NoLuck

Thanks Jerry, Too bad you didn't make it down the 26th. We had a pretty good time. Plus I even caught a couple of fish. Catching fish was just a bonus. Try to plan on being there next year the weekend before Labor Day. We will do it all over again. Cya next time, Rich

Pat, I'll have to wait. LOL. Remember I won't be back for a couple of months.

I caught this nice brown on Sunday. I had to mess with him for close to a half an hour before he took my olive midge variant that I tie. It didn't seem like he was going to be much of a fight untill he got close to me and I guess he realized he was hooked. Luckily I had him on the reel because he took off about 40-50 ft. and then I landed him after about 5 mins. That makes 3 lunkers in just over a week there. I guess it turned out to be a pretty good year before I head out west for a few months. Take care all, Rich

Yeah eBay is ok for selling something usually. Myself I just don't care for doing business on there. I'm in no rush to sell it but it will be gone soon enough.

No thanks.

OK guys, The rod is still available. I will take $375.00 for it and that is the lowest I will go for this rod. If I didn't already have 3 great Winston rods I would just keep it for a spare. It is a great rod and they quit making them. The Z-Axis is the rod the broke all the records of sales for Sage on their rods. The 590-4 is getting pretty scarce. If you want one of these you better get it quickly becuase they are going to be gone soon.

Kim, Yeah Simms needs to endorse me somehow. I'd even take waders as payment. I'd take cloths too as thats pretty much all I wear when fishing. Not just Simms but, other fishing clothes. My fly isn't what those fish were lined up for. They were lined up for the shufflers. Kevin, No I have not yet watched those films. I got back yesterday around 5:30 and unloaded and cleaned up and ate and passed out. LOL, I'll get to them here shortly. Thanks a bunch. Later Fellas, Rich

Here is a couple of underwater pics I took just playing with my Optio W60 Pentax.

Caught this nice brown Monday the 29th. It was the first brown I caught all year.

A buddy of mine and myslef tent camped at riverfront about 5 years ago and it wasn't too bad. Just find a high spot in the cut grass someplace in the shade close to the river. As long as you don't need electric it is great. The problem I have seen in CG#5 is that there is no grass. I guess you could always use a good ground tarp to pad it somewhat.

Yeah it's been a while Pat. I should be down the 26th early am at the latest. I am trying to sneak out of work early Thursday and go home and load up. Depending on how tired I am I may leave that evening. I wish I knew a way to save you a spot in CG 5. If you can convince the people running the booth to let me pay for your spot you can pay me back when you get there. You may even be able to get something in 4. I have duplicates of that pic here someplace. Now I am going to have to dig around through multiple months of junk mail to find it. LOL

Oh I get it ,wait till I'm gone then go. I see how things work around here.

Pat, Independent yes. Financially?? Well almost for a single guy that has to work all the time. Yes I bought a Winston BIIIX. Sad thing is I have only fished it for about 2 hours. LOL

Here is a couple of pics,

I may be interested in trades but, a reel is off that list. I have 4 abel reels now so I don't really need another reel. To be honest I don't really know what I need. Cash is what I could really use though.

Wayne the the other is probably Thompsons. It is pretty nice for facilities. But their camping spots pretty much are a bummer. Gravel parking spots and not much else other than the hook ups.

Mic, I'm not sure where the "Party People" are. I camp at Bennett 5-6 times a year and have never once had an issue outside of a couple of dogs barking too much. I am usually in CG #5 which is first come first served. Get there on Friday before 2-3pm and always find a spot unless it's a holiday weekend. There is a campground right behind Fort Bennett called Peaceful Valley I think and they may have a spot to put an RV for a few nights. Most I believe are full hook up. I'm not saying that you can't end up next to some rowdy people but, not usually. Rich

Kevin, We have had small gtg's in the past. Usually people plan on being there and for reasons that come up at the last minute they don't show. I kinda gave up on trying to organize them. I will from now on try to do a small vacation the weekend before Labor Day if I can plan it early enough. That being said I would like to get a bunch of us from this forum to get together and shoot the bull. I'm sure between all of the experience of us all that there is plenty to learn. I would like to learn some new patterns for Bennett and other trout waters. If you happen to be at Bennett the last weekend of this month look me up. I drive a white Ranger EDGE pick up. Most of the time I fish from the riffles in the high bank area down to the bluff hole. I park on the little road that loops around by the old hatchery pools. Have a good one, Rich

Darn Kim, I just missed you. I got on the stream about 2pm and fished till about 5 and then went to set up the camper. I then went back down to fish in Zone 2 just upstream from the bluffs. I did OK on my usual midge pattern. Saturday was not quite as good and Sunday was even less as good. I guess the fluctuating water levels and the over abundance of people kinda messed with the fish. I met KSBass and his son there Friday evening and gave him a heads up on my midge pattern that I tie and we discussed all kinds of stuff including his furled leaders. He gave me a couple to try out and I showed him how to tie my midge I use and a few others that usually work good there as well. I am going to go down to the local county park here tomorrow evening and give the leaders a whirl and try to coax some gills to bite a couple poppers. Too bad I didn't see you there, we all could have got together and fished a little. I was going to put down a report till I saw this post by you. After Friday it kinda went downhill. They were having some kind of derby there too and I believe that is why there was so many people there. Hopefully when my brother and I go down the 26th through the 30th things will calm down some. Take care, Rich

Pat, Yes I was using my normal go to midge. The fish are a bit more of a variety now some decent some still small. The thread is just 8/0 pale yellow. Nothing special. If you catch the hatch on the beginning of the emerging bugs this midge is lights out. The only thing I can figure is that it matches the hatch of all those little cream midges. If work plays out right I will be down Friday morning.

Sounds good Jerry. October will be a bust for me. Looks like I'll be out west for close to 4-5 months this winter. Darn the bad luck.

Jerry, I need to give you a couple of my midges that I tie. I tried your rusty midges Sunday afternoon and only caught 3 fish on it in about 30 mins. I also tried a couple of other things but went back to my normal midge and picked up about 20-25 fish from 2pm till 5 pm. The only place I fished Sunday was just below the gauge house. I spent most of the morning packing up and drying out the canvas on the pop up. I looked for your car but didn't see it. If I would have seen you I would have looked you up. Heck you could have stayed with me as I am usually by myself anyway. I fished a couple of drys late Saturday and picked up a few here and there. I fished the 3wt most of the time. There seems to be some bigger fish in there too. Still plenty of small ones too though. Let me know when you are headed back down. I have a small leak on the roof of my camper around the roof vent that I need to get figured out pretty quick. I think the caulk around it is leaking. Other wise I guess I'll see you in the end of the month. Cya.

Well it's a good thing I brought my tying gear. 7x tippet and me being a little over anxious tends to be a bad combo. I fished between the gaugexhkuse and the first handicap wing from 3 till 6:30 and pretty much knocked them silly. I went through 3 midges though. I used the same type of midge from the start. I should tie up a about 3 dozen or so of these things . I'll let you know how tomorrow goes.

Hey Jerry, I'll be down there for the weekend as soon as I go to the office and take care of some things. I should be down there around 10:30 or 11:00am. I was planning on leaving about 5 and be there early but my no good boss wants to see me to find out what I have been doing for the last month out of town.LOL I have been up in Hannibal MO for the last 4 weeks and home on the weekends. Hopefully I can find a spot in CG 5 for the weekend. If you are still there I'll look for you.