N Wolf

Is that water as muddy as it looks in the pic? If so how hard is it to find the fish in that? I have lots of muddy little creeks up here I just never thought about trying to fish them.

Let us know how that works out. Is the water shallow where yu will be fishing? Is it clear water?

I dont understand how come every one thinks small mouth in the ozarks are picky? They are the baddest things in their invironment, if it moves without their permission, it deserves to die! They're not trout that are scared of their shadow.

rc guy, you cant go fishing. I see your hobbies, you cant possibly have any money!

Carp on the fly rod in a kayak? Yeah, I like water skiing too. Actually sounds like a blast.

Wow, carp in current like that would be awsome. I would have to call it a day after three of them. My arms feel like their gonna fall off after a couple of lake fish even with a boat to chase them.

Yeah, you will need some room. once you hook up he will tangle you with every other line in the water. They pull very hard! The cork in the handle of my 6w is cracked from the rod flexing in the handle. Are you on the Missouri side?

10-4

To those that say fishing with live bait for smallies is no fun: I would love for you to meet my mom. She is in her sixtys now and has fished with crawdads all her life, she still squeals like a little girl every time she hooks a good one. She probably loves the fish and fishing more than most people on this site. By the way, she releases all fish. Next point. The reason more fish swallow the hook with live bait is becouse people tend to let the fish take it and swim off a bit before they set the hook to increase the chances of a hookup. It works but also increases the chance of a gut hook. As far as circle hooks for smallies, waste of time. Most saltwater fish eat on the move. They will take the bait in passing and pull the hook to the corner of the mouth as they swim off. If youve ever seen a smallie eat a craw off the bottom you know that they suck it in then swallow it without swiming off, that putts whatever kind of hook in the gut. One more thing that I know is going to stir things up but needs to be said. Deer and fish are alot alike. They have to live on what is available. If you fish on a river that has a lot of very small fish, you have seen this in action. If you were to kill 3/4 of the fish, the remaining ones would increase in size very quikly. Im not suggesting we do this, Im just saying that killing a set number of fish is needed. That is why we have limits. They are set to promote a mix of numbers and over all quallity of the fish in the watter. Keeping fish is a managment tool that is in fact a neccesity on most waters, so condeming someone for doing it is ignorant and counter productive to your own cause. In closing, Iwould realy apreciat if people would refrain from insulting my mother any further, thank you.

Yes the handle spins backwards too. And Im not saying that you cant catch fish on it, two of my biggest fish this year were caught on one of mine. Im just saying that the anti reverse is poorly made and has to heave of lube. If you take it apart you will see that there is a plastic bearing seperator between the inner and outer race. That plastic peice is the part that is the biggest problem, it has alot of burs in it. You can take the time to clean them up but removing the grease does a pretty good job of it. To be more specific Im refering to the BPS reels with the "Power lock" instant anti reverse. It comes on their low to mid grade reels.

Hi Trevor, As for the BPS reels, you can do alot better for the same money. I use pinicle reels that I buy from wal.... I have twelve of them and have not had a failure yet. I will say that I do regular maintenance on all of my reels so I have no idea how they will work if you dont. I also have three BPS reels and they all have the same problem. The anti reverse sticks causing the reel to backspin on the hookset. If you take the one way bearing apart and clean it with WD-40 then alcohol and re-lube with 3 in 1 oil they do much better. In their defence, all manufactures use grease that is to thick to work when its cold but a cheaply made 4 bearing BPS still costs more than a very well made 9 bearing pinicle. If you will be at mozingo this weekend you are more than welcome to give one a try. There are better reels, but not anywhere close to this price.

This one actually came from the elk just down stream from the bluff up from cowskin. (some years ago)

Try to stick with browns or greens in the size 10-14 range. Something with a little weight to it is nice depending on water clearity. Carp are supper spooky in clear water. Here's a few from last year.

Strange how camera angles change things. The one on the bottom right is actually the biggest, he was 5 lb 7 oz caught during a tourney. The one bottom middle was the smallest at 3 lb even. He did have a huge head though, I wasnt holding it out. I could almost put my head in his mouth but he was only 20 1/2" long.

