Arofishing

Went to my favorite pool downstream of 125 bridge last night from 5-9 and had a blast, best fishing of the summer I'd reckon. I only used my betts frugal frog popper on my 6 wt fly rod. Weather was cool, low 80s, and the water was up about a foot from where it had been in July. It was actually a bit chilly once the sun went down, but I cared not. On the trek down I managed to catch a couple panfish. Canoers/kayakers beware, yet another tree has fallen down this stretch of the river making it impossible for you to get through without lifting you raft over. Not a big problem for the wader like me, however, just had to get my nimble tush over without falling on the slippery rock. Almost to the pool, I got excited when I caught a 5 inch smallie, despite the size, as it was my first in nearly three weeks. Approaching the pool where I knew the bigger boys were hiding, I started off with an 11 inch smallie. Two casts later I had another the same size, but lost it in mid air after fighting it for over a minute. Not a big deal, though, what a great way to lose a fish. In the span of 30 minutes I caught 5 more small mouth, all in the 10-13 inch range. One really dark spotted, brooding little fella, who I had a heck of time getting my hook out of (forgot my pliers, and I was letting them take the hook a bit too much). Lots of jumps and just an awesome, awesome time for those 30 minutes, I screamed like a little girl on more than one occasion when the fish took flight . Finished the night off with a big fat goggle eye, pretty sure it's the same one I caught in mid-July, he wasn't easy to forget . The walk back up stream was actually a bit taxing with that extra foot of water, but again, I cared not. I need to look into getting a really cheap camera or a waterproof case so I can get some pictures for you guys. All we have is a nicer Nikon D40 and a flip camera. I'm not about to take the Nikon in the water, but I might be willing to use the flip if I can find a waterproof case.

Thanks for the offers and the tips. After tonight I just fell in love with my popper again, who needs clousers when its raining and 80 degrees out! Report coming to James River forum soon.

So you just let it dead drift until it takes up all your slack, then you start stripping in? Think I should do this even with tackle that sinks pretty hard? Often I was trying to fish my big, heavy minnow in pools so I could get down deep. There isn't much of a current. Think maybe I should let it sit there longer and not give it any action for awhile? Thanks for the tips!

I am a buyer right now, with definite aspirations to tie. In fact, I've already started collecting materials, just need to get a vise and some other essentials. The flies I own right now are from bass pro and Tim's fly shop. All of the stuff I got at Tim's was for the smaller trout around Roaring River. I've heard that Bass Pro's flies aren't the best quality and overpriced, but they were/are the most convenient place for me to get flies. I really only use 4 different things: a bugger (olive or black), a big mushroom like streamer (sorry can't find it on the BPS website and don't remember the name, it has an elk hair top, black body, with some green at the bottom, and it's about 3 times bigger than your typical bugger), my Betts frugal frog popper, and a black and red Sneaky Pete. I also have the Clouser minnows and a couple cray fish, but I'll put any of the other things on before these given my lack of success. Can't wait to tie some gurglers here real soon though. Oh, and as far as downstream from the Ozark bridge is concerned, I can't say it is my favorite place. I'd prefer to do the upper parts of the Finley around Ozark. It's convenient and quick to get access because they have that foot path right there maintained by the city. But I also think for that reason it gets quite a bit of attention. There is also the very obvious and regrettable sewage issue.

Wow! Every year my family fishes in Northern Ontario and we invariably run into a hungry black bear when we're having shore lunch. That isn't nearly as frightening as having a big grizzly come charging after you. For one, the black bears are typically half that bear's size. And secondly, there is about 20 of us to help shoo it off. They are still plenty fearless though, they usually take the cleaned fish or the roasted potatoes that get thrown out. How do the locals inform you to deal with bear encounters like that? I know you don't want to turn and run but should you ever sacrifice your fish by throwing it on shore (not to feed the bear but to get its attention off you) or do they think that would set a dangerous precedent?

Great, now I'll get absolutely nothing done today . Thanks a lot!

