vanven

This is a pretty straightforward question. I can't seem to walk into a fly shop and not spend at least $40. The typical stop consists of a leader and 8 to 12 flies. As someone relatively new to fly fishing I am still trying to build up a stock of flies. I have checked online and actually ordered some flies from one of the $0.75 per fly bulk stores. Although I wasnt super amazed by the quality, most of the flies were in the general ballpark of what I would expect to buy in a local store at a significantly cheaper price. For instance I ordered 20 wolly buggers in various sizes and colors for $20 shipped. For some of the more Taney specific and delicate flies I will definitely shop at one of the local shops. I expect scuds and and sow bugs to be tied in Branson to be specifically geared for Taneycomo. I expect to buy nymphs that stay together for more than 3 fish at one of the local shops as well. Anyone else experimented with buying flies online? Thoughts, ideas, suggestions. -Jerod

I will have to agree on that tiny chestpack. That is a lot of functionality for such a tiny package. I typically wear a William Joseph Fusion Vest and I love it. It is a bit on the heavy side and during really hot summer afternoons I want something smaller. I have been eyeing some of the Fishpond stuff but they still look a bit bulky. Good find. -Jerod

I was in the shop yesterday to have the new Rio Gold WF5 put on my Battenkill. They have quite a few boxes of line for sale at great prices. -Jerod

I do a lot of night fishing on Taney, and I am one of those folks crazy enough to do it alone. There are a couple things that really bother me. First is the bright headlamps/flashlights. With the fog a little LED light will work so much better than trying to pierce it with a portable laser. My second pet peeve is the guy that always sneaks in just 30 feet upwind of me and starts to chain smoke. I am not out there to enjoy bar quality air. This is the guy most likely to get rocks tossed in his general direction. -Jerod

Those new shelter lights are bright! I was fishing just above rebar and all the light was scaring the fog away. I try to fish both banks now just to balance out my exposure to that light. I am waiting for the little armadillo to run between the pavilion and the water at night. His shadow is going to look like godzilla on the opposite shores trees. -Jerod

Saturday 10/6 It took me a while to get the wife and dog motivated and out the door and down to Taneycomo. I managed to hit the water around 4pm and fished for a couple hours mostly between outlet 1 and rebar hole. The water was just dropping from about 30 minutes of a single generator. I caught the first fish as I was stripping out line in preparation for my first cast. I had pulled about 10 feet out and flipped my fly and indicator in front of me. When I looked up the indicator was gone. There was a couple standing there watching me. I was proud to make it look that easy. The next few fish proved a bit more challenging. The fish were active on the falling water and I managed to bring 5 average rainbows to hand. All were caught on a size 18 gray scud with a bit of orange flash. I came back down after a decent dinner and fished from 10pm til 2am. I caught several stocker rainbows right off the bat just above the ripple leading into rebar on a purple mohair. Most of the fish preferred it slow stripped or dead drifting. I moved up to the flats just below outlet 1 and caught several more rainbows on a mini pine squirrel sculpin pattern. Sunday 10/7 I took the wife out for a couple hours Sunday and tried to get her into some fish. We fished the gauntlet from 11am til about 1pm. She was getting frustrated by the crowds and the lack of cooperating fish and called it a day. I moved back upstream and caught several fish again stripping the pine squirrel sculpin pattern. I ended the day with 10 or so fish, nothing over 16 inches but enough to keep me interested all day. Hit the water Sunday evening at 10pm and actually managed to talk the wife into giving it a try with me. It was nice for her to see and understand what I talk about. Fishing at night is so surreal it is hard to really get someone to understand it. They just have to see it once for themselves. We fished about an hour and a half. I had her using the pine squirrel sculpin while I used every fly in my box it thought wouldn’t work. I wanted her to catch more fish than me. We each ended the night with a couple fish. Michelle had a lot of strikes, but i think her inexperience at night hurt her success rate. I have a feeling she was letting her drifts go too long and the hits were coming as she was stripping back at a 90' angle to her. When she was setting the hook she was likely pulling the fly directly out of the fish’s mouth instead of setting the hook into the corner. By the end of the night she was convinced it wasn’t fish she was hooking, but dead bodies. To be honest that started to freak me out a bit too. Since I usually fish alone at night the dead bodies concept was new, I am usually trying to convince myself that the water is too cold for monster crocs and mountain lions won’t snatch me off the shore if i can just hurry into the water. Monday 10/8 I managed to crawl out of bed super early and got to the water around 9am. The plan was to start at the cable and fish down to the gauntlet. There was one small snag, I forgot my flannel wader liners. I tried to wade out and fish the far bank near the cable. I had to give up after a few minutes of cold water at my waist. I packed up my stuff and moved down past outlet 1 and picked up a couple fish on a small scud pattern. I moved down to the point and started moving back towards the gauntlet and landed a nice 18" brown on a small silver on black zebra midge. The thunderstorm blew in just after I landed the fish and chased everyone to the shelter. I had to leave for a few hours to go listen to a time share presentation. Horrible horrible idea. Next time I pay for the room and just suck it up. I am never ever going to be fooled with the concept of 2 hours of my time = free hotel room for 3 nights. It never works as advertised. Enough on that rant... I got back to Taney around 4pm and 2 generators were running. I refused to be denied and walked down past rebar and close to the outlet 3 outflow. I started flipping the silver and black zebra midge just on the edge of the submerged grass and instantly hooked up. It was the fish of the trip and after a nice 10 minute fight I landed a very nice 22" brown. He was not very large in girth and still had the long torpedo shaped body and was just starting to get the hook in his jaw, but he put up a nice fight on 7x leader and tippet. At around 5 pm I watched a gentleman hook into a very large brown right at outlet 2. It took him about 30 minutes, but he eventually landed the fish right at rebar. From my shaky memory, the fish was approximately 30 inches and 17 pounds. The fisherman spent quite a bit of time making sure the fish was in good shape before releasing him. I fished my way up to outlet 2 and the water and sun had dropped enough to start throwing my pine squirrel scuplin again. I caught a couple of nice rainbows right off the bat slow stripping. I was stopped suddenly about 50 yards downstream of outlet 2 when i caught sight of something in the water just downstream of me. The first though in my mind was back to my wife talking about snagging bodies at night. I though I saw someone's thigh in the water. it looked to be about 30 inches long and very thick. Then the tail of this thing flipped a bit and it shot away. I got a nice side view and it was clearly a rainbow and was easily 10+ pounds. It actually scared me a little bit. I am used to seeing stuff swimming around, but not stuff big enough to have my leg in its mouth. As the sun set, I moved down to the gauntlet and the water was almost back down to it's normal low level. I was having a hard time stripping my sculpin through the faster moving water and decided to call it a night. As I was walking back I saw another fisherman stomping through the middle of the gauntlet with his fly rod above his head screaming something about a "hawg". His fly line was a perfect straight line to the opposite shore and the fish made a couple very smart runs directly at the guy. He handled the slack and landed the fish a few minutes later. Again from memory, this brown one was a bit smaller at 27 inches and 14 pounds. It was a very nice fish. No fishing Monday night. I had a great time all weekend chatting with folks around the parking lot. Some were avid readers of the site some werent. My wife doesn't seem to get the comoradery of fly fishing, expecially at night. "It takes you 45 minutes to actually get into the water". Most of that time is spent slowly getting ready and chatting. Sometimes those are the best memories about fishing trips. -Jerod

