fishinwrench

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.

Sheeze ...You guys and your bobbers

You guys don't remember Mo-Mo ? It was a family of Arkansas born Yeti's that migrated to Missouri rural areas. Back in the mid 70's people were seeing them everywhere. God I miss that good ol' Colombian shake. If you haven't seen The Legend of Boggy Creek I think it is on YouTube. You should watch it....it is a classic.

I believe that Reelfoot lake is the closest Natural lake to us. Created during an earthquake, when the Mississippi ran backwards...or so it's told.

Well crap, I wasn't following this "story" thread and totally missed out on it, until now. Just as well though, because I definately would have taken it about 3 blocks further South of the church. You guys are a RIOT !

I'll second that thought.

You don't have any. She left, remember ? darn you are gettin' bad.

Considering the route that I think we took, it pretty much has to be the area Laker said. I can't imagine the ol'man going too far out of his way with a new boat in tow. It was Feb. of 05 the last time I was at Norfork so my memory is foggy. I remember crossing railroad tracks but I don't recall seeing a tressel across the river. Is there one ? Those fish in the pic were some scrawny cookie-cutter little rainbows. LOL I wonder how good the fishing on the White and Norfork was back then...compared to recent days ?

LOL, It kinda looks like I was pouting. If it wasn't for the ol'man smiling I'd swear the pic was taken about 10 minutes post-asswhoopin'. Eric, The hat I DO remember. Dad was a big time quail hunter and worked exclusively with Pointers, that was his wing shootin' / dog stompin' cap.

Ok I know that spot. the boat ramp (access) is on river left. So if that is the spot then the photo had to of been taken from river-right, looking upsteam towards the Handicap hole. Or, on river-left upstream of the bridge and boat ramp, looking towards the confluence, right ? Who else here has been fishing since before they can even remember ? I can't even remember recieving my first fishing rod...I'm pretty sure I was just born with one. LOL That's kinda cool when you think about it. Thanks Dad ! And of couse the tradition continues..... My daughters first Bass And 10 years later...

I don't have any recollection of it to be honest, but my older brother does. He just said that we went down to Ar. with Dad to pick up a new Ouchita Jon boat along the White river somewhere...and it was "coldern hell". LOL He slipped and fell in the river (without a change of clothes) shortly after the pic was taken, and had to wear a blanket all the way back home. Somebody has to recognize those bridge pilings.....no ?

While digging through old photos I ran across this pic of my very first Trout. All I know is that it was somewhere on the White river. There's a building and what looks like bridge pilings in the background that might look familiar to someone. The year would have been about 1967 - 68 Does anyone have any idea where this was taken ? I'd love to know exactly where I caught my first Trout so I could visit the spot again someday. Thanks, Wrench