fishinwrench

Hmm, interesting. I was basing that statement on the fact that some guys got busted for having a stringer of smallies during the C&R season several years back. I'll have to look into it deeper....but heck the Ranger should know better than me, for sure. A mess of G'eyes, baked beans and hushpuppies sounds pretty good. Update (edit): Nope, here's the way it reads word for word. No fish may be possessed during the catch & release season, and all fish caught are to be released immediately, unharmed. Proper catch & release techniques are essential for released fish to survive. Doesn't say "no trout", it reads "no FISH".

Yep, that was way before he earned the nickname "tube", and also before Dave T. was known as "head". LOL You know, you are only one mishap short of getting your own pet name.....Gazer and I were talking about you on the way back from the river Friday....we may have one in mind for ya. Some plans are being sketched out...How's your schedule looking this winter ?

Hook: mustad 3399 12 - 16 Thread: red 3/0 monocord Material: dyed rabbit fur (white, brown, moss green, or peach) spin the fur up in a thick dubbing loop, wrap forward, whip finish and cement the head. Probably more big fish caught on this "fly" at Bennett Spring over the years than any other single fly pattern I know of... seriously. Sight fish it (the white one is easy to see, just set the hook when it disappears) or you can dead drift it under a bobber. It's a trout park staple and has saved many a persons day.

sold, thanks

Just wanted to stick my nose in the door and mention what I think is a really good "bargain" rod...I am actually a St.Croix LU loyal follower....BUT as for the lesser priced fly rods The Cortland CL series rods are really, really good fishing tools, I have two that I use for backups and keep them behind the seat of my truck all the time (the 8 1/2ft. 2pc 6/7wt., and the 8 1/2ft. 4pc 4/5 wt.) and I love them almost as much as my SCLU's. They are very well designed rods for less than 100 bucks, yet I never hear anyone mention them. I may even overhaul mine this winter and install single-foot guides....which is the only improvement I can think of for them.

Atwell Mike Atwell....whew! All brain cells accounted for now There's mention of him here http://www.flyfishingteamusa.com/TeamUSAnews/article017.pdf

I was afraid you might ask that, but no it wasn't Runyon. It will come to me later when I'm not trying to recall it. He was a fairly thin fella, reddish blonde hair, and back then he sight-fished with a sweet little green Orvis that we all drooled over. He had a tiny (minus 20) little fly that consisted of simply a body of twisted and wrapped woodduck flank fibers and two turns of peacock herl for a thorax.....he caught and landed EVERY lunker he spotted without fail. He and Ed were pretty tight, and last I heard he was working for an outfitter out west.

Just dug through some old photos recently and found some from an early C&R trip, it must have been 1981 or 82. I should try to scan and post some of those pics.... but for now I'll just describe them: There we are, 2 of my best buddys and myself decked out in those green "Northern" hip boots, leaning against my first vehicle, a primered 1967 chevy 1/2 ton 3 on the tree and a gutless 250 inline 6 with bald mud'n snows and sandbags placed strategically over each wheel. Hair down to our shoulders and "cool" (non-polorized) shades, myself clutching a brown Fenwick 6wt. with dark green 333 level line and a 9.00 Martin bought from Erdel's True Value hardware in my home town of Mexico, Mo. My homeboy Steve has a firm bite on a loosely twisted Backwoods cigar and is busy rigging a little 6 1/2ft. yellow Wright Mcgill 5wt. (one of those that sold for 24.99 at the same hardware store then, yet bids on the same stick will run 60-80 bucks on Ebay NOW)...go figure. The other fella in the pic is my boy Dave, his hip boots are folded down and his big bell Levi's are soaking wet clear to his boys, if memory serves he took a ride off the rock shelf at the highbank hole in the first 10 minutes of the trip. His hands and face are bright pink and he looks pretty cold and miserable. There's another photo of the three of us and Ed from Springview, we are standing by the fireplace at the old shop and all of us are intensely looking towards Mike at the tyin' bench who was known as the best "stick" on the stream at the time, all of our eyes are half closed and red as beets.....I'm pretty certain why the "three amigo's" had the blazed gaze...but I'm sure Ed was just fightin' a bad head cold at the time, and I'm guessing that Kay must have been behind the camera. Yep, those were the days. One of the things I remember most is the feeling I got when stepping out of the truck after the three hour drive and getting that first sniff of TROUT in the crisp air..... Man, it was heaven....and it still is Have I painted the picture sufficiently ?

