Roaring River State Park
Fishing Reports This page was updated 5/17/08
Owned by MO trout fishermen, so be sure
to give them your business!
This report submitted by Randall __________ of Springfield on 4/23/08
Date of trip: 4/18/08 Times fished: 3:00pm - 7:30pm Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Overcast Water Level: Above Average Water quality: Slightly Clouded What worked: Powerbait, Power Eggs
I started fishing right below the hatchery and got about 15 hits on a soft egg -- never could
land one. I hooked one but it got off the hook, so I went down to the bait zone and cast
out orange powerbait. After about 5 minutes, I hooked one. I then went up right below the
old dam and threw it out again and landed another decent sized trout.
Thanks again Randall.
This report submitted by Jacob __________ of Joplin on 3/9/08
Date of trip: 3/1/08 Times fished: 9:00am - 5:00pm Air Temperature: Chilly Weather: Sunny Water Level: Above Average Water quality: Slightly Clouded What worked: Glo-bugs
Just wanted to say thanks for the great website! I am just getting back into fly fishing and your site
has been extremely helpful. Anyway the fishing was great for opening day fished in the fly only section
caught and realeased 10 or 12 fish and they semmed to be a little bigger than the usual. Had to use 2 bb
sinkers to get the bugs down to the trout. I can hardly wait to try out some of the new areas I have learned
about on your site like Capps Creek and even maybe Crane Creek. Thank you so much for all the
good information on your site!
My pleasure! Thanks for the report Jacob.
This report submitted by Blake __________ of Kansas City on 11/13/07
Date of trip: 11/10/07 Times fished: 9:00am - 4:00pm Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Partly Cloudy Water Level: Below Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Brown Wooly Bugger, Baby Rainbow Bucktail Streamer
Took my 6yr old down for the day to get in some trout fishing before the weather turns nasty.
It took a while to get the right fly on. Finally got a couple takes on the streamer but lost it to a
leaf. Tied on a brown wooly bugger with a red bead head and the fish went nuts for it. Hooked
up with possibly the biggest fish in each of the holes I fished. Got broken off 5 times. Had a nice
one on for about 10-15 minutes until he finally broke it off. Eventually landed a stocker at about
3:30 on an EHC and promptly hooked into another big boy that fought for a while until he snapped
the tippet off. Over all a good day. I can't complain about getting broken off, it is catch and release
season, and the fun is in the fight. Hopefully I can net a few of the big boys that got away next time
I am down there.
Two words: bigger tippet! :-) Thanks Blake.
This report submitted by S.Z. of St. Louis on 8/30/07
Date of trip: 8/27/07 Times fished: 10:30-3:30 Air Temperature: Sulty Weather: Sunny Water Level: Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Wooly Bugger, Elk Hair Caddis, Foam Ant
Started off using a #8 Wooly Bugger caught one on my second cast, 2 Total on the Wooly
Bugger. Slowed down a bit so I decided to switch flies. Without any success finally tied
on #18 Foam Ant. Had a trout smoke it on my first cast with the Foam Ant. Lost all of my
Foam Ants to a worthy cause (trout), so I tied on a #14 EHC. Caught A few trout on the EHC
and called it a day.A very good day of fishing
Thanks S.Z.
This report submitted by Eric Abernathy of St. Louis on 6/11/07
Date of trip: 6/10/07 Times fished: 6:30am - noon Air Temperature: Balmy Weather: Partly Cloudy Water Level: Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Crackleback, Renegade,
White Marabou Jig, Beadhead Green Wooly Bugger
My dad and I fished from opening horn til noon. Much to our surprise, we arrived to find it to be
the "free" weekend (no permit required), so the banks were crammed with fishermen. Regardless,
the fish were hitting like crazy. Red cracklebacks seemed to be the sure thing. I only brought three
and proceeded to lose them all by break off or the fish fought so hard he bent the hook! I switched
to a renegade and fished it in a similar fashion as a crackleback (floating it and pulling it under the
surface on the retrieve). This seemed to be a sure bet as well. In the five hours we were there, we
caught 12 and missed a handful more. It was a great morning of fishing regardless of the crowd.
