Greg

I'd sure like to attend. It sounds cool. But it is a 2 hour drive for me. It's been a rough week at work and I may need to just chill out on Sat. I wish it was running through Sun. Greg

Has anyone else ever wondered why there is not a dedicated fly shop somewhere in the Montauk area? Or wished for one? There are a couple of shops at Taneycomo, several at Bennett, and one at Roaring River. I wonder why not at Montauk? There is the state park store and they have some supplies but its not the same thing as a real fly shop. Greg

I fish both Bennett and Montauk fairly regularly throughout the year and I think I agree with Vanven in that there is probably more fishable water at Bennett. But I like Montauk better due to the more natural setting and wide range of water types available to fish including the trophy area outside the park. I would NOT be in favor of dredging either at Montauk. Greg

Terry - you make a good point and I agree with you. Steve - I'm glad you didn't take offense at my post. I almost deleted it after writing it because I was afraid you would (take offense). But I did want to get across the point that not everyone necessarily feels they are shortchanging themselves if they use a cheaper line. I guess it's just not that important to me. If it casts well, floats well (if it is supposed to float), and is durable - I could care less about line. To each his own. You made a good point that the jump in price is much more substantial for top of the line rods as opposed to fly line. Meaning that the 30 or 40 bucks you save on line wouldn't necessarily buy you a much better rod. But it would buy a significantly better fly reel and quite a supply of fly tying goodies. I keep meaning to come down and fish the Beaver tailwater and stop by your shop. Maybe sometime this fall. On another note - when is the Mountain Home conclave? Greg

Everyone is entitled to their opinion but I totally disagree with this statement. So I need to pay 3 X the price to "fish and cast better"? I just don't see it. I've had both high end and lower priced lines and certainly don't think the high dollar lines make me cast any better and they certainly would not help me fish better. I think some of the prejudice against lower priced lines stems from 15 or 20 years ago when there were some really bad lower end lines out there. But the lower priced lines out there now: BP CV2, cabela's prestige, cortland 333, and others are great lines at a great price. Are they as good as a top of the line SA or Rio? No but the difference is pretty slight in my opinion. In my opinion the fly rod is where to put your $$$. Line is a disposable product whereas most quality rods are capable of lasting a lifetime or more. Could I afford a $60 line? Absolutely. There is even one currently hanging on my wife's rod. It's there because I wanted her to have the best as she is relatively new to the sport. But when we've traded rods - she says she can't tell the difference either. I pride myself on spending my money wisely and at least for me $60 fly lines are not worth the price. Just MHO's Greg

Mine are done and will go out tomorrow. Looking forward to seeing everyone's work. Thanks Greg

Well I'm glad it's not just me. I've been having a bit of a hard time the last few weeks also. Not that I haven't caught fish BUT I've really had to work at it. I was there yesterday as well from about 11:30 until 6 PM or so. The first 4 hours I caught maybe 8 or 10 fish total. A couple of decent sized 14 or 15 inch bows and one spectacularly colored very fat toothy male brown of around the same size. Then all of a sudden about 3:30 or so - I started hooking them or at least getting a hit on almost every cast. This lasted until they turned on 1 unit at about 4 or 4:15 PM. I took another 8 or 10 during this short period with most of them being small though. Weird but who's complaining? I fished for a while with one unit on and picked up another couple of fish but it was pretty slow. I fished from the rock down to the KOA and back. I threw scuds, zebras, midges, wooley buggers, leeches. Everything in my fly boxes. Not a bad day but just not what I've gotten accustomed to. The weather was beautiful. Hopefully the fishing picks up the further we get into fall. Greg

Now that I think about it I actually think it was after I read Brian's article on fishing during generation that I started doing better. It has a lot of good info. Greg

Terry Don't know what to say. I don't understand why they wouldn't both be bidding on her. Personally I've never not interviewed an RN that has applied for one of my positions where the application has gotten to me. I wish I had something open because her experience is perfect for my area. I'm going to send you a PM with a tip that may help. Greg

Terry I don't currently have any openings in my dept. But my hospital is always looking for RN's. I'm at St. John's in Springfield, MO. If that's anywhere in your vicinity she should apply. I've been here 25+ years and can vouch for it as a place to work. Good luck with the walking. My wife and I started that about a month ago. I've never smoked but I'm overweight and don't always eat right. My father had a heart attack and open heart surgery at my age - 46. Scary stuff!! Greg

Dano I probably don't know what I'm doing either. But I did fish today during one generator and did fairly well. I started at the wire above #1 and worked my way down to #3 outlet over several hours. My rig for most of the day was a bead head mohair leech on 6X and a zebra midge tied on with 7X below that (tied to the bend of the hook on the leech). I also used a bead head san juan worm (red) in place of the leech part of the day. I was probably about 5 feet deep (medium sized indicator) most of the day but I varied it depending on the water I was fishing. I really struggle sometimes during generation too. It's just been in the last year that I can consistently catch some/a few during generation. I generally just keep tinkering with the depth, different flies, different weights until something works. Some days I do use a split shot above the first fly but today it worked better with just the 2 weighted flies. My last fish of the day was a beautiful 16" brown that was just above rebar. Most of my other fish today were smaller. I hope that helps at least a little. Wish I had seen you. Would have enjoyed visiting with you. Greg