Egg flys (glowballs), or better yet furballs are good flys to start kids off with. invest in a set of polorized glasses for him too, being able to see the fish will keep him at it longer. Jig-flys are "ok" but fish don't hold onto them long and he might get frustrated watching that bobber twitch without hooking many fish. Furballs are notorious for sticking in a fishes mouth...like velcro, and gives you a few extra seconds to set the hook. Get some White ones tied with red thread, a few chocolate brown, and a few olive.

a 20" Brown on 7X is something to be proud of...nice job ! How was the crowd today ?

Coach, If you guys will be assisting your kayaking partner with a shuttle, you can dump him at the 64 access, fish the access area awhile, then drive down to Barclay to meet up with him....and of course fish there too. Leech patterns are probably the best "search fly"... trout and Smallies will both eat'em. Fish the leeches dead drift, on the swing, and on the swing with twitches, ya never know which way they want them on a given day and it DOES make a huge difference. If your kayak'er buddy takes a spinning rod with him he can have a blast with the Smallmouth (and possibly a nice Brown or two) on Husky Jerks and big tubes like the "Mudpie" color Case 3 3/4in. tube on a 1/8oz. head, in and around the bluff holes and deep eddys. And yeah, if you are going to be there during the weekend you can't beat the fishing in the park for numbers....and size.

the first C&R was in 1976 ? Naw, It hasn't been that long... has it ?

I know this isn't the place for this, but I wanted y'all to see the colors on this little doe that has been coming up in our yard....We call her patches. Wish I could have gotten a better pic but her and Momma are real easily spooked.

Np problem, just thought I'd throw that out there. Hate to see it set all winter without a proper home. If I come across anything else I'll keep you in mind. Good luck

I'm not sure what your guns are worth yet, but I have this rig for sale, asking 2000.00 1979 Cajun/150 Merc runs like a dream...it is FAST... and everything works fine. It's a good, sturdy, fairly clean old boat. Clear titles on everything.

LMAO.....If I did I'd never admit it. Naw, the sinkin' stuff is called Xink's, of which I have no use for either by the way, since mud, beads, lead wire or split shot are always handy.

Well yeah I know, but I can blow or squeeze a untreated fly dry and it will float just as well as a treated one. Theoretically once treated it shouldn't soak up much water after submerged, the water should fall right off of the fly on a false cast...but it doesn't. Matter of fact the untreated flys I left out to dry after my episide last nite are still floating better than the ones that were initially treated (if that makes any sense). Not to mention that it mats down flys with peacock herl KILLING THAT LIVING-BREATHING THING and makes them look like crap LOL I dunno, but I have lost all faith in the stuff and I guess I'm just in the mood to preach that dry fly fishermen are better off without it.

I was tinkering around with several compara-dun patterns last nite in the kitchen sink, which eventually turned into a full scale experiment on dry flys of all types that didn't end until way past bedtime (since after slopping water everywhere, it was requested that I do dish, counter and floor duty, afterwards).... Anyway, I pretty much convinced myself that Gink's is worthless, massaging it into your flys is a waste of time.... and it is taking up space and making my vest pocket all greasy for no good reason. I understand the "science" and all, but I sure couldn't prove to myself that it actually will make a fly float any better, or longer regardless of the fly design. I didn't have any other types (brands) of floatant at my disposal, but with the popularity of Gink's I just kinda assumed it was "the shizznit" as far as floatant is concerned. Just curious if everyone uses this stuff because of what they have "heard and read" like I have been for longer than I am willing to admit, or if I am missing something valid. Tried some pieces of tippet material also....with no noticable change when compared to the floatation capabilitys of untreated mono, or flouro. Anyone have any feedback on this ? cuz I don't get it.

