vanven

Scary or exciting seems like a toss up to me. I generally fish by myself at night. It peeks the senses and makes me really focus on what I am doing. I find it rather exhilarating. I will admit that I have freaked myself out a few times, a couple times enough that I had to leave. One night I felt a tug on my waders and clicked my headlamp on to find a small muskrat or beaver clinging to my leg. He got launched half way across the lake. Another night a heron crept up on me and gave me a good spook. Those were good startles. There was one night I was the only car in the parking lot. The water was low and I decided to fish the cable. I was able to wade most of the way out in order to fish closer to the opposite shore. That opposite side of the bank is steep and very difficult to access, yet I could hear something heavy shuffling back and forth through the underbrush and the rocks on the shore. I couldnt see anything through the fog and my headlamp only made it worse. I believe I ran back to my car and drove off with my waders still on. -Jerod

If you like tossing streamers, hard hook sets, and more solitude you should try fishing Taney at night. -Jerod

I will make a run at this, TRD specifically. The chart shows the projected generation in megawatts. TRD has 4 generators and it is generally said that the capacity of each is ~50 MW. When you look at the chart divide the number by 50 and you can approximate the number of generators. They don't always run the generators at 100%, so 50 MW could actually mean 2 generators at half output. For the sake of argument lets assume 1 generator = 50 MW. The chart breaks generation down hourly from 1am to midnight for each day. You can also derive cfs from the generation chart. Since TRD has 4 units and the max cfs is ~15k it works out that 1 units is around 4k cfs. Taney is generally wadeable around 50 MW or 4,000 cfs depending on which chart you are looking at. The water is markedly higher and moving but there are areas between the outlets, around outlet 3, and below where you can get your feet wet. I wouldnt go charging out midstream, but most of the fringes are wadeable. Here are a couple of threads that discuss wadeability: Here and Here. Both have good info. One other thing to keep in mind, the water levels and bottom have dramatically changed this year with the flooding so some of the wading info available here from past years might not be accurate. -Jerod

Phil these reports are really making me want to put together a nice little spin combo for when the water is up and the fly fishing is limited. My wife is going to be mad. -Jerod

Fishing report based on the trip: I only got to fish one day last week in Breckenridge. The water was high and most of the other rivers were blown out with spring snow melts. I fished for about 4 hours from the rec center north to the edge of town. I caught one nice 18 inch bow. That was the only take I had all morning. My first drift past him had him taking my indicator. On the second drift he took a shot at the large pheasant tail I was using as a weight/lead fly. That was about it for the fishing excitement. I was actually starting to wonder if there were even fish in the water after 3 hours without a take. It is definitely different than fishing some of the waters we routinely have access to here in Missouri. The upper Blue in Breckenridge was nice. There have been a lot of improvements to the waterway in the city. It felt a bit manufactured similar to the upper end of Roaring River State Park. It was nice to fish in jeans while maintaining easy access to the water though. I really wanted to fish further north, but the flow in Silverthorne was ridiculously fast and high. It was not wadeable at all. My brother-in-laws took a rafting trip that started just north of Silverthorne, they finished in just over an hour. Their guide said the river was flowing at about 20 mph. Parts of the Snake River were wadeable, but with limited time I never got a chance. -Jerod

Thanks for all the great information guys! Cutthroat Anglers was a place that I had picked out as a must stop based on their location, website, and the quality of their fishing reports. They seem to have a good grasp on the local rivers. We have rented a cabin for a week just south of Breckenridge and the whole family (15) will be there. I know I will get at least one full day fishing with a good possibility of a couple other 4 hour chunks, so I will be motivated to get to an easily accessible spot and get my rod wet. I was assuming the Big Blue in Silverthorne would be a safe bet since it's a tailwater and the flow will likely be regulated and clear. I fished the Dream Mile a couple years ago and will probably avoid it this trip. Although fun, I am not sure my skill level was polished enough at the time to fish it properly. It was much more technical than your standard wade in a spot and fish tailwater. I would like to give it a retry at some point. If the trout are moving up from the reservoir it might be worth the jaunt over. I am trying to stay flexible in planning with the temperamental spring mountain weather. -Jerod

I am heading out west in a couple of weeks with the family for a vacation. I will have an opportunity to take my fly rod along for some fishing. Not a ton but enough to get me motivated for the drive. Anyone have suggestions for fun locations to hit? I will likely be dragging along a brother in law or two so I would like to avoid super technical mountain streams and stick to easily accessible waters. Any suggestions on a decent area fly shop also? -Jerod

Network issues, duplicate post please ignore. -Jerod

So that would have put Bob and his wife right between Dano and myself. I caught several later in the afternoon just up from rocking chair on the far side. I had most of my success in a size 18 prim and pearl midge. I didnt have long to fish my wife was down with me and she was cooped up in the hotel room with the baby and a stomach bug. It was still a fun time. -Jerod

Works with Chrome as well. -Jerod

Night fishing at Taney one night I felt a tug on my waders. I ignored it the first time. After a second tug I clicked on my head lamp and there was a small muskrat or beaver hanging on my leg at about knee height. I squealed and launched it about 50 feet across the water. I know it was harmless but it really scared me. I didnt expect to look down and have something staring up at me. -Jerod

