kjackson

Buying the squirrel skins in four or five different colors is not a rabbit hole I'm going to fall into. Been there, done that and now have to sell some stuff to put order in my life. Having said that, I saw the fly shop also offered micro rabbit zonker strips. Have you tried those? I could see them working in this fashion if the hair isn't too long. They are quite a bit cheaper...

That is more fun than I had today. Perhaps tomorrow I'll be able to work on my little boat--assuming it doesn't rain. I am getting tired of not fishing...to put it mildly. On the Grinch Bug--what size zonked strips are you using/where did you get them?

If you schedule it in now-- September 11 and 12 in the Benson Center again--you might be able to do it. Sorry I didn't get to meet you. Maybe next time... I guess I'm spoiled and lazy...when we lived in Port Townsend, I would drive five minutes to catch coho off the beach, and searun cutthroat were a 20-minute drive to the boat launch and 10 minutes to get to the best spots. Having said that, I attended the University of Montana where the hardcore guys would drive to Yellowstone to hit the evening hatch, and that was something like a four-hour drive. Didn't do that, but hit Rock Creek once in a while and that was a good hour away, and there a lot of good little streams between the two. But I really like chasing bluegills on poppers, and white bass intrigue me. And then there are smallmouth, a fish I really like.

It was a good show--or at least the best I'v been to in Clinton. I saw the Billetheads and did see Ryan but didn't know who he was. Didn't see fedora wearing tjm, or again, if I did, did not see the hat. Since I covered the show for the Clinton paper (issue should be online Thursday), I was in work mode and didn't socialize or spend much time looking at flies. But next year... And FYI-- the 2026 Expo will run two full days and will not be held until September. As for fly fishing, I grew up in trout country, went to college in Missoula and almost became a trout bum but got married instead. I just can't get excited about trout fishing in Missouri. I'd much rather fish for bluegills or white bass, or better yet, walleyes, with a fly.

Thought it might be worth mentioning that the Tri-Lakes Fly Fishers' Expo has some changes. The biggest is that it will start on April 10th, Friday, at 1:00 PM until 4:00. And on Saturday, the show starts at 9:00 AM. This is the first time the event has been held over two days. Also, there are twice the vendors this year as compared to last year, for a total around 50. And it might be worth noting that the MDC is having a Learn to Fish day long event at the Clinton office on Thursday the 10th that has a focus on fly fishing--casting, equipment and tying flies. I just filed a preview article on the Expo to the Clinton Daily Democrat that should be online this coming Thursday if you'd like more details.

A birthday fishing sounds like a dream. Glad you had fun, and Happy Birthday!

And now here's snow on the ground...

12 dead at this point from last night, but there's tonight's storms in SEMO. Clinton had maybe 20 minutes of thunderstorm that knocked a few limbs down and washed the 4Runner enough that the following winds blowing smoke and dust covered it.

It does look good. For me, I'd have to pay homage to my PNW roots and add a turn or two of pheasant rump behind the eyes as a nod to the Carey Special. You, or I anyway, couldn't tie a dragonfly nymph pattern without pheasant rump.

Thanks for the insight. folks. I will stick with the deep vee hull idea (found one I'll look at next week), and I also will be picking up a smaller craft fairly soon. There are a lot of places around here that are perfect for something small. After a few discussions and running the program by the person who looks at expenditures, I'm thinking the Pond Prowler 8 will work well for me. It's stable, has a high weight capacity and will fit in the back of my truck. Another plus, it looks like it will be light enough that I can easily load it myself. I'd almost rather have a pram, but stability and safety are key selling points. I'm too old to swim back to shore any more.

Report from Windsor was -21. And Subby on his weather talk this morning said the long-range forecast was for a storm to hit west-central Mo to hit March 5th and 6th with potential to get nasty--followed by a chance of snow. I'm thinking coastal Oregon is looking pretty good right now. There you only have to worry about tsunamis.

Our "official" temp is -12...

Another question, which I could answer myself if the water wasn't so hard-- I have quite a few of the up-eye, black Atlantic salmon hooks. If I tied on those, the flies would have a down-turned eye. How would that affect the retrieve? Would there be too much downward pull when the fly is stripped? It's not that I don't have other hooks to use, but I would like to use the 36890s for something.

I love these posts; I get fired up to tie a bunch of whatever pattern works well. After reading this yesterday, I headed down to the basement stash to pick up a couple of items--I'm in the middle of tying crappie jigs-- and pulled out some fly boxes to check colors of Clousers with an eye to what was lacking. I was surprised to find what is, probably, a three-year supply left over from fishing for searun cutthroat and chum salmon. I'm thinking I may need to add some local colors and sizes, though. What sizes are you folks using the most? Colors beyond chartreuse/pink/blue that I should add to the boxes? Olive over tan sounds good, so that will be in line over the next two days of being housebound. Thx.

I think I'd need one already tied to the tippet for a #20. Back when I kinda cared about chasing trout, I ran into the PR director for Daiwa who was an avid fly fisherman--Rex Gerlach. He could tie a Royal Coachman on a #28.I wouldn't buy it, but then it was confirmed by someone else.