In my original post I said a thread and peacock herl midge. I meant a thread and ostrich herl midge. Brown in color. Terry good luck with quitting smoking. I've never smoked but can relate second hand as both my parents smoked as did my in-laws. They've all quit at this point and all are the better for it. By profession I'm a nurse manager and see people every day that cigarettes have just wreaked havoc on their life. Greg

I'd like to be in the swap. I think I'll tie a thread and peacock herl midge that has worked for me at Taney, Bennett, and Montauk. Greg

Waders that fit make a huge difference. I personally like Simms and like you said they have a great warranty. My wife purchased the women's Simms freestone waders 6 months ago from Backcountry outfitters in Springfield MO. She really likes them. They fit well and have given us no problems so far. She started out in the Bass Pro breathables (I did too) and they just never fit her right. Congrats on getting her to fish with you. My wife's been going with me for a couple of years now. We have a lot of fun. She'll never be as crazy about it as I am but she does enjoy it. Greg

Is it called Bernat disco yarn? I could only find it at my Walmart in blue and maroon. But I think I found it online if anyone is interested. Here it is: http://store.knitting-warehouse.com/yarn-b...disco-yarn.html I think I'm going to order some green. Are any other colors especially effective? thanks, Greg

Can someone tell me how this works? How many flies each partipant ties? Is it one for each person in the swap? I'd like to participate but it might depend on how many flies I would need to tie. Work is kind of crazy right now. thanks, Greg

I was not aware that the KOA at Taney was closed? My wife and I were pretty shocked. It was a very nice well run campground and always seemed to be busy. Now you can't access the river there - it is chained off. Does anyone know if there are any plans for the property? I really hope it's not another huge condo or similar development. There are too many of them already. Greg

My wife Tina and I fished off and on all day Thurs. After some mediocre days over the past few weeks Thurs was great. We got to the rocking chair about 9:30 and immediately got into fish. It stayed pretty steady until 12:30 or 1:00 when it finally tailed off. We left about 2:30 for lunch and some shopping and came back around 6:30 PM. We fished the big hole below outlet #2 and again did really well for until about 7:30. Neither one of caught anything really large but we both caught an overall large # of fish and quite a few in the 14 to 16" range. We got a fair # of browns too. Zebra midges and scuds in the smaller 18 to 20's. I tried stripping a mohair leech for a while as well and didn't get a single take on it. I also tried night fishing again without much sucess. I fished a mohair leech and a sculpin pattern for an hour and a half but only took one fish. After talking to Michael (BC outfitters) today - I may not be staying late enough. He says it usually picks up later in the evening/night. The fish - both rainbows and browns - are really vividly colored this time of year. Greg

As the thread continues on the other board one poster stated an estimation that mono would take 600 years to degrade and the fluoro 6000 years. So if that is anywhere close to accurate then the mono would not really be much better would it? Another poster stated the obvious - don't dispose of trash mono or fluoro in the lake or stream. I thought that was a good point. But I wonder how many people do that? Greg

There's a thread going on another board I sometimes look at regarding the possible negative environmental impact of fluorocarbon. The premise is that since fluoro is generally tougher and doesn't degrade as quickly as mono so that it just hangs around in the river or lake for hundreds or even thousands of years. Has anyone else heard anything about this? I use fluoro tippet almost exclusively and would hate to think I'm doing something bad to the areas I fish. Greg

Jeremy are you going to hold class this Tues? Do you know what fly you are going to do? I live about an hour away but I'm off work and may drive down. I'd still like you to show me your technique for putting the hackle on soft hackles. Just can't seem to get it right. thanks, Greg

Thanks for the report Bill. Best time of the year for those of us that love the browns!!! Greg

I fished Labor day evening and the first part of the night. One of the slower times I've had on taney. I think it was because they were generating when I got there. 9 or 10 fish total. 2 small browns. I just never do that well when they are running water or for a few hours afterwards. Right at dusk I did take an approx 18" rainbow. Until I saw the fish I would have sworn it was a brown because it stayed down the whole time. I took it on the north bank on a sculpin pattern that I learned to tie from the backcountry outfitter seminar. The pine squirrel pattern Terry tied. I thought maybe that was the start of something good. But I fished another hour until close to 10 PM without another hit. I'd never fished at night with a full moon before. Kind of cool to be able to actually see without a light on. Greg

I'm sure you'll get a lot of different answers to this one. Here's my take. The top of the line fly lines from all of the different manufacturers (Rio, cortland, SA, etc) are all very very good. Michael at Backcountry outfitters likes Rio the best and after buying one a few months ago for my wife I think I agree with him. The problem is that these top of the line lines are $60. Thats a big chunk of change especially if you own several different outfits. I usually always try to patronize the smaller fly shops over Bass Pro BUT Bass Pro sells a fly line - the CV2 - that is outstanding for only $20. I've had one on my favorite fly rod and reel for almost 2 years and it has held up really well. It doesn't float quite as high as the top of the line Rio but at one third the cost it is a real bargain. I've heard it is made by SA/Scientific Anglers. Greg

King Ming I just spoke to Jim a few hours ago. He tells me you were just joking and that you are a friend of his. And also now that I have reread your original post I can see that as well. Sorry. I jumped to a hasty conclusion that you were bashing him. Jim has always been very free with advice and help to me over the past couple of years as well. It's kind of easy to misinterpet something on a board like this where you are just reading words and can't see the person's facial expression or hear their tone of voice. Again I apologize. Greg