fly2fish

I had every intention to make it this year depending on what bowl game OState was going to. As it turns out I will be in San Antonio that whole week and not coming back until the 1st. Hope everyone has a MERRY FISHING CHRISTMAS and HAPPY HUNTING NEW YEAR. F2F

Thurs. Dec. 9th Got to the parking lot about 10:30, knew they had been running 4 units at 710 before I left the condo and had already rigged up to drift with lighted indicator. Had to go through 1 and half packages before I could get 1 to light. After starting down the stairs I could tell the water was already dropping because I expected it to be up to the 3rd step but it was below the last step. Started with peach egg on bottom with a couple no.6 shot about 4 inches above it, then a san juan worm about 18 inches above the egg and then a bh scud about 18 inches under the indicator. Caught 3 on the first 5 drifts all on the bh scud. Decided to take off the sj because of tangles and retie. Water finally leveled off at 705 around midnight. Continued to catch fish on both the scud and egg. Had 3 that made it into the current that I had to put on the reel they were pushing 18 inches (didn't measure any til Friday night). Quit around 2 am with 39 landed. Friday Dec 10th Fished with my sons friend Clint. Started about 10:45 water off and already down to 701.6. Went straight to Big Hole, I had him rigged with a black hibinator and I had an olive one. The first few were mostly dinks 10-12 inches but after an hour the size started improving with most at least 14 inches. Clint finally said he had a decent fish on and I had just cast behind him (facing north bank) and was walking over to him to use my net to measure his fish when I got a hit thought it was probably a dink since it was in real shallow water, went ahead and set the hook and continued over to measure his fish. It was right at 17.25 inches, we released it and I started bringing my fish in and realized it was no dink. It was an identical twin to the one we just released 17.25 inches. Before we could make another cast the horn blew downstream by the boat ramp somewhere. We went back and fished the bend above rebar and didn't notice the water coming up any so we went back to the lot and met a guy coming back from up by outlet 1 and he said he saw no signs of them turning on any water and the horn at the dam hadn't blown. Clint and I went back in at outlet 2 and fished above 2. After catching a few I switched to a white and gave Clint an olive and as I approached the line of rocks that run out from the north side I made a cast directly upstream to the rocks and before I could strip the slack out of the line I had a strong hit, it turned out to be the longest fish of the night at 19 inches but it was skinny like a spawned out female definitely not one of the footballs we had been catching. Ended the night about 3 am with 16 caught at Big Hole and 14 on the flats. Clint totaled about 6 but most of his were the bigger fish. Sat night Dec.11th Temp: 19 deg Wind: 40mph I don't think so. May have been able to take the 19 deg. but not the 40mph wind. Whats up with blowing the horn downstream and not releasing any water. Think they were just messing with us.

Rebar is about 20 yards up from the big stump between the boat ramp and outlet 2. The rebar is in the short stretch where the channel turns north (when the water is down) right out in front of the outlet 3 steps. F2F

http://www.beaversbendflyshop.com/cgi-bin/ib3/ikonboard.cgi Stop in at Sids, he will be more than helpful on what and where to fish. F2F

I think Leonard tried some of that on jig heads the year all the water was running. Don't think they were all that sucessful unless he was holding out on me because he didn't give me one. F2F

I have seen trout take lightening bugs on Taney at night. I have even had them hit my lighted indicators, need to find a way to put a hook in them i guess. F2F

Dang, I made a quick one day trip yesterday to Branson and left my rods, reels and waders at home. F2F

I was using a white PMS (Sat) and brown hibinator(Fri) with little or no flash. I was casting across current and a couple strips to get the slack out and letting it drift. Usually go a hit as it neared the bottom or as it quartered downstream and rose slightly off the bottom most likely. I'm pretty sure most of the fish were bottom feeding so they didn't have to look up at that bright light . When the clouds rolled by they tended to hit more quickly and closer to the top. I experimented with a PMS with deer hair head but each time I tied one on the moon was back out. F2F

The moonrise may have been beautiful but that is the main reason you probably didn't catch much. I fished Friday and Saturday night with Saturday being better than Friday night because of a little more cloud cover had at least a hit every cast when the moon was behind the clouds but most were still dinks 10" or less. F2F

Better than having 100 people a day wading through the redds. Forgot what the percent survivablity is even if an egg got the chance to hatch in the river bed but it was almost zero. You have the rainbows eating the eggs when they are laid, waders in the redds, birds and fish eating the small fry that do hatch. That is why they have the fish ladder and the hatchery raising browns now. F2F

