Kayser

Aha. I've got B10s in 6-1/0, and then some Daiichi 2720 in 3/0. I'm going to try Locktite Go2 Glue for laminating the sheets and then regular old super glue to hold it to the hook. Thinking about adding a heavy mono cross-brace (tied in a-la dumbell eyes) at the fold to add a little extra resistance to foam sliding up. Or I might just go for rubber legs before I fold it over. Regardless, have to make it through these next couple weeks first before I can do any tying.

So what kind of hook do you use for those foam poppers, Wrench? I've got some 3/0 bass bug hooks that might take a pretty beefy one. And what kind of glue- crazy glue, or some kind of epoxy?

That is the weather I've been waiting for! I'm going to enjoy it if it arrives for those days, but I doubt I'll be fishing. Glad to see winter's days are numbered.

A "black gnat" of sorts. 1/100oz jighead, painted black. Red or chartreuse marabou tail, only a few short fibers. Black chenille, black saddle hackle collar. Sinks super slow, and the chartreuse works better for redear and crappie. Absolute killer with that slow fall.

I'm always up to split gas. This semester is busy, but I think I'll be able to sneak away if I get enough warning.

Wait for the next warm day, and try to throw leftie in your yard for a bit- that will probably be the best mark for how difficult it's going to be.

Having eaten lake trout before, I'm curious how many small ones came home? One of the best fish I've had.

Left Rolla around 9:30, stopped in Montauk park for a little while to look at the C&R section, just for old times sake. Water was LOW- probably 8-12" below where I'm used to it in this little spring section. On the drive through, I noticed just how many people were there! 65+ degrees for the predicted high, and the fishermen were out in force. I made a note of how many people were fishing where, and how they seemed to be fishing. No cars at the end of the park, but the cabins were occupied- save that for later. First, on to Tan Vat! 3 cars already in the parking lot, with one upstream and two in sight downstream. Good enough for me. Gear up, tie on, and start walking. Tried swinging some wets for a few minutes to try and get on some caddis action, but no dice. After a couple fly changes and skipping to unfished water, I picked up a little rainbow on a #18 x-caddis. Three more rises and one hookup, and that's it for the hole. Fished most of the way to Baptist, seeing if anything wanted to play with the caddis again, and was not doing well. In a section that looked devoid of life, I was swinging the dry behind a boulder and had a nice (17-ish) brown slurp it down with extreme prejudice. So being the calm, experienced master angler I am, I panicked and pulled the fly right out of his mouth... And that was it. Good scenery, but low water, very few fish. Met some nice folks on the stream, including a gentleman named George. We talked for a while, traded stories, and I promised to email him a link to some pictures later on. I sat down with a sandwich and a drink to watch him fish for a bit before heading to the end of the park and trading the jacket for sunscreen. It was a welcome change of pace from the snow earlier this week. The water looked to be in pretty good shape, but I probably should have fished it earlier to take advantage of the sun angle- the afternoon sun was right in my eyes, and the glare cost me a few fish. Prince nymph and caddis larva beadheads, no split shot, and a yarn indicator. The first hit came from a decent rainbow, on the indicator, making me seriously reconsider my choice in flies. But, the next cast was more swing than drift, to keep the flies up in the water, and BAM! He was mine. Another drift, and a fish on the prince! Definitely looking up for the afternoon. I kept moving, picking up fish here and there, some small, some decent, nothing to write home about. I was almost to the bluff hole, with probably 10-15 to hand, and turning to move again. My flies were swinging downstream, skating across the surface when a shadow broke from the grass on the bottom and the prince disappeared in a gaping white maw and a noisy splash. A few minutes later, and a thick rainbow was in the net, after a couple interesting attempts (I really need to reconsider this 12' leader on an 8' rod- makes it hard to get bigger fish close to the net). But it was the kind of rainbow that people paint pictures of, the kind that get put in magazines. Only 17" long, but tall shoulders, full red (not pink) fins with white tips, big wine-red stripes devoid of spots, and a dark green back with hefty black spots- one of the best looking rainbows I've pulled from the Current. Pull the camera from my pocket to snap a quick photo, and "BATTERY EMPTY." Great... Set the net down in the water, fumble for my phone, look back, and the fish is out of the net and swimming. No worries- pick up the rod, pull tight, and... the net comes right to hand, sans fish. The flies had pulled out in the mesh, and freed the fish. Such are the dangers of barbless hooks. Kept fishing through the rock garden, pulled a few more fish, and decided to make it back to Rolla. All in all, ended the day with maybe 20 fish and a couple pictures, but not quite the pictures I wanted. I guess I'll just have to go back and try again.

