vanven

You misinterpreted my post. In today's meta where there are 10's of thousands of C&C permits floating around, any violence directed at another person is likely to be met differently than it was 10 years ago. -Jerod

In the days of Conceal and Carry for everyone, anyone raising a fist should reconsider. -Jerod

It should be illegal. I am not a fan and I will say something when i see shuffling. I especially hate to see dad's teaching their kids to shuffle, Their kids will walk away from that encounter having absolutely no question in their mind that it is unethical and shouldn't be repeated. -Jerod

I have always been a fisherman. My uncle owns some land with a watershed on it and growing up my dad and I would drive down on the weekends with out 8 foot pontoon boat and fish. I have great memories of the two of us fishing. In college I got into hiking and backpacking. My favorite part was the gear. We were always looking for the lightest, most compact, easiest to use, etc gear out there. Eventually, I realized that hiking the continental divide with 50 pounds on my back was hard work and I have the stamina of a tape worm. Five years later, while I was in my early 30's we decided to take a guys fishing trip to the NFoW. The drive was beautiful and the river was even more beautiful. We camped at River of Life and I had a chance to chat a bit with Brian Wise about fly fishing while it poured outside. The river was up 3 feet and unfishable so we ran over to Rockbridge and paid to fish for the day. It was like shooting fish in a barrel, but the fish were plentiful even for a clueless noob. As soon as I realized that I can be on the river, fishing, and still get to collect the gear, I was hooked. -Jerod

Like Tim said, fishing is good right now and generation patterns make it really easy to fish a good chunk of the day. Expect a lot of fisherman down there. Catching a big brown is like winning the lottery, plus or minus one weekend is not going to matter. I personally would go sooner before the leaves really start dropping and fouling up the water. -Jerod

Fishing report from 10/20 - 10/22 Saturday 10/20 I fished Saturday afternoon between out let 2 and rebar. There were quite a few fisherman on the water. I was hoping to get down to the big hole but it was far too crowded. I picked out a nice spot nestled behind some of the new knee busting boulders and fished for a couple of hours. I managed a small rainbow and a 16 inch brown on a primrose and pearl midge in the first half hour. I knew I was going to have to pound the same 50 foot stretch of water for a while so I swapped to a fly I thought the fish weren't seeing often, a size 14 flashback pheasant tail. The idea was something heavy that would give me a decent drift in my little area. I caught 5 more fish in the next hour on that fly. All were browns ranging from 16 to 18 inches. Two of the fish were solid fish and put up a good fight. I ended the afternoon when I hooked a nice rainbow and he broke me off on a good run. I knew I was in trouble when he kept doing the full body shake instead of the simple head shake. I wanted to night fish Saturday but I got caught up in the K-State game and the generators were still running at 11pm when I called it a night. Sunday 10/21 I fished Sunday morning starting below outlet 2 and working down to the big hole. I managed a few fish but again it was still very crowded. No takers on almost every scud pattern I had from size 14 to 22 in multiple colors. I did manage a couple of little rainbows and pulled a small brown out of the chute above rebar. I did see a nice rainbow caught out of the start of the chute. It probably went in the 24 inch, 4-6 pound range. It was hard to tell from my distance but it was a nice fish. I headed down to the boat ramp in the afternoon. I caught 2 rainbows in 10 minutes on a primrose and pearl midge about 2 feet under an indicator, then the horn sounded. Then the horn sounded again. Just as the water started to quicken I managed 5 rainbows on 5 successive casts. The water kept rising and I headed for the truck. It was a productive but short hour of fishing. Sunday night I headed down after the generators shut down. I managed to get there fast enough that the water was still dropping. I fished from the root wad down to the big hole with no luck. I was a bit too early getting onto the water and the water was still a couple of inches deep over most of the rocks. Although I have fished that area multiple times recently, it was just enough water to leave me a bit disoriented with exactly where i was. I gave up after an hour and a half with no fish and down a couple of streamers. Monday 10/22 I fished a bit more down at the boat ramp. There were a couple of guide boats that moved in and I decided to hit the road after an hour with a couple of small rainbows caught. It was a nice weekend fishing. The weather was perfect and that are clearly quite a few smaller browns that have moved up above rebar. I did not see any huge bruisers cruising where I would normally see them. The generation periods were a bit heavier and longer than expected but were still tolerable. The leaves were just starting to drop and will be a bit of a pain for the near future, specially when generating. -Jerod

I will probably spend most of my time around the big hole or rebar, if those arent open then down past the boat ramp. That is assuming generation will be low. I have only fished Taney twice in the past year and have not been really happy with anything above rebar. The 'remodeling" from the flooding this past spring really altered the upper sections. -Jerod

With two little kiddos running around the house the fishing trips have fallen off the past 2 years. This weekend will be a chance to get out for a much needed weekend on Taney. I have already started cleaning fly lines, picking out flies, dusting off boots. I am very excited to hit the water. I will be doing some night fishing as well, solo style. If you see a black F-150 with Trout Bum tags say hello. -Jerod

A 6 or 7 wt is going to leave you wishing for something lighter on those clear summer days with no generation. Anything less than a 5 is going to leave you wishing for something heavy under heavy generation. There are very few flies you can't throw with a decent 5 wt. -Jerod

A decent 5wt is perfect for Taney year round. -Jerod

Blasphemy! The Z-Axis is a sacred beast that should never be compared to an inferior tool! Actually I don't particularly like the way mine roll casts either. Nice fish BMan btw! -Jerod

Best leeches I have ever fished.

