3wt

I use Merrell wet shoes from Bass Pro or Cabelas I think. They get some sand and small gravel if you wade in pretty loose stuff, but for the most part, you can get them set to seal up pretty good.

Just an FYI - if this material is from game you have taken in MO, and you don't have the proper license, you cannot sell it. At least that is my understanding. You should not put the owner of this sight in jeopardy for facilitating an illegal transaction.

Yeah, Al's suggestion sounds good. I've caught a grand total of fewer than a dozen smallies on flies - the bigest coming when trying to catch trout - so I have almost zero good info on how to catch small mouth. I think if you want to do a good amount of floating smallmouth might be your best idea. I really think you would be spending about as much time getting in and out of your canoe as you would floating on the baptist to cedar section. There are good trout spots I know of there that don't even have a good place to pull a canoe out, and I wouldn't want to float right by them. I have spent an entire day on what would have been the first 15 minutes of floating below baptist.

The problem with floating and fly fishing the current (for trout) is that by the time you get settled paddling, you're way past the good trout water. If you really want to do a lot of fly fishing, dump the idea of a long float. I'd camp and do minimal floating the first day or two, and focus on wade fishing the baptist-cedar stretch. Just keep a camp on one of the big sand bars. Spend the last day and in a canoe if you want to float. And Cedar to Akers is like a short day float...not really a 3 day event. You'ld have to float like an hour a day to stretch that out. http://www.currentrivercanoe.com/crfloats.html There have been some recent posts on good trout flies for the upper current. Sounds like it has been fishing very well. If you really want to do the kind of fly fishing you are talking about, you should spend some time out of the caonoes.

I think the discussions here prove a point - that some hunting and fishing regs are a bit vague. There are common discussions we have about trout fishing and flies etc. that fall into this category too. Just because we can sit and make sense of them and call it common sense doesn't mean that they are good law. I agree with our interpretations, but we shouldn't have to interpret, they should be explicit, and cut yahoo judges like this guy out of the equation. The same goes for water rights. MDC could probably save money by not fighting the ruling, but rewording and clarifying the regs to the point that this backward "judge," and I use that term loosely, could never put up a fight...at least not a fight that would cost much money and time to appeal.

I'm quickly beginning to loathe all of you people that are finding time to fish. And as much as I like seeing the otters, they are pretty much death to fish populations. Hope that this doesn't become a trend. What black stone pattern was your friend using? The pat's rubberleg thing? I keep hearing about people killing em with stonefly nymphs, but haven't had a chance to try.

I've had my eye on that one for my old 5wt that has an old scientific anglers sytem 1 noise maker on it. My brother bundled his TFO pro 4wt with the predecessor (LSR), which is quite a nice reel for the money. I am still kicking myself for not picking one up for my when they switched models and were on clearance for somethign like $45. The reel would have cost less than the line I would put on it.

It's rare to get skunked if you resort to drifting the mohairs under a big indicator, and make sure you are bumping bottom a lot. When in doubt go deeper. If you're loosing a lot of flies, you are probably doing it right. This usually gets a fish or two to take in the water that is within a mile or so down from Baptist. That stretch is my "happy spot" to go to in my mind when I need to relax.

Ahh, I see.Can't pass up the free GPX for 'bundleing' at cabelas. It is high quality, and designed for fast rods. Should do you good until you (inevitably) upgrade to GPX. What reel did you get with it...I guess I'm assuming you bundled.

