Newbie Fly

XP ... Great insiprational writing I am sure it conjures up great memories and possibly regrets for father/ son relationships for all who read it. Knowing your dad he is an inspiration for me ...to have that vigor and to be as active as he is at his age is remarkable. Something that never leaves me about your Dad ( besides the fly rod he built me )is when fishing with him is after that sound of """fhitttt """""of a hookset He always goes !!!Hey Hey Hey!!!!!

So down stream from the handiocap bridge is closed during C&R ,, There were several other folks there and I m sure we saw the park ranger driveby a few times . I surely wouldn't have been there had I known Thx for the heads up .. One of the guys I was with has been going there for 20 years What in the world was he thinking... Ohh he wasn't

Fished Sunday very nice to be at Mountauk during the winter. Much quicker to go from hole to hole without all the campers and feelling like your intruding on thier space. We fished from the handicap hole down. Hard to see the fish with the sky and mist, but all did pretty well and all using different tactics. One buddy was using a white thread jig (ala BBSP) Another peach glo bugs. I had a estaz egg peachy pink with a little hare's ear of the jbend , we also has one of our spinner friends with us and he used yellow and black marabou jig. All of us probably caught 20 or fish ... Mostly stockers but like I said hard to spot them..... Afternoon a hatch went off white gnat looking things not sure what they were. My one buddy tied on cream midge dry.. I went to light cahill wet fly and swinging them ' and for about an hour we were the only one's picking up fish.. 2:30 on went to the Current I swung and stripped an egg sucking sclupin and picked up 2 fish on the 3 first 3 casts. Same sort of hatch happend there late in the afternoon white /tanish I am not much of dry file guy and surely not sure of the hatches at the Current . I put on a big white wluff and dropped a crystal midge below in the film or just under and managed to pick off fish here and there.......... I am sure one of the veteran Current fishers could tell us

Exactly what I am going to do the video decided it for me!!! I debated a long ride to Taney, Generation doesn't look good I love the Current this time of year but the BSSP wins with the brotherhood talk Besides Ilove the C&R season mostly cold and crisp and just a few folks.... the fish seem to behave more like fish when all the people aren't around .. start day in the niangua swingin and stripping, got to the park for all mid day and go back to the niangua till dark To bad the wife won't see me tomorrow for any daylight hours

Well if it's your first time folks should probably also mention using Bennet "junk" thread jigs , the yellow and black marabou jig, the big ugly brassies in all sorts of flourescent colors, the john deere and the big cheeseballs or egg patterns if you prefer. I myself when there like to fish beadhead scuds with a tiny midge/ harvester below it. If you go out of the park on the Niangua I agree with the two words stated before Wolley Bugger

12 to 14 hrs for Michigan.... That is my getaway area from Mid mo I do short 3 and 4 day trips a couple times a year even if its not the Hex HATCH the hatches in general in Michigan are overwhelming, to what we see..... Plenty of famous fabled rivers to fish and miles and miles of fishable waters (Manistee, Pere Marquette, Muskegon, Betsie Going in April for an quick early spawn steelhead and trout trip Then back again for a summer brown and rainbow trip The fall / early winter trip is only for the hardy due to weather but it is something up there when the big steelhead are running ....Just crazy trying to land those agressive monsters . Started liking it more then the trek to Colorado Even though Colorado has beautiful landscape Not being the most accomplished techincal fly fisher. Sometimes the need there is using 24-26's and making sure of a perfect dragless drifts in order to attract the sometimes wary trout I would at times get frustrated

3 spots I hit outside the park 1 are just across the bridge make a right park about 1/4 mile down some good water there.... 2.The access by NRO 3. The Barclay Access

I was at Taney Sunday and while it was not quite as bad as that fellows experience I guess one should expect a bit of crowding at the Rebar hole as its productive and folks without experience can catch fish there and not have any luck anywhere else But one thing we did experience was the migration crowding to a spot me an my buddy were fishing and more than once. Below the #2 outlet in this one spot in the deeper middle at the start of one run/hole there are these three rocks aligned in this weird pattern that when I can see it like to fish it . Well I start fishing it, no one close by, I pick up some fish The wind stopped enough for a bit so i could see it was still holding fish . Well I see this bigger fish and try targeting just him. Not the greatest I am struggling to get the right drift in the right spot . So I call my buddy over much more accomplished than me and he fishes from the other side of hole as he can put his cast where it needs to be, facing me as the sun glare was blocking his sight line and I am spotting for him Well we cant get him to take, but we are constantly picking up fish Before you know it we each have someone above us and below us and he even has a foot shuffler behind him . Well like I said not the most accomplished I fouled up my double rig and need a retie and wouldn't you know it the guy below my moves even closer to me and once his fly line got caught up on my rod tip tucked under my arm during the retie I just bit my tongue but he says "well your not fishing right now" My buddy says to me don' t let any of these fools see what fly your using as they are undeserving. We got fed up and decided during the middle of day let's just get in the car and go futher downstream for solitude instead of fish numbers Well late afternoon we come back its starting to twlight there's some splishin and splash... time to try some other things So my buddy starts swinging soft hackles and having some success mostly at the end during the dangle.... So I set up about maybe 10-15 yards below the dangle and start swingin buggers and little leechs. Wouldn't u know it walking along the shore here he comes with his buddy He says to his buddy " look I have been watching, they are catching fish, lets fish here!!!!! UGHHHH!!!!!! Maybe that is what they think , sight fishing means!?!#!@#!

Well I am going Friday with a friend and we are taking his daughter for her first time in waders and using the flyrod she got for Christmas. so if you see a couple of guys up in a tree trying to untangle a fly HELP!!!! Anyway I heard the same about midges doing well.. I doubled rigged with a beadhead and a midge below last time and did okay... Suprisingly enough the yellow and balck marabou jigs were catchin last time...... You can count on me trying everything, fishin most places ,,,,, but late in the afternoon I will be at the bridge between Zone 2 and 3 castin upstream dead driftin scuds near the bank Never fails at least for me

I too, last summer caught a few walleye on the Niangua but nothing of the sizes mentioned (2 to 10lbs?) I could only measure than in inches I would love to see a picture of 10lb walleye from the Niangua as thats trophy size even for Quebec lake!!!!

All in all a great day, Of course the monmental slab Feltracer got!!!! here is a sampling of the other fish which on any other given day would have been awesome fish for a day at Montauk

Managed to

I was with him and he sure was grinning ear to ear I snapped this photo of him

Curious what has the water been like outside the park lately? I am thinking of heading down this Saturday, My last time down it was low and crystal clear and you couldn't get any action unless you went to at least 7x.. Good to hear what the likely patterns for action are. I love scuddin!!!, so I'll likely be found, fishing the tree debris and banks If no luck I usually do the same as most, have said egg/nymphin/midgin the pools ... I agree with the flash type nymphs that were mentioned and as its the new hot fad fly try the " psycho prince " Should do okay at Montauk - color of the eggs that are successful and the flash of the nymph's that are successful