Aeronikl

I've owned many quality rods over the years - but have always prefered the "old" feel - like my ancient Winston 3 wt or my Sage 5 wt LL. No one makes anything like that anymore, or so I thought, until I talked to Mark Prewitt down below the dam one night, and found out he made custom rods. He swore he could make me a 6 or 7 wt to use at night that would cast like my Sage - and he did. I've bought 3 rods from him of various types, including a 5 wt for a friend that casts and works fish exactly like my old Sage. What I'm getting at here, is if you want something to really fit your casting or fishing style - talk to Mark at RDP. They can make anything you decide on. The quality is excellent, the prices are great and you will get a personalized,keepsake rod you will always be satisfied with and proud to show off. The only complication is all the choices you have in the colors and hardware! I know this sounds like a commercial, but I bellieve like most of you in supporting our fishing friends from the Upper Lake, and Mark is definately one of us. He could certainly chime it with his recommendations for size/wt/style of rod. You can visit their website at: www.rdpflyrods.com

I caught this little guy in a small, New Mexico mountain lake. I know they stock 'bows there. Notice the orange on the jaw. I always though it was a cut or a cut-bow, but didn't look like any others I caught in Colorado. Wayne - do you think it's a Redband?

http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/pages/data/tabular/htm/tabrock.htm It stopped working for me a couple weeks ago. I went to the usace website and navigated until I found the Table Rock and Beaver sites and saved them as favorites again and now they work. Something happened that made it not work anymore for me. Try the link above and if you get there - save it.

6# bass and 1.5# panfish both caught using a bubbler from a pond in Mississippi. Note the small yellow bug the bass sucked in. The crankbait is 1.75" - gives some scale for the brim.

I've used all 3 colors available from Cabelas. I don't put water in them. They allow me to cast great distances with an ultra or light to medium action spinning rigs. I make a short leader to go through the center with large swivels on both ends and connect to my line with a snap and tie a leader on the other. You can use heavier line than normal on the reel and I usually use 12# on the swivel leader and 2# - 6# for the leader for the flly, usually 4 - 6' long. If you get snagged, you can usually break the light leader and save the rest of the rig. I've fished dry flies - caddis, Adams, humpys, stimulators and streamers like wooly bugers. Used the rig on well stocked lakes in Colorado (put & take fisheries) and at Taneycomo. Works good at night with streamers. The length of the leader controls the depth and I like to "twitch" dry flies and retrieve streamers slow with many pauses. Do not overlook this method for catching panfish on larger ponds. When the fish are sipping on top, use ants or very small, dark dries. If the fly gets wet and goes below the film, a small jerks or a slow retrieve can be deadlly. You can attach a small popper and use a jerk or slide and pause retrieve. This method is deadly on small, clear ponds. I also use streamers with a slow retrieve and small crank baits - floating or shallow diving, most of the time with a 4' leader to restrict the depth. One word of caution - beware of the occasional bass. I caught bass up to 6# with a #10 olive bugger and a #12 adams. I've had many strikes from bass on the small crank baits - but the hooks are usually too small to get a good hook up. I've also landed many crappie 2.5 - 3# with the small cranks using this method - as well as panfish up to 1.5# in southern ponds. When I used the rig down south, I converted a number of friends to using this method for fishing from the bank. You can cover a lot of territory when you don't have time to go out in a small boat.

If you look closely....you can see several big streamers and a worn-out PMS near the beak.

I have to agree with Leonard. Was able to fish many nights during August thru early December, when they weren't flowing water during the draw-down for work at Powersite. River is definately wider and very flat at upper end making more fishable area - especially during generation. Access to south side from north side is easy during no-flow periods at many spots. Most of my favorite spots are gone - especially along the north bank below #2 where I caught my biggest fish over the years. Fish are holding in different spots or moving more during low flow. I saw more fish down stream directly in the flows from the outlets during no/low flow periods than I've ever seen - the reason for the success of many anglers nymphing day or night. I for one miss some of the old holes that were very productive for night stripping, but I did find some spots that are better than before, especially along the south bank. I only fished a few times after the rocks were put in, but did notice they were holding fish at night. They do take some getting used to - never fell, but snagged some with big streamers a few times.

No. He is traveling and didn't want to. Would have called you, but it was late. Would have made a nice snack.

http://www.swpa.gov/generationschedules.aspx http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Tabrock.htm The SWPA generation schedules web page shows the potential for each dam/powerhouse in their system. I don't pretend to have any inside knowledge - but while each "unit" can run up to the 80 MW, they normally run multilple units at lower outputs - like now, they are running 2 units to only get 30-40 MW's, or down to less than 25. The only things that matter if you plan on wading are the CFS flow rate (directly tied to the MW's being generated) and the tailwater elevation - directly . Since "0" flow elevation of the tailwater is just over 701', subtacting from the current elevation available on the Taneycomo realtime web page or on the computer generated message you can call - you can get the additional depth of the water you will be wading in or around. The flooding this year really changed the river at the top end. Phil Lilley, Leonard and many others have documented this very well - but I will only add that it is definately wider, flatter and more shallow - and I find it very accessable and fishable at 1-2 units - up to 704.5', with flows below 2800 cfs. That doesn't mean you can wade everywhere, but you can get away from the bank in many places and strip streamers or nymph with lighted indicators and not be limited to banging the outlets at night. If you look at the report closely, you will see they change the flows every hour - up and down, as they need to match the power requirements - and you can see and feel the difference. I've never seen so many people wade fishing in so many different locations with the flows we are seeing this weekend.

My friend and I went down earlier to try and repeat the success we had previous days fishing just after dusk when they are generating. Not as much luck Friday night - just a few bows, but Dick caught a 4# walleye. Dark colors - black, black and red or purple caught fish.

Nice fiiiiish Leonard. I expect big fish this fall. Be there soon. See you after the 23rd.

I don't know about anyone else, but I love it when you can catch a bow as big as the browns. Nice work.

Tim - I sent a PM to you with my contact information so I can order one.

Still visiting every day.

That's a great fish for being where it doesn't belong. Growing up along Lake Erie, we fished for them all the time. 1-1/2 lbs was just above average on the big lakes. I think the record there is more like 2-1/2 lbs - shows what the bigger lakes can produce. I have to agree with the taste - they were the best tasting fish around - except for the Blue Pike we used to have - and I liked them better than walleye. Nice catch and congratulations!