Sweet ! it's good to hear that Mill is doing ok. I haven't tried to fish it since '03 (it wasn't fishing so well then). I had fished Roubidoux earlier that day and got skunked so I drove over to Mill and did catch three tiny bows from a deep undercut spot along the bank. I turned over a few rocks and the bottom of the stream was crawling with green caddis worms, I did have some green rockworm patterns in my box and although they were 3 times larger than the ones under the rocks I tied one on to try. But then I rounded a bend and saw the only black bear I've ever seen in the wild. I had been hearing some rustling but just thought it was squirrels, as I rounded the bend the bear was rooting around digging at the base of a deadfall and we noticed each other at the same time. It held its ground and kept sticking his nose up in the air, either trying to "wind" me or trying to look bigger. I backed out real slow and he/she never advanced nor retreated, nevertheless I kept looking back every few steps... all the way back to the truck. LOL It shook me up a little and that ended my fishing for the day. I always assumed that if I ever ran into one here in Missouri it would be a cute little bugger no bigger than a dog...but that one was pretty big and heavy looking. Those are some real pretty little Rainbows, makes me wanna go back real soon. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks !! pic doesn't do it justice....he was a brute.

Depends on how you look at it I guess. Are there too many deer...or too many cars, going too fast for the conditions ? Hell, if there were only 3 deer in the whole state I'd betcha two of them would eventually get hit by a vehicle. Watching out for animals, whether it be a deer, a coon dog, an escaped herd of cattle or goats, or Bigfoot is all part of driving outside of the city limits. I don't intend to be a smart-butt, but, If you've almost hit 7 deer in 2 months then you should be driving at what YOU PERSONALLY FEEL is a safe speed, instead of what the black and white sign says you are allowed to. You live in Missouri where there are sharp curves, lots of hills and a "HEALTHY" deer population..... That's a blessing, not a "crisis". Seatbelts and airbags are great, but don't forget that the most important piece of safety equipment in your vehicle is right between your ears.

So is it a male/female pair... one of them tended to lead the way and the other followed. Neither were the least bit spooked by me, almost as if they were looking for a hand-out. By the way...how'bout that Smallie?

What are these birds ? They were almost as big as chickens and totally tame. Sized and shaped like a city pigeon, but colored like doves. They followed me around today on the creek near my house and were really tame. Just to keep it fishing related......

I would hope that it would NOT effect the 2009 season stocking in a noticably negative way.....$427,492.00 for tag sales alone, is STILL a lot of money. And lets not forget that Catch and Release, even during the regular season is becoming more popular and practiced each year. You don't see guys carrying stringers of fish out of there like you used to, I myself only kept about 10-12 fish from the park all year...and I have a stack of tags 2 times thicker than a hardback copy of Trout Bum.

I can honestly say, that in 30 years of fishing trout parks, streams, and rivers all over I've never seen anyone in a tree with binoculars and a walkie-talkie. When did this epidemic begin ? I have seen guys bait fishing in zones 1&2, seen guys intentionally trying to snag fish with crappie jigs, and even saw a guy helping his kid fish in the hatchery raceways. Maybe the "tree people" were rangers keeping an eye on someone. We should start a thread about weird and hilarious things we have seen at the trout parks....Never forget the time I drove by the spring hole one day during the closed season, this was back before they had C&R winter fishing and it was cold as hell and not a soul around. I was just idling by real slow, checkin things out from the warmth of my truck.....and a big black and yellow FROGMAN popped up out of the spring hole, shed his nymphal shuck, morphed into a human, threw his shuck and himself into a blue Ford Pinto and drove away without ever even looking in my direction. swearta God !