Jeremy Hunt

I would have to somewhat agree with what Laker67 is saying. The temps are better, but the d.o. is not in good shape and hasn't been since all this generation started. I did see alot of dead fish on the bottom the other day when I did fish Taney. I do think there will be a few spotted and caught, but from talking to my friends that I have talked to that fish at night and during the day are also saying they're not many big browns anymore. I fished along the bank just past outlet two on Thursday and I didn't see a huge number of big fish cruising along the bank like I have seen in the past years. That's a true giveaway when you know the browns are up...you'll always see them stacked in this area. It's about a week early from the prime time of the run in the past so we'll see if it's over or not. It's really hard to say, but it just might be over. Has anyone heard of big browns being caught at night at Taney? If so, how many have you heard about because I don't think there's been alot. I'm heading out tonight so hopefully they'll turn it off.

Great looking fish. What was the size? How far are you from Mountain Home? Or should I say Hwy H. Are you fishing from the drift boat or wading. I want to bring the drift boat and try it out.

Bman, great fish!! Looks like your just down from the chute. Did you catch that cruising in the calm current along the bank up above chute 1 or down from it. And was she feeding aggressively?

He's around. I talk to him everyday. I tried to talk him into coming down here for the conclave this past weekend. Almost got him talked into it. He told me he's been going down to Taney and fishing a little bit. I saw some locals down here for the conclave and they said they have been seeing him to. So he's out nd about. Are you trying to call him? If so you have to leave messages because he screens every call. He will usually pick up if he knows you. I'll pm you the rest.

Very nice indeed. Tell Jim and is son I said hello. What seems to be the overall fly pattern? Can you post pics of some of the patterns please. I'm sure some of us wouldn't mind seeing. Thanx

From what I understand Doug, the new pool at Table Rock is 917 instead of 915. I'll be up this whole next week doing some night trips. It's about time we can have some opportunities to hook some big browns at night. I believe low water at Taney is here to stay. Did you hook any browns, and was there a bunch roaming brown boulevard. What's the biggest you're seeing. That tree kind of screws up the drift doesn't it. I used to walk that whole bank and keep the drift going for days without pick ups and recasting all the time. Did you notice how much it filled in along the bank below chute two. Those browns still hold in there but I don't see a bunch roaming right up next to the bank. The shallower water definitely puts a little more pressure on them during the day.

They kicked seven units on today. Maybe not so good for the weekend. If we do get alot of rain, we coulod see the same pattern this upcoming week. Lets cross our fingers because the fishing is really good. Some of the best since I've been fishng it.

That sounds fun...thank you for info.

What do you know about these?

I fished at the dam today and stubbled on a school of alligator gar. I couldn't believe the size of some of these gar. Alligator gar footage Alligator gar footage Alligator gar footage

Good to meet you to. It's always a pleasure putting names with faces.. and also meeting people from this board. Hope to meet everyone in time.

