Murdoc

WE SURVIVED!!!! We made it down around 7:30am. There were more people down there than opening day. There were kids running everywhere!! The Park People and everyone involved get a BIG round of applause!! Very well done!!! I tried to get to some fish for a little while and them decided to take my three girls down to the fly area. There wasn't very many people down there at all. I gave my girls a little fishing and casting lesson Friday evening and it really payed off. We had several accross the river casts and lots of giggles!(Hey, they are Girls they Giggle) There were several nice fisherman down there. Everyone that walked by had good encourgement for them. Thanks. They ended up catching 3 each and kept one each for pictures and supper. They didn't think much of the cleaning process. Grade for the day AAAAAA+++ Dad did have fun with low hair loss. Sorry about the half picture. My computer locked up.

I'll be down with my three girls. 4,6 and 8 years. I'll be the one with a red Sevier Fly Rod hat on. I'll have the hat on to keep from pulling my hair out. No, really I'll be the one with the hat and a big smile!!

I know everyone's going to love this one but anyway use the inside of a bananna peel. Rub it on and leave it for a while. It will dry it up. Some use the same thing to get rid of warts.

I got away after work on Thursday evening. The river was a little low but not as bad as I've seen it. The fly area was full of fish and not too bad size wise. I fished with a green wooly and caught about 20+ in a couple hours. There looked to be a lot of dry action. Most good strikes came right after the flys hit the water. Just a reminder next weekend is take a kid fishing!! Get them out a start some memories. I will never forget my first year fishing down at Roaring River some forty years ago!!

Can someone ask if there is anything that can be done?? I've got a pellet gun that my brother juiced up that can do some real damage. It hurts me to see all these trout and ducks used as "whitewash". I'm willing if the laws permits.

The Herons and the shufflers got to go!!! Last month in the early early morning as I drove by the hatchery there had to be 50 or more Heron's there hulking around the pools. I'm really glad to see the covers being put over the pools. I saw a Heron gulp down a 15 inch trout down by the rebar hole this Friday. There has to be something that can be done. I don't think I like the money that I give to the state flying off.

GREAT PICTURE!!!!! Are they still trying to run water at around 4:00pm every day??

Fished this AM behind the dam. Started with the scud with a few fish changed to a black Zebra midge and that was the ticket. Caught around 25 before 8:00am. It rained like crazy!!!! I felt like a drown rat!! Got to spend some quality time talking to our new state record brown trout owner, Rick. Enjoyed the company very much. Got to meet some more of our forum members.KFF. Great morning even with the soaking!!

Went down Friday for the first time in 30 plus years. I got down there around 3:30pm. I got the last camping spot available. I scoped the river out. I found a couple of spots that I wanted to try today. We started out with two sizes of Copper Johns. That was all we needed. Marshall Law and I started catching fish right off the bat!! Between the two of us we caught around 20 fish before 10:00. We lost a lot also. They were slaming into the fly and then running off. The park looks in good shape. The river seems low. The amount of fish in the river was a little dissapointing. The only thing That I didn't see that they should look into is a cleaning station. The river looked bad with lots of fish heads on the bottom everywhere. Over all?? Wonderful day fishing and catching. A+

I'm going to be up there this weekend. What is this that is going on???

A buddy and I got down to the fly area about 5:30pm. Water was very calm. Lots of two stepping going on!! I counted about 10 people doing it. They didn't need to be shuffling. We tied on a weighted sow bug size 14 and had a ball!! The fish were very active. Had several jump like Phil said. You could stand and watch the fish work the bottom everywhere.

Sounds fun!! The lakes and rivers have so much to offer besides fishing. Some days I don't care if I catch anything. I've got my best friend hooked on trout fishing and that's one of the first things he said. "Just being here is best catch"!!!

I'll be up there Monday and Tuesday night. I'll let you know!

Still for sale! You will love it!! I've got it on E-bay right now. I'm FR920 from Mt.Vernon if you would like to take a look at it. If you want to bid and pay later it would work for me.

Steve, That would be a dream come true. Fish year round and have a C&R tag for all parks! Couldn't get much better than that!

I've got a 8'6" Winston 5wt for sale. It's a WT model with dark green wraps and mohogany insert. I built it and now have to sell it. It's been to the river once. I hate to let it go but you know the deal. First $300.00 buys my dream rod. email me at mark@murdocswoodcarving.com for info or to see picks. Thanks. PS. It's a two piece rod. I'll throw in a rod case also. Make me an offer! Sold!!

Do you have a pic of the mohawk sculpin?? I've read about it in the fly blog but I'm a show-me boy! Thanks!!!

Started fishing about 11pm. Started with a black bunny with not much luck. The night was perfect all the way around. Temp was good not much wind. There were only a couple of people fishing. I start fishing by #1 outlet and worked my way down to below the rebar hole. I changed to a white bunny right before I got to the rebar hole and that was the trick. I caught a lot of fish after I changed. Most in the 12 to 16 inch range. Still lots of fun!!! Didn't get to stay very long but it was WONDERFUL!!!!

I was up by outlet #1 Wed afternoon and had a huge fish come up. Looked about 12 to 15 lbs. It went after my black bunny and I missed it. Then I cried. There was one aroung the rebar about 5 lbs Friday.

Yes the water looked great today. And the fishing was too! Used a number 12 skud in tan with a little lead wire inside to get it to the bottom. The trout were really working the bottom. They didnt seem to like the smaller skuds. They acted like they wanted some meat! Everywhere I went it worked great. I caught around 60 fish. Nothing big just great catching. Fishing is allways great. Happy St Pat's!!!

Went down this morning at 5:30am. I was the first in the parking lot until this older gentleman came down in a big hurry. It was out of the truck and a guick HI and run for the outlet! He just about hurt himself getting there. I didn't care. There's a lots of room. I started with a weighted sow bug and that was the ticket. I fished till noon with that and then changed to a black bunny with a gold bead head. They went nuts for it. I missed a sow up by outlet 1. I lost all the black bunnies I had. The fish were hitting it like a freight train. I'm making a bunch up to night. I'll be back Friday morning. Everyone better have green on!!

Morning was breaking and Mark had a great spot.

I'm kind of a lucky photographer. Mark Gray and I were standing down by outlet three and the young fox that someone had talked about came walking out and went out into the shallows and I started taking some picks. I've got some of Mark that he's had enlarged and framed. I could put them on the picture page if anyone would want to see them. I'll be down Wed morning. Look for a Texas orange hat with no logo. Thanks for the info. Mark

What is your favorite Zebra midge?

You'll love this. I was about 5 or 6 when my dad started me fishing at Tany. That would be around 1966. The board walk was still standing down at Branson and Sammy Lane was fairly new. I've got some home movies of me casting from the bank down by the camp ground. My dad worked for the U of Missouri Extension department and he would let me skip school around the end of February and a bunch of his buddys from the Extension service would meet down at Forsyth at a little resturant for breakfast and then split up with who ever had boats. We would troll down by the dam. I will never forget when we would get close to the dam and I was allways praying for the outboard to keep on running. We would meet for lunch at the same diner and that greasy little hamburger would taste so good!!! We never caught very big fish but we would allways catch our limit. Lot of great times. I don't know if anyone would remember the name Howard Foshea. He loved Tany!