NoLuck

Hey Guys, I'll be starting a new job on the 22nd of May and I have to wait to see what my schedule will be like. The job requires some travel. I want to be sure that I will be in town to do this thing. I don't believe I'll be able to do a weekday like I used to. As soon as I know something concrete I'll let you all know how it will pan out. Rich

Pat, I'm glad you liked the pattern. You are welcome and I hope you have as much luck as I've had with it so far. It really amazes me how much the green shows through the olive color. When the sun is shining it really gets a lot of attention. I fish below the bridge a ton as long as there is room to fish. It seems as if the word got out about how many fish were there that you couldn't see and then it is always crowded. I've sat in one spot and caught 25 fish before. I'm interested to see what the high water did to the fish that used to hang out there. I'll catch up with you someday soon at Bennett I'm sure. Rich

I believe the full name is August A. Busch memorial wildlife area or conservation area.

DT, My flys aren't nothing to write home about trust me. But, they get the job done most of the time.

Ok Guys and Gals, Lets all weigh in on another get together. I personally would prefer Bennett just because of the accomodations. Lots more to do around Bennett and lots of places to fish too. Montauk is an option but, with all the people coming from the other side of MO Bennett is a little more centrally located. Plus my buddy has a camper with A/C that I can stay in if he isn't full. So lets hear from everyone!! Rich

DT, I was fishing with a small Palsa stick on floating indicator. I was fishing just where the fly would tick bottom once in a while. I was even using 5x flouro all day. Who knows, I may have even caught more fish if I used 6x. Take care, Rich

Pat, Sorry for the confusion. I start the V-Rib just behind the bead with it laying on top of the hook shank. I wish I had a digital camera to show you better. The wrapped over V-rib gives it more of a side profile shape. After you wrap it back to the bend then do a half hitch and tie in your Flashaboo. Wrap the thread back to the bead and do another half-hitch or whip it behind the bead with just a couple of wraps.Wrap your Flashaboo up to the bead and tie off and then wrap your V-Rib and tie off, build your head and finish. The V-rib secures the Flashaboo so no need to start it(Flashaboo)behind the bead. Don't leave gaps between the V-Rib. The color really draws the fishes attention. It has just enough flash and doesn't run off wary fish. I have caught scuds that were in my boot laces that looked very similar to these. If you need more help let me know. Rich

Hey Jerry, Thanks for the congrats. It seems like every time I catch a decent fish there is no one around. There were a couple of guys way downstream and I didn't feel like yelling to one of them to take a pic. This time I figured I would keep one and measure it. I believe that the park puts these fish in there figuring people will keep them anyway. This is the first time and probably last time I will keep a lunker unless its a monster to have mounted. I have caught bigger fish at both Bennett and Montauk with no one around to snap a pic. I just figure someone else will get a thrill out of catching it just like I did. I am starting a new job at the end of this month that may get into my fishing times. It requires some travel and a lot of off hour from normal business hours. Pay is great and the opportunity to see some of the country at someone elses expense is what steered me there. I'll still have time to fish but, just not on a normal schedule deal. I'll let you know when we can try to get everyone together for an outing again. I guess I need to get the ball rolling on that Huh? Take care, Rich

Pat, The water still had a dingy look to it. But, it was definately cleared up a bunch since the last time I was there last month. The current was still moving at a pretty good clip too. Maybe by this time next month without a bunch of rain it will be better. My Hybrid is a midge pattern for the most part. #16 Dia-Riki #135 Olive V-Rib sized for a midge. Black 6/0 Thread Black TBH Pearl Flashaboo(1 Strand) I pinch the barb first then put on the bead. I then clamp the hook in the vise tie in the V-Rib on top of the hook(flat side down) behind the bead and wrap a base of black thread to the start of the curve of the hook. I tie in my flashaboo there and wrap the thread back to the bead as smooth as possible. Wrap your flashaboo with overlapping wraps back to the bead and tie in and trim. The pearl will turn a real bright green over the black thread. Then wrap your V-rib side by side back to the bead paying attention that you have the round side up. I use a rotary vise and that is real easy to accomplish. Tie in behind the bead, trim and build the black thread up behind the bead making it almost even with the bead. Whip Finish. I use traditional cement on mine but you could probably use Sally Hansens too. Fish it just like a weighted scud or a midge. Good luck, Rich