Taney was scheduled to generate at 10am so I left the house at 6am to get in a few hours before picking up River from the Grandparents house. I got on the water around 8:15. The parking lot wasn’t all the way crowded, but there were a few fisherman already in the water. I walked down the steps by chute two and noticed a few things different about the river. Along the banks there seems to be a sandy type bottom now. It’s not everywhere, but you can tell it’s not what it used to look like. It’s really along the bank that we like to call “brown boulevard“. Its also a lot shallower now, but the browns don’t seem to mind. They were in there general spots as they were in previous years. Still tough to catch them, but a few have already been caught. It’s a little early for the browns to already be upstream then other years so I’m thinking the high water generation had something to do with it. As I was fishing down by the gauntlet hole I saw the biggest and prettiest rainbow I’ve ever seen at Taney. Kind of felt good to see there is a decent size rainbow still hanging around in Taney. In the last five years I haven’t seen any this big. I bet this fish was pushing 16-18 pounds. I noticed it swing off downstream in a hurry like it got spooked from the rebar hole. It was hovering right under the water and the color was quite noticeable from a distance. I did take my camera out to try to get a snap shot, but the cloud cover and wind chop got in the way of it. If was bright and sunny I bet you could’ve seen this fish. What a sight to see. I started the day fishing the bank below chute two and spent about a good hour fishing real shallow for these big browns. Most of the water they’re holding in is between 6-18 inches of water. I threw on a size 18 rusty midge set under a half pulsa about twelve inches. There was a guide working the upper stretch so I went down to the bottom where I saw fa ew fish holding right along the bank. I got real low to the ground because at this time it wasn’t windy yet and made a downstream cast. I immediately spotted this brown come over and take it. Set the hook with the first fish on for the day. Felt like old times when the waters low. I then proceeded to make another cast and caught a rainbow about the same time. One thing I noticed was these fish are all healthy and have a ton of color. I spent about an hour fishing this one spot before it got to windy to see the bite so I headed downstream. I was able to hook one big fish, but 6x tippet didn’t hold a chance to this fish. He was off in a hurry. The rebar hole was crowded so I went down to the first area that wasn’t which was the big hole. As I was walking down I wanted to see what else has changed. At the end of the rebar hole it has widened out big time. I couldn’t really tell if it was filled in, but it did look like you could still get a good drift in there. It also is deeper at the run into the rebar hole. I think that’s a major improvement from what it looked like before. At the start of the gauntlet hole there’s a nice tree stump right smack in the center of the current. Something we’ll have to get used to…. I guess. That’s about as far as I made it before the horn blew. Fishing was good and caught fish all day. Overall I think Taney changed for the better. I’ll be going back once hurricane Gustav dumps another batch of rain showers. If I were you I would be planning a trip down to Taneycomo real soon. Notice all the shadows, browns are evrywhere.

Nicely tied.

Leonard, I emailed Wapsi this post after I talked to Eric on the phone about this. He should have a answer for you in the next day or two. Phil, I wouldn't order loose packs of pine squirrel. I would always promote the whole skins instead of the loose packs that have the individual strips. Even if the squirrels are small. Sometime this happens from the vendors they go through. I’m sure it’s just a batch they have to run through. Also dying the hide can also shrink them. This happens to deer hair quite a bit. If your using these for commercial ties I would use the strips that don’t already have the memory from the fold in the bag. You will get a better looking fly (every time) in the end result. This also goes for rabbit if anyone out there was wondering. Just my two cents…..

