Zach Bearden

DaddyO: Glad to hear that you caught plenty of fish! I would definately like to go fishing with you again. It was a pleasure to help somebody else with catching a few. It didn't take me 5 minutes to tie all those flies back up bassman: I have had fish pile up in the most un-ideal holes in the river but still you can just pull fish after fish after fish out of them. Its always fun. Tad bit too easy but still fun.

aww, but high fast water is fun for polish nymphing in! Its always a good sight to see the fish reproducing. Thanks for sharing pictures!

Really? You could see pods of them? I never did see more than 1-2 at a time. I fished a very small woven caddisfly that I made up last night and caught a total of about 25 all day. I had fun, but it was really cold so my hands about fell off. (I have some pretty bad problems in my hands where they swell up and get extremely soar). Was really windy so I would up losing a couple flies and re-tying on two new tippet sections... With all that wind it was extremely hard to see all my strikes. I just let my line lay on the water and would watch as the fish took my fly. Was pretty darned cool.

Haha, I never have had that problem. My phones always just go ahead and save them. Thats alright, I think that I had more fun since I didn't have to fight off people. lol Im going down here in a few minutes. Mom said she stopped by the river after work this morning and talked to a man who was coming out. He said that the fish were so thick where he was that you could see pods of them. Well I guess I'll go try my luck.

So I am looking for pictures of GIANT cased caddisflies. I'm trying to make big anchor flies for the fast riffles and pool so I can get to the bottom. Thanks much!

Jeez, the frackin' river was packed this morning. I hated it. I couldnt get a spot for squat. When I finally did I caught 4-5 real quick then my mom came and picked me up. I saw a man in the Kiddie pool catching all kinds of fish. I really would like to go fishing tomorrow morning too but I know that I wouldn't be able to untill around 10 a.m. Argghhh, cant wait to get my pickup. Anyone up for making a drive-by pick-up another fish bum? lol

Has anybody been fishing? They haven't run much water. I won't get to go anymore of Thanksgiving break but at least we have trout back in our waters. I've been looking forward to seeing trout rises for a long 'ol time. I just have to find a way down there. lol

hehehe, a guy from TFF and I stood by the riffle under the cable on Sunday (??) and I watched him catch fish after fish for probably 25-30 minutes. We went down to T&M and I caught about 4 before I got bored. Went back to the dam and walked up onto a riffle and started catching fish cast after cast. There are alot of fish in the river right now, if there is someone you want to be interested in fly-fishing (or just fishing) right now would be the time to take them.

Check the one on the internet. It is updated everyday (most of the time) at 5 p.m. with the next 24 hours. I think that it is a tad bit more reliable. The water is going off as I type this. I will be down at the dam. If you see me give me a holler!

Had forgotten about beaver. Good call.

Roaring River if you can handle crowds and if its still open. Maybe Taneycomo if you can handle crowds once again. Unless the water just magically gets about 20 degrees colder and they start stocking real soon thats about it. Other than Broken Bow of Course. They are all good fishing if you know how to fish them.

okay, thats cool. I can actually kind of fish a mid sized freestone! As for spring creeks on the other hand, they kick my rear!

Sorry for the late response here. We went to Frisco Colorado for The America Cup. It was an absolute blast! I got to watch some world class fly fishermen from around the world do their best. We fished the Arkansas, Colorado, Blue, and Ten Mile Creek. The Blue was the toughest for me. It was DEEP (8-9ft) and fast. Funny thing about it though is it was smaller in width than that of the Lower Illinois. If you didn't have some absolutely humongous stoneflies or whatever else to get to the bottom you just didn't catch fish... The Arkansas was the most fun for me though. I was on the opposite bank (after basically having to swim acrost lol) with a fly rod, my spool of Fluoro, a fly box, and a net. I landed 5 fish over on the opposite bank and had to go back across each time. It was exhausting! But I will never forget mixing Rock Crawling and fly fishing! At one point I had an ultra long leader on to fish some deep fast water on. THe leader had to be 20-25ft long! I remember casting up in the head of my riffle with 2 HUGE stoneflies on and a H&C above that and polish nymphing it. I hooked up with a fish that had to be pushing 50cm! The brown slammed my stonefly and took off! I set the hook and watched as my -what the fish made appear to be puny- 5 weight rod doubled over and I saw the fish come flying out of the water! He came up, did a cartwheel, and took off again! I was freaking out, I didn't have the slightest idea how I was going to land this fish. I started hustling up and down these giant boulders and then realized that the fish had just pulled out. I dropped to my knees and felt like screaming at the top of my lungs out of rage that I had let a georgeous brown trout as such escape my clutches. My controlled and I looked at each other in distraught as I got back up, checked my leader, and got to casting again. I made up for my loss by catching two 35cm browns almost instantly. It was a wonderful trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Sounds like we shouldn't put up the big guns just yet... I think that the Striped Bass should still be up in the Lower Illinois. I haven't talked to anyone about the Bass in a while. It would seem that everyone is still worried about the trout. I can't wait for the trout to be fishable again but goodness those stripers are a hoot! I guess that after tonight I'll try and convince mom to take me out there one morning to try to hook up with one. By the way, does anyone know what the temperatures in the Arkansas are right now?