If you ask me, the Crackleback is basically an updated version of the old
Renegade. In fact, most western flyfishermen continue using the Renegade
with great success and have never even heard of a Crackleback. So, nice
job on recognizing a classic when you see one. And thanks for the report.
This report submitted by Michael Weidman of Paola, KS on 6/4/07
Date of trip: 6/1 - 6/3 Times fished: All Day Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Very Low Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Cracklebacks, Elk Hair Caddis
Fished the Catch-N-Release area at Roaring River all weekend. Had an absolute great time. Never
once thought about joining the masses in the rest of the park. It's a great area to go to get away from
the crowds. Caught many fish on cracklebacks and a small elk hair caddis. Saw a total of a dozen
other fisherman in the C&R all weekend. There were lots of good quality fish that were active and
willing to take a elk hair caddis dry or a crackleback. Long casts were in order as the water was
gin clear and low. Saw several decent mayfly hatches early each day. The bugs were light in color
and about a #20. No attempt on my part to match the hatch, but the trout were active all day
"sipping" on tiny emergers. An occasional unfortunate caddis that landed on the water was
immediately devoured. It was a fun weekend.
Sounds like it! Nothing is more fun than when trout are looking up. Well,
ok, ALMOST nothing. Thanks Michael.
This report submitted by Gene ___________ of Afton, OK on 5/3/07
Date of trip: 4/28/07 Times fished: 7:30 - 11:00am Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Orange worm, Pink salmon egg
My girlfriend, her dad, and I were at the river by the time the horn sounded.
We started out with white worms and quickly found out that was not the
trick, so we changed to orange. That worked fine, and we had our limits
pretty fast. It was a very good day for fishing. It's hard to think of a better
place to be than on the banks of roaring river when the trout are bitting. I
would like to thank the missouri department of wildlife for making it all possible.
I will be back many times to come, so hope to see you on the banks.
Ditto! Thanks Gene.
This report submitted by Philip of Columbus, KS on 4/30/07
Date of trip: 4/20-4/22/07 Times fished: Morning and evening Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Above Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Rooster Tails and trout worms
Finally the rain gave us a weekend break, and my family and I
camped at Roaring River this last weekend. Friday evening we
had some success on worms and eggs. Saturday was a big day
with lots of people fishing. My daughters and I fished Zone 1 in
the morning and evening. Started out with rooster tails at the
siren, and when the fish ignored it we switched to trout worms
for the remainder of the day. Color didn't seem to matter, just
variety. When one color quits working, just change colors or
change pools. It seemed that everyone on the river was catching
fish all day on all different kinds of baits. Most fish were the
standard 12 - 14" rainbow, with a few in the 15 - 17 inch range.
I didn't see any fish in the 18 plus range. Sunday, I fished alone
from the siren until 9:30 and had a nice stringer of 4. The key to
catching fish is persistence. I fished side by side on Sunday with
4 boys who seemed to break all the rules, heavy line, big hooks,
etc., but made it work and caught some very nice fish.
Thanks for the report Philip, and welcome aboard.
Sounds like a good trip. I've always thought it
interesting that trout, like people, sometimes like
a little variety. If a river is absolutely packed with
size 18 gray scud, but the fish aren't biting, sometimes
a #14 tan scud will tear 'em up. I've caught plenty
of fish on white or silver nymphs, even though
they don't generally occur in nature. I picture a
group of guys locked in a room for a few weeks being
fed nothing but cheeseburgers. Everything is fine
until you toss in a bag of onion rings. Everyone
in the room would simultaneously jump for those
rings, and I imagine trout have that tendency as well.
BTW, are any of you Roaring River State Park fishermen
hitting the white ribbon section downstream from the park?
The fishing can be fantastic down there, guys. Go give it
a try -- and send us a report!
