budman

Fished and floated the LIR yesterday for the first but not the last time. We floated from Watts to Gore Landing. Fish were feeding heavy when we got there all the way to the gravel pit. But most didn't care for what we were throwing at them. We decided to float because the forecast said 45 and light wind and Southwest Power said water flow starting at 1 with only one generator flowing. So we thought that we could float and wade for a couple hours and be down stream before the water came and pushed us along to the Landing. Fishing was slow, only caught six rainbows and caught most of them on a #10 light olive woolly bugger. The fish we did catch we very strong and good fighters. We got to fish and see some places you really can't walk to and found some nice water. Haven't fly fished too much from my kayak and with the air and water so cold I did not stand any while fishing, which I have during summer time smallmouth fishing. Already planning another trip in the spring and will bring my 8 weight to fish for stripper in the lower section, because we saw several. At one point saw a fish, small trout, on its side circling on top of the water and when we floated by you could see a large stripper hanging out under it. It did not leave as we floated by and looked like it was waiting for us to leave so it could finish its meal. The horn didn't sound until just before 4 pm so the higher water never reached us and we had to paddle to get to the landing before it got dark. Looking forward to our next trip.

Are you doing the fishing buddy deal again this year. I just read about it and it sounds great. I am looking at Dec. 17 & 18. I read about the boat safety card, how do you get one?

I wasn't there when this guy shot this cat but I did have something like this happen to me and a friend a few year ago at Pushmataha GMA in Oklahoma a few year ago. We were bow hunting and knew a large cat was in area because of the pictures at the ranger's station. It was about 4:30 in the afternoon when I saw something approaching from my right, hoping it was a deer. When I saw the long tail I knew it was the cougar we had seen pictures of. It walked toward my area and looked at me several times. Since I was bow hunting and in full camo and 20 feet up a tree I never really felt in any danger. Yes I was excited, but a doe walking in my direction, while hunting, get the same result. I think it knew I was around because once it crossed my trail it got more aware of any sound in the area. It stopped to smell the air and look around more. I was able to watch it for about 5 minutes before it went over a little hill and heading toward my friend. I called him on the radio and let him know what I saw and that it was heading his direction. About 10 minutes later he called to give me a hard time about mistaking a bobcat for a cougar, because the bobcat came walking up toward him from my direction. I let him know I know the difference and what I saw had the long tail. Within a couple minutes he called back to say that the cougar was now in his area. He knew something was up when the bobcat looked up and ran off real fast. That is when the cat came around some downed trees. He only got to see it for about a minute or so. We both hunted until after dark and walked out to our truck and both of us felt it was a thrill of our hunt. The next morning, about 5 AM while walking about 1/2 mile to my tree stand I started thinking about being in the area where we saw the cat the evening before. So instead of walking in with no light and being as quite as possible I took out my light and started shinning it around and walking loudly. We never saw him the rest of our 5 day hunt. I saw all of this because even though it was walking towards me and look right at me several I never feared for my life and unless it was trailing me and hunting me I would not have shot it. It was just and amazing thing to see in the woods. So I have been somewhat in this man's shoes and did not shot. I too think this guy just wanted to brag about shooting a cougar.

We made the trip, low water and all, and it was fun and will do it again. The weather was great, no rain while we were on the water. There were four of us, all in kayaks. Two fly fishing only, one spin fishing and I carried both. The river is really different the farther down stream you go but it is all still a beautiful river. The fishing wasn't the best we have had but we caught enough to keep us excited about the next cast. Most of the smallmouth in the 10 inch range and when we caught a 12 fish it was a big one. The best one of the trip was 14 inches and my best was 13.5 inches. So the lower river was not as good, size wise, for us and the middle sections usually are on our May trips. The water was low, 2.5 ft and about 78 CFS but we never really had to drag our kayaks to far in the shallows. But one we got out we all noticed several new scratches on the bottom of our boats. On the spinning rods we mainly us olive tubes, bitsy bugs and small olive/pumpkin seed craws. These didn't tear them up, but were about the only thing that worked at all. We tried several different size and color of buggger and clousers and they caught a few but it was pretty few and far between. Since the crawdads were working on the spinning rods we tried several color and size/weight. We caught several when we first switched then they slowed down to nothing. I switched to a # 6 olive bugger with a gold blade that I had tied and they worked the best for us the last two days. I gave one the each of my friends and it worked just as well for them, but only in light or dark olive. Black, White, or Brown did not work as well. I had tied two of each color and the lighter olive worked the best but when we lost one we had to go with the darker color. I was ask to tie some more so they could be used next week by one of my friends on his trip farther up river. I have since learned they are called Pistol Pete, and found some tying instructions. I had to learn from tying a few about leaving enough head room for the blade to turn freely. Had tied some with only about half a shank of lead wire, instead of full shank, and they seemed to work the best. Caught smallmouth, ozark bass, blue gill with this fly so I will be using them on my next trip. I took several pictures but still don't have a way to get them to fit, when I do I will post.

