Greg

Pretty cool. Thanks! Greg

Fished Montauk today from 11 AM to 4 PM. Pretty good day. I would guess 20 to 25 trout caught - all rainbows. Caught them on bead head midges and leeches. Nothing huge but almost all were decent sized fish with a few pushing 15". It's amazing how after a couple of months the fish at the parks start looking more and more like wild fish. Beautiful colors. Not too many people out fishing and the weather was great. All in all a good day. Greg

Boy you're right. It is not easy to find. The big US online fly tying outfits don't seem to carry it. I found it on an australian fly tying company website but it was pretty pricey. Then I found some on good old ebay. Just cost a few bucks including shipping. Pretty exotic material - at least here. Greg

Is Roo hair pretty widely available? I don't think I've seen it at either the Bass Pro or the fly shop in Springfield. thanks for posting the pattern. I plan to give it a try for sure. For some reason I've never had much luck on scud patterns at Taney. I've caught more than my share - but on thread midges, wooley buggers, and leeches. I think it may be more of a confidence thing. Greg

Brian - I'm really surprised you haven't had any responses here? I'd love to guess but I'm just not that knowledgeable about fly tying beyond the basics. It looks like the San Juan worm to me but as far as the originator I haven't a clue. Greg

I think I'm probably in the minority in that I play almost all the trout I catch off the reel. I just get a kick out of it - the sound and the feel of playing the fish off the reel. I agree that in MO you could get by very well with a cheap reel. But I do think when you catch a 19" plus trout at taneycomo that your chances of landing it are better if you have a good reel. I own a variety of reels but my favorite is the Ross Cimmaron. It has a very smooth drag and a lifetime warranty. I have 2 (in 2 different sizes). It is about $150. But some of my cheaper reels: Pflueger medalist supreme, cabela's prestige, and several Bass Pro reels all work pretty well. For a good mid-priced rod you might look at the Sage Fli. I have one: 8.5 ft 5 wt and really like it. Greg

I used to fish the Finley a lot when I was younger - this was in the 80's. I would start at the intersection with 160 just South of Nixa. I always used and ultralight spin rig. I would generally head downstream flipping a small rapala or crawfish plug. I caught some fine smallmouth and largemouth at times. When I would head back upstream I would switch to "BJ" dough bait for catfish. I could almost always count on the channel cats cooperating. It was a lot of fun. But as Nixa grew the water quality really went down and so did the fishing. I've heard the water quality is better now. I plan to give it another try next spring. The owner of the fly shop here in Springfield likes to wet wade the Finley and says he catches some pretty good smallmouth with a fly rod and streamers. Greg

I'm going to have to give the vanish a try. I've been using the Rio fluorcarbon for about a year now. It has worked very well for me but it is really pricey in my opinion. Greg

Vic - I had the pleasure of meeting Matt Tucker a couple of months ago as well. Great guy and so is Brian the fly fishing guide from the north fork of the white. Greg

I was there this afternoon and I was surprised as well when they blew the horn and nothing really happened. I think maybe it did come up a bit but not much at all. I've never seen that before. How did everyone else do? I just had an OK afternoon. Maybe caught 15 in the 4 hours I was there. About like last weekend. I haven't caught anything of any size the last 2 weeks. Lots of small stockers with an occasional 13 or 14 incher. I did catch 3 browns today though. I'm not complaining though it sure beats working! Over the last summer and fall I caught so many fish in the 18 to 20 inch range. I guess it spoiled me. Greg

Hi my name is Greg Mitchell from Springfield MO. Just a little about me: My family is number one with me. I am married to a wonderful woman that I met when we were both 18. We have been married for 23 years. We have 2 boys Matt and Ryker who are 17 and 11. We also have 2 dogs Ringo and Corky (both welsh corgis). By profession I am a registered nurse. I manage a small nursing dept in one of the 2 main hospitals in Springfield. I started fly fishing at about 15 years of age and continued off and on through my 20's. Then I stopped for roughly 10 years before taking it back up again 3 years ago. It is now my passion and main hobby. I mainly fish for trout. I consider my home waters to be Taneycomo. We live on the south edge of Springfield which is only about 45 miles from Taney. I also enjoy Bennett Springs, Montauk, Roaring River, and the upper Current. My wife and 11 year old fly fish with me at times. I really like this forum and am appreciative of the time and effort that goes into maintaining it. I think over the last few years I have learned more about fly fishing than the previous 30. And that is in large part due to forums such as this. The first one I joined/particpated in was Matt Tucker's Ozark Chronicles and it is still a great site. This forum is a welcome addition.

