fly2fish

Stop by Sids flyshop, it is located on the river in the park. It is below spillway creek. There is also a beavers bend message board just like this one. Here is a link or web site http://www.beaversbendflyshop.com . Stop in for a cup of coffee and see what and where they have been hitting. Good luck. Henry

I have tied the PMS jig on both a black painted head and bare lead head. I think the bare head has outfished the painted heads at night. It seems that as the jig bounces and hits the rocks it gets shiney places on it that adds to the flash. The prism heads would be good also if you can find them. HC

It is right in the middle of town on the main drag. It is on the same side of the road the lake is on. It is across the street from the sporting goods store. HC

My wife and I hit the seafood buffet Friday night on the way into Branson, it was everything we heard it was (we ate lunch there a couple weeks ago too). The catfish was great as was the shrimp and fried oysters. We didn't opt for the extra for the crab legs, I can never get full on crab legs you work up more of an appetite cracking and shelling them than getting full. It beats any of the buffets in Branson. HC

Dave.. bring them both.. and rain gear... Henry's coming. it will rain!! It only rained a little bit Friday night, who says I bring the rain when I come. Oh wait I did bring Ike the last time I came. We will see what happens 16-18th. HC

I got to the dam around 9PM, some said the night before they had seen the schedule of the water being shut down at 10PM instead of midnight, only 1 car at outlet 1, called Leonard to give him the parking lot report before he got there. Started on the point throwing the PMS on the spinning rod, slower than in the past caught 1 mean mouth and several bows before Leonard finally showed up. More and more people started showing up around 10 I guess expecting the water to be shut down. Midnight still running water, about 12:30 everyone started leaving and then we noticed the water finally dropping, went back to the car to get the fly rod, fished outlet 1 for about half an hour before we decided to head down to the gauntlet and big hole. Talked Leonard into bringing the fly rod, he kept saying he was going to stay with spinning rod. Started off at the tail end of the gauntlet or the head of big hole hard to tell now. Leonard was throwing the Hibinator and I still had on a PMS from the night before, he was hooking up ever cast and I about every 5th cast. Finally he asked if I could do him a favor and if I did I could have it. He had his fly hooked in the back of his vest and if I could get it out I could have it (he had already given me a couple before we went down). After I tied it on we were both in constant fish for the next 2 hours, 7 times we had fish on at the same time that is not counting the times one was releasing one when the other had a hook up. Total for the time between 1:30 and 4:00am was well over 100 fish between the 2 of us, mostly bows with a few average size browns. Seemed like we would catch 10-12 fish between 14-18 inches then about half a dozen under 14 then back to the bigger ones. Counting the fish caught on jigs before the water was shut off over 125 for the night. Had not had a night like that since last summer. Leonard, as always it is great to "beta test" your new fly patterns, they keep getting better and better. Friday night I did well after making my way over to the root wad in the gauntlet, caught 9 fish in the first 12 cast just above the root on olive PMS ended the night with between 20-25 total. Caught 4 white bass on the PMS jig under the overhanging dead tree just below outlet 2 before the water was shut off. Henry

I have a 3Wt 8' 0" Browing Sterling that only weighs 1.5 oz. It was my favorite rod until I came into posession of a 4WT 8' 6" Sage now I use that most of the time, however my largest bass (4lb) and a 24 inch rainbow were caught on the 3WT. I think the 9' 0" would be a bit long and since a 3wt is ideal for the small streams or ponds and there is not much clearance most of the time, the shorter the better so I would agree with Dano 7'6" to 8'0"

Got to outlet 1 around 10:00 pm waited for the rain to stop before suiting up. 2 guys fishing right at the top of the outlet, went to the point and first cast with the PMS jig had a hit before it ever got to the bottom, a 2.5 lb. smallie. Caught all rainbows right up to the end and had a 17-18 inch brown (not exact because I left my net with the scale on it in the car). Rain off and on but with the rain gear stayed dry exept when a trout jumped less than 2 foot from me about head high, thought I was going to have to check my shorts after that. Left about 45 minutes before the real wind and rain started. Ended with over a dozen rainbows all at least 15 inches, (no stockers tonight) booked by the smallie and brown in about 2 hours of fishing. Seemed the heavier the rain the more they hit. On some of the cast I would let it set still on the bottom and see how long it was before something hit it, usually less than 20 seconds they would bump it or take off with it. May as well enjoy the high water for the rest of the fall, tie up some jigs instead of flies. HC

After fishing Saturday night below TR (quit before the wind hit luckily) I went to Rockaway and Forsyth Sunday and a lot of trees down over the roads, creeks out there banks and a lot of muddy water rolling in. Went to Powersite and about 4 feet of water going over the top so I assume the boards are gone again. HC

I got bit several years ago by a recluse about this time of the year on the back of my calf. I had a lady shock it with a thing called a snake doctor, it is just a small taser or stun gun but made for bites. It had been 2 days and it started getting better the next couple days but I went to the doctor anyway, he put me on the predizone and antibotic and it still got worse for the next week. Once I had finished the weeks worth of medication it was worse than when I started, they even considered a form of chemo but didn't want the side effects. I think if I had it shocked a couple of days after the first one it would not have been a problem. I have sent 3 people to her that had brown bites including my wife and it only took 1 shock treatment. There iare a couple doctors in Tulsa that will use the shock. HC