This report submitted by Michael Black of Nevada on 4/12/07
Date of trip: 3/24-3/25/07 Times fished: 4pm-close and 7:30-11:00am Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: BH Midge, Scud, Blue Wing Olive
Well I finally made it back down to Roaring River with the old man.
We started fishing Thursday evening the 24th of March. We fished
Unit 3 like we generally do, just up from the waterfall. I started off
with my black and yellow wooly buggers that always do well. After
fishing for 10 minutes it was easy to determine that it was going to
take something else to catch these fish. I went to a glo ball and had a
few hits but only landed one fish. I went to a pink fuzzy thing that
resembled a glo ball, trailed with a small BH midge. I caught several
fish over the next several minutes. The midge cooled off and a lot of
fish were coming to the top. I threw on a fairly large Blue Wing Olive
(BWO) and starting getting hits. I caught four or five more fish before
I threw on a gray scud and caught another for or five before I quit for
the day. Thursday's total was probably around 30 fish between my
father and I.
Friday moring I tried the wooly bugger again... I did not even have a
looker. Went back to the midge trailer pattern and starting catching fish
in the riffes. About 9 am we ate some breakfast and went at it again.
This time I started with a scud as the trailer. In this one particular spot
I caught ten fish in 15 minutes, including a 17" brown, my first. I
probably ended up with around 20 fish that morning.
Overall a total blast. The weather was perfect with a front moving
very close. Plus, out-fishing the old man is always fun.
Oh by the way, I released that brown back to the water in perfect
condition. Hopefully the next angler will do the same...
Good to hear from you again Michael. I also always
enjoy outfishing my dad. It's interesting that the wooly
buggers didn't work. Usually that means oxygen levels
are too low for the fish to pursue their forage, but
oxygen levels are usually very high in spring time.
Hmmmm... Wonder what's going on with that. Thanks
for the report.
This report submitted by Gene ________ of Afton, OK on 3/5/07
Date of trip: 3/3/07 Times fished: 6:30am - 11:00am Air Temperature: Freezing Weather: Snowy Water Level: Above Average Water quality: Brown What worked: Pink Worm, Super Duper #500
It was very cold. The wind was blowing hard, but the fish were biting
good. I had two in the first minute. By eleven I limited out
Good to hear from you Gene. Thanks for the report.
This report submitted by Sam ________ of Stillwater, OK on 6/12/06
Date of trip: 6/10-11 Times fished: Opening Bell Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Rooster Tails & Trout Worms
Fished with my wife and kids on the "free" weekend. Rooster Tails in Black, Brown and Green and Trout Worms in Orange/White
and Cheese worked best for us. After the morning bell, easy bites. I use the five cast rule. Cast five times and if no takers either switch
holes or switch baits. It's a pain to change baits with that small line and lures but you will usually be rewarded. Also, sometimes I have
luck just changing the presentation to get a reaction bite. When the bite slows down 15 minutes after the bell rings try changing to Rooster
Tails and burn it to get them to chase it. Then slow just enough to allow them to get it. This is usually how I get my 4th fish. Also, make
sure you use 2lb line. I'm no trout fisherman but have never had trouble getting my limit and enjoy seeing my family catching fish.
I'm with you, Sam. As much fun as it is to catch trout, it's 10x better watching my son get one.
Thanks for the report.
This report submitted by Justen Chapman of Owasso, OK on 5/7/06
Date of trip: 5/5/06 Times fished: Morning Air Temperature: Chilly Weather: Overcast Water Level: Above Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: pink and yellow 1/32 single hook rooster tails, brown trout worm
We arrived at the park in time to wait by the river for the bell to sound, within two minutes my dad, brother, and I were all
fighting a fish.My dad had on a pink rooster tail, my brother a yellow one, and I had on a small clear minnow shaped jig. My dad caught
two more but lost one. My brother, who is eight, out fished all of us with eight hooked and four landed. I had three. Two rainbows,
and a brown I got with a worm that was dragging on the bottom. All in all, eight fish between us and still on the road before breakfast.
