fishinwrench

Beginning last Fall I started playing with split wing design for caddis, and I'm pretty convinced that they float better, and appear more realistic from below. It may just be zen mental but nevertheless it has somehow increased the number of risers...for Me. It is a spinoff of a Harrop hairwing dun, looks like this...

Ug ! Smallies on a stringer Pass the baloney please...

jdmidwest has made 3 times more posts than I have since 2006, so he is 75% more likely to know a good caddis when he sees one. If the percentages were a tad closer I'd challenge both the floatation advantages of CDC, and the proportionate wing length

It is a shame that Roubidoux spring isn't managed a little differently. I have fished it 7 times since 1998 and never seen, much less caught a trout in it. Obviously a result of bad timing. It does get a decent run of Smallies during winter high water events, but the fish don't seem to stay in it very long once the Gasconade clears back up. I've always expected questionable water quality, but I could be way off base (pun intended). The upper Roubidoux around hwy.17 looks worth exploring however. It supposably sinks somewhere between there and Waynesville. I never hear anyone talk about fishing it. Maybe a sleeper.

Awesome, just goes to show it ain't what ya know but who.... Now for the impossible task: to get the asian carp under control, and clean it up !

it's right here http://mdc.mo.gov/fish/sport/trout/angling.htm it's a bit confusing, but rubber legs and foam are not considered "soft plastic bait" ....they fall in the "any material" catagory. At least that is the way I enterpret it.

Spoken like a true WFT'er Gavin Winter camping does take some preparation and specialized gear to enjoy. I know how to do it right...but It's not my bag. Motels are plenty affordable when night time temps are in the 20's or below.

During the big "fly definition" change a few years ago, rubber or synthetic legs and shellbacks, foam, and pieces of animal hide or chamois created lots of discussion. but they ARE legal components of a "fly" now.

The back hook is simply a "dropper". Should be legal everywhere a dropper fly is permitted. Aside from "barbless water" where wouldn't it be legal ? You could alway mash the barbs or tie on barbless hooks....or even snip either the rear or front hook point off.

Yeah you have to have the "ULTRA chenille", regular chenille won't work for SJW's. (get Medium for bigger ones, and Micro for the little guys).

Nice Andy ! You can have that Winter camping though...it takes alot of either coffee or whiskey, and those 2AM trips to pee are a MF

darn...that truck ain't moved since I was there Almost 4inches here at the lake....and it's still snowing sideways. Gonna go 4-wheelin' and take the kids sledding here in a bit. Tournament going on today.....man I don't miss that business anymore...

Henbit ! Someone told me they were marigolds...but I knew that wasn't right. I looked it up and you are right, that's it ! Thanks CW ! Are you an ol'farmhand that just knows dung like that...or did ya have to ask one ? LOL The big Gills are out when the Henbit sprouts......that sounds cool.

Ah I see. Well I wouldn't be able to pick my favorite line by casting it in a lawn or parking lot. Charlie Reading's casting pond would be a good place to compare NEW lines though. Only problem is, if I have time to spend half a day in a flyshop...I could be fishing.

You got it Man, I'll holler when they start moving. If it plays out like last year it'll blow your mind. Now Dammit Cricket quit trying to distract me....this is a HONKER BLUEGILL thread Hybrids tearing up the creek between my house and the bluegill ponds are detremental to the mission at hand.

How do you guys get to fish all these different lines ..... Are ya made of MONEY ? I'm sure there are better fishing/casting/mending lines than 444SL.....but I'm afraid to switch. I'm also very picky about line color, I love Cortland mint green...or is it geckko green...whatever they call it, it looks good strung on a green rod, it blends well in a river environment I think, and I can see it good on cloudy and sunny days. I do have to trim 3-4 feet off the tip to kinda tune it up though.

Just did up a similar batch The Mountain Dew is an interesting addition, we just used water in its place and omitted the soy sauce but it came out fantastic Do you do yours in the oven or with a dehydrator thingy ?