After looking at the link again, those are even better deals than when I got mine (which is a 7'9" not 7'6" like I said). All things considered, for that price I think I'd take the LU. I like to have one "nice" rod and some others that can skimp on finish and nice things like birdseye maple reel seats. My brother has the TFO pro 4 9', and it's close to the LU 4 of my friend's, probably a little slower the the LU, but it fits his smoother cast perfectly. I honestly don't know which I'd choose. All I can say is that I've become a Rio fan. I always used their leaders, which held knots well, weren't a wierd shade of yellow like climax, and didn't have horrible memory problems. I use their flouro tippet also, and always have luck with it. The Grand just handled efforlessly. A short lightweight flyrod is not and ideal tool for keeping loops perfect, up in the air and still casting more than 15' without extra exertion. The Rio line was a night and day difference from GPX. I don't know why the cabelas guy wouldn't recommend it. Grand is specifically for fast rods, and the LU is definitely on the fast side, maybe the slowish end of fast, but far from a truly intermediate or moderate action. I'd see if you can find a dealer with a trial set of GPX and Grand in the weight you want, and cast both. For my set up, I use much less effort to cast the Grand. And you can't hardly get the line to crack, nick or develope the dreaded tip-sink syndrome. I think I'm going on 4 or 5 years, and I'm not the type to baby a line or clean it (ever.) I step on it, stretch it, get it in knots and yank it off of limbs and rocks more than I should.

That's the stretch where I first started catching "non-park" trout. Always fish to be found. #10 olive weighted mohair, drifted under an indicator if it's too slow or you can't seem to let the thing stay in the right spot long enough with stripping, or stripped like a streamer for some real fun. If that doesn't work try san juan worms. Anything small you drift should be under a hopper this time of year. I get so excited just seeing the things in my backyard because it means that the fish should be starting to take them. And by the looks of it, this dry hot summer should make for good hopper fishing this year. Don't let it get you down. The river is fickle there and I think I like that about it. If you don't have to work for it, it's not fly fishing. A 12" skinny trout there fights better than a 15" stocked trout, and is more rewarding to me. As I type this I realize that I haven't fished there for over a year now. This is looking to be a banner bad year for me getting to go out and fish.

7'6" 3wt LU is my go to rod. I used to be a bigger St. Croix fan, but they used to be a bit of a better deal for the quality (cost went up, quality didn't go down.) These days I am kind of impressed by the TFO lines and other "cheapie" mid grade rods. I guess they still fill a gap between the TFO/cabelas/Echo grade and the Sage/Loomis grade stuff. I think the prices in that sale look about as good as the prices were in '01 when I got mine, so not bad. Can't recommend RIO Grand enough for the LU. I started a GPX on it and replaced it with Grand and was thrilled with the immediate difference and in casting and improved distance capability (which really is important with a 3wt so you don't throw a out rotator cuff when you have no choice but streamers.)

RIO for me. I'm open to other options, I just can't stomach throwing $15 or more on a guess when I know RIO will work for me. I wish Vanish or some other 'bulk' flouro for spinning setups would come out in 2 lb or something closer to 6x diameter. That might be a game changer for me if the quality was decent.

I thought the last report was that the vast majority of the "spontaneous" acceleration problems was user error fueled by overblown media reporting. Typical accidental smashing the gas pedal in a panic instead of the brake. http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/07/13/business/main6675035.shtml?tag=contentMain;contentBody From what I gather there is no ECM "taking control" issue - there was a floor mat problem and a sticking accelorator problem. And they are recalled - and the occurence was lower than the hysteria indicated. But I guess the DOT and NHTSA could be in on the big foreign automaker supremacy conspiracy.

How wadeable was it? I've been waiting for wadeable levels all dang year. I'm not as close as you, but for a few hours on a trout stream, it's my best and most doable bet.

Ah yes, another "original fly" with a cool name that is just a specific color of a classic. Seriously, did somebody have the gaul to "create" an orange wooly bugger, or I guess "krysal bugger" since it uses the flashy chenile. I can't wait until I discover a new color for a classic so I get to name a fly.

I usually go the Rolla route, but just because that's what I'm used to. 63 is a fairly straight highway and you can fly once you get out of Rolla. I've always heard that Edgar Springs is a speed trap, but honestly I don't think they even have the funds to have a cop these days. It is annoying to drop 20 mph for such a non-city.