I would have liked to fish longer but there are always things to be done on Saturdays.
Sounds like a good time. Casting at the siren is just plain fun, even for fishermen who don't like
the crowds. Thanks again for continuing to help us out with reports Justen.
This report submitted by Andy Webb of Independence on 4/19/06
Date of trip: 4/15 - 4/16/06 Times fished: 5:30pm-7pm (4/15) & 7am-3pm (4/16) Air Temperature: Sultry Weather: Sunny Water Level: Very Low Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Rapala F03 (silver), pink and olive marabou jigs in 1/64, red/white/blue powerbait paste
Got there at about 3pm on Saturday the 15th and set up camp. We (fiance and I) fished from 530 to the closing whistle in zone 3
below the bridge before the bend in the river. She caught the only fish of Saturday soaking powerbait on the bottom of the hole.
Not to be outdone, Sunday morning I tied on a BRIGHT pink 1/64 oz marabou with a BB split shot about 20" above it at the
opening whistle and caught 5 fish all to be released in the first forty minutes. She caught three very quickly on a 1/64 oz olive marabou
in the same hole. These fish all came from the second hole up from the concrete platform just before zone 1 becomes zone 2. We moved
down to zone 2 right by campground 3, and she caught 3 more rainbows on that same olive jig by taunting the fish with it. We spent the
rest of the morning getting burnt and not catching another fish until I tried a Rapala F03 size silver original minnow crankbait without the
front treble hook on it in the hole three holes up from where we started the day. I had fish following it for twenty feet and not hitting, and
then one would hit after fifteen casts and fifteen followers. I moved down a hole and the same thing happened. Then, moved down two
holes almost where we started the day and caught one more on the same crankbait. All in all, not a bad weekend away from work and
life in the city. RR has become my favorite trout park and I will definitely be back soon! If anyone has any advice for us spin fishermen
to catch more and larger fish at RR, please email them to me. I would love to meet some fellow trout hunters on the stream!
Thanks for the report, Andy. If anyone has any advice for Andy, let us know,
and we'll pass on his email address. Of course, if you have any tips to share with other visitors, we'll
be happy to post them here.
Many thanks to those of you who responded asking for Andy's email address.
This report submitted by Michael Black of Nevada on 3/15/06
Date of trip: 3/14/06 Times fished: 9:30am to 11:30am Air Temperature: Chilly Weather: Sunny Water Level: Below Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Black & Yellow Woolly Bugger, Pink Glo-bugs
I finally got a chance to do a little fishing. I got started at about 9:30 a couple pools up from the waterfall in
zone two. I immediately caught three fish on a size 10, black and yellow BH woolly bugger, one of which
was a thick 18" fish. I moved up a couple pools and probably caught three more fish over the next 30 minutes.
It slowed down a little so I threw on pink glo ball and caught three or four more fish over the next half hour or so.
It slowed down some, so I went back to the black and yellow woolly buggers that I had tied and caught 5 more
fish before calling it a day. Overall is was a fun morning. Great action and few nice fish. I lost four fish but my
poor knot tying was to blame for that.
Good to hear from you again, Michael. Thanks for continuing to help us out.
This report submitted by Lyla _________ of Joplin on 3/22/06
Date of trip: 3/12/06 Times fished: 9:00am to 2:00pm Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Average Water quality: Slightly Clouded What worked: Homemade marabou streamer
Caught 17 fly fishing with a marabou streamer pattern I designed myself. The biggest fish of the day was a 3.9 pound rainbow -- my biggest ever.
Nice! Those deep holes at Roaring River always hold some great big fish. Thanks for the report, Lyla.
