fishinwrench

Phil, practically everything I say on here is "over the top" by your standards. I'm just speaking my mind Dude.....and the last time I checked I was among friends, where I could do that from time to time (within reason). I love this board and I add helpful info to it every chance I get. So why do you have to be on PC patrol all the time ? We are a bunch of fishermen....talking to other fishermen. If I piss Brian off we'll work it out, don't worry. If you cut off all additions of humor, controversy, and character of the threads and posts here (like it seems you intend to do) this will be the most boring place on the web. IMO Are we all just supposed to say nice things all the time, and never utter a word of opposition when things hit a nerve ? I find being eyeballed constantly by a bunch of Gladys Cravits an annoyance....that was my only point. But hey it is YOUR time, and YOUR taneycomo, so carry on as you wish.

The giggers could probably tell you I haven't caught, or seen one caught, that was over 18" since 2004 from the river. And it was far enough down (below Prosperine) that I'm sure it was a feral. Last year in the Spring Branch there was a monster of a Rainbow in the bluff hole, and a gargantuan Brown below Whistle. Both looked as long as my leg when they were in the water. What is the all time record from Bennett anyway ? I have forgotten.

Holy crap Brian, do you have time to fish yourself with all that vigilante work ? Am I the only one here that thinks it is a bit on the Creepy side to be watched and monitored while I'm fishing. Taney is beginning to sound like ....fishin' on the chain-gang. "Did that guy just trip over a rock...or is he SHUFFLING" ? "Is that tungsten putty he has....or is it POWERBAIT" ? Better take his picture and run his plates just in case. To read this it sounds like several of you guys spend as much time worrying about what other fishermen are doing, than you do fishing. I hope I'm wrong, cuz that's not healthy.

I knew there was something we had in common...now I remember. We're both St Croix pimps. I love the 9/6LU for streamers, muddlers, and fishing leeches. You should try the 8.6/5 LU as a dry fly/nymph rod..Sweet ! Although you are a bit taller than me, so the 9/5 may have the same control and accuracy in your hands that the 8.6 does in mine. I experienced a 9/4 once (on the stream)....and it's too wimpy for 5x IMO but perfect if you mostly fish 6x, or dip into 7x occasionally. Personally I avoid 7x like the plague.

Nope, that Spot has some "CLOUSER" in it. Beautiful pics zT thanks for sharing.

Don't kid yourself... 1/4oz. of ballast weight makes a huge difference.

Right on !

Sweet ! When I spoke to Louis back in Sept. he said that the next one was going to have more rocker....but I had no idea. At first glance it appears excessive.....but it may very well suprise me on the water. Should be very manueverable and quick to respond. And I love the shade of blue, looks nice.

Nice kype ! Did you try the Anvil Egg that was "delivered" to you ?

Put that fly rod down boy.... and put your helmet back on, we're going to the Moon http://www.flyfishingforbeginners.com/index.html

I think I'd lean towards a 6 wt. if you want to throw Smallie bugs, big streamers, and clousers. But if technical nymphing and drys on 6X is in your future then you'll want the 5 wt. There's not a lot of difference between most 4's and 5's....and also not alot of difference between 6's and 7's....but there's a ton of difference between 5's and 6's Consider your lightest tippet used, to dictate the rod weight. I personally do not fish tippets below 4x on a 7wt., Nothing below 5x on a 6 wt. And no tippet below 6x on a 5wt. If you originally stick to that then everything else will balance out fine. I know there are guys that throw #4 clousers and Sneaky Pete's on a 3 wt. but that's just crazy. I've had a couple of 3wt. rods and I consider them "toys"...they are fun, but they are not actual fishing tools, unless you are chasing little brookies in small sheltered streams.