Listen to others for nymphs. I'm no real help there. Dries: Trico imitations. As small as you can find hooks - I'd say 22 or 24 might get close. Some would probably say 26 if you could get them. The trico hatch is tough to fish, but you could probably trick the little guys with a tiny pmd sort of fly or griffiths gnat Elk hair or other caddis flies in about a 16. Tan, brown, and olive bodies should work hoppers, anything you feel like trying certain times of year you'll find BWO's, but in my experience that's more towards september or october, and into winter. Streamers: #1 fish tricker on the upper current, depending on who you ask is the mohair leech. I think a fairly heavily weighted olive in an 10 works great. Some have luck with brown or blonde or ginger. The rattier looking the better - tease out lots of fuzz. olive, brown, or black buggers, mabye even white to grab some attention. Soft hackles should work, I'd try during a trico or caddis hatch if nothing else seems to be working. Oh and the infamous crackleback. Can be dry or wet. It can work either way.

Sage But most importantly not Orvis. If money is of any concern, there are very good options for quality getting close to Sage with a better overall quality to cost ratio. And you could definitely cut back on the reel.

Yup, either your loops is tailing or you're not letting the line straithen. If you cast correctly, the leader should not pass over itself which is the only way it can knot up.

WADE IT. Honestly unless the waters up, The upper stretch is not very float friendy. If you want to cover the whole thing in a day or two, Plan on bringing a canoe but mostly the it will be your transport between wade fishing base camps. You can blow by the trout water in less than a half a day if you were straight floating it. I like to set up camp down from Baptist on a sand bar and wade fish up and down as much as I can from there. The trails help a lot, but you might want a canoe just to pack out with stuff, and then you could float down to a take out at the end. Expect it to be as wadeable as Montauk, roughly, with few exceptions. This time of year you could probably walk from dam at the park to cedar grove without getting out the water. If you got to the parts by Sinking Creek or Big Spring, you would need to float, but generally that's not where people fish, and you'ld be making a good drive from the park. Most people would not consider those areas to be the places to hit for trout.

I have the cabelas one and like it a lot. Wind blocker fleece is a great material, and you do get the bonus of some water protection. You don't have to spend tons of money and get super high end stuff to get something worthwhile(you know, the stuff made to climb mountains, but mostly gets used to walk across college campuses by sorority girls that have never slept in a tent). Get a deal or check out the REI brand or cabelas. You'll end up with somethign very functional and you won't be afraid to toss it on a sand bar, or wear it near a fire. Eventually we shoudl be able to get great deals on second hand north face and marmot stuff from unemployed libarts school grads.

Idicators are one of the few things I hate but have to use. I haven't ever learned to love yarn, but these look easy enough to make. I dead drift leeches less and less, but can't deny how well it works when you need to. For this I use the stupid big football shaped toohtpick model. Pretty much to big and heavy and makes me hate casting, but anything else sinks with the heavy fly. For nymphs I have started just using a stimulator or hopper. Not adjustable, but makes it much more fun than watching a foam bobber...which really offends my fly fishing purism.

I never wanted to cary a net for the same reason. I just got a cheap wood c&r net from cabelas and a magnetic release. I've had it a couple years now and can't complain. There are a lot of the handmade pretty nets out there, but I'm not crazy about spending $50 on a net that I'll probably break throwing in a truck bed or loose. And the wood nets are a lot lighter than they look. I stayed away a long time thinking they would be heavy.

I've honestly never heard of anybody try a dragonfly for trout. I've never seen one on the stream, except by the catch and release lagoon. I'd expect bass to be the bigger attraction wiht a dragonfly. I'd spend my time on some hoppers if you're tying. And, for future reference, you can usually find good advice on the hatch situation from Sam: http://www.tightline.biz/Fishing%20Report.htm He's a guide on the current, but the reports are usually applicable to Montauk. He's also a really nice guy and he's always replied to emails with advice on hatches and tying.