Hey Folks, I fished Bennett today from 12:30pm till the whistle. I tried real hard to get out of bed this morning to leave at 4:30am but just couldn't do it. The crowd pretty much cleared out before I got there it looked like. There were some people but, nothing like I figured would be there. I started fishing in Zone 2 just below the spot where there is normally riffles. Fished a y2k bug to start and caught 11 fish in the first hour or so. I switched over to a #16 hybrid midge/olive scud with a black tungsten BH. I then proceded to catch fish on just about every third drift. I believe I must have caught close to 15 fish on that fly. They seemed to quit biting a bit so I decided to try Zone 1 for a bit just below the spring and above the gauge house. I fished the same hybrid fly and caught 8 nice fish near the far bank. Midges were hatching all over the place and I didn't see any fish midging so I pretty much figured they were taking my hybrid for a scud. I took a break for a bit around 4:30 and drove around to look see. I went back to Zone 1 and walked the stream down to the end of the island. I only picked up 4 fish as I figured I walked to fast to really put out a good effort to catch fish. Fish were hitting something on the surface about 5:30 but, I couldn't figure out what they wanted but, some people were doing pretty well. I walked back to get the truck and went back to Zone 2 and fished the deeper water below the shallow hard running water(normally riffles)and started picking up fish again on a y2k. I landed another dozen or so really decent fish as the sun started going down. Almost all the fish I caught were just on the edges of the drop off to the deeper water. Then about 45 mins before it really started to get darker I picked up a fish that probably weighed close to 3 lbs. Really nice clean fish but it was probably just released from the hatchery for kids fishing day. I thought about keeping it but didn't want to stop fishing to go weigh it and ruin the rest of the days fishing. Turns out I made the right decision. about 7:45 I landed another bigger fish and decided to keep it and call it a day. I took it up to weigh it and get my picture and patch. The fish weighed in at 3lb and 14 oz. I wish someone would have been around to take a pic with my camera I keep in my vest of the first fish but OH WELL! 2 lunkers landed within 30 mins. The first fish was longer than the second without the girth. All in all a great days fishing. To bad I had to turn around and head back home. On the way back home I saw a friend of mine that wanted the lunker fish to try and do a mount of it. He is just a rookie taxidermist and self taught. He really wanted to give it a try, so I gave it to him. He also said if it worked out well he would do a fish for me sometime down the road. I just wonder how long it will be before I have that good of luck catching 2 lunkers in a short span of time. Take care all, Rich

Hey guys and Gals, I have been off line for a while and finally got back up and running. I used a laptop for a short time but I'm partial to a desk top. Hope to view more good stuff here on OAF again on a regular basis. My hard drive was shot on my computer and it was only a 40G. I now have a 500G with 1G of ram. I should be a lot better off than I was before. I know it sure runs a lot smoother and faster than it did before. I didn't realize how dependant I was on my computer till it was down for a few weeks while it was being repaired. $175.00 and a little hassle and I'm good to go again. My buddy fixed it for nothing and I need to get him something in return. Good to see all the news again, Rich

Hey Guys, For years when I was younger in the spring it was always high water. We all just got used to the low water that has been the norm for the last 6-7 years. I admit I like fishing in the lower clearer water too. I tend to like sight fishing and dry fly fishing. Stabil water and clearer water will all fix most of our desires for midge and dry fly fishing. Just be glad that we are not worried about the spring drying up. Hopefully we will all get down to Bennett sometime soon in better fishing conditions. See you all soon, Rich

Hey Guys, If I would have landed all the fish I hooked I would have been the Man. I probably landed 30-35 fish and hooked another 50 but didn't land them. The Primrose and Pearl seemed to be matching the midges that were coming off all day. JJ tried his best to get a picture of me fishing in the sticks. I did donate one midge to a tree that looked to be some type of sign post for all anglers to leave a mark. Man,that tree sure has seen some folks. I guess when you use a #18 bead head midge you tend to miss landing a few fish. I don't know if I used too big of a bead or what. I opened up the gape on the hook with my clamps which tended to help a little. JJ seemed to think I was dragging bottom a lot. But the bottom pulled back and rolled over just about every time I got snagged. LOL Over all a great day to be out fishing besides the bigger than normal crowd at Montauk. I could complain a little but I won't. I just am amazed at what some people will do to catch fish outside the rules. An undercover Conservation Officer would have a hey-day at Montauk. I try not to let that stuff bother me but, it always does to some extent. Hopefully I will get back down to do some more fishing soon. The way gas prices are going it looks like its going to be a tuff summer. Take care all, Rich

Hey Jerry, As soon as we have a chance we need to try to get some of us together on a weekday. I have had enough of the weekend crowds at Bennett. I don't mind Montauk on weekends but, Bennett is just nuts. TTYL, Rich

