There are a lot of fishing stories in the June issue of Traveler. There will be more fishing and floating and camping in the July issue, along with a first look at the fall deer seasons. And we'll have a cover featuring a real Missouri queen.

June's issue featured a float on the St. Francis River in a section that proved very difficult 40 years ago. It was difficult because editor Bob Todd and wife Pat set out on a 40 mile float in an overloaded jon boat, short paddles. The river was low as it usually gets in July. They had to sweat at paddling through the deep holes and sweat dragging the boat over slippery boulders in the riffles. This time, Bob and son Bo did a one-day float through the worst of it, but in a canoe, in May, and caught a number of nice fish.

There's the story of how the state record largemouth bass was caught, and a feature on trout fishing in the upper Current River with Conservation Department director John Hoskins. That story is repeated below.

Other fishing stories included how to outfit a youngster for fishing, catching all three bass species in Big River, a grandfather's pride when his grandson catches his first fish, a first-time trout fishing trip by a woman, and wade fishing Huzzah Creek at Red Bluff Campground.

Traveler's Civil War series on John Marmaduke was in the second installment. There' a story about a guy who recently purchased 40 acres and his plans for increasing wildlife on the land. A new operating plan for Mingo National Wildlife Refuge is being developed and a story touched on that. Ozark National Scenic Riverways will be kicking off a new planning period this fall and currently has opened the river to raft rentals. The new Conservation Department nature center at Cape Girardeau is open.

There's a story on how Indians cooked in camp, and a more modern column on recipes. There's news about changes in state laws and regulations, about work to start on Clearwater Lake Dam this fall, seasons, sunrise and moonrise tables, coming events and lots more.

Trout fishing Current River with MDC director

By Bob Todd
Current River carried us quickly downstream from Baptist Camp Access. Soon, the path made by fishermen along the bank began to fade, and John Hoskins looked for a place to beach the canoe.
He and I were in the lead as we began this fishing trip. Steve Bradford and Mark Kruse would soon pass us, dropping down to the next good looking stretch of water and get out there.
The plan was to leap-frog down the river, fishing for trout, rather than simply trade off who was in the lead.
The first excitement of the morning was not a fish, however. Steve and Mark had just passed by when John looked up, finding himself a dozen feet from face to face with a young groundhog. John froze, taking in the chance to observe wildlife close up, as we all do.
But the groundhog was not concerned with John and soon resumed rummaging along the bank.
The other three were fly fishermen, experienced at trout fishing. I own only a bluegill wand in the way of fly gear, and my abilities are pretty helpless. I carried spinning rods.
This part of Current River is managed under Blue Ribbon regulations, new this year. There is an 18 inch length limit and a creel limit of one. It is virtually a catch and release situation this year. John was the first to catch and release a trout.
The plan was for John to paddle and I’d fish between stops. I nearly caught a few, but just could not make a connection. Mostly, I fish with jig and grub nowadays, but soft plastics can’t be used in this part of Current.
I had the most faith in a plug that imitates a crawfish, but while some trout would follow it, none managed to get hooked.
John was switching around, too. The air over the river was thick with small insects - a relative of mayflies, I learned. Trout were feeding on the tiny things, and fly fishermen try to match the hatch.
John hates them. Hates fishing with such tiny flies, and says he does better up in the day when other, larger things come onto the trout menu.
I think it was about the third leap/frog when the air cleared of insects and we began to connect. John tied on something twice as big as he’d been fishing, but still tiny.
Meanwhile, I’d migrated to an in-line spinner lure on one rod and a deep diving crank bait with a bright metal bill on the other. Trout were actually hitting the spinner and I caught a couple little ones.
John knows this stretch of Current very well. He urged me to wade ahead out onto a semi-submerged log which would let me make a cast to a deep, dark pocket in swift water.
My first nice trout of the day was soon ripping around the hole, resisting my hand. The trout was maybe 15 inches.
John moved ahead and soon was battling a brown trout of the same size. And another. A slow start to the morning was giving way to some pretty hot fishing as the morning aged.
We discovered the trout were slow to get on to us. If John tried a spot with a fly and didn’t catch anything, sometimes my spinner or even the crank bait would get their attention. And vise-versa.
At one point, water was boiling over a log crossways in the current and John could not induce a trout to take a fly there. I could do no good either until my spinner got hung. As I jerked it to get it free, a brown trout seized the lure and a pretty colorful battle followed. I got John to take my picture with the beautiful fish.
By the time we stopped for lunch, I’d caught three trout in the 14-16 inch class - outstanding for me. John was telling about other trips, which told me this was only average fishing for him even though he was catching at least twice as many as me.
But even if no fish has been hitting, it was a gorgeous day on a gorgeous river.
Mike and Steve came up. Their experience was similar.
John is director of the Conservation Department and felt he ought to talk some about conservation issues. But that passed and the conversation shifted to agriculture.
Steve is a conservation commissioner from Cape Girardeau who owns land in the bootheel. There, people are converting cropland for rice just about as rapidly as they can.
We learned a lot about rice farming and rice land management. Steve said his dad cleared and drained a lot of wetland for farming and would turn over in his grave if he knew how hard bootheel farmers are working now to turn the land back into wetlands suitable for growing rice.
The conversation turned to rice and waterfowl. Back on the conservation track. The bootheel can be duck heaven in the winter.
We switched off after lunch. Mike Kruse is “Mr. Trout” in my mind. He’s been in on more research and management projects with trout in Missouri than anyone I know. Smallmouth bass too.
He’s more of an administrator nowadays, I learned, but still up on what is going on with trout. (Research emphasis currently is more of habitat.)
His job may have shifted, but as a trout fisherman, “Mr. Trout” is still an appropriate way to think of him. John was doubling my catch, but Mike quickly moved to a magnitude of four or five to one. And this was despite trying to guide me to fish.
Indeed, I began to see trout water in a new way. So did Mike when we floated past a brown trout that must have weighed over five pounds, loafing out in the middle of a barren, shallow pool. Hardly enough water to keep its back wet. This is not the typical place for a big trout to hang out!
Unfortunately, there are plenty of destructive ways to create more of that kind of habitat.
On this stretch of Current, you go through a stretch with magnificent low bluffs. We all spent more time fishing there than our success merited, but who cares? You can’t not fish such good looking water, and you can’t stop with one cast.
As we floated lower, I began to catch a number of small brown trout on the spinner. Mark said they’d probably only been out of the hatchery a month or so.
In this reach of Current, the goal is to stock trout in fairly high densities, but at relatively small sizes. These fish will grow up in the river, becoming wary of fishermen and their flies and spinners.
With the 18 inch limit and creel of one, they’ll have plenty of opportunity to grow. And do battle with several fishermen before they pass.
For the time being, you can probably catch as many nice fish at Montauk where trout are stocked daily as you can in this “trophy” area. But that will quickly shift in the seasons ahead. Folks who want to catch bigger, wilder fish and are willing to put back all but an occasional wall hanger, will prefer this Blue Ribbon area.
We took out at a place called Parker Hollow. It is a mile or so above Cedar Grove, where the blue ribbon regulations end.
Below there, you can take up to four trout. Rainbows can be any size. Browns must be 15 inches or better. Regulations there are called “White Ribbon”.
There is also a Red Ribbon designation which is basically a 15 inch length limit and creel limit of two. There’s no red ribbon area on Current River, however.
The ribbon regulations - new this year - have been in the making for some time. They’re the result of fishermen wishes and the realities of trout potential in Missouri’s streams and hatcheries. If this was a test drive, the vehicle handled well.