These two are both just a shade over five. One is five pounds 2 oz and the other is five pounds 3.

My weekend didnt go as planned either. My tournament partner had to go to Texas so Steve and I went to pony on saterday and caught a bunch of small bass on poppers and a few on deceivers. Sunday we tried the cameron reseviors, waste of time. My tournament is this weekend so I have to put up the fly rods for a while. What size fish did you catch at mozingo?

Just so you know, most people modiffy an original patern to improve on it. For instance, I leave a couple of inches of thread hanging from the tail of wooly bugers and griffiths nats to wind back over the hackle to keep it from breaking after two fish. Thats not in the original but it should be. When you buy those patterns they arent done that way becouse it takes more time and production suffers. My truck doesnt look anything like a model T but I would be glad to race if you have one. See my point?

Now I hope that Im not the only person on here who is adicted to fly fishing for carp. I started last year after reading about it. My first day out I found mudding carp in three feet of water in a missouri river oxbow and hooked one on my first cast. They are everything you read about. When you set the hook, they take off to deep water so fast and strong that you really wont beleive that there is any way to stop it. What I would like to hear is anywhere you have found consistant action. Where I live in St Joe, the water is all so muddy that you really cant go out carp fishing. I go bass fishing and when I find mudding or tailing fish I pick up my carp rod and give it a shot. Back home on elk river the water is clear and shallow with carp everywhere. I know it would be hard to ignore the small mouth long enough to chase carp, but if you hook one you will understand. I have read that you can use a 4 wt for them but unless you have one that you want to break, I wouldnt. Besides you WILL want a fighting butt after twenty minutes. Oh, and a net. The best way to make a carp take all your line again is to touch him.

I have to agree on "thingamabobber". If you have used a bunch of differnt kinds you owe it to yourself to try these. They look like they would be a pain, but I prommise they are the easiest indicater to cast. They come in all sizes but I have found that even the smallest will float a size 14 tungsten beadhead. You will find however that the way they say to connect them doesnt work, they will slide down the leader unless you double it.

I need help from people in th know. I had been carp fishing with a 6 wt and quit when my rod started making some cracking sounds during the fight. I now use an 8wt. I had to use that 6 again the other day when a shot presented itself. The same thing happened again and this time I found where it was coming from. It was bending the rod down into the handle and two peices of cork are seperating. What do I have to do to fix this? I dont build rods I just break and buy so please speak slowlly. I would replace it but it is discontinued.

All the small mouth fishing I've done has been on Elk river, Buffalo creek, Big sugar, and Indian creek. They can run all the way across and still be in the belly of the line. I could imagine that if they had room to run they would really be a blast. If you really want to take a butt kickin, try carp on those waters. They are every where and really easy to hook but hard to land. If there was ever a reason for someone in Missouri to buy a 10 wt, that would be it.

I have some pictures of fish that got weighed on sertifies scales. As soon as I get them transfered to this computer I will post them. I even have one that I caught down there that I can post with its length. You may be suprised how light they are compared to small mouth.

The water temp in the creek on the north end is a bit high this time of year. If you launch at the middle ramp you can run strait across the lake and be on good fish pretty quick. That isnt really an option if there is any wind or you are in a boat smaller than 15'. You may be ok in the creek if you get out there just before first light when its still cool. I dont know if I'm gonna take my fly rods or not. I have to pre fish for the tournament I have next weekend.

One more thing. This sunday I was bass fishin on Poney Express and hooked up with a 3ft muskie on the 8wt and a yellow and green popper. If your up in this area you should give that a try. In three years thats my only hookup so far.

Yep Steve its me. And actually I know Mozingo very well. I fish there almost every week. If you are there as the sun comes up, throw big poppers in the trees and strip them like crazy. You will need to use at least 15 lb leader as the bass up here seem to have supper strength and if you cant force them out of the trees you will get broke off. Later as it warms up switch to a long hair worm of dark natural colors dropped into the pockets in the outside weed edges. This time of year the fishing gets pretty tough but if you start your morning in the small coves on the west side of the lake you still have a 50/50 chance of landing a 5 plus. If its cloudy all day, stay with the popper out in the trees. Ill be there this weekend. Ill be lookin for fly line in the air.