I'll let ya'll know when the white/hybrid run begins. Last year the water receeded after a gullywasher and we were sight fishing to groups of 4-7lb. landlocked hybrids....it was pretty crazy. I wish I had video equipment cuz it is something you really need to see to get a grip on it. After the Hybrids disappeared the whites kept coming in, it was like a new group of fish moved up every nite. Then just when it looked like it was about over...the Gar showed up, and OMG ! That's how I totally missed the big Gill movement. I only have a couple of good bluegill areas nearby, and they are only good if you hit them at the right time. Miss the window and all you'll catch is the 6 inchers. Hit it right and they look like this... I do know of one MDC lake in Callaway county, and another in Boone that are being managed for Big Gills. A buddy of mine hits the one in Callaway every year and reports plenty of 9-10 inchers, several 11's, and of course a pair of legendary 12's. His fly of choice is a little 3/4 inch long mini-clouser tied with kelly-green and white calftail. He sent me this pic last year... Here's a little concoction I came up with, that has caught a lot of big Bulls.... Basically a #10 mustad 3366, 1/60 clouser eyes, a black hen hackle, and a Southern Pro "Tiny Worm". This thing Kills !

I knew that is what you meant.... agent error and ethic issues are small potatoes though. Dablemont has clearly accused the MDC upper level of corruption and cover-ups'....and that is where I was going with that. If someone openly and publicly accused me, or my business of something that was ludicris and totally untrue.....I would openly and personally respond. Why are they not saying anything to show that they care about what a group of citizen/taxpayers/sportsmen are being led to think ? The lack of comment doesn't look good right now, but maybe a lawsuit is pending.

"Missouri Dept. of Conservation"...is a pretty "real" name They first must show that his statements are both damaging, and untrue....then he can be sued. This is disturbing, and in my eyes anyone who isn't concerned about this, and doesn't wish to know the real facts...is either a nieve (stepford citizen) or has a hidden agenda. Dablemonts statements have definately been reviewed from those within, so why no comment? Are these accusations of no concern to the MDC? Are they addressing this at all, or just waiting to see what evidence is there first? Exercising their right to remain silent in the face of public scrutiny looks bad and reaks of legal BS if you ask me. I love what we have in this state as far as our outdoor resources, and if the only way we can have it the way we do is for the dept. to operate crookedly....then so be it. The world (law, politics, ect.) is a crooked place, no surprise there. But it would be really cool to know that the MDC is on the up and up, and not just another form of crooked government.

Just wanted to open up some discussion about hunting big Bluegill, something I get real excited about for 2 to 3 weeks every Spring. Around here I've noticed that the big ones are the first to move shallow and the perfect timing coincides with the little purple sprouts that come up in the corn/milo fields. Last year I missed out on it because it ALSO coincided with the White/Hybrid run in the creek by my house, and I got caught up too deeply in that...but never again ! Whites and Hybrids are great fun, but they aren't worth missing out on the Big honkin' Gills over.

"The Odd Couple" LOL that's good ! Pretty cool what two totally different approaches can pull off when they work as a team. I seriously doubt I would have gotten half the bites I did that first day if Brownieman and his jerkbait hadn't woke them up first and caused them to give up their location. Thanks to you I now have this vision embedded in my brain of that HUGE Rapala dancing spastically in my periphial vision, and getting slammed by nice Browns It played out enough times that there's no real need to journal the trip....cuz I couldn't forget it if I tried. Thanks Man! Here's BM winding up for the double-handed sling (the spinning rod version of a Double-Haul)... An average Current river Brown, we had quite a few bigger ones the first day but it looked like it was gonna pour so I left the camera in the truck... This was my best fish, taken during the caddis hatch on a #14 tan and chocolate hairwing dun (a 16-18 would have been better I think, but all caddis on the Niangua (where I usually fish dry's) are 14's and I was without a smaller one)... And the release.... Huge thanks once again to my buddy BM for putting me up and being a super guide. Keep an eye on those Cattle

Yep, saw them do a body cavity search on a guy just the other day.... It got messy. You won't be seeing ME at Lil'Piney anymore

Nine boats at Barclay ? Giggers, or what ? I started to leave the park and run down there, glad I didn't now.

I prefer a straight nail knot when I know I'm going to be doing the same kind of fishing for awhile, but I use sink-tips fairly often and don't like to have to pack a seperate spool and re-string the rod everytime I want to switch, so I whip a loop in my floating line and use a modified Rio sinking leader. I really don't like the bulk of a loop, but I deal with it for the sake of being versatile. I find it hard to give up on a riffle or tailout that I've nymphed to pieces, until I've ripped a muddler through it on a sink-tip.