Mr. Roebke and Dean go Fishing

On Wednesday, February 11, Dean and Mr. Roebke took the day to go fishing.  Mr. Roebke met Dean at 4 a.m. and they headed for Winona, Missouri, to fish on the 11 Point River at the Highway 19 bridge. After a breakfast at the McDonald's in Mt. View, the pair timed their assent on the river perfectly. They geared up in their waders, and, after debate, decided to used their spinning reels rather than fly rods. 

WHAT A MORNING! The duo trekked about a mile on the Ozark Trail which runs parallel to the river, finally descending upon the river at the break on daylight at a spot downstream from Greer's Spring. The heavy mist was lifting from the river and the red and yellow hues from the rising sun made for a spectacular scene. An eagle flew overhead in what had to be the greatest of signs. 

Mr. Roebke started with very bad luck. On his first cast his line broke. Tying on another brown rooster tail, his next cast was attacked by a 3 lb. small mouth bass. After a great fight, the monster was landed. Next cast, ANOTHER strike. The line again popped. Again, another lure was attached. Dean was having doubts about the quality of Mr. Roebke's line, and when it snagged and broke again, the issue was settled. All this time Dean hauled in two nice small mouths. With this set back, we decided to return to the car and grab our fly rods. 

Nearly an hour later, our flies hir the river. The action which began so promising was minimal now. We did manage to land a few small trout and by 10 a.m. we had almost reached the bridge. We were fishing a fast riffle. Dean caught two in a span of a minute.  Mr. Roebke pitched his wooley booger upstream and was rewarded with a huge strike. Line zipped from his reel as the fish struggled. At Dean's suggestion, the fish was guided into a shallow pool and subdued. It was a 20 inch rainbow trout. The largest of the day. 

We went to the truck for a snack. Dean wanted to go back to using the spinning reels, so, at his urging, Mr. Roebke stripped off his line and replaced it with 6 lb. test. 

The plan for the afternoon was to drive down a logging road to a spot about a mile downstream. Perhaps a bit disconcerting for Mr. Roebke that the parking spot was in a cemetary.

 There is a large island there which they were going to circumnavigate. it was uncanny how they would fish in stretches with no nibbles and then get to a place where they would both catch 3 or 4 in the same spot.

Alas, more bad luck for Mr. Roebke as the bail for his reel fell off at 3:45 signaling the end of the fishing day.