recent rain

Weather was very cold, and put quite the damper on how much I fished.

Drive home was almost as stressful as the drive there due to the high crosswinds.



Glad I went though, and I took a quick drive around loop 4, many of the sites will work for me but I would like to pay more attention to a select few that are wider and longer before signing up for a spot.
 
#21 ·
Fished Bennett last Friday afternoon. Saw a lot of fish stacked up in a couple of my favorite holes to fish and thought we would hammer them since there weren't a ton of people fishing. I tried helping someone catch their first ever trout for an hour or so, and his casting skills with an open face did give us the opportunity to retie replacement lures on a few times ;) but he had to leave without catching his first. :(

Fishing was good, but catching was pretty slow. Less than 2.5 caught per hour from my rearview mirror. I tried several things and caught a few here and there, but nothing I considered hot. :wave1:
 
#22 ·
Wow,
What a difference two weeks can make. Stopped by Bennett for a few hours Sunday on the way back from Branson and caught the heck out of them. Really good size fish and lots of them in short period of time.
 
#23 ·
It’s been that way GG. Last time I was down. It was lights out on a red SanJuan worm. Then my buddy from Belton Mo went down the day after and couldn’t catch squat. Next day was amazing he said. Same flies.
I think the crowds and the weather has them kinda messed up.
 
#25 ·
Went for a few days last week, Friday was crazy crowded for not being a Saturday or Sunday. I had a gaggle of non-flyfisherman buddies that I was trying to teach. If you could get to a hole where the fish were holding you had a lot of action. I caught and released 20ish in a few hours on zebra midges and small hare’s ear nymph (tied very sparsely) before I took over the “guide” job.
 
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