White River & Dry Run Creek I don’t know where to start. I know it’s been awhile since I’ve reported, but all this fishing keeps me very busy. I’ve had trips alone, fishing by myself, and I must say, it’s been fun exploring all this new water. I’ve even stumbled on water where we switch over and catch bass. News Flash I don’t know if anyone is talking about Walleye still being in the White River or not, but I know for a fact they are because they have been chasing the rainbows we’re catching all the way to the boat. They’re so keyed in on the fish they don’t even think about the boat. And these rainbows we’re catching are not small either. Some of them have to be in the 14-16 inch range. There’s one place in particular that they’ve done it the most so that tells me they like it there and will probably be there until someone catches them. I’ve tried to get my camera out in time to take pictures, but by then it’s too late. I let you know because maybe someone reading this will go get them out of there. If you fly fish, the gamble could be to throw a big white streamer with a sinking line, or either dead drift it, and you might have a shot at catching a monster brown trying to comb out the walleye. I haven’t tried it, but it’s a thought. I’m sure conventional tackle would be a better way to go after these walleye, so here’s the spot: It’s up at the dam as you’re going up to the signs on the right side, along the rock ledge. You’ll see it wrap around and straighten out. As soon as it straightens out there’s a big break in the current and right at the front of it is where they’re hanging. I know there are more than a few because the size seems to vary when we see them. Jenkins’s Creek Jenkins’s Creek is another place where you can find warm water fish. I went in there two days ago to get out from the sun. While we were under a shaded tree I noticed three white bass schooling in a circle. My first thought was how long have they been here and what else was in this creek right now. I knew as soon as I saw it, that this was “bass heaven”, if there was such a thing. The structure and the way it was mapped out was sweet. One side would be shallow and the other dropping off to a deep pool. It didn’t go too far in there, but it went far enough to hold, from what I saw, fifty or so bass. Sizes went from babies to the biggest around five pounds. The picture you see was about the average bass caught. I didn’t bring all my gear so I was stuck throwing only a few big woolies that I use for smallmouth. The fly though is one that I firmly believe in every time I’m stuck thinking about a fly I would use for any warm water situation and I’m glad I did. It imitates a lot or variations of darter patterns in the creeks we have around here. I’ll have to put it up here when I have some free time. I’ll make sure it’s done soon. Easy pattern, but very effective. You’ll see once you go out and fish it. Crooked Creek Went to Crooked Creek from the White River access and went back as far as I could go. Probably two miles up. I went slow to see everything and sneak up on fish so I could figure out where these fish hold. It turns out that there’s a lot of largemouth in this creek. I can’t say for sure if it was a fluke deal, but right now there’s over 200 bass I know for sure are hanging around grass beads and big boulders. I stripped streamers in between the clear spots in the subsurface areas and they came right out and got it. I tried a few popper patterns, but in the middle of the day, in the heat, they didn’t want anything to do with it. I knew that going in, but when you see bass in front of you, I guess you’ll try a few ways to get them. I’m going back in the evening and I bet the poppers will be the ticket!! Norfork I’ve had a few more trips to Dry Run Creek since the last report. Still catching big fish, but nothing to the net to speak of. It makes me wonder if other guides help their clients catch these fish. I know, for me, it’s difficult to coach somebody that’s never been fly fishing, to bring one of these monsters to the net. I’ve been hooking them, but most people try to horse them in, especially if they’ve been tough on conventional gear or have never landed a fish before. I guess the excitement gets the best of them. I‘m sure eventually we‘ll get some to the net. On the another note, we have caught some decent browns and rainbows that were all in the 18-20 inch range. And for a kid, that‘s not a bad way to start fly fishing. But the most important thing is getting kids involved with the outdoors and teaching them to take care of what we have for the next generation to enjoy (catch and release). White River The only place I’ve been fishing is right up at Bull Shoals. Maybe it’s me, but the time I’m going is only in the evenings around 4pm till the fog gets heavy on the water which varies from 7-7:30pm. That’s when “I think” the bites the best. You wouldn’t believe that I’m usually the only boat fishing and have the whole river to myself ( I wonder why that is ?). That’s a huge advantage because there’s no pressure and few flies drifting by fish. So of course if they haven’t seen something in awhile then they get more curious to come over and take a peek. And that’s exactly what’s happening. I had a trip with Jon and Ron two days ago and Ron had probably the biggest fish I’ve had on up there in high water. We played it for fifteen minutes before it broke off. It’s funny the way big fish react, 18-20 inch fish seem to run hard as soon as you plug them, but trout over that will sometimes let you raise them up to where you can get a look and then they dig back down and don’t come back up at all. We saw this fish for a brief moment before it went back down and this brown was well over what I’ve been catching. I would say it was in the neighborhood of 26-28 inches. Big fish. I know that for sure, and the fight he put on was so strong that I couldn’t believe how strong this fish was. Even though we didn’t get it to the boat, I know I did my job putting this guy on a fish of a lifetime. To really live through that is still a rush and will continue to be as long as us trout bums live for the next big one. Go check it out for yourself, I know if you go it will pay off. We’re also catching a lot of numbers with not much dead time. The bite seems to be consistent.