Where did you put in and take out and was it during low water are did you wait until they started generating in the afternoon. I just got a new 8 weight and want to try it out. What flies should I try? What kind of boat were you in? I plan on taking my kayak, a Ride 115.

Unless the weather turns really bad we are going. Will pack rain gear and we plan on carrying a tarp in case we need something to sit under in the evenings. I will try to post some pictures if I can figure it out. I fished the Arkansas River in Tulsa a few weeks ago and caught several channel cat with my fly rod and tried to post a couple pictures but it said they were too big. What do I need to do to be able to post about our trip.

Thanks for the response Al. After posting this question I started looking at older post and found the one you posted about cfs and floating Ozark Streams. Good information. We plan on floating three day and camping two nights. Hope to fish as much as possible with both fly and spin. Have been on all the middle section so I expect to use the same lures on the lower section. We have been told there are lots of great camping and we can get the chance to catch a few trout closer to the White.

I am sure that we are using Riley's Station to shuttle our truck/Trailer. That is a good idea to call Miles.

We plan on floating from Rush to the White Sept. 30 to Oct. 2. Looked at the water levels and at Harriet it says 2.65 ft and 189cfs. We have never floated this section so I have no idea if this is any good or will we be dragging long sections. Does anyone have any experience in this area and give us any insight on the floating and fishing.

Got a call from a friend who said he wanted to try fishing on the Arkansas River in Tulsa. We fished around the 71st Street bridge. Got there about 6:30 and walked to the west side of the river. In the first 5 minutes I caught a 15 inch striper, maybe a hybrid. Got a couple more bites but missed them all. Then about an hour later I caught another fish that stayed down and just gave a steady pull. When I got it to the surface it was a catfish. It was a 12 inch channel cat, didn't know they would bite a fly. Over the next 30 minutes I caught 3 more. My friend caught one fish, it was long nose gar about 15 inches long. Tried to attach a picture but it keeps telling me it was too big. Has anyone else been catching any channel cats on your fly rod?

tippet glad to see you tried adding a jalapeno pepper to your mix. You should try using the bread and butter mix with a whole jar of peppers. Cut the stems off and you will have to let them soak for about a month but they are great. Made one jar last year and once they were opened they didn't last long. Plan on making several more this year.

JD, Bud Penick here, that was a great report. The pictures are great to see. So glad you got to share such great days with your son. Norfork is the first place I took BJ and got her to try a fly rod and she caught three and was hooked. We were recently on the lower Illinois river in Oklahoma and she caught about a dozen. Would love to get her into a day like you guys had. I am learning to tie my own flies and have even caught some fish on them and that makes it all the better. Good luck on your trip next week.

Ate dinner tonight and everything was picked from the garden today. Had corn on the cob, green and yellow beans with a few new potatoes, fried zucchini and eggplant, sauted yellow squash, zucchini, and onion with a little lemon basil and garlic, a cucumber salad with dill, vinegar and sour cream then a bowl of blackberries for desert. Best year I had in my garden if about 10 years. The purple hull pear and starting to turn on and I can't wait.

I was there on April 28th, stopped on my way to Texas. Fished for about 4 hours. Only caught two rainbows, 1 sbout 9 inches and on 14 inches. Tried several flies with no luck until I tried one of my own, it is a combo wooly bugger and leech. I was a olive #14 wooly bugger where I started the saddle hackle at the back and turned it around the hook to the front, then folded it back and tied it down instead of cutting it off. This gave the fly a little more action. I only had one of them because it was a mistake, I had tied the hackle backwards because I am new to tying. I got hug up and I broke off and didn't catch any more fish. I have been told to never tie just one fly but since it wasn't something I met to tie I didn't tie another. But now I will tie more of them then I will post a picture. I loved the river and will go back soon.

I will be camping in Yellowstone NP at the end of June and first of July. I visited there about 15 years ago but did not fish. Trying to find some ideas about fishing there. Looking to wade fish some but have no clue where to start. Looked up the NPS site and it gave me some regulations and then did a search and found lots of guide services that talked about what they offer but I plan on going it on my own. Any ideas would be helpful.