And that is all they eat, so throw big butterfly patterns both day and night. F2F

By the latest reports some are already showing up, so I would say now until Dec. F2F

Leonard, you mean its raining in Branson without me being there PS: I won't be fishing tonight coming up Saturday just for a couple hours and not fishing F2F

I have fished below the Welling bridge just past Talequah. There is also access a little farther at Eldon. F2F

Sounds like you already made your mind up . I have an older Sage 9' 4wt DT series I believe, that is my primary and a Sage Launch 9' 6wt when I throw bigger things that the 4wt can't handle. Also have a 8' Browning 3wt that I use in the daytime at Taney and for perch in the ponds and a 8'6" Heddon 8wt for saltwater. Too many rods too many decisions sometimes, also have some spare 5,6& 7 wts for friends to use. I have started giving my son's friends rods after I get them addicted to flyfishing. F2F

Thats because their parents are first cousins or other close kin

Do you think the bright moon had anything to do with that? The last 2 times I fished with a bright moon I tried to find spots where the trees blocked out the moon and then moved back some and fished those spots and did a little better. I know you have fished many more nights with a bright moon overhead than me, have you found any other secrets. I have taken some of the flash out of my flies just for bright nights but it still was slow. F2F

Dang, now the secret of Taneycomo is out and everyone will know why the pine squirrel sculpin and PMS flys are so popular.

Gary good to see you again. We were at the shelter between 9 and 10pm and it was crowded, was waiting on Leonard to meet us there. When he got there and we rigged up nad he said lets get out of here and we went down below the boat ramp. I let my son's friend Clint use my 4wt and he caught the 2 biggest fish measured at 15" and one slightly less than 16" his only 2 fish of the night. I ended up with 13 mostly on white and a couple on brown. Leonard started with brown and had several before we ever had a strike. When the moon came up it got a little tougher. I went back Sunday night after my uncle and I fished of Fall Creek dock until 1:00am and the only vehicle in the lot was at outlet 1. As soon as I got out I saw headlights coming from the path up to the parking lot, I said did the moon run you guys out and it seemed they were in a hurry to get going, they said yes and I don't think they even bothered to take their waders off. I put on the white and was wading out and stripped out some line to get started and the first cast wham, good 17incher and thought this was going to be a good send off since it was my last hour or 2 to fish. But it turned out to be the only fish I landed. I tried a couple other flies with only 3 or 4 hits and left at 3am. F2F

I will be there Fri, Sat, & Sun. nights either in a white Murano or silver Chevy silverado Z71. I will have several with me to start the night but most will leave before midnight I bet. F2F

Back in the early and mid 90's I was on loan to Boeing in Seattle, Wa. from Rockwell-Tulsa, as a design engineer on the 777. I worked for Alan Mulally (Ford CEO) who was project manager on 777, he later became CEO of Boeing before going to Ford. He was one of a few people that had a good business sense but was still a people person. Whenever we reached an engineering milestone he would come down to Renton and throw a pizza party or have a cookout for the group. Whenever I went back in the late 90's for the 737 redesign, I couldn't even tell you who we worked for. All we heard then was we were behind schedule and overbudget. F2F

My neoprene waders were not as warm as my breathable ones wearing the same clothing underneth. The only thing that really got cold was my feet but when I started wearing my hunting socks solved that problem. I fished one night when it was 22deg F. in the breathable waders and was comfortable from the chest down. F2F

Thom, I am going to be there Friday 7/30 thru Monday 8/2 fishing all of those nights. Give me a call (918)798-2634 if you want to tag along or drop them off with us. Friday night night I will have my son, uncle, guy from work and my sons friend with me so it might be crowded that night but some of them will probably not go Saturday and Sunday nights. We will be at the Falls Village behind Shorty Smalls. Henry

Oh great now we are going to have to start dodging boats at night while wading below the dam, I can just see(or hear) some first time guy on Taney in his jet boat using wader's headlights as channel markers to get to the dam. I am all for promoting local business and resorts but there should have been more warning about shallow water and waders at night. F2F

The rainbow spawn run was over about the end of March and I have caught more rainbows over 20 inches since then than before and during the run. In the middle of June (3) in one night. The amount of water running has more to do with it than anything else IMHO. Looking forward to my next trip July 30-Aug 2 hope they continue the pattern of generating during the day and off at night. F2F