Wrath, If your bringing a float tube, I would go downstream and work the bluff on the side across from the houses at Point Royale. I like to catch the run early as their moving upstream. I’m sure that will depend on the start of it, but it’s usually when the leaves start falling. Now that I’m in Arkansas fishing these tailwaters. I’ll sure miss having the time to spend looking for those bigger fish, but I can’t wait to look for ward to the same thing down here. The White River is definitely something you should keep in the back of your mind. This water down here is for sure some of the finest fly fishing water around. And there’s a lot of quality fish in the rivers right now. I’ve had trips the last three days and we’ve caught a number of browns in the 19-21 inch range. And gorgeous fish with lot’s color. These browns down here are already starting to have red dots and orange belly’s. The spawn here is a little earlier then Taneycomo’s and were actually fishing wadable water right now on the Fork. I’ve been taking the drift boat out and floating the whole thing and never getting the high water because it doesn’t reach us until were almost at the confluence. You have to time it right so what I’ve been doing is putting in right up at the dam around 7am and fishing the upper section until 10:30 or so then fish as your going downstream until you hit areas you want to spend a little more time on. The key is to be at least half the distance of the river which is two miles out of the four then it takes the water about forty five minutes to reach and by that time your fishing your way out. So you get about a seven to eight hour wadable day that is some of the best fly fishing water we have going right now (especially for waders). Tons of fish and were catching grand slams every time we go out. The brookies and cutts are small, but the browns and rainbows are plentiful right now. One thing I like about the Norfork is catching some of the juvenile fish that are podded up in these pools. Some of the cutest baby brown trout I’ve seen. The reason I say this is because we don’t have a lot of juvenile brown trout in Taney so it’s something different. And I like that!! I have a lot more to share, but it’s going to take some time to write about it so I’ll post it on my website later.

The cables are to far up. They say the first red caution sign is when you should stop. I know the angle from looking at one sign to the other you can't really tell, but if you bump the cables, you will eventually get in trouble. One of my buddies did get in trouble and the judge showed no remorse for this. If they give you a ticket, you can bet you will pay it. It's usually $800.

A brief report on Taney, I had a break from guiding in Arkansas so my dad and I hit Taney because the generation schedule was awesome. The day before my dad was telling me he got to fish Taney and it was one of those days you dream about. They had four generators running if you called in, but if you were out there you could see it was a lot lower than that and for most of the day. We fished for about five hours on the upper end and caught a lot of quality trout. The strange thing about the fishing conditions was where the trout are feeding and were they weren‘t. You here that saying that you have to be out there to know what’s going on, and you do. Last time I fished Taney the fish were feeding in areas that I couldn’t get one to hit this time around. So I do believe the trout will pick were the best feeding spots are for whatever water conditions they’re faced with. It’s funny that when four generators are running they will actually feed more all over the river, but when they run two they will hold in pocket water that has little current. The good thing with this is you can comb them out once you find them. Yesterday I would have to say right up at the cable on the hatchery side was producing the best for us. I was shocked not to see tons of people along the banks fishing. We pretty much had it all to ourselves. Occasionally someone would come down and give it a shot with no results and then leave. The bite really started picking up after two o’clock and it really didn’t matter so much where you were just as long as you had what they wanted. The flies of choice were still anything loud that would get their attention with red and pink san juans out fishing everything else we tried. Egg patterns were also working, but I didn’t fish them much to really say. If you’re looking to catch some of the bigger trout in the 18-21 inch range. I would find drop offs from shallow water to deep and make sure you get the fly down before you get to the drop. A few good areas that we caught some on were the banks on both sides of the cable. Another great spot is across from outlet three. If you know the water when it’s down then you’ll know the spot I’m talking about. In low water it is right where the gauntlet hole starts to widen out. You’ll notice some bigger rocks that are out of the water, but when they are submerged they make for some great holding water for big fish. They seem to hang all around the shelf of this area and there’s quite a few. I hooked two last week that were both over 23 inches in this spot in the same day. I landed one and lost the other one. Overall Taney has some great fishing right now and big fish are definitely in there. Take advantage of any day when they’re running lower units. Should make for some of the best fishing you’ve had if you’re used to fishing max units since they started all this generation.