I hated my Orvis Battenkill reel. It constantly required oil and would allow grit into the drag. The slightest dunk or pebble would cause it to seize.

No kidding I did have one climb my leg. -Jerod

Typically after dark

Fishing in this monsoon has been tough. I have the gear to stay dry but the water gets offcolored. And the fish aren't interested.

I will always give up something for the sake of the health of the fishery. If that means this trip will have some limited wading possibilities, I am still game. 25MW is still fairly wadeable. It isn't ideal but it beats flood gates by a long shot. I might yard practice my roll casting heavy glow in the dark indicators just in case. And why is the projected generation chart always so delayed on the days I am debating on driving down or not?!?! It is a conspiracy. Jerod

YeahI noticed they have been running it a bit for the past 6 days or so. Hopefully the cool weather this weekend will drop the demand. -Jerod

That's a good point. I am interested to see what kind of impact the flooding and it's corresponding modification of the riverbed will have on brown populations in the years to come. Did it increase brown trout habitat or did it significantly decrease it? -Jerod

I am going to make the trip down from KC this weekend. I will be night fishing friday and saturday nights, generation pending. Feel free to stop by and say hello. I drive a black F-150 with catch and release tags. I will also be fishing as much as possible during the days so feel free to stop by and talk shop. -Jerod

I started fly fishing Taneycomo in 2005 and a significant number of the fish that I caught were browns. It has been 2 years since I caught a brown trout and after examining the numbers I see why. It is great to see the rainbow numbers maintaining a relatively high number of large fish, although I would rather catch a brown any day. Hopefully those numbers start to rebound over the next couple of years. -Jerod

Lots of wisdom here. I tend to fish only fluoro tippet during the day, specially between a lead fly and a dropper. The stretch on mono wont matter in 18 inches of line and the fluoro sinks better and is less visible. I also tend to fish 6x and 7x respectively. I also always try to put a heavier fly above a lighter dropper to minimize tangles and messes. It seems to help me at least. I also limit myself to shorter casts. There is nothing fun about a two fly + indicator tangle. On break offs.... Part of me want to say it is poor knot tying. I have been a victim of that more times than not. I have actually switched to simply tying a cinch knot and have cut down on the number of broken knots I have considerably. I think we tend to get caught up in out ability to tie a fancy knot and lose sight of tying a knot well. Small tippets and big fancy knots don't seem to mix for me. Part of me also wants to blame the hookset. Whether it is too hard or the wrong direction resulting in poor hook placement. It doesnt take much pressure to drive a hook deep, I have done it several times to myself just tightening a knot. All the fisherman has to do is remove the slack in the line, the weight of the fish and the current should do most of the work for you. It could also be equipment. My Orvis rod has a very stiff butt section and very flippy tip. It does not transition well. My Sage is buttery smooth and consistent tip to tail. I feel a lot more comfortable with the hook set and the rod's ability to dampen big runs on my Sage. Of course, that isnt the only big difference between those rods. I wouldn't blame the reel. Typically the difference between a cheap drag and a great drag is the startup, how fast and smooth the drag kicks in at the start of a run. I have never had a drag give me issues in the middle of a run unless it was something dumb and explainable like sand in the gears. These aren't tarpon that might melt a cheap drag. -Jerod

That sounds like an SUV that needs peppered with a nice dumbell eyed wolly bugger. Actually I have had this happen a few times as well. This is the primary reason I will only go to trout parks in the winter C&R season. I also try to simply let my fly drift, roll cast, or stand there and stare at them until they are safely out of my backcast. I have also had guys walk up behind me at night, then turn to their buddy and say "hey, hey what is that whistling sound?". I am an avid C&R guy but I also remove all hook barbs for this very reason. I dont want to have to pull a barbed hook out of myself or anyone else. If I did hook someone, I would let them know they can keep the fly but I want $4 to replace it because they arent cheap. -Jerod

I will definitely be down in early October and early November. I won't give up those trips yet. I have been debating moving the October trip up into September, but I hate to miss out on the chance at a big brown by being a bit antsy. -Jerod

KC guy here and I have been avoiding Taney this year due to the high water. I have earned enough good will from the wife to run away for a long weekend of fly fishing. Have we finally reached a consistent level of generation where we can treat this fall like a normal year? Can we look forward to a decent fall and brown run with any comfort level? -Jerod