Arofishing

Thanks, any and all advice is appreciated. At times, especially with the Dogwood Canyon setup that I just took out for the first time yesterday, it seems like I have too much velocity on the line and not enough finesse. And just as you are describing, when the line is behind me it seems like I am really "snapping" or "whipping" it back in front of me - which I know is not good, and certainly contributing to my losing flies. I'll give my cast some more attention while its behind me, hopefully that will help. However, I've still read/heard in a number of places over the last week I've been reading up on this stuff that you have to frequently check your knot. Isn't that right? I don't want to be obsessive about it, but about how often do you check your knots?

Hi all, I am just getting into fly fishing. I've been using my brother in law's rod and a dogwood canyon outfit I picked up for cheap off Craigslist. Perusing Craigslist the other day I came across this Sage 3 wt Light Line Series for $150: http://springfield.craigslist.org/spo/2491452458.html. Since I am just beginning, I am happy to use the Dogwood Canyon for the rest of season, but I'm also looking ahead and thinking about assembling something better and more serious for the future. My questions for those in the know: 1) What is your opinion of this rod? 2) Is it a really good value at this price? Essentially, is it worth jumping on even though I won't be needing it and don't even plan on using it the rest of this season? 3) Should I be apprehensive about buying a used fly rod, would you have any fears about its longevity or it being more prone to break? I'm really pleased with everything else about it, Sage is a quality brand and it's just the size and wt I was looking for for the type of fishing that I do (lots of streams).

Just did a big stretch of this while staying at River of Life Farms last week. You probably already know, but I STRONGLY discourage you from doing this trip on a weekend. All sorts of "interesting" people out there on a Saturday. Let's just say this, we could have gotten a buzz off the full beer cans we recovered from the river!

Thanks for the advice. It is mostly my friend having the "twisting" problems, but I also have my suspicions that the tippet I was using on his rod might not be the best. [Edit: never mind, just realized you were referring to the fact that I keep losing flies - "dung" flying off, I'm working on "whipping" the pole less] I'm definitely going to take your advice on the 6/8 lb mono line. I'm about to acquire my third leader this week, and should get another for backup, mind you I've used two different poles, but one still shouldn't be replacing leaders at anywhere near this rate. I went to Bass Pro last week to get some Eagle Claw Bio Degradable line for just that purpose but I guess they don't carry it. I suppose low test tippet is really only necessary when the fish are real discerning, when presentation and sighting the line matter (e.g. trout)?

I just got my own fly rod this past week after messing with my brother in law's last weekend on the North Fork River. Took my friend out, who is also just learning to fly fish, to the spot you mentioned on the James. We didn't even make it to the Sunshine bridge, though I think I could hear it. Fishing was really quite good compared to what we're accustomed to, especially considering we are fly fishing novices. My friend caught 3-4 smallies and about as many panfish as he wanted. This was after just "practicing" getting his line where he wanted it to go - and failing - for about 3 hours and getting very frustrated (prior to that he had only practiced in my backyard for an hour). His smallies were comparable to what we normally catch on the Finley, which we had been fishing almost all of June. He was using a white wolly bugger before he lost it. I was also catching all the panfish I wanted. It is so satisfying to cast a fly exactly where you want to, and even if you don't get a strike immediately, entice the fish to bite. It just feels like you're much more in control of the fish's behavior while fly fishing. And while I am by no means a good or even decent caster yet, I'm amazed out how well you can place bugs pretty much precisely where you want to (assuming there are no obstacles behind you) - it's a level of precision I never get with my open reel. I was using a black bugger that had some wing looking protrusions on it, before I, of course, lost it. I then moved on to an olive bugger which I also lost (I'm almost always losing these due to the whipping of my cast, not due to rocks, trees, or fish). Biggest lesson of this trip - check your knot and check it frequently! It's a lot different and much more difficult for me to tie with low test tippet, and it also seems to be really temperamental (e.g. getting wrapped up in itself and becoming all twisted and then just staying that way despite your best efforts to straighten it - anyone have any advice regarding this?) After the panfish I decided to try and catch this infamous 2 3/4 lb smallie that's been alluded to! So I put on this big, black, elk hair wolly bugger concoction with an olive tail. Man it was a chore to try and cast, but it didn't take long to produce. Five minutes later I had a 16 inch smallmouth on my line (measured to where it measured on my pole later). I've just recently re-discovered my love for fishing, and haven't really fished for bass except this past month, add to that the newness of the fly rod, and I wasn't quite sure of the significance or insignificance of whatever was on the end of my line, but I knew it was bigger than what I was accustomed to. The fish fought for about 5 minutes, and I was being very delicate not to break the line, she jumped twice, and it wasn't long after that I was yelling to my friend that it was the biggest thing we've caught on a stream this summer. The fish wrapped around my legs more than once (not used to that 9 foot leader/tippet!) but I never lost it, thank God. After I got her off the hook she settled down by my feet for a rest, just a really cool moment, if only I had pictures! We surmised it was a bit under 2 lbs. Shortly after that I caught a pretty monstrous goggle eye, too. Then we had to head back because we had lost the sun. All in all probably the most fun I've had fishing in Missouri. I always suspected that I would love fly fishing and now I am totally hooked and about to become a serious addict. I'll have to look into getting some better and proper gear (still don't have waders, and I'm using the Dogwood Canyon rod/reel combo that I got for a great price off of Craigslist).

Thanks, I'd really appreciate it (the tips)!

Thanks a lot RSBreth. Another user PM'd me about that exact same spot. We're going to give it a try sometime next week!

Thanks for recommendations. We are going to head towards the James, either Shelvin or just a bit further south. Do you recommend heading up stream, down stream, or does it really matter? We'll do that section of the Finley too, once we're in a Finley mood again that is .

Hi all, I was thrilled to find this forum to satiate my newly (rediscovered) love of fishing. I moved back to the Ozarks this past year after spending sometime in Vancouver, BC, and to make a long story short, I've been fishing with a friend of mine at least once a week this summer. Our preference is to "wade" of sorts, we actually just enjoy walking up or down stream for miles and then returning in the afternoon. He lives in Ozark near the Finley, so we've been doing that lately. We've now walked from just downstream of Riverside bridge (where it starts getting deep) to a mile or two upstream from Smyrna/Greenbridge road bridge. Previously we've walked the dam side of Lake Springfield. We also tried shore fishing at Fellows Lake without much success. So, I'm asking for some more recommendations of places where we could do this sort of drive and walk fishing. Anywhere within a 30 minute of radius of Springfield would work great. We'd both like to get into some bigger fish, but realize that likely won't be possible if we're on foot. We also intend to get access to some kayaks at some point this summer, which would open up other possibilities for us. Thanks in advance