Lilley's Landing is the best place on Taney by far. Don't forget about the playground for the little ones. That really comes in handy if you're bringing the family.

In the summer that's all I wear and I wet wade all the time. No problems here, but there's better ways to do it for sure.

I know Wanda as well and she is a real sweetheart. She will always do well wherever she goes. It's to bad how they treated her because she devoted alot of time into that shop. I'm glad I know where she went. I'll have to give her a call and congratulate her for getting out and still doing what she loves.

Great day at Rim I would say. Nice fish, the cutt is a little bigger then the average cutts I see at Rim. Like it!!! Where exactly did you hook it if you don't mind sharing.

Kelly Galloup's Zoo Cougar Recipe: Hook: TMC 5262/ 300, size 2-6 Thread: UTC 140, Hopper Yellow or color to match the body Tail: Marabou or artic fox, I prefer artic fox Body: Diamond braid or flat braid from Hareline. Wing: Mallard Flank and calf tail Head: Deer Hair (body) Step 1. Tie the thread in the middle of the hook shank and cut the tag end off. Step 2. Tie in your tail. If you’re using Artic Fox make sure you get the excess out before tying it in. Step 3. Tie in the diamond braid with it facing towards the eye of the hook. Tie it forward until you get to the area you’ll tie in the deer hair then fold it back and tie it until you get to the bend of the hook. The reason why I do it this way is to keep the material even the length of the hook shank. Step 4. Advance the thread back up to the stopping point (where the collar of deer hair goes). Step 5. Wind the braid all the way up keeping the wraps side by side. Cut the excess off. Step 6. Tie in a clump of calf tail. When cutting the hair of the tail make sure you cut way down on the hide because you’ll need the length. Measure it to be a little past the bend of the hook. I had a touch of glue to keep the hair from slipping. Step 7. When selecting two mallard flanks, you’ll want the stem to be straight with no curve in it. Tie down on the stem and not the feather or you will fold it over to the underside of the hook. Measure the mallard flank to meet up with the end of the tail. Secure it with some thread wraps and add another drop of glue. Step 8. Cut a clump of deer hair and stack it. Tie it on the thread base that you created from tying the calf tail and mallard flank. You’re not spinning the hair so you’ll need a thread base to tie down on. Measure the tips to come to about the middle of the hook shank. When you cut the ends make sure you cut them close to your fingers because you don’t want any hair going forward. Make two loose wraps and then with your thumbnail smash the hair to go sideways instead of up. Add tension with a few more thread wraps. Also make a few more turns through the ends as you wind forward to tie in the next clump of hair. Step 9. Now we are going to spin the rest of the hair to create the head. You should have bare metal showing. If you don’t it will be hard for you to get the hair to turn out even all the way around. Repeat the same process as you did with the first clump. This time you’ll spin the hair. Make three wraps with each one getting a little tighter. On the second one you should see the hair rotate around the hook shank. The third and fourth turn should lock it in and keep it from shifting. Make a few more turns as you wind through the hair coming forward to tie in the last clump. The last clump doesn't need to be stacked. Tie it in the same way and whip finish the thread. Add some glue and you're ready to form the head. Step 10. Trim the bottom to be straight across. I leave a few strands of deer hair. The top will be round, but more flat then rounded. The side will be rounded forming a cone shape. Finish product!!

