Jeremy Hunt

This is a must have when it comes to monster browns. Thought I would share it with some of you die hard streamer fans.

You know, I couldn’t agree more. I have a drift boat and a supreme and I still WANT SOME WADABLE WATER!! I sure miss the low water spells we had in the past. It seems like we are all still suffering from the high water we had last year. When it is low, it’s been something else. We shouldn’t be to far off from low water again. I think this week we will see lower water levels, but who really knows.

Waters been down for the most part. You'll find lot's of water to wade. If they do run water just find out when and then go down river to beat it. For example: if they're running from 6-10 am, then turn it off, it won't reach areas downstream for several hours, if it's a light 2-3 units. Rim Shoals would be a great spot because the water won't get there for 6-7 hours, and it's great water to fish right now.

Powersite Dam Taneycomo Dam Overview from Dam This is our neighbors house. That tree could have very well went the other way into our home. On highway 14 from 65, going through Lead Hill and Flippin etc, we ran over 16 power lines driving back home from Branson. I've never seen anything like this. Crazy…

Graham is sick!! I've been a big fan of his work for years. He's also a great photographer that gets pictures in American Angler and Fly Fisherman. I've chatted with him on the phone a few times, great guy to talk to. Very down to earth. His flies are so real he actual makes them for props in movies etc. He told me a movie Brad Pitt is in recently has his flies as props. Pretty cool!!

I wish I could make one of those, I would really like to meet some of you guy's. Every year they go on I have to work. Anyways.. hope everyone has a good time and HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I'm kicking off my new site for Arkansas for the new year. The content is some of the best for around here. That was my goal. Not done all the way, but go check it out. I would love to hear what you guy's think. NEW WEBSITE

I'm going to keep this one under the hat. I can tell you this, what I'm doing is something I haven't seen anyone doing in all my years fly fishing. It truly is something I think I stumbled on from trial and error. Some of my client's have tried it back at their home water and it works there to. I'm thinking about writing a book on this technique so I don't want to enclose to much information on this one.

Yes on both. I weight all my flies. I don't like split shot, unless I don't have a choice and that's usually in high water.

My technique doesn't require a split shot. Mine has to do with the fall of the fly.

That's a good question. I would have to say.... I like it all!!! There is no one style once you learn all the ways to present nymphs, dries, streamers etc. To me, it's fun to figure out what the trout are doing at that given time. Always learning new things keeps me going back for more. Right now, I'm really liking the drop shot technique I figured out over the last year.

You should do fine. Fish along the banks. Throw san juan worms ( color, worm brown and red with a #4 split shot ). Try micro and standard to see which ones they want. Past the old outlet 3 is wadable in one unit. Very good water in one unit. There's several other patterns you can try, but that's probably the easiest way to hook up fish throughout the day. Scuds and olive woolies will also do the trick. Another great way to hook alot of fish is throwing zebra midges in the slack water from the outlet 3 to the stairs that go up through the trail, marker 7. Good luck!! Roaring River is another option. I've been going over there on the weekends and hooking some big bruts. Two weeks ago I hooked into a 14 pound rainbow. Just and option I thought I would throw out there.

here you go

Same here, most of everything I've hooked has been inside the mouth.

In my opinion, and it’s only a opinion. I spent all summer trying them in high water. I did the technique as Michael mention, but had little success. It might be something I’m doing, maybe the size hook or the beads weren’t the right color. But I gave it my all and wasn’t impressed. I still do better on artificial egg patterns regardless of what the waters doing. I did catch fish, but I lost a lot to. Still trying to figure it out. One thing I learned from someone who fishes trout beads is dip them in Softex to make them softer to the touch. Also painting beads with nail polish gives them a great finish and adds another look to them as well.

Yes, moth balls do make the material have a scent, but so does any material that's been dyed. The easiest way to get rid of any smell is to rub your flies over moss, sand, algae or that brown stuff you see in creeks from the over exposure to sun. Another thing that works is the product you use called Sink, they make another one called Gink. The sink works against smells. I also air out my flies if it has a real potent smell for a few days or so. Great question though and I’m sure there’s other ways to get rid of the smell. It’s kind of a catch 22. Glues have smells and there’s been many times that I just glued a fly and started fishing it. And the fish didn’t seem to mind. So is smell the most important thing? I guess we’ll have to be the judge.