Made it to the Finley just south of the main bridge in Ozark twice this week to do some fly fishing/wading at night (4-9pm). If you're familiar with the area, in both trips combined we waded to the part of the walkway where it splinters off (after the incline with the rails and after all the "deer, turkey, beaver" etc crossing signs, right where the power lines cut through). First night out, on Tuesday evening, was quite a bust. I left my bigger, sinking flies in the glove box of my car, which was in the shop; so I was seriously handicapped trying to get down deep. And given the heat, I really think I needed to. My friend's fly selection is really limited too, so other than a slower sinking bugger sans split shot, he had a difficult time getting deep also. We caught plenty of panfish, but my sneaky pete never produced any smallmouth. In fact, absolutely no bass whatsoever on this night. The only noteworthy thing to happen was my friend lost his keys - and I carpooled with him on top of that - in the water after his dry bag ripped open, so he and I got to swim around just down stream from where the sewage dumps in for about 30 minutes. That was nice . Last night, Thursday evening, brought the hope of better fishing after the rain and after the nearly 20 degree drop in temperature. I decided to experiment with a smaller jig on my fly rod, anyone ever do this? I figured I needed to get down deep anyway. The only color I had available for the head was pink, with an assortment of different tails. Tried a pink/dark green combination that didn't have a whole lot of success. Caught a blue gill and a goggle eye in approximately an hour, bouncing around from hole to hole while I waited for my friend to show up. I remembered my sinking flies this time! I put on a big clouser minnow after the jig, friend also showed up using an olive bugger. Man, I just never have any luck with this thing! So that brings me to my main question: How do you fish a clouser minnow? Do you bounce it like a jig? Do you strip it fast? Is it important to strip it continuously so there aren't big changes in elevation(how do you do this)? I have two, and the one I was using last night is big and heavy (white and sparkly, pinkish, red, blue), can really get down deep, and is almost jig like in its presentation. I tried lots of different retrieves and nothing worked. Could have been the color, as I've never had luck with that thing. In fact, the only fish I've caught on it is a baby smallmouth while I was *running* up stream - just goofing off - while trying to catch my friend, letting the minnow drag (troll) in the water behind me. As it got later and the minnow didn't produce I threw on my betts frugal frog popper. This thing never fails to get hits, usually from little panfish that are two small to get it in their mouth. But I figure I can just skirt away from those panfish with a sense of urgency and maybe a big boy will come up and take it . Caught two good size goggle eye, which had me feeling pretty good considering the utter failure that was the other night, and it is August, after all. But my best fish of the night was an 11 inch large mouth. Just down the stream where it splits in two from a big pool, sitting under a down tree. I always get excited when the fish is capable of testing my drag, as I've been emphasizing actually using my reel for when I get those big trout on my line later in life, and it certainly tested the drag quite a bit. Thought I lost it for a bit in some limbs, somehow my leader never snapped. We walked down stream about another quarter mile after that, but fishing really, really slowed down (~8 pm). I don't think we've caught a smallie in 2 weeks now. I haven't had much of a problem getting large mouths to take my frog popper, however.

When I go out my biggest problem is keeping away from the panfish. While smally fishing has slowed down considerably for me the last couple of weeks, my friend and I have both had success with sinking stuff like olive buggers and other big types of streamers.

Thanks a lot for the video. Can't wait to get my fly tying gear so I can get started on some of these myself!

Not a fan of the Dogwood Canyon reel. I have one too, while it is functional, the plastic plate on mine is cracking around the edges and I find the spool retainer spring to be borderline worthless. In any case, the point is not to spend as little as possible, but to get the best value. If the BPS higher end reels aren't worth it, then I might go with the all metal large arbor reel (the one above the dogwood canyon).

I am fortunate to have access to someone who can get 40% off BPS products and was planning on getting one of their reels to couple with my 8' 6" TFO Pro to save some money. Can anyone with experience share their opinions with any of the higher end White River reels, like the 270, the Osprey, or the Classic?

I've been using 6# on my fly rod and before that was using 8# on my open reel.

Nope, sorry. That was all during the morning and day.

We haven't fished the Finley since late June, and we've been exclusively using fly rods the last couple of times. Back in June my friend was having a lot of success just with chartreuse or plain led jig head and a chartreuse tail. We were also using crank baits (we each have a small one about the size of a nickel) and rooster tails with quite a bit of success. I'd imagine things have changed since then.

Going down to Fort Smith for my friend's last weekend as a bachelor, and Saturday we're planning on floating and fishing. Neither of us really know the area and I was hoping someone here could offer some recommendations of where to float, where to get a canoe, and what to expect as far as fishing is concerned. Thanks in advance

Yeah, we certainly had much more success last week at night. Unfortunately my friend's schedule doesn't usually allow it, and you can't get in nearly the same distance when wading. Oh well, we still enjoyed ourselves. And my wrist now recovered, I'm ready to get back out!

Yeah, I tried bigger wet flies, my frugal frog is too big for most Panfish too. Both my mushroom looking thing and my minnow are huge, much too big to cast effectively. Maybe by that time it was the wrong time of day or something else, who knows. There were only 3 maybe 4 spots that looked like prime SM territory, spots that were deep enough to hold bigger fish. We spent a lot of time at those and just messed around with the Panfish along the way. Have you had a lots of success with Smallmouth on that run?