We won't be able to come over until Thankgiving time so thats after my Birthday. I'll get to buy a license this year~! (yuck!) Well, I guess I'll just come over and fish for the trout at about that time. It will be an experience, more than likely we will be tent camping. Last time I went camping it got down to about 25 that night and I wound up at the bottom of my sleeping bag in a tight ball. lol I am definitely looking forward to coming over and fishing. Is the North Fork considered a freestone?

We might be coming over sometime soon and we're kind of wondering what to expect in the river. Is there alot of deep riffles and runs? Or is it more slow long pools? We're kind of looking for somewhere to go before I turn 16. I have seen your reports Brian and it looks like the river is fishing excellent. So I read somewhere somebody saw some stripers. I didn't really get to fish for them over here this year because they were continuously generating... (grr!) I kind of know what to expect out of them but what is an average striper over there? Are they even still in the river? Thanks everyone!

I honestly don't know where all that water has come from. I know that it is extremely too hot to stock. But from my understandings they should be stocking sometime in November or something to that effect. I'm still not able to fish for stripers or anything, I have been stacked up to the brim with all the band stuff. I've just been kinda hanging around waiting for the cooler weather and some trout so that I can have fun with Polish Nymphing again. I went up to CO. and saw all those guys using different techniques and I really would love to try them! Oh well, at least for Fall break I get to go up to MO. and fish that one last time before I turn 16 and have to pay for all that gunk.

The river is really easy to fish. Just 5-6X tippet with a zebra midge is all that you really need. I don't know why I carry so many flies honestly. Basically just your average flies that you would fish anywhere else. There are alot of scuds and sowbugs. Tan is a good color to use. Riffles are a good area and runs are good. There are alot of spots where its a deep hole but its not really obvious. These are good areas to fish hopper dropper with a pheasant tail.

We didn't go out Sunday morning but did go out Friday, Saturday, and Sunday evenings. We caught some stripers up by the dam on Deceivers and Sheep minnows.

Somebody actually ask me where it was the other day and I couldn't tell them where it was. But I looked the other day and if you are going from Gore to the Dam (its past Marval and T&M) its on the right side of the road. It is directly acrost from an old diner that is closed down. You take a right on that road and follow it down to the "T". Take a left there and follow it down and you'll know when your there.... You will cross over a cattle guard and then just park against the barbed wire fence. Theres a little place between the barbed wire and the gate where someone has pushed the barbed wire down and you can cross over there. So far these are the best directions I can give... xP Somebody called me the other day and I couldn't really tell who you were. I haven't returned your call due to the fact that I couldn't really hear their voice. Whomever you may be, would you mind shooting me a PM on here and giving me your # and I will call you from my house so that we can discuss further? Thanks!

I think I would like a nice new scott to go into my arsenal! Hrmm, more than likely just fishin it off!

Hmm, maybe I should save up plenty of money for the Conclave....... And whats this sudden rule change about not lying about being a good boy?

Went out this morning and caught a few more on a little biot nymph with a hot spot. Also, on a glass beaded soft hackle.

I went out this morning and caught a total of 24 withing an hour, hour and a half. My biggest being about an 18" as well. Mom was on the other side just watching. She only got a picture of a fat 16" fish. I was using a size 14 frenchy again. I'm starting to get a bit of confidence in this fly

Thats a good question Steve, I don't even know the answer. I have always used a lighter tippet seeing as the fish aren't that big. I can usually land a larger fish (14-15") on the 2 lb and they swim away just fine. I guess its just one of those things where I got bored with heavy tippets.