Cricket is downplaying his skills, he is making the transformation to flyfishing, with style. He'll be outfishing me with regularity in no time at all. You young studs got it easy, all the info and resources you need is right at your fingertips now. There was no such thing as internet when I got started, and the library wasn't much help either back then because all of the books were written 100 years ago by cranky old farts that fished rivers I'd never even heard of. And the guys that were truly good back then would not take anyone under their wing and help.... they truly enjoyed watching us struggle. Brownie, All of the Niangua looks prime....but the big Browns just ain't there in decent numbers. Nevertheless you are more than welcome to come and prove me wrong. As I've said before "If only they could/would stock and manage it like the Current I'd never have a reason to fish anywhere else". I went down again today with a buddy from home, intention was to fish the C&R opener on the Spring branch but it was way too crowded for our taste so we hit the same stretch of river again. Cricket and I must have soremouthed all the leech eaters cuz I couldn't buy a bite fishing the same way we did Thursday. I managed 8-9 rainbows by shortlining nymphs to certain little holding spots with lots of weight. If you weren't ticking bottom today you just were not getting bit. One guy was fishing in a spot where I knew there was a fish or two, but he said he hadn't had a bite. After I told him all my fish had come right off the bottom he added a big hunk of tungsten putty to his leader and stuck one on the second drift. The wind made it kinda tough to detect the bites and I know I missed quite a few takes. My partner didn't fare so well nymphing but he made up for it late in the day when he came across a pod of fish that were rising to take his #14 black beetle ... Apparently I quit carrying my terrestrials box about 2 weeks too soon. I tried a bunch of other drys but couldn't get a rise, they wanted that black Beetle and that was all there was to it. We took a walk downstream and jumped a HUGE Grandaddy buck...I'm talkin' about a big, thick, non-typical monster ! Cricket, we each caught one of those real pretty ones with the bright pinkish/gold gill plates today. I don't know what the deal is with those, but they sure are cool looking....and fat.

They kinda remind me of that 9 point streamer you throw. Color and size are pretty close.

Pretty fish Bro.

Just remove the screw(s) at the head, and spin it around 180 degrees on the shaft until the hole(s) line up. Use some blue loc-tite on the screw(s).

Given the choices I'd go with the Sahara. Because it more closely matches a.... ABU GARCIA ALB

Awesome man ! The Current is a sweet stream isn't it ? There's alot of it I've yet to fish. Don't you wish they'd stock and manage the Niangua like that ? LOL

koochie craw

Go with White Mink strips. Thicker, shorter, and tougher than rabbit, and readily located.

Make them both females and you'll increase sales by 86.9% with no other marketing whatsoever. Yeah that trailer keeper is a tough call....I just don't know. Maybe a tougher trailer like the old Gene Larew craws.... You could pull a truck out of the mud with one of those babies.

As promised I spent the last 1 1/2 hours of good daylight this evening playing in the creek with my newly aquired TEAM ERIC jig. As I was rigging up bass were coming up and chasing minnows on the shallow shoals all up and down the creek. You could see them rocket up in the shallows, slurp one down and then ease back out into mid-creek.....so they were pretty active. I didn't make the hike upstream into the better Smallie sections but after the sample I had this evening I may be going for it tomorrow ...with the flyrod. The Team Eric jig was an immediate success, but I have a few beefs with it that I'll get to at the end of this post. It has a kick-butt horizontal fall and every fish I caught on it this evening hit either on the initial fall, or just as it was settling on the bottom before I ever had a chance to give it a nudge. Like I said, I was only out for less than 2 hours and the area that I fished was not one of my favorite stretches...but it was late and I was too tired and hungry to trudge out of sight of the truck. Rather than fishing my way along hitting all the sweet spots I just crouched down on the shoals, waited for them to rush the minnows, then tossed the jig in thier path as they returned to the middle. The bites were immediate. I saw a couple of nice Smallies and one PIG of a largemouth that I really wanted to get a pic of for this report, but I kinda rushed things and spooked them clear off the shoal. Anyway, here's the results for the first try.... This fella got chased right up on the bank And a follow up shot with a lil'spook caught what was chasing him Ok, the jig comes through the rock and over logs really good (better than I expected) and the hookup ratio (even on the small fish I was into tonite) was 100% It seems plenty durable except for the front trailer keeper which needed constant maintanance to keep the trailer straight and I lost the beaver style trailer Eric sent with it after fish #5 which is what prompted me to tie on the spook....since all I had with me to replace it was a Zoom lil'critter craw (way too small). The antennae's can go...I love the way they look BUT they tend to wrap up on the line occasionally and they hang on to leaves that otherwise I think you'd be able to shake off easily. I'd love a lighter version for what I was doing today, but for depths over 4ft. you will probably need the extra weight to stay in contact with it. I think the biggest asset of the design is the way the bait falls through the water, which is something I noticed when I played with it in my test tank at the shop. It lands with a delicious plop and falls just like a real crawdad would, if tossed ito the water. Pretty cool !

Please do. I haven't heard the term "album" in awhile. Keep up the good work, I'll be tuned in.

I listened to the one with MK.....Very nicely formatted program. I'll have to listen to the others tonight during my late evening tying session. I love the intro tune. Who is that pickin' ? That's river fishing music if I ever heard it.

Man, you're killin' me.

I tie a couple of midge patterns on TUE (turned up eye) 28's and have caught and landed some good sized fish on them at Bennett. The only time those tiny patterns work for me are when fish are numerous....like in the Trout parks. I've never had success on anything smaller than 18 when I'm fishing outside of the parks.