Gavin

I'd agree with Al...you probably werent using enough weight....Two BB's..three or four or five sometimes...whatever it takes to keep them on the bottom. A straight leader helps too...tapered leaders sink a lot slower...so I only use those for dries...Indicators work sometimes, but I often do better w/o one...Make a long upstream tuck cast to get em on the bottom quickly, then strip in enough line as it drifts back to you in order to maintain contact with the flies. If you are doing it right you should feel the shot ticking bottom, and the take. The fish often hold in different places at high water too...eddies, inside current seams, and even long slower stretches often fish better than really fast water. The fish are in there, its just a matter of getting your fly to em. Cheers.

Think I'd head to the New River and fish with Britt.. http://www.icanoethenew.com/guidedfishingtrips_guides.htm

Residual Pharmacueticals are becoming a big problem. Water treament plants dont have the ability to remove that stuff. On a side note....One of my wife's girlfriends is a vet, and she has been doing some research on Hellbenders. They think that residual hormones from birth control pills might be interfearing with the hellbenders ability to reproduce. Cheers.

Water was up and a bit milky looking, couldnt see bottom in spots over 2' deep and thats were the fish were...canopy was tight, but my 7'9" bamboo 5wt was perfect for tossing an egg and either one or two AA' shot upstream 30-40'..Trick was to get em down quick, and strip in line to maintain contact with the flies.... Felt most of the strikes...fish feel different than shot ticking bottom..Guess some might call it Chezch nymphing but its just old school upstream nymph fishing/pocket picking. Cheers.

Dunno who your poacher was, but there were alot of folks on that creek, including me on Saturday...fished the same stretch you did as well.. Stayed at Onandaga CG with the family Friday-Sunday...was hoping to float the Meramec, but it was up so I high that I was leary of pulling in to the state park CG on Friday afternoon...Apparently they closed the CG road due to high water for a couple hours on Friday night. Fished Blue Spring on Saturday AM. The lower creek had a car at every turnoff when I got there at 8:30 am...so parked at the top of the CA, hiked down to N and started fishing up....I drew a blank at the first good looking spot. Then my heart sank as another angler approached heading downstream...Some young oriental dude with a fly rod and indi setup and a bright orange fly line..Said he caught five. Didnt see any fish on him... r Took three fly changes to figure em out...after that it was eggcellent.... Upstream cast,no indicator, yarn egg 18" behind one or two AA shot. Not sure how many..probably 20-25 before I had to head back to Onandaga at 11am. Pretty 8-12" fish for the most part. Cheers.

Nice vids...Looks like you had a banner day.

If your fishing from a boat....try one of these rigs....works great with crawlers injected with air, powerbait, etc. http://lilleyslanding.com/lt_maps/drift_rig.php

Havent fished the Green since the early 1980's. I was around 10-12...We camped at Flaming Gorge and my dad and I floated the river with my Uncle Bob from Ogden in his WW raft....We fished live bait and kept what we caught. We brought some impressive stringers back that day. We all caught our limits and the smallest fish was probably 3-4lbs...biggest probably around 6-7. Good times!

Should be down at Onandaga on Friday & Saturday. A current report would be appreciated...thinking of floating from there on down to Cambell on Friday or Saturday, maybe a field trip over to Blue Spring Creek if the bass fishing is off.

I've played around with the shark a few times, but havent bought one yet...IMO, its not $40 better than the SA XXD tapers that I have on most of my 5wt-8wt rods that get used in fresh water. The GPX...not bad, for casts under 50'..but its kinda like a bass bug line.... not great for 60-70' casts....My 2-4wts are currently lined with DT's and Triangle Tapers. FWIW, the best casting line that I have is an old fashioned silk double taper....Works great for 5-6 hours, then you need to dry it and dress it. Cheers.

I use whatever and carry around 4 bags of em... usually a 3-4" tubes in an olive shade, brown, black, and a baitfish color. Think I have some Case & Strike King's on hand at the moment..Brand doesnt seem to matter much as long as its tube shaped, plastic, and moving slowly along the bottom. Hi Vis braid with a leader helps alot with the swallow factor. But I usually try tubes as a last resort and I use something else if they are sucking it down deep (or my touch is off that day). Cheers.

I usually add a split ring to a size 9 or above rapala.....no more goofy loop knots when your fingers are cold. Bending the line tie down on the rapala works well too.

LMAO! Forsythian.....thanks for a bit of cheer on a dreary Friday.