Just bought a Humminbird 398ci, hope to get to use it soon. It doesn't have the large screen though, hope I don't regret that. But for $250 for a side imaging with GPS, it was hard to pass up.

I think I know where you caught the big girl at. http://i.imgur.com/q3owm92h.jpg From October. Look at the spots, particularly the bar or slash between the anal and pelvic fin, and the spots around it. Dare I say, catch and release works?

Long and rough, with lots of people dropping off.

Keep it under 10 mph at the most, and watch the direction. I've run it in higher, but I hugged the bank to where I was fishing. Deep v boats are strongly advised here, and I would not recommend a 14' Jon boat- I've seen too many swamped on that lake while fishing from the levee. Big winds aren't a joke on this lake.

Hey Wrench- how do you tie those things? Furled, braided, knotted, or just wrapped on thread extended body?

Use 8/0 circle hooks with matching sized baits. The small ones can't get the hook in their mouth, so only focus on the big load ups instead of the small taps. Fish all day for a bite or two.

I assume those abominations are tied on popper hooks?

Burlap is a great idea for quick & light, and I've already got a ghillie blanket made up for those situations. Thanks for the suggestion, but it's not quite what I need here. Cordura is the obvious choice because of strength, toughness, windproof/waterproof. But if I can't work with it, I can't use it. JD- I'm going with a personal blind. Burlap isn't going to cut it for what I'm trying to do, and I've got a great price lined up on some cordura through a friend. But I don't want to take it if it's going to be too hard to work with and break needles on a sewing machine- I'll just be taking material that someone else could be using and tearing up my equipment in the process. Thanks for the input everyone, appreciate it.

Need the windpoof/waterproof qualities of cordura or a similar material. Mud, water, and rain being the main concerns.

Has anyone worked with this material ? I'm looking at making a blind, trying to decide on 500d or 1000d. Durability, waterproofing, and how easy it is to sew are my main concerns. Leaning towards 1k right now, but that will change if I can't sew it.

I'll be hunting Illinois Central Duck/Goose Opener on Saturday, have some friends that will be taking some youngsters out of for Mid-Mo youth as well. Anybody else headed out on Saturday? If so, are you expecting a slaughter, or just a good sunrise and decent breakfast? I, for one, am packing a lot of bacon for the skillet, if that's any indication. And good luck to everyone- stay safe out there!

Kinda looks like a midge.

Baldwin Lake in IL stays open all winter on the north end. South end closes as a waterfowl refuge, and there is a HP restriction of 50HP. There was a massive fish kill a few years ago (and that director was removed), but I haven't heard anything about it in a while. Blue cats are your best bet from what I know, lots of rough fish as well. Anything that's in the Kaskaskia River (and Mississippi, too) makes its way into the lake as fry, so you get the drift on what's there. Kayaking? I would say pick days that have very little wind. It's a perched lake, so any wind at all will cause it to kick up whitecaps about halfway across. Or stick to the leeward bank. Bank fishing is allowed the entire length of the north levee, catfish are the most popular target. But I haven't fished it in a few years, so maybe the crappie made a comeback without all those little channel cat.

Nope, no other flies, no marks to speak of, either. I'll just say that she wasn't alone. Really wish I could have gotten one of the browns to come up- I saw them doing the slow 2-fin rise occasionally, but it seemed more of a taunt than anything else. Awesome that you got one to hit a dry, it's definitely my favorite way to catch fish even if it isn't the most effective.

Do flatheads in the larger reservoirs feed into November as well? I've got a spot that has a decent number of them, just haven't had time to go this year. I've never fished them in the fall, so I don't even know what depth to look at, either.

Once they understand what I mean when I say "I'm going fishing," they're far more accepting of how much time I spend on it. I'm no longer "the weird guy that fishes a lot," I'm suddenly "the guy that does fun things in awesome places and has a story to go with it." Gets people interested in going outside, and I'm all for that. That being said, I'm obsessed with it. I've been fishing since I was 2, flailing since 10, terrorizing all manner of pond fish (and the occasional bullfrog). Didn't get decent with the fly rod until the end of high school, and got ok at trout. Built two fly rods so far, and looking at expanding the species caught- next on the bucket list is silver&chinook salmon, or steelhead. Maybe bull trout if I find the means. Grayling are somewhere below that. But before all that, I need to get much better with the photos- the fish and scenery where I want to go deserve far better than I can achieve right now. Heck, maybe I'll even start my own photo blog.

I don't discriminate, you'll find everything from flatheads and crappie to trout on my imgur page, even a grilled bass. Just like to have somewhere to keep it all, and maybe get my friends to understand why I fish so much.