John W Kelly

I was pretty bummed last Saturday when they decided to run several units as soon as I got there, and then ran them all day long. The wind didn't help either...

I got a pair of ragg wool fingerless gloves with mitten pullovers the other day at Bass Pro. They were on sale in the hunting section for either $14.00 or $14.99. Haven't fished with them yet, but they fit good and warmed my hands up fast in the store. http://www.basspro.com/RedHead-Endurance-Ragg-Wool-Convertible-Gloves/product/13020705463810/

Cool! If anyone wants a relatively inexperienced buddy (1 year), im available .

I don't.The worms were still active on the rocks during low water two weekends ago (Nov 16), and I landed several fish on the worm in post #7; including a 19"er. The worms may be active all year(?). Yesterday (Nov 23), I made a few casts with the variations below. I had takes on the first one, but lost it on a backcast (doh!). It's probably a little too fat for the hook anyway. Lost the second one to a fish. Threw the third one several times, got nothing, and changed to something else. They started running 2 units at the dam, so by the time I could check the rocks for active wormsign, they were covered. I've thrown the pupa in post #3 on 3 or 4 separate occasions and have never even gotten a take, so Im playing with different variations of the worm for now. I'll try the pupa again in the spring. Btw, your worm looks pretty gooey. Hope it works!

Thanks Tim! That helps. Sounds like you hooked into a couple of nice fish!

I took the opportunity to use an 'improved' version of the Crane larva at Roaring River Sunday morning. I immediately started getting takes, and landed one, then landed another, then hooked into another...and my fly was gone . Luckily, I took a pic of it before I started using it. The first fish that I landed was quite a bit larger than the one pictured (2nd one), but it threw the hook while squirming around in the net. I previously tried several other flies in the same hole with minimal success. This fly turned out a bit more fat than I wanted it, and I had to recycle the bead from another chewed up fly that I had (need to buy some), but I think it's on the right track judging from the reaction of the fish. I like the guts effect, and it could be a little more transparent; possibly a longer body/hook too.

Thank you! The pics were taken with the cannon, which is pretty much just a point and shoot compact camera. The video was taken with my cell phone which is an 8mp Motorola Droid Razr Max HD (long name...).

Just out of curiosity, what would be considered a 'good' day at RR? I only landed 9, missed some takes, and had a half-dozen hookups. Nice fish jasperflyfisher!

Thanks Nick! For the pupa, it would be a size 16 scud/pupa hook (or 18 dry fly). For the largest bloodworm, it would be size 14 scud/pupa hook (or 16 dry fly). There were some smaller bloodworms, so an 18 or even a 20 could be used if you wanted. I used the macro setting on an 8mp cannon powershot A720 camera. It's about 5 years old. It's my fishing camera....

Im here today. Its beautiful out! The fish are looking for stuff falling from the trees and hanging out at the surface.

I stopped into the local fly shop here in Springfield today and met Nate Karnes, who is an artist from Joplin. He had a table set up and was working on a painting. He is a really nice guy and has a very cool and colorful style of art, and has had a few mentions in some magazines and does custom commission work. I have an art/painting background, so I can relate to his 'struggle', so this is a heads-up post to keep your eye out for him. http://www.natekarnes.com https://www.facebook.com/ScaleFishStudio The top piece looks like a painting on canvas, but it is actually a very low relief sculpture. All of the circles are different sizes of dowel rods that have been cut into sections, fastened into place, and then painted. Pretty impressive!

After reading the "Dead Browns" thread, I was wondering if it was dragged over the rocks to land it.

Thanks x2! The pupa is 8mm long (measured), so the fly itself should be around 8mm. The bloodworm (pre-pupa stage, lower photo) is 10mm. There were a lot of those too.

Dang! How many of you guys have been in that same spot over the last couple of weeks...?

Real time.

I went to Taneycomo yesterday during the drawdown and came across a puddle that contained some emerging midges. One of them was struggling to get through the slime layer, so I moved the slime and grabbed the camera .

Tempting... What will it be like on Saturday (the 9th)?

3:00pm

Yep! It is

Is it still down at this moment?

Thanks DaddyO! The plan is to fish them close to the rocks and banks in the early hours (probably low water/no generation). If that doesn't produce anything, then I'll drift them out in the runs to see if they are effective at all. If/when there is water generation, then I'll try them by the rocks and banks again. I don't expect them to be 'hot' flies, but if I can tempt a few fish to sample them then the whole experiment will be a success. It is possible though that trout don't even feed on them... .

Thank you sir. I'll correct the photo. I wondered why it wasnt on the map. We were driving to the next access and passed it, so I turned around to check it out.

My wife was itching to go on a drive yesterday, so we headed out toward Mansfield to see Bakersville, then came down to Dawt Mill and the NFOW. I hadn't been there before, so I made it into a covert scouting trip for some near-future trout fishing . I managed to get a few photos from some of the MDC access points, but while secretly working my way up the map my mission was subverted by the authority in the other drivers seat... Nevertheless, it was a beautiful day!

Thank you! 1. The glue sticks come in different colors, so I mix them like paint to achieve the color range that I want, then I move through the range as I apply the glue to the hook. 2. I initially gave a larger prototype of it a few casts without success, but at the time I was working on some other flies that I really wanted to try out, so I didn't give it much of a trial yet. I made a prototype of the larva/worm just the other day, so hopefully later this week I can try out both the pupa and the worm. The worms are a semi-transparent light green 'bloodworm', which are still currently active on the rocks. I ran out of brown beads, so I grabbed what I had at the moment (nickel black) ..it's a prototype. I still need to put some brownish/greenish turd looking stuff inside of it (lol):