I have a Lamson reel and love it. My only complaint is that it is a mid arbor on the smaller side of mid. When you say light, we are talking less than half the weight of the Lamson. To me that is a really big difference when paired with a really light rod. I feel strongly that the Konic is the best cheap reel you can buy when you compare the price to the quality of the drag and workmanship. I would compare the Sage to reels like Abel, etc that are ~$500. That makes $260 much easier to swallow. I had this reel on my birthday list until I found out that my job was ending. Now it is on the "when I land a new job" list. -Jerod

Sounds like Tim is bringing one of the old Roaring River standby flies to Taney and having some success. Chammy worm always produces for me at RR. -Jerod

I have gotten to the point where I can do about everything except tie on a fly in the dark. Most fish I can remove the hook without he light. The big streamers are easy to see in the dark and very easy to remove without touching the fish in most cases. If the fish wont fit in my net, then it is time to turn on the light and take a peek. I will usually walk over to the shore and face the woods when changing a fly just to keep my light off the water. I always get a bit frustrated when someone tries to slip into my spot when doing this. -Jerod

Looks like I should have stuck around a bit longer. I knew they were going to start generating around midnight, or at least that's what the projections said. -Jerod

http://www.midcurrent.com/articles/techniques/monahan_seeing_double.aspx There is a good article on fishing a dropper. -Jerod

I havent hooked myself yet. There is that occasion where the hook will come loose at night with a big streamer and with a lot of tension on the line. There is that split second where you see the line go limp and you know that streamer is coming 100 mph right back at you. All you can do is close your eyes and hope it doesnt hit you in the face. -Jerod

You sound like you are pretty much spot on so far. I typically fish: Midges size 16-20: black and silver zebra red and black primrose and pearl WD-40s Scuds size 14-20: Tan Olive Grey San Juan Worms: blood red pink tan That probably covers the staple of flies most people fish. I will be fishing 7x floro tippet most of the weekend coming up. I wouldnt hesitate to fish flies not in the list above. I have done well on a small copper john and other nymph patterns that you would use at other fisheries. Cracklebacks and other subsurface flies also work well. -Jerod

I have one more complaint about Cabela's while I am on the subject. I have a pair of leaking waders. Their are Cabela's brand and their "warranty" on Cabela's branded stuff sounds great. It says something like liketime replacement for any Cabela's branded clothing or equipment. I have had these waders for 2 years and they have developed a leak right in the crotch in the seams under a seam sealed joint. It isnt easily repaired and to be honest they have been in water maybe 30 days total. I consider them defective. In order to have them replaced I have to provide a receipt for a purchase 2 years ago. They are clearly Cabela's branded and this seems to be a defect in manufacturing. They wont replace them because I cant find the !$#^@$%^&@$% receipt. I seam sealed the inside last night with Aqua Seal. I hope that gets several more trips out of them. I still find it frustrating. -Jerod

I had a very similar experiences with Cabela's. I was in the market for a pair of waders and went into the KC store. I swear that store is 100,000 square feet and they only have maybe 10 pairs of waders in stock, all of them small or medium. Forget ever trying to walk in and buy an off size like a tall. I also went in to buy a Simms waist pack that was in their ad. They had the wrong picture in the ad. Of course the pack pictured was the one I wanted, and they didnt have it in store. Their online shopping is awesome, but actually finding something for fly fishing in that store in stock is next to impossible. I typically wont shop at BPS in KC at all, but we do go occasionally because they do have some fun kid stuff and my son loves seeing the trout in the ponds inside. The Independence store is very frustrating for a fly fisherman. KC is desperately lacking in quality fly shops and on first appearance the fly shop at BPS seems nice and sizable. When you start really looking their selection is about 95% White River junk and not much else. That irritates me. -Jerod

I will be pacing my cube all day in anticipation. The weather is going to be beautiful. I have some new streamers including some large streamers, namely Circus Peanuts, with stinger hooks that I am excited to try out this fall at night. If anyone hears screaming at night I might need some help getting that trailer hook out of the back of my head. -Jerod

I won't shop at either given a choice. I constantly feel like I am being force fed their craptacular off brand junk. I am more than capable of making bag gear choices on my own I dont need to dig my way through their 8 kinds of wader liners when I want a pair of Simms. That being said, my family continuously buys me gift cards to both. I hold them until I have enough to buy a particular item. -Jerod

I am going to head down south for a couple days of fly fishing and to relax before my second child arrives. Feel free to say hello, Dark gray Tahoe with Catch and Release tags on the back. I am very excited about the weather this year. I typically try to plan a late fall trip and it usually ends up being either 90 degrees and hot or 40 degrees and raining. This year the weather might cooperate and leave me with some ideal time on the water. I will provide a detailed fishing report next week. -Jerod

Supposedly when you start seeing Monarch butterflies, you should see browns. Someone posted that on here. I do have a monarch under my passenger windshield wiper from this morning... -Jerod

Interesting. I would guess you wouldnt need this in deep water because the heavy fly or lead would keep the line rather straight up and down by default. This is a constant learning experience. -Jerod