We parked at this little, white abandoned building just on the Southwest side of the Missouri M bridge. It is really easy to miss, the driveway isn't too conspicuous and is covered with trees and weeds, so as you're driving south over the bridge look immediately to your right. You'll likely miss it and have to turn around.

My friend and I finally made it out to where the James meets the Finley southwest of Nixa. This was the spot many had recommended to me a few weeks ago in the Finley thread. It was an ok day, not much luck with the Smallmouth and we were hoping for some bigger fish. Too many Panfish to count, maybe 100 between the two of us, and most of these were good size. About 6 or so Smallmouth between the two of us. My friend caught a 14 inch Smallmouth, that was the only noteworthy catch of the day. We were both using fly rods, a 9' and 8'. I was using black popper (actually, I think it is a "slider?") during the morning, I think he was using a black/elk hair caddis. He switched over to an olive bugger, I went white. He caught the 14 on the olive. I eventually switched over to a frugal frog popper which snagged me some small smallies and about a 10 inch largemouth. I also tried a minnow and one of my other bigger wet flies (I forget the name of it, it looks like a mushroom tip with a tail, and it's big and bulky). On the way back we went with some smaller flies, as both of our wrists/elbows/backs/shoulders and whatever else were getting tired from walking for miles and trying to fling larger bugs. We tried the deep spot south of the Missouri M bridge and just below the riffle on the way out but no luck. A local came up to us and asked what we were fishing for, I said "bass," and he said "that is the catfish hole, the bass are down there." I replied, "we fished there early this morning with no luck" to which he promptly replied, "they start about 1 or 2." I think he just wanted us out of his hole . It was also a really long day, got there at 6, walked 2-4 miles down to where the river goes on a nice downward run, where it stopped there were some smaller rocks on the left, we turned around there and headed back. By the time I got back to my car it was 5, so 11 hours of straight fishing/walking/sun, when we had intended to only go till about 2 (so no lunch, just snacks), we were both pretty beat. All in all a nice day that didn't quite live up to its potential (or maybe our expectations). I really enjoyed where the river goes on that downward run (it is right after all those houses on the right as you're going down stream). It didn't really produce the Smallies we thought it would, but it was fun trying to stay upright and fish those logs on the left. We were absolutely killing the Panfish in there, trying to get them out so we could "get the bass." Never happened . Next time might try Hootentown area up stream, or Shelvin Rock. Any suggestions?

Thanks Tim. I've heard good things about your shop and look forward to visiting it sometime soon!

I'm also looking at the RDP rods, will probably get one around Christmas time. Does anyone have experience with both these and the TFO Pro Series? Which do you prefer?

Thanks for the input and glad to hear you like Kierk. I haven't done much of anything Kierkegaard related the last three years, most of that during grad school, where none of my profs had any interest in him, but I intend to pick up my Kierk anthology again sometime in the next year once I get done with some other stuff. How do you like your TFO pro 8' 6"? Right now I have two rods in mind if I bought new, that is one (either 8'6" or 8'), and the other would be the same size RDP custom rod from the local guy. Thanks for the reel recommendation too, while I've pretty much got a good idea on rods, reels were going to a be future post . I have a good idea how much I like fly fishing, and I'm willing (and too eager) to make invest in better gear. I'm just trying to moderate as best I can, I've already spent a lot this summer on fishing, basically making a tackle box from scratch and buying an open reel outfit. Then the fly fishing bug hit! While I'm still such a novice, I think the Dogwood will suit me just fine, I still really enjoy just attempting to get the fly where I want it to go and getting a panfish, so it certainly suffices for now - until Christmas-ish anyway .

Just thought I'd add that the ONLY trout I caught on my fly rod on the North Fork last weekend was caught while the wolly was suspended downstream. Like the previous poster who will just catch fish "lighting a cigarette," I was trying to maneuver down a riffle, concentrating on my footing, and low and behold I got a bite! As another poster said, I've also caught smallmouth with a wolly going against the current. It may be less than ideal for trout, but it sounds like it is about your only option at that spot.

I do the same thing re: seeing how slow I can go. It does help a lot. Unfortunately it's just so natural in the heat of the moment, and the eagerness to get that fly where you think the fish are, to start flailing the line about to get it there as soon as possible.

Yep, my "problem" is indeed solved. Bummer. Thanks for the help though. I'll keep the TFO in mind. And I don't fish big fish/water for the most part. Don't have a boat and I really enjoy wading/walking a stream, so I think an 8'6" would suit me well (and maybe even smaller).