Another thing that I do when I lay them out to dry is put newspaper on top of cardboard and set them on top of that. I also do this when I wash my necks or saddles with dawn soap in my washing machine. Sometimes you can get bugs and if you do this is a great way to get rid of them. Also put a few moth balls when bagging it.

Funny Dano. As soon as I posted I saw you posting yours. You hit on some good pointers about hooks and glue. Of course there's so many opinions about tying materials. I use Tiemco SP-BL in any hook I can get it in. And I LOVE the new Klink-hamer ( flash point ) by Partridge. A little costly, but what a hook point. Glue you mentioned is great. I use it to, but one I would recommend to everyone is Gloss Coat. You can order it already in a Wapsi applicator bottle. It doesn’t cinch into the thread. It acts like a epoxy that molds around the thread creating durability and makes the thread head look good all at the same time. My theory on water vs. glue is water will always win eventually and wear out head cement the quickest. Because of the drying around the thread it will take alot longer for the water to penetrate through the gloss coat. Believe it or not, I talked Wapsi into putting this in a applicator bottle because I bugged Eric so much on how much I liked it. I used to go to Wapsi and have Eric mix it up for me and put it in bottles for me. Hooks to me are one of the most important things about a fly. I’ve lost numbers of big fish on poor quality hooks. I won’t mention any, but if you know you might have a chance on hooking a big fish, make sure you have a hook hone to sharpen it before you make that cast. I ALWAYS sharpen my hooks every time I go fishing. Over the years of fishing, it has convinced me to do this. Here’s a couple of recent browns I caught on the White and Norfork. And I believe the only way I hooked one of them was because I sharpened my hook. I didn’t get a good hook set, but the hook was so sharp, it did the trick.

Welcome to the tying world! It can be a little confusing at first. The best thing to do is start learning basic one, two step patterns and buy according to what those patterns recipes call for. There’s a few rules that “I” myself think are really important that will help you down the road. One would be, don’t substitute hooks for some other ones that are different then the pattern. Two would be, buy good materials right from the start. Your flies will turn out nicer in the long run. About tying thread, I have about everything you can think of and I use it all. The most common ones are Uni-thread and UTC. They both have there advantages. I use Uni-thread if I’m building flies where you can’t see the thread wraps. I use UTC for thread body flies because it’s a floss thread that flattens when wrapped around the hook shank. There’s a lot of other threads, but you can get away with those for the most part. The size thread in Uni would be from small to large, 8/0 ( 72 denier polyester ), 6/0 ( 135 denier and 3/0 (180 denier). The 8/0 is used for small flies or tiny dries (18 or smaller). The 6/0 is used for tying flies a little bigger in the 16-10 hook size. The 3/0 is used mostly for streamers like wooly buggers etc. UTC stands for Ultra Thread Company started by Wapsi about 5 years ago. It goes 70, 140, 210 and 280 denier. The 70 is recommended for flies ranging from 14-32. The 140 is best used for 14-6. Those will be the most used out of the four sizes. If tying flies from 4-1/0 the other two sizes( 210, 280 ) would be best. And of course GSP in size 50 for egg patterns. Brass wire in sizes sm, br and med. I would buy all the basic colors in all the threads. In Uni- thread I use red, brown, olive, black, gray, rusty brown, white, rusty dun, light cahill, camel, and olive dun. UTC I would get red, black, white, tan, olive, olive green, brown, gray, brown olive and all the fluorescent colors. Hope this helps you out. If you have any other questions feel free to ask. I’ll do the best I can to answer them.

Fine, you have to open the loop a little. It's best casted on a 6-7wt rod with a semi short leader.

