Simsmarine

No, not with the CF wing, once its soaked you're good to go. The slow fall is what triggers the bites. If you tie them with any kind of a hair wing you'll have to add a bit of lead though. The only particular I can think to add is: I fish them with 4lb. flourocarbon tippet. This purple wetfly and a dime sized sponge spider(black/white legs) is all I have needed the last few years to load up on gills at the 5 different lakes/ponds that I fish. darn, now I'm gettin' all psyched to go Gillin' ! I'm gonna wait until this current front passes, then I'll give'em a try. I have noticed that if you get after them as soon as they make their first movement into the shallows you'll get bigger ones. Then after that with each passing warm day more and more little runts will start to show up. Don't forget that the North side of the lakes warm up quicker.

Guess what? the bank in the pics are in the Gravois arm. And the water there is not so clear...hint hint. The fish aren't on beds yet by any means, just lovin' the warm off colored shallows I think.

dp, How much company did ya have, and which zone did you see the lunkers in ? I'm thinking about going down tomorrow (Wed.) to see if I can get my picture taken with a fat Brown or Bow, and to practice some soft-hackle presentations. A thunderboomer or two is in the forcast so that may keep the crowd down.

Water is/was super low and fish were confined to the deeper pockets, or darn close to them. Caught a few little Browns swingin' #8 tan Muddlers, a few little Bows dead drifting a #8 olive leech, and several Smallies helped break the monotony.

The backend flats are warming up. If you can find shoreline cover in the flats you can get'em as shallow as 2ft. A few locals might recognize this bank...it's loaded! One pass with the jiggin' pole and a SouthernPro Umbrella tube brought to hand 17 keeper Crappie and 4 keeper bass. Go get'em.

GF, I tie them myself, it's a: 9671 #12/ black glass bead/ black round rubber tail/ purple(med.)ultra chenille body/ black saddle hackle/ black crystal flash wing. Assembled in that order. The pattern originally(as shown to me) had a calf tail wing and required some lead wraps along with the glass bead to sink it, but I like the flashy CF wing (with no lead added) better. There IS something about that purple body, I did some in solid black, and some with a chartruese body but they haven't impressed me near as much as the one shown. Again, if you try it...No retrieve! just cast it close to the cover, tighten up the slack and watch for a bite as it sinks. That Mackie bug oughta do the trick too....I'd try it in Purple

Wayne, Wal-Mart has a little palm sized sewing kit, it is marketed under another name but if you look at the back of the bubble package it says "mfg by Coats & Clark". There are 6 spools of thread in the kit and the much praised "summer brown" is included. All the colors in the kit would/or could be good midge colors (except for maybe the blue). It twists up real good and I'd bet my last dollar that it is the original stuff that started the YS pattern. I did up a bunch of 24-22 YS's several years ago and gave them a workout at Bennett, the white turns a yellowish cream color after it gets "stream stained" and I did real good with it around the weedbeds at the highbank stretch. I never fish it anymore though cuz I hate fishing for above average fish with 7X... 6X seems like "barge rope" when tied to a 22-24 Gaston says they use 5X with 24's on the SJ, but I just can't bring myself to do that.

I like those Wayne, and wouldn't mind paying the price. But, I wish they were slimmer (they run 1 1/4" to 1 1/2"). I know that seems anal to some,that's why I opened this topic by saying " sometimes it amazes me how hard I am to please". I can't really explain it, but that unnecessary thickness in my vest pockets bothers me. I guess it's like the new (more compact)cell phones...nobody wants the bigger clunky ones of 10 years ago hanging on them anymore.

Yep, that's it. Thanks Dano

I'm gonna tie up some fresh ones tonite. What size do you like and what hook do you use.

This one kicks gill-butt for me. No retrieve necessary, just put it close to them and let it slow-sink. Here's the biggest one I caught last year (the one in my hand), and another close candidate.

Yeah sounds like fun ! I've tried exactly that several times during different conditions, without success. I guess I'll have to just stick with it awhile until I get bit a few times and gain some confidence. Heck, I think they are a breeze to tie. Body/rib/collar/wet-hackle, right? Is there a technical step that makes a better than average SH ? I use the "V" method of tying in the soft hackle on little ones, whereby you cut the tip of the stem from a Partridge feather (or whatever soft body feather you want), lay the resultant "V" of fibers under the hook eye at an upward angle, pinch, and wrap loosly at first, twist the fibers equally around the hook, pull the feather stem butt to get the length you want, then tighten up, cut the feather away and form the head. Looks good, and you can control the length of the fibers for consistency. With this method though you must have a collar of fur or herl to help splay the fibers against. I think I tie a dandy SH, just can't fish them worth a hoot... But I'm gonna work on that. What sizes do you like ? and what hook do you use? Thanks, G.

Holy retail,Batman! Huge price difference between the two links above. Damnation! Once again though...over an inch thick.

(417) 532-4338

Phil, Do you not require PFD's on, and kill switches connected when the big motor is running ? We've had a few liability issues here on L.O. and every hosted Tournament is strict on that. Just a suggestion, 'cause I notice several of your participants "forgot"