If you had fusarium fungus or suspect your tomato plants had them, BURN THEM, do not till them in or compost them if you are going to use that compost for tomatoes next year. All other plants you can do as the others mentioned. HC

Sorry Dano, didn't notice the end of your post until after I posted. HC

I got to the parking lot below the dam right before 10 PM, the lot by outlet was fairly crowded about 5 or 6 cars so I went back to outlet 2. There were 2 fishing below the stairs but by the time I got rigged up they were leaving. Started off by drifting brown san juan, above a bead head peach scud with a BHPT dropper that I heard from a reliable source (Leonard) who heard from someone else the BHPT was the ticket. Well after 30 minutes and the first 10 fish the results were 8 on the scud, 1 each on the san juan and BHPT. Replaced the BHPT with a pink egg and continued catching bows on the egg and scud, numbers split about equally between those two flies. Decided to give a different BHPT another try but no takers, still went for the pink scud. The moon was rather bright at times and the bite seemed to slow down but as soon as the clouds moved back in it would pick up immediatly. They must have stocked recently because 2 fish were less than 10 inches long with the majority 13-18 inches. HC

Last year or was it the year before last they put in the fish ladder at outlet 3 for the browns coming up stream to enter the hatchery, I did not hear the number of fish that reached the hatchery but there was always several big browns in the several pools in the ladder and a lot staging at the entrance to outlet 3. HC

I fish 90% of the time at night and with 4 units there is room from outlet 1 up to the cable and directly down from outlet 1 several yards. With 2 units there is some room to get a backcast in around the point at outlet 1. Outlet 2 you can drift fish with the glow indicators with midges, scuds, eggs etc. no matter what the level is. Some of the best nights this summer was 4 units and 5 gates open. I to was hoping for low water tonight but will take another night of throwing the spinning rod with PMS's. HC

We have been fishing the high water below the dam since early spring and it has not only been different (as far as the type of fish), but larger fish on the average. Even if there is still some generation going on it will still be awsome this fall. If you are not sure about fishing the high water especially at night give Leonard a call and set up a night. I thought I would be fishing low water tomorrow night and this weekend but not so but I ain't letting that stop me. The brown run usually starts early Oct. and a few stragglers hang around through Dec. With the high water a lot of big browns are already in the area. HC

If the sharp drop you are refering to on the chart of -10 it is an error because it also shows the water temp at 15 F. There was a drop right before the gates were open when the generators went full bore. With the DO levels staying constant are they injecting O2 right now. HC

Scored 29 and I turn 50 in Nov. and I thought I was getting old timers disease. Just shows fishing keeps the mind sharp! HC

Leonard does have a knack for attracting the beavers at night . Only thing he is scared of them so I don't think he will be throwing any money at them. Is a beaver magnet anything close to a babe magnet? HC

I am getting it to it starts at the bottom and rises up like wildfire, bad stuff. FUSARIUM WILT This is a warm-weather disease caused by the fungus Fusarium oxysporum. The first indication of disease in small plants is a drooping and wilting of lower leaves with a loss of green color followed by wilting and death of the plant. Often leaves on only one side of the stem turn golden yellow at first. The stem of wilted plants shows no soft decay, but when cut lengthwise, the woody part shows a dark brown discoloration of the water-conducting vessels. The fungus is soilborne and passes upward from the roots into the water-conducting system of the stem. Blocking of the water-conducting vessels is the main reason for wilting. Invasion occurs through wounds in roots growing through infested soil. Long-distance spread is through seed and transplants. Prevention and Treatment: Control can be obtained by growing plants in pathogen-free soil, using disease-free transplants and growing only varieties resistant to races 1 and 2 of Fusarium wilt (indicated by FF following the tomato variety name), such as: Celebrity, Solar Set, Park’s Whopper, Goliath, Dona, Big Beef, Health Kick, Viva Italia, and Classica. Raising the soil pH to 6.5-7.0 and using nitrate nitrogen rather than ammoniacal nitrogen will retard disease development. No chemical control is available http://www.avrdc.org/pdf/tomato/fusarium.pdf HC

Tomatoe hornworms, they can strip the leaves and vines very fast, you usually have more than you think. One year I found about a dozen on my plants so I dusted with Sevin and within about 15 minutes I saw at least 2 dozen more start to wiggle as they were dying. They are easy to get rid of but it will take regular applications once they have started. HC

I think if they increase the upper end of the slot the lower needs increasing to say to 15 inches. It seems the current 12-20 slot has worked to increase the population of fish in that range, now if we can thin out a few of the 12-15 inch fish then there would be more of a food supply for faster growth. The current slot has been wonderful over the past several years increasing the overall average size, now it is time to take it to the next level. It is great to say the average size fish caught is 16- 18 inches but it would be better if the average was over 20! Were else can you go and say the average size fish you caught was 20 inches. Most of the people on here probably would still C & R fish below the limit anyway, but a lot of the stockers just about have their lips ripped off anyway especially around the outlets when the water is consistantly lower. HC

Since he has his headlight on did you explore the caves that are on the river? It has been 30 years since I floated Shoal and looked in the caves.

The womens beach volleyball has been the only sport to hold my attention for the whole match. HC