Jeremy Hunt

Just thought I would show you this brown my client caught two days ago at the end of the day. They were running two units, but we were fishing in the little creek channel just below the boat ramp and caught this fish on our last two cast of the day. It was getting dark and the fog started to come off the water so I knew we had to go soon. We spent about an hour working this stretch and caught four rainbows with this being the fish of the day. I also got this on footage.Just go to my video page to watch it. We didn't have a net so you got to go check out how we landed this fish. It was the only thing I could think of. I learned my lesson on trying to land fish by grabbing the line. It doesn't work to well. You know what the great part about it was. Last year we were fishing together and he had a big brown crash a dry fly, but missed the fish on setting the hook to quick and lost it. I'm sure this fish gave him some closure.

I ended up sticking a nice brown on the egg. I didn't bring my net so he broke me off at the boat when I was trying to land it. Very disappointing, but still got footage of the fish. Just go to my video clip page to see it. jh

About time. I'm going fishing. jh

Those look good, but one thing you have to always keep in mind. And that's the action of the fly. The body is great, but the hen hackle won't hold up over the duration of the fly. I would tie the body the same, but change the pinchers to something softer with more action and that would be rabbit or pine squirrel. I would do away with the tail because it’s an extra step that's not needed. Just my two cents. That's the great thing about tying. The skies the limit on what you could do to improve a pattern etc. Here’s one that I invented for Feather Crafts catalog in 2003. You can learn how to tie it on this page. It’s called the hybrid crayfish. It works really well in smallmouth creeks. I just wanted you to see the squirrel for the pinchers so you would have an idea. jh Here's another one I came up with tied with furry foam, Which is the same blanket you get at every hotel room. That cream furry one. You know the one, the back up they give you. Randall, that's funny. I was working on the info and when I went to load it, you already responded. Let me know if you want to go fish somewhere besides Taney if you have that kind of time. If I’m not guiding we will fish somewhere else.

Thanx loo10 jh

Yes, you just put the bend in it yourself. Randall, call me before you come. Did you still need that material?

The passion for the sport gave me the idea Thanx, I'm glad you like it. It's only going to get better with time. I hope you keep coming back for more. I built this for the people. jh

The hook is any 4x long streamer style with a down eye. Just make sure it's a long shank. That's the key. What’s up Randall? When you coming back to the area to fish? That feather you’re asking about is emu. I thought it makes a great lateral line.

Here's some pictures of the flies we tied on Tuesday. Since it's getting warmer I thought it would be a good idea to get some "new" warm water patterns in the fly box to try out. I thought the double up was a great idea and everybody really enjoyed this pattern the most. Phil, when it's nice outside I think we should have it out at the pavilion. Also we could continue it all year if you would like to. What do you think? We had alot of people drop by and check it out. I think it's good for the resort.

I was able to do a little fishing yesterday at Roark Creek again. This time it was even better then the last because the white bass were in the shallows right at the mouth of it and they were a lot easier to catch in this one concentrated area. The bite was a little slow until about 6:30pm. I caught more white bass then crappie this time. I think for the most part the crappies are cleaned out. I saw three or four boats and a ton of people fishing off the banks. The only thing wrong with most of all of them was, they didn’t go right up to the mouth. And the funny thing was, out of all those boats I didn’t see one person catch a white bass during the day. There was a few people staying at Roark’s timeshare along the bank up there that saw me fishing and they decided they would give a shot. They were all using bait and not one person pulled out a bass and there were tons of fish. I guess it really does matter what you’re using. I was throwing small flies tied with nothing but flash for wing material for the whole body. They couldn’t stay off that thing. I threw a clouser minnow when I first started with no luck which was amazing to me since I fished it the day before with great results. I did tie one on at the end and caught a few crappie and white bass as I was leaving. All in all it was a good day.

I've been tying up some patterns I think will work great for warmwater. I tied the clouser with feathers and bucktail. I think it make a great looking profile. Also you can't go wrong tying the fire tiger print. Make sure you have something with these colors tied up for fishing warmwater game. They work!!! I also thought this flatback shad would have some great action. This swimming shep shad is tied with this new sheer wing from wapsi. Great stuff. It has flash mixed in it already.

