fly2fish

I would go back and eat on "The Hill" again.... and.... again... and again.

You don't think the browns moved up toward the dam during all this higher water? There has been a lot of above average browns caught this summer below TRD, usually during the summer I might only catch 1 or 2 browns at night and all in the 14-18 inch range, the first weekend of August I caught 3 browns over 20 inches the same night and the average number of browns per night was 5 or 6. As far as bass there are still a lot up that way too, I don't know if they came up river or through the gates, I suspect a lot came through because they have scars on them, but once the water is cut back they should all start moving down stream, some probably don't know there is a lake down stream until they have to start looking for deeper water. Just my thoughts. HC

Maybe its Michaels sculpin that he lost....... Its going to be great when they start shutting down during the nights, hope to catch up with you weekend before Labor day, wait that would be this coming weekend .....great! Henry

Most have been caught below the dam at outlet 1, they have been there since the gates were closed back in April or May. They are starting to get few and far between and since they are scheduled to drop Taney this Saturday and just keep 1 generator going to keep the gravel bars covered it might send them downstream in search of deeper water. I don't know when they start generating again if it will bring them back up or if they will stay in there new found homes downstream, someone more familiar with them might know since this has happened before when the gates were opened a few years ago. HC

World Wars have been started for less things than this!!!

Typical kids, if there is a water puddle or sprinkler around they will find it and get in it.

The Illinois river below Tenkiller dam is year round trout stream, only need an Oklahoma fishing license and trout stamp. The Lower Mountain Fork below Broken Bow reservoir is the other year round trout fishery, it has several miles of river above the generators that are fishable during generation. They put a new area in within the past year called Lost creek, it is a diversion of the water coming from spillway creek (constant flow) into what was I believe the old creek channel. Both of the areas I mention are stocked on a regular basis. Also during the winter months they stock several small lakes and streams. HC

Is there a limit on how many fish you can eat?

Fished Fri. Sat. & Sun. nights. Was checked at outlet 1 Sat. night after midnight by MDC officer, told him glad to see him down there that late was only one other fisherman down there at that time. He said they were going to be making frequent stops at night. Now for the report Fri night 2 Kentuckies and 1 smallmouth and several bows and brown 14-21 inches, Sat. night all bows and browns biggest was a brown just under 20in. Sun. night first fish was a brown just over 21 in. then the next cast one at 19 in. was about 20 minutes before another fish. Ended up with 5 browns and 4 rainbows. Every fish was caught on a PMS jig rolled or bounced off the bottom, some hit right before it reached the bottom on the fall so keep your line tight on the fall. HC

Here is the freezer spaghetti sauce recipe, it is as good as any that I have had on The Hill, you people in St. Louis know what I'm talking about. 7 -8 quarts (change servings and units) Ingredients 3 medium onions, chopped 2 cups green bell peppers, chopped 3 teaspoons minced garlic 16 cups roma tomatoes, peeled, cored, and chopped 3 (12 ounce) cans tomato paste 3 tablespoons brown sugar 1 tablespoon dried oregano 4 teaspoons salt (canning) 2 teaspoons dried basil 1 teaspoon black pepper 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes (optional) 2 tablespoons italian seasoning 1/2 teaspoon cumin Directions Sautee onions, peppers, and garlic in olive oil Add all ingredients to stock pot. Heat to boiling. Reduce heat. Simmer, partially covered for 2 hours. Stir occasionally. After it has simmered, fill clean sterilized jars to within 1/2 inch of top of jar. Put on cap, screw the band finger tight. Process for 35 minutes for quart jars in a water bath. ** You can also freeze in quart size freezer bags. This sauce is great on any pasta dish.

I will making some more tonight along with more salsa. Picked another half bushel of Roma for the spag. and almost a bushel of other tomatoes for salsa. Will post the recipe tonight or in the morning. Bigredbirdfan, I will be heading to Branson this Friday-Monday, will be night fishing Fri, Sat, & Sun below the dam. I could bring a few jars then, I don't know what time of the day I will be coming through Springfield. HC

Looks like they have been knocking a foot off about every 3 days and with the lake still about 8 feet over power pool it will be around 25 days before it is there (a day or 2 added for rain), but with the hot temps and demand for power they will probably keep generating most of the time right through the rest of the summer. Maybe if we are lucky they will shut down on some nights when it is back to near normal. HC

Read the sign.