This report submitted by Mark Cure of Galena, KS on 1/3/05
Date of trip: 12/31/05 Times fished: Midday Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Below Average Water quality: Gin Clear What worked: Emergent Pupae in tan and olive What DIDN'T work: Hare's Ear, Pheasant Tail, WD40
I arrived at the park about 10:00 a.m. Started out with the old standby's using midges and nymphs. Had
a few takers, but nothing consistent. About 11:30, I tied on an Emergent Pupae #18 in Tan. I was using a
7 ft tapered leader in 6x with a 3 ft flourocarbon tippet in 7x. I wound up with 11 trout in the 15-16" range plus a
kicker in the 19-20" class. Could not have asked for a better day.
Thanks, Mark. Those days when the trout want a specific fly can
be maddening. When you find the right formula, though, there is nothing better.
This report submitted by David Pettit of Webb City on 11/1/05
Date of trip: 10-29-05
Times fished: Morning through Midday
Air Temperature: Chilly
Weather: Sunny
Water Level: Very low
Water quality: Slightly clouded
What worked: foam ant, moss green 1/80 oz. jig
My father-in-law and I wanted to get in one last keeper trip before the park closed for catch and release. The weather
was cold that morning. When we drove into Cassville that morning, the bank clock said 34 degrees. The water was
way down but was a little murky -- I assume due to the construction taking place by the hatchery. I fished with jigs
that morning and caught several fish-average size. My father-in-law did well on white jigs. I switched to my fly rod around
10:00 a.m. The sun was bright with a light breeze. The fish tore up my sz. 14 foam ant. It was a nice day to end the season,
but I look forward to the catch and release season in two weeks. It's my favorite time to fish the park.
Thanks again for the updates, David.
This report was submitted by Michael Black of Monett on 10/12/05
Times fished: morning & midday
Air Temperature: Comfy
Weather: Sunny
Water Level: Very low
Water quality: Gin clear
I fished the last two pools in the "Fly Only Section." I immediatly caught two
fish using a size 10 black and yellow bh wooley bugger that I had tied. Then a
fish decided to keep it on the next cast. I promptly tied on another and lost
it. I tied on a third and did not have a hit. I threw on a salmon colored glow
ball and the pool turned into a feeding frenzy. I hooked and lost several fish
over the next 15 minutes but never managed to land one. Every time I tied on
something new the fish loved it for about 15 minutes then lost interest. It
did not matter what I tied on. I had luck with a red San Juan Worm. I also
had real good luck with these brown fuzzy looking bugs that the fly shop at RR
sells. They look like the food pellets in the hatchery. I tried a couple
different nymph patterns with no luck. Overall it was a fun trip. I outfished
my father who has been going to RR since he was...well, for a really long time.
Our thanks to Micheal for continuing to help us out with reports. To submit a
report of your own, click HERE.
This report was submitted by Michael Cantrell on 8/2/05
Spent the week from 7/25 - 7/29 at Roaring River State Park and had a great time. Although I didn't
catch any big fish, I did catch a nice limit for supper each day. I had the most luck with a small brown
ant, an olive wooly bugger, and a #16 Adams. I did see one fisherman who was weighing a 3 3/4 pound
fish on Wednesday. Weather was clear and very warm on all days, although there was a nice rain
Tuesday night. The fish were biting very good early the next morning (My son had his limit within
30 minutes), it then tapered off very quickly. For those who like to spin cast, my son did very well
with black and olive wooly buggers with spinners on them (These were sold at the store, I haven't
noticed them before). Also went to the Roaring River Conservation area on Thursday and found the
fish there to be extremely spooky. Walked about a half mile up the creek without any luck (I did
see about a 2 - 2 1/2 pounder in one hole of water). Water was very clear in both places. Caught
most of our fish very early or very late.
Thanks for the tips, Michael. Glad you had a good trip.