I typically pick up a few stones and chuck them into the foggy area that I will be fishing. If I dont hear any complaints it is fair game. -Jerod

Congrats Jeremy, nice fish and awsome report! -Jerod

I may just stop by the shop on Saturday on our way through. I need a new fly box and a few flies to fill it up. -Jerod

Despite the rainy forecasts, I will be coming down for a few days over the weekend and into early next week. I will try to get some time set aside Sunday and Monday nights weather permitting. Feel free to stop by and say hello. My wife will be down fishing with me some, we will be easy to spot, I will be the guy getting yelled becasue my constructive criticism wasnt worded perfectly. Joking. I drive a new black on black F150 with MO tags. Any of the night owls going to be around? duckydoty? Michael? -Jerod

I shot you a PM as well. I would like some additional information. -Jerod

We purchased a reciever from Abe's and never had an issue. -Jerod

I would really try to make it. I think I was a week late coming down last year. -Jerod

When someone mentions a rod and I dont immediately recognize the name, i know it has to be something pretty cool. I read all the reviews and listen to the sales pitches when I am shopping, but i also pay close attention to what Michael, Tim, Jeremy, and some of the other shop owners/guides carry when they hit the water. I figure they get to handle a lot more toys than I do and there is a reason they are using a specific piece of gear. Sorry to hijack the thread. Back on topic... This is very close to my typical pattern. Get onto the water an hour before dusk just to get myself comfortable with my casting and get into rythm since it was probably a month since I last had a rod in my hand. I will scope out water levels and look for cinder blocks. I will also try to find some holding fish and nonfeeding that I might want to fish later on. I also try to memorize some of the locations by looking at the treeline accross the water and using those as landmarks. I will continue to fish for an hour or so after dark and generally do pretty well. Then I go to Culvers and make a pig out of myself and come back in a couple hours to really fish hard. -Jerod

I want to know about the new rod one of our resident professionals is using???? -Jerod

Although an avid night fisherman at Taney I never can seem to get over the 2am to 4am hump. Thats about where I start to get crampy and tired. If you had to choose between late evening and early morning, morning would probably win out. Generation levels are a lot more predictable in the morning in most cases. There are a lot of nights you cant step foot in the water til after midnight because of generation. D is one of the people to ask, he is either crazy or one heck of a trooper when it comes to late, late nights on Taney. -Jerod