This has already been one heck of a year for my garden here in NE Okla, My uncle and I planted 28 tomatoe and several cucumber and 5 different types of squash. So far have canned 17 qts of salsa, 6 qts of spagetti sauce, 9 qts of dill pickles and 8 qts of bread and butter pickles. Also have Jalepenos out the @$$ and egg plant, watermelon, canalope & okra. We installed a watering system with drippers to each plant and soaker hose to the okra in, but did not have to use it until last weekend. I have been picking over a half a bushel of tomatoes everyday or if I miss a day then it is over a bushel. This is from a garden less than 1/4 acre, I had to put in a 3 acre food plot to try and keep the deer out of it, has worked so far picked the green beans before they found them. HC

That fish was probably old and going blind and thought the colors of the power bait was a rainbow trout. Man think of all the rainbows that fish has eaten in its lifetime, MDC can cut down on the number of stockers each time a fish like that is taken out. No I think all of us would rather catch 1 fish like that than a thousand stockers.

I guess that is the Signature Series as well since it has Michael's signature on it, he really needs to focus that in a little better so you don't have to zoom in to read it. And if you hurry you can still hit the 50-75% off sale before he gets back.

The third pic from the bottom looks like outlet 2 at Taney except the flyfishermen have been replaced by the bears, maybe thats what we need by the outlets to thin out the crowds now that would be real combat fishing. Keep the pics coming the only thing we have to look forward to is the fall brown run unless they decide to shut down the water a couple nights a week before then. HC

Good way to spend your birthday, see you in a couple weeks. HC

Didn't Leonard post his Seahorse recipe sometime back, maybe we could have a Seahorse cookoff or a "throwdown" as they call it now. HC

I would start with main lake points that are 15-20 ft. deep close to the main river channel or with significantly deeper water on each side. I would fish them with grubs, plastic worms or something worked slow on the bottom, on the right points you can catch 3 or 4 keepers on the same point. Most fish the visible structure and overlook the deeper points on Grand. Let me know how you do.

It is around $200 a pound. Read about the cleaning station that Oklahoma set up this year in the Twin Bridges area, it cost $400,000 to set up but they made over $1 million just this past season. They even sell or give the entrails to a place in Joplin to make into oil. HC

Thanks Al for the report, I will spend more time in the park then. I don't want to hike up to any lakes right now, just had knee replacement last year, however I did that when we lived in Seattle a few years ago, hiked up to Boulder lake about a 4 mile hike and 2500 ft. altitude gain. Caught brook trout almost every cast using a fly and casting bubble on an ultralight. My buddy and I thought we were going to be the only ones camping there but right before dark a man and his young son came up while we were grilling trout and wanted to know if we had any fishing equipment, I said just an ultralight with a fly and cork but you are welcome to it. We had already caught about 40 trout on that single fly and I think it was getting a little dull because I had started missing a few. He went down on a floating log where we had been and I could tell he was getting hits but missing about 2 out of 3. He ended up with about 10 to hand and released all. We only kept 4 for supper. The water was very clear and we were fishing in 10-12 ft of water and you could see the fish come from the bottom like a missle to hit the fly. the bigger ones wanted to follow it few feet before taking it but the little ones would come straight up and nail it. A few times you could see a bigger one following and a smaller one would rocket up and take it right out in front of it. Can't beat some of those high mountain lakes. HC

Hey Al, I will be up in Gardiner Mont. July 8 & 9th. Is the Yellowstone fishable between there and the park? I don't know if I will be doing most of my fishing there or in the park. I know in the evenings I will be back in Gardiner. I can't wait to get back up that way, it has been long time since I was in Yellowstone. HC

What is the water temp below the dam, I am guessing the upper 40's to maybe 52 as high as TR is and constant generations. HC

Thom, glad you are having a good time and getting into some of the other fish Taney has to offer right now. Hope you can catch a few walleyes while your there. It is totally different fishing this year than past years, kind of enjoying it some, not to say say catching 30-40 trout a night was not enjoying. Henry