Here are a couple of pictures of Dry Run Creek that I took last fall. There are board walks you can fish from or you can go up stream and fish from the bank. There were a few kids fishing the day we visited the hatchery and creek. Great to see this creek, reminded me of Oak Creek outside of Sedona, Az.

These are the ones I tied up after that trip. These turned out Ok but the wooly bugger not so good. Only my second attempt at tying my own flies, hope to get better and more verity. The ones we used were black and silver, the other are some different colors I thought I would tie and try on my next trip. They are size #18.

My wife told me that standing in knee deep water, wearing waders and using a fly rod would have ever been on her bucket list, but now she is really glad she did it. We fished behind the island most of the day. Like I said it started slow, but the guy who was there when we got there said that they were really biting right after the water was shut off and still falling. Hope that helps and that you guys have a great day.

Took the wife fly fishing today, only her second time using her fly rod. It started slow but we finished off great. The wind was really high between noon and 4 PM. After the wind slowed down a little the bite picked up. I caught 12 and she caught 10. Only had to cut her line once because of a major wind knot. We started off with # 10 Wooly Booger, one black and one olive. Black worked the best and we caught several before the wind really got high and we didn't get another bite on them. Tried several other things without bring any to hand. We were getting ready to leave when they start to feed so I tied on a #18 zebra midge, black and silver, and she started catching some. From 4 to 5:30 she caught eight more. It was great seeing her get really excited everytime she caught one. I think she is hooked. The midges were the first flies I have tied also. So you can say it was a successful for both of us.

If you check VRBO.com there are several cabins on the river some that can sleep up to 12 people and they are on the river. You will have to check the cities in the area and check the houses that say or show they are on the river. You can find a house on the river for 180-200 a night at wild cat shoals, by looking under Mt. Home. it is right on the river and you could wade fish from the back yard. I have not stayed there but have fished along the river behind the house.

I have a Wilderness Ride 115. You don't sit as high as my canoe but mime has the new seat and your but is not below the water level. I was able to stand the first time I took it out. First time I stood I was only in a few inches of water, just in case I fell out. The next time was a deep water stand up and was able to cast well and set the hook on a couple of fish. Have not tried to fly fish while standing yet. I just saw and add from Ozark Mountain and they are selling last year's model at $695.00.

I am glad they recorded it because it was fun to watch and to see such a nice fish. But in the last few second you see they are really close to the shore and there is some building in the background. Could it be at a trout pond? Just saying, it still is a nice fish, bigger than anything I have ever caught.

Tried both, casting cross current and letting it drift and then strip, then down stream and stripped back up and even tried to throw upstream and let it drift and just keep the slack out. Had a couple of bites but did not catch a thing. About half of them I caught had their bellies so full that I don't know why they were still eating. A couple even puked up a few shad. When I finally went to the wooly bugger I caught the first few letting it drift. Then they would only take it when I stripped a time or two and then let it drift a few seconds, always taking it on the drift. The last 4-5 would only take it if I stripped it 6 or 8 times then let it drift but if they didn't take it as soon as I stopped they would not take it at all. Didn't have a white wooly bugger or I would have tried that. Same fly just a different presentation. At about 3:00 there was some hatch starting and they were feeding on it but they were still biting my wooly bugger. Wiht I could go back today but got to do some work.

Hadn't been fishing in a month and could not stand it any longer. The sun was shinning and the wind was down so at 10:30 I decided to give it a try. With the detour I got on the water about noon. There was a couple spin fishermen walking out with their six each. Went up stream from the gravel lot and there was dead shad everywhere so I started with a 1/80 ounce white jig. Did not even get a bite. Thought maybe they were all too full of shad to take anything I was throwing at them. Tried several different sizes and colored flies with no luck so I Switched to #10 Olive BH Wooly Bugger and started catching a few. So by the time the horn sounded at 3:45 I had caught 21 rainbows and what I think was a brookie, my first. It was a good day. Don't have any picture to share, no camera and I have a flip phone that does not take good pictures. Caught a couple about 16 inches and most of the rest were about 12 inches and the brooke was 6 or 7 inches.

Last May I got myself a ride 115, its really naked, and I am looking to add a few extras. I love it and have learned to stand spin fish but not to steady the few times I have tried standing with my fly rod. Mostly take it on Ozark streams, Kings, Crooked Creek, Buffalo River and once on the Elk, but have taken it on a few other larger bodies of water. Thinking about adding a simple locator. Can anyone give me some ideas and weather it would be worth the money and time?