I am a big boy at 260 pounds and 6'4" with long legs. Most normal waders end up as a thong on me and that doesnt work well for more than 15 minutes. Waders are the most difficult purchase I have ever made when it comes to fly fishing. I cant stress enough how important it is to try the waders on with exactly what you plan to wear underneath. You might look like a fool for a few minutes, but when it is 30 degrees out, its cold, its dark, and the big trout are in a feeding frenzy, you dont want to be sitting in the car. -Jerod

I second the fleece underpants. Cabella's sells a decent medium fleece pant in the $20 to $30 range depending if you can catch them on sale. I wear them 90% of the time and add a decent pair of wool hiking socks for winter. Fleece tends to stay warm whether wet or dry. I wear a William Joseph Fusion vest that I love. It is very similiar to the Simms vests but a bit cheaper in cost. You wont find a better warranty than WJ offers as well. I wrote a review on these forums and a quick search should net you my review. Waders are a tough buy. You tend to get what you pay for in quality, but all waders will eventually get holes and leaks. I tend to purchase waders that I think will last several seasons without breaking the bank. I have a pair of Cabella's Guide Tech waders that cost me around $200 and I am very happy with. I am a bit limited on my selection of waders. At 6'4" I can generally only wear tall sized waders and there is a limited selection of those available. I am not a big Cabella's fan but its much closer to me than most fly shops and their return policy is generally very lenient. My next purchase of waders will probably be a pair of William Joseph if I can find a pair that fits well. -Jerod

Just thought I would add a follow up to this thread. We spent 6 days in a cabin outside Flourisant, CO. That is definitely some beautiful country. I got to fish 3 days of the trip. the first day we spent most of the day trying to find a fly shop, get licenses straightened out, and drive back to Eleven Mile Canyon. What a beautiful spot to fish. Fishing was rather tough and we only managed an hour on the water before afternoon thunderstorms and heavy winds chased us off. It was interesting to fish a tight canyon with huge boulders and limited open areas. Lots of fast water and hiking down a 50 foot wall of rock to get to the river in waders and felt boots was interesting... Second day we drove up to "the Dream Stream" between eleven mile Reservoir and Spinney Reservoir. What an odd place. You drive down out of some rather steep mountains onto a perfectly flat plain at an altitude of 9,000 feet. I about passed out bending over to put on my wading boots. The river is about 30 feet wide and rambles a mile from the spillway of Spinney and dumps into the start of Eleven Mile reservoir. it's a perfectly flat field surrounded by mountains. Fishing was tough again. It was very windy and afternoon thunderstorms chased us out quickly. I did manage my firsh Colorado rainbow, a 7 inch monster on a small copper john. Third day I managed to get out of the cabin at 7am and get up to the river early; same "Dream Stream" mentioned above. Fishing was better and I managed about 10 fish, the biggest being a 12 inch rainbow. I did manage about 6 hours on the water before heading back to the cabin for an afternoon nap. I am not sure how to catagorize the fishing besides simply stating that it was different. I have learned and been accustomed to fishing wide rivers with slower flow and long drifts. I had a really hard time fishing the small flies that the shops suggested and presenting them with any success. It was like fishing Taney with the water at low levels, yet it was moving at 4 generator speed. Tough for a noob. It did leave me with a very spoiled feeling. I have to consider Taney as my home waters for fly fishing despite it's 3.5 hour distance from home. I have had my rough days where i left Taney cussing, but I am not sure I will look at it the same again. It is such a great resource that I dont think I really appreciated before visiting Colorado. Next time I will check out some of the water further south or take my float tube and check out some of the higher elevation lakes. -Jerod Edited to add IMG links.

I am a KSU grad, by default you get all the help you want from me -Jerod

No update yet. I started out the door to Cabellas to give a few of the rods a test drive. I realized it was 98' and there was a 30 mile per hour wind. Air conditioning go the better of me. -Jerod

Thanks a lot for the info Tinner! The trip is getting close and I am getting excited. -Jerod

You earned my business months ago with your knowledge and fishing reports Steve. Sounds like this might be one of those opportunites for me to follow up on that. Not paying sales does matter. In this case the lack of sales tax adds $30-$40 to the cost of my reel. That is pretty significant. -Jerod

Sorry if I am dragging this out. I could talk gear all day. -Jerod

Greg, I appreciate the information and I will have to look into the Tioga. K&K Flyfisher here in KC sells the Sage and Launch in a package deal here, but I dont believe they offer it in a 7 weight. The reels skip from a 1560 (6wt) to a 1580 (8wt). Any thoughts on a slightly mismatched setup? I am not sold on the Sage reel yet. I just recognize the name, there is a limited selection of true large arbor reels in my $80-$130 budget, and well I love the way it looks (specially the 1880). I also like the Cortland Endurance #2 LA Fly Reel. What I wouldnt give for a reliable fly fishing gear review site.... Steve you need to open a shop up north so I can give you some business. -Jerod