Wool Frog Recipe: Hook: Mustad Signature R50 or Mustad 3366 Eyes: Painted Lead Eye, Large Thread: Unithread 6/0 , Brown Body: Wool, Cream and olive Legs: Pine Squirrel pinched and glued with Zap-A-Gap. Tying Instructions: Step 1. Secure the eyes a little past the eye of the hook. If tied to close you won’t leave enough room for the wool to be cut correctly. Also crowding will make it difficult to shape around the eyes. To see how the eyes are tied in you can view the sculpin. Step 2. Showing you how to hold it to add zap-a-gap so you can fold over the pine squirrel to create the kicker legs. Step 3. This is how it should look when finished. You only need to keep it pinched for a few seconds. The only thing you need to watch out for is over gluing the hide. If you do, you will know because it will get into the hair itself. Step 4. Tie on the legs where the hide part is facing out (towards you). They will be tied directly on the sides of the hook shank. When I do this part (it’s optional) I tie in the pine squirrel where there’s a little hair going forward. Notice in the picture, you can see a little hair going towards the front. Split just a little and tie it where the split is. Step 5. Fold it back over and tie it in. This will push it back and create a little fullness in the back. Step 6. The rest of the fly will be wool. Cut even amounts as you tie in the clumps to make the body. There should be a total of 4 clumps. One on the top and one on the bottom. Remember the white belly will be tied on top and the olive will be tied on the bottom. Because of the way the eyes are tied on the top, it will shift the fly upside down keeping the hook riding upright (keeled style). Step 7. The first clump you can see I leave a little hanging off the back. This will also create a little more body for the back. Both clumps will be tied in like that. When cutting the clump, you will be tying it in like deer hair, right in the center of the clump. I tie it in about three times then I’m ready to do the other side. Remember to keep the clump separated in the middle until you get both clumps tied in. Next you’ll fold the first clump (cream) back, then the olive. It’s like stacking deer hair. Step 8. Here’s how the first set of wool hair should look after being tied in. Advance the thread up just a little for the next clump. A good reference on where to tie it in is you will have one more clump tied in right behind the eye. So it needs to be proportioned from the length of how much hook shank is left showing up to the eyes. Step 9. Repeat the same process two more times. Don’t go crazy on the clumps of wool. Just keep in mind the purpose of the wool is to create a full body when cut to shape. Step 10. This is the last step before you trim it to shape. There should be a little space for the last clump to be tied in front of the eyes. The key here is to keep it back from the eye of the hook so you’ll have room to whip finish the fly. Step 11. Whip finish the fly. Step 12. When making the cuts you'll start at the head and trim back. Trim the head at a angle going out as your going back. Then trim the belly a little flat and the top more round. At the back you'll taper it back in towards the body.

Zander, I haven't forgot about you. They'll be in the mail tomorrow. Been real busy building my sister site for Arkansas.

I’ve also been seeing this for years and nothing changes for the most part. Just to let you guy’s know where most the problem occurs so you’ll be on the lookout is the middle parking lot as you’re going to the MDC public boat ramp. That’s seems to be the prime “hang out” for meeting. To my knowledge and from how I see their operation going down is they will park backwards and then go directly across the street from the parking lot and do whatever it is they do. Sometimes when I’m driving down to the ramp I’ll see one walking over there and when I pass him I’ll look in my mirror and see him hiding and watching what I’m doing to make sure the coast is clear. So I’ve put two and two together and that’s where alot of it is happening at. I haven’t seen to much activity on the main trail because I think they know that’s always crowded with people. You can bet most of the time, if you see a car parked backwards in that middle parking lot and someone sitting in the driver set doing nothing or looks like he‘s not rigging up to go fishing, they’re up to no good. I think that’s a good idea about writing down the license plate. A few of us did that way back in the day because we were getting tired of it and it did scare them away, but it also got some of them mad so we stopped. One thing that get’s under my skin is mistaking you to be someone they think they’re meeting. I’ve had a few drive up to my car when I’m parking or something and then realize I’m a fisherman and then bolt. I really wish this would stop!! Let’s really do something about this. I think we can get rid of this problem.

We're not having anything in the way of a true run, but we are hooking some nice browns at Norfork. We hooked this one at the end of the day. It never happens that way, but it did today. It was the last cast of the day.

Wondering myself, has any activity happened yet? I think it's over, but I could be wrong.