Hello all, Well it was an interesting few days at Bennett to say the least. I arrived Sunday around 11:30 am. Wind was just horrid but, I just could not resist the urge to wet a line in the nice temps. The crowds were starting to diminish by the time I got to the stream except for where I wanted to fish. High water kept me from fishing a lot of alternate areas. So I tried fishing zone 2 with not a lot of success. There was just not a lot of room for the 15 or so people trying to fish in a small area. People actually tried to muscle me out of my spot that I was fishing by crowding me. I now can see how some people have the perspective of trout parks that they do. Finally I moved up to zone 1 and tried a little bit of the usual stuff to no avail. I started to catch quite a few fish on a #14 Y2K in a bubble gum color. You had to fish it deep and dead drift it well. I probably caught close to 20 fish from 1:30 pm till the whistle. Monday was a total wash out for me. I was just not into fishing in the COLD rain. Then in turned into sleet and freezing rain with winds that were blowing pretty well. I just sat in my truck and watched everyone else battle with mother nature and fish. There were a few people catching fish though. I figured Tuesday would be a better day and I just wrote off Monday. They were calling for snow Monday night into Tuesday morning and boy did it. I awoke to probably 6" of snow to clean off my truck before I did anything. I got out of bed and got dressed and started to clean off the truck. After cleaning off the truck I noticed my left rear tire looked low. I cleaned away the snow to find a completely flat tire. (Did I mention my username here?) So I went back in and waited for the tire stores in Lebanon to open I then decided I better get to changing a flat in all the snow that I just cleaned off my truck. This was no fun task. I had to lay on the ground to get the tire out from under truck. OK flat changed and on the way to town to get a flat fixed. By this time the weather had really turned out to be really nice. Lebanon didn't have hardly any snow on the ground. So, back to Bennett to do some fishing. I got back to Bennett to start fishing at around 12:30pm. I started fishing in Zone 1 just up from the gauge house. I used the Y2K in a 2 color version and did pretty well and landed close to 30 fish or so before the whistle blew. You had to fish it deep and just on the edge of the fast current. Wednesday was a peach of a day!! The day started out a little chilly and it got warmed up to around 45 or so by noon. I fished a couple of different places all with success on the multi-colored Y2K fished deep. There was stretch where I actually was tired of catching fish. My arm was sore from landing fish. The stream is loaded with fish that people didn't catch from the opening weekend. I had a few people ask me what I was fishing with that said they never seen someone catch that many fish in a short period of time. I fished at the hatchery outlet with an orange weighted scud and did pretty good too. All in all with the exception of the flat and the crazy weather it was a good trip. take care yaaal, Rich

Hey Don!! Sorry I missed your B-Day but, happy belated birthday. Hope you had a good one. I don't know why I never look at that b-day section. Maybe its a denial thing.LOL Take care and hope to see you as soon as I get some time to get down that way. Rich

Hey guys, I probably won't make it down opening weekend but, I should be there a couple of days through the first week. I'm on vacation all week the first full week of March. Hopefully the crowds are dwindled and the fish are still there. If the water is still up like it was last Saturday you need to fish close to the banks or really deep. I tried all my normal stuff to no avail. I finally switched over to an egg pattern and caught close to 20 from 1pm till 3:45pm. It was pretty tuff seeing any fish and when you did it wasn't for very long. Water was rolling off the dam where I wanted to fish like a white water rapids section on the CO river. Good luck to all who brave the opener!! Rich

Thanks Ducky, I knew I could count on someone here to guide me on my rambling way. Take care, Rich

Hey guys, I was thinking about heading down for a day and was just curious as to which route is best coming from Springfield to the Dam. Also, How is the generation going to be this weekend? I may come down tonite or just come Saturday night after fishing Bennett. I don't want to get caught up in all the traffic I hear people talking about. Thanks, Rich

I had no idea what half of those beetles were!! 65% I guess I wasn't as bad as I thought with bugs.

Just curious if anyone has seen the color or flow of Montauk. Maybe headed down Sunday for a day to fish and hoped it was OK to fish. Also was wondering if there are many fish left in there. Thanks, Rich

Hey Jerry, Yes I actually stand on the bottom of the big dam. From what I heard though you would not have been able to see the fish. But, I can assure you they were still there. Sometimes in the heat of the summer that is one of the best places to fish in the evening. If we ever get down there again on the same day I'll show you how I fish it. Take care, Rich

Jerry, Most of the time if someone goes fishing while I'm sitting at home I'm jealous. Well this time I'd have to gladly say I'm not at all. I knew what it was going to be like. I don't mind cold weather but, that ain't cold. Thats insane. I will be more than happy to go fishing as soon as it gets up above freezing temps. I've been sitting around here learning how to tie flys and I'm just itchin to get out and try them out. Money has been a little tight lately to boot. Maybe Jon and I can split the gas some day and meet you down there and do some fishing before winter fishing is over. Maybe HFD and some others will come along too. I have a ton of warm clothes for hunting that make it bearable but, when I get cold hands I'm done. We don't have too much time left before the parks are filled to the brim again. It seems like every year there are more and more people taking up trout fishing. Thats fine if you like fishing in a crowd but, I don't really care for dodging people and them crowding my drifts. I was at the fly shops here Saturday afternoon and they were really crowded with people just waiting to get out on the water. If you do get down there again fish on the bottom of the big dam. I fished there on the 31st and the fish were really stacked in there. I caught quite a few fish on midges in about 45 mins. The only problem is landing them when there is a step up to you of about 16-18" above the water level. I hate using a net during C&R but I had to there. Let me know ahead of time if you are going again, Rich

Well Boys, I was at Bennett on the Monday before New Years day and I was planning on going to Taneycomo on The 1st. With the forecast of below freezing temps and monsoon winds I decided to go home and sip hot chocolate. You guys that fish in that stuff are . I'll wait for warmer temps and I'll stay here in my warm apt. and tie some more flies. Have fun and stay warm, Rich

TFM, I am off every other Wednesday. Maybe in a couple of weeks we may just do that. I live in the St.Louis south county area. Maybe JJtroutbum and we can all meet up. Take care, Rich