You know I decided to stay in for the day because they were running three generators and I had some work to do around the house with trying to get those fly tying video clips up and running. I didn’t have much luck with that because I needed to be outside to have good lighting, but they were doing some construction right outside my place and wasn’t able to get real good voice recording. I promise I will get it up in the next few days. Anyways about my day of fishing, I knew it was the second day the weather was warming up and I had to see if the fish were still active in the creek since Taney was shot from the high water. I didn’t see a lot of fish along the bank this time and wonder if they moved upstream since we had heavy rains and the creek was up or if the cold had something to do with pushing them out. One thing I do know is it didn’t matter because I made all the right choices today and got rewarded big time. Of course I went to my favorite tree first and saw a few fish, but for the most part there was only bluegill, but lots of them. I was the only boat out there the whole time and I saw a few kids fishing bait on the banks. I asked them if they caught any fish as I was coming into the creek and they said, only bluegill. I was little worried and didn’t have much hope when I heard that. When I first started the day I was only catching bluegill on a baby clouser minnow, but noticed a few crappie and largemouth under the bridge. I made a few cast with a Davy Wotton shad and had one big bass that probably weighed six pounds that got off so I wasn’t able to get that one on film. I was bummed out and thought that probably was going to be the only footage I would get for the whole day. Not thinking it would get any better it did. I saw way in the mouth of the creek that there was some current and what looked like that was where the fish were at so I motored up real slow and notice some bass moving out of the way. I knew that was good sign. When I got there I notice that it was a deep hole that was four feet deep and thought this has to have some fish in it. The first cast I made I had a hit, but missed it so I made another cast catching one right off the bat. The rest is history. I caught six bass out of there and one big crappie in about an hour of fishing it. It was getting darker and I only had thirty minutes of daylight left so I decided to work my way out and make a few more cast under the bridge and see if I couldn’t catch a few more crappie. I knew they were there because I caught them last week the same way. I made three casts and caught one. Then I made a few more cast and caught two more. Two of them were big with one being the smallest of the day. About this time I was on cloud nine and didn’t care if I caught anything else. But wait it gets better. I probably only had fifteen minutes or so left. So on my way out I was getting close to the mouth of the creek where it meets with Taneycomo and thought I would make a few more cast to see if I could catch a white bass or something in the open water. I made a real long cast and started to retrieve it slow and about the third strip I caught a pig on my first cast and thought what a day and I still cant believe this day. All I can say is it was a great day for me and will go down as one as my most memorable trips because it wasn’t expected at all. What a fly and it all has to do with the way it rides in the water. Go check out the footage. There are six video clips on the fish I caught. They’re dated 4-16-07 (evening). I hope you like them.

Thanx guys, I believe rivers change and some years are better than others. I guess you take the good with the bad. I know this year at Taneycomo has been better than the previous years. The fish seem to fight better this year. jh

When I was up there for the Sowbug I skipped the first day and went fishing to Wildcat Shoals. We went downstream around the first bend below and saw a spot that was holding so many fish we didn't move for hours and caught fish after fish. What a great spot. I caught one really nice brown that was twenty inches or so. My dad use to live at Rim so I learned that stretch really well, so when I'm down I like to go other places. I want to learn more about the area around buffalo city. I think that's what it's called. Right? Do you fish that area at all. I hear it's got great water that holds alot of fish. Do you know Gabe Cross? That's my buddy and I met him at Taney 13 yrs back when he was just starting in the sport. He told me about buffalo. Maybe we should fish it. jh

Hello Troutchaser Rust color or black seem to be the best. I don't if you read my reports on my site, but the tip of the month was about the right hook to fish midges on. Let me explain a little bit more about what I'm saying. I like to fish a size 20 or smaller. The only thing I do different is tie it on a bigger hook and keep the body a size 20. That way I don't lose fish because of the hook being too small. I think whoever thought tying small midges on a curved shank hook in eighteens or smaller mislead a lot of people. If you are like me you have probably missed fish on those smaller sizes in 2457 and 2487. I think the reason why, is the bend is wrong and to be honest with you there is not enough gap and after you put a bead on it to. So you're really not left with much gap. Along time ago I was fishing san juan worms in high water tied on a size 12 TMC 2457 and missed fish all the time when I went to set the hook. Well I started tying them and a straight shank hook which is the TMC 3769 and never missed fish again on the hook set. Back to the midge, the hook I like by far is the 2499sp, but if you don't have that then a 2488 will work. If you look at that hook you will notice there is not so much curve in the front of the hook and there is no down eye. It kind of reminds me of a circle hook. I have a video on my site that will talk more about this and how to tie it. I hope this helps you out. Good luck!! jh

I feel the same way. I have the number as well. Sometmes I call and they don't have time.

I got into these flies when they first came out and found out they aren't worth all the trouble to tie them. I really didn't have much luck on them. They would take a elk hair caddis or any dry fly for that matter before they would have anything to do with those waterwisp flies. I don't think they look right to the fish. I also missed fished on the hook set quite a bit more than a normal tied one. That's just my two cents. I gave them up a long time ago. They look good and it teaches you a new way to tie so that's what got me interested in the whole thing. jh

Hello River Runner I have notice that the white river is having a bit of a white algae up at the dam. Looks different then what I'm use to seeing. I also notice alot of the bigger fish moved out from up at the dam. It's seems like it's getting worse up there. Maybe I'm wrong, but I have fished the white off and on for thirteen years and notice a difference this year. Don't get me wrong, I think the fishing still great if you know where to go. Just wondering your take on this? jh

I guess you never know who you will run into. Maybe next time we can shake hands. Did you see all those people below the steps bait fishing. Stan ran one group off, but then those kids showed up and were down there doing the same thing. I didn't say anyhting because they look like they would love to get into a fight. Three of them amd just me. lol Did you get alot of moss on the end of your line when you would strip in a fish?