Dont be hating on here.... Last time I saw Claude he was swimming in hip boots on the Upper Current on cold rainy day in April. When he finally struggled to shore, he almost broke his neck cuz the hood of his raincoat was full of water. Got a fire going to warm him up, and there was this funky smell coming from someplace. Figured it was Claude...His poor upbringing and all...But I looked around anyway just to be polite, and it turned out that it werent him....Turned out that there was a big dead beaver floating in the back eddy near the spot I lit the fire. So I found a pokey stick, and poked it out into the river and set to tending to Claude. Not even 5 minutes later it was smelling funky again..I looked at Claude, then over in the back eddy just to be polite, and that darn beaver was back..Guess I didnt poke it out in the river far enough...So I poked it out a litter further this time.. I was due down at Parker in a couple hours, and Claude was starting to dry out and planning to head back up to Baptist..Asked him if he was OK, and if I could head out..He said yep...Just as I was about to set off, it started smelling funky again...I figured that it had to be Claude for sure this time, all that hoppy beer that he drinks, but it werent him...I was darned surprized. That beaver was back again.. And thats were I left him. Sitting by the fire with the pokey stick at Dead Beaver Hole..... No telling how long Claude sat there half clothed, poking beaver, but thats the last I saw of him.

The Daiwa Exceller isnt bad...used em for two seasons after my Shimano's went south on me...The Daiwa works when wet, but the bail doesnt trip all the time. My wife hated the bail on hers and wanted a replacement, so I talked to a buddy of mine who owns U.S. Reel. Picked up two reels from him last September at a really nice price... My wife has been using the Supercaster 230 and she really likes it. I've been doing most of my spin fishing with a U.S. Reel 180 since then...I like it better than the Daiwa too. It has a positive bail trip, casts a mile, and it hasnt bound when wet. I've been very happy with it so far. Cheers.

Sliders...its just a lead headed worm hook from Charlie Brewer...I usually toss a finesse worms on them..Wart Modifications...I add a white rabbit strip to the back hook on some of them....picked up the tip out of one of Larry Dabblemont's books. Chiefs mods are pretty cool......Baby Lucky 13's with a skirt on the front hook. Big Piney Old School right there.

I'm not that organized....I have a tackle bag that sits in an egg crate and its chock full of stuff. Plus another box devoted to hard minnow baits. The minnow baits do double duty for trout, so they travel separately. Tacklebag.. Top zippered pocket....mostly flukes and B-2 buzzers...extra spool... Side pocket #1..mostly tubes and curly tail grubs... Side Pocket Number #2..mostly finesse worms, and chomper hula grubs. 4-Plastic containers inside.... Misc Plastic box. Not used much......but there are some senko's in there...some small tubes, jig chunks and misc junk. Lead & Hook Box....lots of jig heads, worm weights, and hooks... Misc Crankbait Box...Warts, Jitterbugs, Sammy's, Poppers, A Rattle Trap or two, A devils horse, a spook or two.... You name it...it might be in there. Spinnerbait, Buzzer, and Jig box..Buzzers see the most action and I carry 3 types. Single blade buzzers..regular & 3 wing, and the B-2....Jigs...mostly Eakins Jigs, some rabbit jigs, marabous and bucktail jigs....Spinner baits...nothing special there either.

The 16' Buffalo paddles pretty well...but that 14' model seems kinda heavy for its size, and the small one looks like a bathtub......I'd look around for a boat like Eric got....or comb craigslist for a used solo canoe...Good luck with your search.

Out West is my favorite for a reason...Fish eat dry flies out there....not so much here..If they wont eat dries....you move and find some that will..You can do just as well around here....but your rarely fishing on top... Cheers.

Its a toss up between the Yellowstone or the Madison.

Looks like it was rolling pretty good....You need to get your fly down when its like that and use something they can see, black bugger, white streamer, pink worm, clown egg, etc......a couple AAA's or some SSG sized shot will usually do the trick. Glad you had fun and better luck next time.

Thanks Al....Havent floated that stretch of the Courtois.....judging by the tree's I'd say that was taken in mid to late March.

Dunno...buy some Smithwick Rogues for $5 a pop and play around with your paint jobs, and some suspend dots.... If you want to test the action before you go fishing...nothing beats an in-ground swimming pool. I test new lures and flies in mine all the time...

There are lots of bank fishing options at Montauk State Park....but you could brush bust up from Tan Vat, or down from Baptist for aways w/o having to cross the river. Waders are kind of a must have if you really want to fish though, might see if you can rent a pair of waders up at Montauk State Park store or pick up a pair of cheapies at Wal-Mart. Cheers.

Nicely done! All you need is an anchor....