I'm a regular a Taneycomo but have never been to the norfork. Could I get some advice on where to go, tactics, etc? I'll be wading. Thanks, Greg

I like them all to some degree but my favorite is American Angler. I also really like the freebie: Fly Fish America. It has a ton of adds but I really like the articles about all the newest gear. Greg

Brian that's really gutsy to admit to being a reformed "shuffler". I'll have to say that when I started out if I had been smart enough to figure out that shuffling was an easy way to catch fish I'd have been doing it as well. As it was I did my share of fishing the outlets doing the same short casts over and over. I never had a mentor like you but I did eventually figure out that this is not the most sporting or even the most fun way to fly fish for trout. Greg

Thanks for the info/suggestions. I think I may try to take them back. Even though they are past the warranty period (1 year) I don't think they should have started leaking after 18 months and approx 70 fishing trips/days. I've never had a pair of wader last more than a year or 2. I'm sure the 3 and 4 hundred dollar waders out there are better but I just refuse to pay that much. Greg

Anyone had any sucess repairing breathable waders? My BassPro breathables are leaking somewhere in the Lt calf area. Not sure if it is the neoprene or the breathable material or the connection between the two? Or is it better to just bite the bullet and buy a new pair? They are about 18 months old. I'm a little disappointed in them. I've tried to take good care of them........ thanks, Greg

Sorry it is a fishing report isn't it? I was dead drifting a variety of flies. Mostly zebra midges in green and rust. Also had some sucess with a leech dead drifted under an indicator. Greg

I was out today as well. Wading up by the dam. Fished from #2 outlet down to rebar and back. Good day. Probably 20 or 25 in the 4 hours I was there. Nothing of any size for me though and no browns. Caught a lot of stockers and a few decent rainbows maybe 14" or so. I did have one on for a minute or 2 that was much larger but he broke me off. Overall a great day though. Very few anglers out. It was cold but not unbearably so. Greg

Beautiful pic! I hope you don't mind if I save it and add it to my desktop/screensaver pics at work? I find that makes work almost tolerable! Greg

No apology needed. I'm just glad you didn't cut them. Like I said I appreciate the site!!!! And the work you probably do to maintain it. Greg

Phil - what happened to the trout parks forums? I sincerely hope you didn't decide to axe them. I consider Taneycomo my "home water" but I fish all of the trout parks (except Merramac Springs) at times as well. I really appreciated the forums for Bennett Springs, Roaring River and Montauk. I'm not complaining though I realize you probably put in a lot of work on this forum. Thank you, Greg

You hit the nail on the head. When I first arrived and started fishing there was not another angler in sight and it was a little creepy and I had a brief moment of thinking that maybe the park was really closed. But overall it is just wonderful to be away from the crowds in the winter. Greg

Fished Bennett today for a few hours from about 1:30 to 4:00 PM. The fishing was decent. Caught around 15. Nothing big mostly around 12". The nice thing though was that I almost had the place to myself. I think I only saw 3 or 4 other fisherman. Lots of fish. Also saw a couple of huge rainbows. I'm looking forward to the winter C&R season. I hope it stays reasonably warm like it did last winter. Greg

Interesting topic. In the spring of 2004 I caught a 24" female rainbow and a 25" male rainbow on separate weekends about a month apart. Both are by far my biggest fish on a fly rod. Both were caught when the water was up and were caught on a heavily weighted mohair leech (fly rod) around #2 outlet. Biggest brown was several weeks ago - a 21" brown on a zebra midge just above rebar. I'll try to attach pics of the 25" rainbow and the brown. This is my first time posting here. I've been watching the forum for a few weeks now. I really enjoy it and want to thank Lilly for creating and maintaining the site. Greg