This report was submitted by Bill McCorkle on 7/31/05
Wife and I drove down to Roaring River for a day trip. We arrived at
approximately 10:30 a.m. There were quite a few people there -- 2000 fish
released. The outside temp was approximately 89 degrees. I caught about
20 fish using the following patterns: Mike's Mohair Leech, light olive
wooly bugger, hare's ear, old pattern crackle back. I am disaapointed to
say that most of the fish I caught were 11 to 12 inches. My wife had a good day using a couple different wooly
patterns and mohair leech. She caught approximately 15 fish. About 1:00
p.m. it slowed down, so we had lunch and fished til about 3:00 p.m. before
heading home. The water was extremly low and clear. The vegetation need
to be mowed, it is nearly surface level in several places. I don't
believe it has been mowed this season. All in all a great day fly fishing
with my wife. FYI: the picture below is of a 22+ inch, 5lb 14oz trout caught
on an earlier trip to Roaring River. Used mohair leech on a St. Croix 9' 6wt
Legend.
Thanks for the report, Bill. Welcome aboard, and nice fish!
Wes Carillo submitted the following report on 3/24/05
Went down and fished Roaring River on Wednesday March 23. Not sure what the temperature was but it was rather cold
most of the morning. The water was extremely clear but moving fairly fast. We fished from the top of Catch and Release all
the way down past the handicap pool. The three of us did pretty well most of the day. It started really slowly for most of the
morning. Most of our fish were caught on egg patterns, mine were on Y2K bugs. All of us hooked really nice fish, but I was
the only one to land one. Fishing was incredibly slow in the deep holes of C&R. We all had good luck at the Highway Bridge.
I landed two fish on an olive rabbit leech one was a small bow and the other was a gorgeous 17” rainbow. We fished below
the little dam where the water speeds up quickly and we caught a lot of fish. I caught 5 or 6 fish and that was the case for all
3 of us. Things got really hot 2 pools below the handicap pool where the water takes a good drop over a lot of rocks. After
about 5 minutes of being there, I noticed some insects starting to come off. They were Blue Winged Olives in about a size 18
and so I tied one on. Quickly I was missing fish on every good drift I could make (that’s not many) and the fish were going
crazy for well over 2 hours. One other guy and I fished this area hard and I landed about 12 fish. One of those was a 16”
brown who fought me as hard as any fish I’d landed. It was a day maker, without a doubt. One of the other guys I fished
with landed 10 or so fish and missed a lot more than that. The third member of our party said he has landed near 20 fish
on a Parachute Adams further down in the slower water. Fishing was really good all afternoon. The key flies of the day were
the Parachute Adams, BWO’s both in 18’s and Y2K bugs.
Thanks for the tips, Wes. It's especially good to hear the report on the quality dry fly results.
The increasing reports of decent dry fly fishing at various locations around the state is a strong indicator
that our rivers are healthier than ever. That's something we should all be proud of.
Tim Homesley of Tim's Fly Shop submitted the following report dated 1/24/05
Water at Roaring River is still high and murky, but clearing quickly, by next week if we do not receive more rain the
river should be in good shape, it will still be high, but should be much clearer. The best lure this week was a San
Juan worm, I'm saying this because I caught a 28" rainbow on one right before I had to open the shop on Friday.
Woolybuggers, glo-balls, copper johns, flashback nymphs, and metallic thread jigs all worked well all weekend.
Hildebrandt spinners with woolyworms attached to them also did well for fly and spin fisherman, as did Roostertails
for the spin fisherman, large marabou jigs, and woolybugger jigs also caught a few fish. The water is clearing and
it is getting easier to spot the fish, so there was a little sight fishing this weekend and some dry fly fishing, I talked
to a few guys that were catching fish on cracklebacks, and black caddis. With the high water it was still possible
to use 5x and 4x tippet, but as the water clears and drops back to a normal flow we will need to start using 6x and
7x tippet again. Good luck.
Thanks for the report, Tim. Tim's contact information is:
We hope you stop in and visit Tim, and be sure to let him know that you saw his report on Missouri
Trout Hunter.
If you go to Roaring River State Park (or the trout waters further downstream) to do some
fishing, please be sure to send us a report about how you
did. Click here if you would like more information on
Roaring River State Park.
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