Two dozen years ago, June 1981

In 1981 we got to witness floaters doing an amazing thing.
Huzzah Creek had been high and this was the first day the outfitter had allowed floaters back on the stream. A gorgeous day and a gorgeous stream. Flowing strong, but clear as air.
There are advantages and disadvantages to both high and low water. Low water forces you into a narrower channel where you can mess up more easily. But it is slower.
Higher water gives you more room to maneuver and go around tough spots. Mostly.
But when a river or creek has been up and goes back down, one often finds small trees have slumped into the creek during the flood and now block all or part of the passage. If the blockage is very complete, you simply stop and wade or drag around the end.
The blockage we noted was a pair of small sycamores, small pole size, that were now horizontal over the stream. You could wade and push through the tops over by one bank. That’s what we did.
Or, there was clearance of about three feet over the water in the middle of the stream. A couple limbs hung down in the water, but there was plenty of room.
You could aim for that, duck down and coast right through. If . . . .
The first canoe-load of boys came on, looking good, but the boy up front couldn’t resist reaching out and grabbing a small branch. That was all it took for the canoe to swing sideways, catch one of the hanging down limbs and upset.
We were just downstream, watching. We saw the shock on their faces, then the smiles. It was FUN!
Here came the rest of the group. It was as if each pair of boys watched those ahead, studied, and made the same mistake. Shortly, there were boys up on the trees, trying to “save” the canoes still coming.
I believe every canoe full of boys and leaders, except one, dumped. The exception was a couple of leaders who came around the end, like we had done.
Then as the boys gathered their gear, another party of floaters rounded the bend. Everyone watched.
The first of that group simply ducked down and floated through, clean. And every other canoe behind did the same.
It was an interesting lesson in how groups of people can compound their own problems - or slip by problems - by following the lead of others.
Other stories in that issue told of a float trip honeymoon, how the Shawnee used corn as a main staple, a Father’s Day float, and how it appeared too many people were ignoring length limits for bass on streams.
The U.S. Forest Service was still doing positive things for recreation in the Mark Twain National Forest in 1981. Pinewoods Lake near Ellsinore was filling and a new campground there was being completed. Another FS lake, Council Bluff southwest of Potosi, was also filling.
But the Reagan Administration was gearing up to switch emphasis from recreation to production. Secretary of Interior James Watt was even proposing closing some national parks and mining them instead.
Someone finally claimed the state record for sauger. An eight ounce sauger was caught in Black River north of Poplar Bluff. The record set off a bit of a race with the title going back and forth between Black River and Eleven Point for several years.
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