Kelly Galloup's Butt Monkey Recipe: Hook: TMC 300 or 5263, size 2-6 Thread: UTC 140, white or color to match head Eyes: Real eyes & stick-ons Tail: Yellow marabou, (select or strung marabou) Wing: Rabbit strip, rust in Texas cut Body: Palmer or tinsel chenille, gold Collar: Pheasant rump feather Gill: Wool, red Head: Wool, white Step 1. Make a thread base before tying the real eyes on. Go to my Taneycomo Sculpin to learn how to hour glass type eyes on. Step 2. Measure the tail to be ¾ the length of the hook. I’m using one piece from strung marabou. I like to tie mine all the way up the hook to really secure it and to keep the body even. Tie it in at the back and advance the thread over it as you wind up. Keep the wraps close as you can and wind forward. This will help tie all the material down instead of any loose strands sticking up. Step 3. You thread should be up front. Advance it some where in the middle and tie in the chenille and wind the bend. You really don’t have to peel the material from the core unless your tying with tinsel chenille. Keep the thread hanging it the back for the next step. Step 4. I’m using the wider strip called the “Texas cut”. I think it adds more bulk for such a large fly. Standard cut is a little too sparse and doesn’t make the fly look as full. Measure the strip to hang off the back two 2x the length of the hook shank. Split the hair on the hide and tie it down with four tight turns of thread. Lift up on the hide and tie right in front of it. This will help lock in the strip and prevent it from shifting to the side of the hook. Advance the thread back up just behind the hour glass eye. Remember to leave room for the collar and gill. Step 5. Now wrap up the chenille keeping the wraps side by side. Make sure the chenille is laying back as you wind forward. You might need to stroke it back after each turn. Tie it off and cut the excess. Notice where I stopped in the picture. We will tie back on the flash just a little bit as we tie in the collar and gill. Step 6. Now you can do this step two ways. I’m picking the easier route since I’m using the palmer chenille that won’t allow me to wrap inbetween it if I was tying the rabbit strip matuka style. Fold it over and tie it down with enough wraps to know you secured it. Tie back on it a little to accomplish that. Trim any excess and tie any of the hide you see sticking out from making the cut. This will act as a foundation to tie in the collar and gill. Select a feather from the very top of the cape if you’re looking at it. Those will be the longer ones out of the bunch. Peel off any loose shaft from the stem. You only want to see the straight barbs and not anything that looks like marabou. Step 7. Tie in the feather and wrap it around until you have a full collar. I can usually get about two full turns. Cut the excess and tie back over it a little to force it to lay back. Note: You want the feather to blend in with the rabbit as far as the length goes. Usually after your done wrapping it in, the tips should meet up with the tips of the rabbit hair. Step 8. Cut a small amount of red wool. You only need a little bit, and believe me, a little bit goes a long way. If you tie too much, when you go to cut it you’ll notice it flares out (bushy look). You don’t want that, instead you want it to still look like a strand instead of a clump. I hope that makes since. Tie it in the center of the clump you cut. Cut the front piece off and measure the back to be long, so you can still see it once you've tied in the other color of wool for the head. Step 9. Now you should be right up to the eye, but still behind it. Now you’ll form a head with the white wool. Tie the first strand on the top and then one underneath. The first strand will be the longest because you want it to blend in with the wing (rabbit). The way you tie this in is the same way you tie in deer hair if you were stacking it. You’ll first tie the clump on the top then rotate the hook and tie the underside. Remember not to pull any of the wool going forward until you’ve tied both clumps in. After you’ve done this you can pull the clumps facing forward back and tie in front of them. You should still be behind the eyes after completing this step. Tie in the center of the two clumps. Just showing you an upclose on the step. Step 10. Advance the thread right in front of the eye. Step 11. There should be a little room to tie one more clump of wool. Repeat the same step as you did with the first clump. You can go a little shorter with the clump. Make sure you tie enough wool so you have a full amount to shape the head once you trim it to shape. Whip finish the fly. Note: When tying with wool, you should only make two turns around each clump you tie down. So four total for each set of clumps. You can make more turns once you’ve pulled it back to tie in front of it. Step 12. Use a curved shank pair of scissors to trim it to shape. Start with the top and cut from the front to the back. You can trim the head to your desired shape. Make sure you cut at and angle instead of straight across. Just play with it until you get it to the shape that you're looking for. Once you're done you can add some glue to the thread and glue on the eyes. The finish product!!!

Great idea.