I noticed on the weather channel that we were going to have rain for the next couple of days so I went for a few hours this evening and by the time I got down there it was around five in the afternoon. When I was on some of my trips this week I notice a few big fish cruising in this one stretch down pass the boat ramp so I spent all my time there since I only had a few hours left. I was throwing a rusty midge because here lately that fly has fooled some big browns. One thing I have notice here in the last couple of days is big clumps of moss floating and catching everything in site. Every time I went to pull my line in to cast I had to get moss of my line or where the indicator was. It would even drag down to the fly when I was playing fish. So that was a bit of a problem and can get on your nerves, but not enough to keep me off the river. To make a long story short I caught all rainbows with a few really nice ones. I would say these fish actually look healthier for a change. You can see that they have been eating well. Also, I have notice they are putting up more of a fight to. I did film one big one, but it was only me recording so it’s not the best. If you go to my video page on my site you can watch it there. jh

Were you the guy with the cowboy hat hanging out by the boat ramp when I was taking my boat out? I was driving the black truck.

I went down and fished roark and caught a few on white and pink clousers (micro) minnows. I didn't see to many when I was there two days ago. I went under both bridges looking for schools of whites and didn't see any. The few I did catch hit it on the fall. I'm sure that's changed from what I'm reading. I'll have to give a try.

1.By "indicator" do you mean keeping the jigs at a steady 6 feet down? Yes, six to seven feet is about where you should be set at. 2.Where were you on the lake where you had the best luck? At the cable down to chute 2 was the most active for us. Fishing the left side of the bank seems to be the key because of the way the current forces everything to that side if you start fishing right at the cable. They're usually leaving all four units running, but they will drop it to 706 and I’m sure people are thinking they turned it down to two. Also it seem like when they would raise it back up the fish would turn on again. maybe that has something to do with the more current the more flush into Taney.

For all the guy's heading to class tonight, we will be working on deer hair poppers. I've had lots of request for this pattern again so that's what we'll be working on. I'm sure it has something to do with spring right around the corner and me getting all excited about it. There's nothing like catching bass on the fly rod. see you guy's there. We will be tying in room #22 so just come on in if you get there early. For all the tyers wanting "new patterns" on this page. You have my word that it's about to happen. I'm going to start putting up every pattern we tie from class and also working with Phil onthe side to take more pictures. My goal is to get at least 400 patterns up here before this next year is up. If you want to check out some of the flies we will be tying. check out my site www.taneycomotrout.com and go to the patterns pages to get an idea of some of what we'll be tying up. Let me know if you hungry to see a pattern that you want tied on here. Revise 11pm We ended up tying the Fruit Cocktail. Dave Whitlock originated this pattern and it's one of my favorites. Here's a pictue of the fly. I will be putting the steps to this fly sometime this week.

Well, I can honestly say there is a shad kill going on at Taneycomo. Since I haven’t been fishing lately I can’t really say if it is the start or the end of it, but I can say the bite was definitely steady while we were out there fishing. I took a buddy from tying class who really doesn’t fish the upper section of the river. So he was anxious to see what this whole shad thing was about. After reading some articles on Ozark Anglers forum we both wanted to see if we could maybe have a chance at one of those big ones. However we didn’t catch anything big, we did catch a lot of rainbows in the 12 to 16 inch range. Russell was fishing with a spinning rod throwing white jigs and I started the day fishing this zonker style streamer tied with some really nice rabbit I had lying around the house. It wasn’t white, more of a fleshy white. I think it was just one of those packs that was a cool dye and I’m glad I tied up some of these flies last night because that seem to be the fly of choice for me. I did fish the Davy Wotton shad only catching a few before I switch back over. I was a little disappointed that I didn’t have more hits on the shad. I believe the movement on whatever you’re throwing is crucial to how these trout want it. Marabou or rabbit make a much better natural looking drift I think when dead drifting in high water and I think the fish do to. We only ended up fishing for four hours in the afternoon catching mostly rainbows with one brown and that being the biggest of the day. Most the fish we caught were in the 12 to 14 inch range and I would say the brown was 17 inches or so. You can tell they’re eating shad because there belly’s are bigger than usual. I really don’t know if we are in the prime of it or if it we’re in the tail end of it, but white flies are definitely working and the bite is steady. And from looking around it seem like everybody had fish on. I would say we had to share the water with six or seven boats the whole time we were out there. I also think the bite is better right at the cable verses downstream. It seems like the further down we went the less activity we got. I only saw one other fly fisher up there and the rest were using conventional gear fishing jigs. I saw alot of people using lip type crank baits. Some of the people I saw were throwing at the bank and reeling back to the boat across current. I really didn’t see much action with people doing that as I was paying close attention because Russell was trying to figure out the bite thinking that it might be better then fishing jigs. When he first started fishing jigs he was tight lining having not much luck the first hour. So we put on an indicator set it about six feet and that made all the difference in the world for him. I ended up fishing only two patterns the whole time I was out there with both being shad type imitations. Russell stayed with jigs for the day and never tried anything else. I had really great luck on this pattern!!!