SoMuchWater

Last Thursday I dusted off the funk I was in (lack of fishing), packed a few essentials in the truck, and headed south for some much needed time on the water. The plan was to meet up with my buddy Jeff and float a few Ozark Clear water streams searching for Smallmouth. Click Here: to read the rest of the story

Love Catching Smallmouth on the top!

And here I've been tellin buddies that they can'y catch fish with their fly up in the tree. Guess I'll have to stop say'in that now!

I was stationed in Port Clarence AK for a Year (way north of Nome) and spent a little time in Kodiak. Your story reminds me of how much I miss it. Maybe someday I'll get back there again.

My favorite is a Gin Clear Lime Stone Filtered Ozark Stream with few to no other visitors on a cool morning with a little fog low across the water. Quite so you can hear you heart beat. If I can catch a few fish all the better.

Awesome I may need to t a few of those up

I'm ty'in up a few of those in black Good mode with the wire to!

Part of my "Almost All Foam Pattern Series" Poppin' Johnny - A YouTube Short

Sounds likes a perfect day for all involved!

So you were in Missouri.... I think! LOL! I don't think you gave anything away there!

After watching the short I also joined the site. Isn't that last take on an imitation with a hook set??? No way a fly fisher could watch that action live and not cast a line... no way! Best short I've seen to date!

I do like me some Googl eyes! Thanks fishinwrench

Pretty Sweet couple of fish there Buddy!

Is it okay to tell another guy, Nice Bass! I'd take anyone of those Smallies any day of the week!

Thanks Pat The hatch was the craziest thing. If not for being there I would have a hard time believing that Missouri had a hatch of Mayflies of that size with that big a bug. It was awesome

In my last post I mentioned the difficultly I was having throwing big articulated wind resistant patterns tied to a sinking line from the seat of my kayak. A couple of close calls with wearing one as a fashion statement in the back of my head convinced me to ty on a pattern that cast a little better from such a low on the water setting position. It also brought to my attention that I didn't exactly have a box full of smaller, let's say medium sized bait fish patterns. While a number 4 Olive bugger and a size 6 bait fish pattern worked well. I still felt that I was missing out on some larger fisher that were more keyed in on the larger patterns. So with a little criteria at hand I set down at the vise and ended up with these. Tied on a size 2 and size 1/0 hook with Congo Hair as the main ingredient. I think I ended up with a medium size pattern that I can throw from the seat of the yak and maybe hookup a few larger fish. Time will tell that story but if your interested here's the scoop on tying this pattern. One of things I like about this pattern is it lends it's self well to a lot of variation in color choice. I kept the black head as a constant but even that could be changed to better fit your fishing environment. For materials you'll need Recipe Gamakatsu B10S Stinger size 2 through 1/0 Danville 210 Thread Congo Hair Palmer Chenille - this product seems to go by a lot of names. Polar Chenille, Ice Chenille are just a couple. 7 mm Googly Eyes Loon's Hard Head Step by Step The amount of Congo hair is difficult to show. When pulled tight it is about 1/4 the diameter of a pencil. Loose approximately 10 mm and loose enough to see through the individual strands of the hank. In my opinion less is more. 1. Ty in the tail 2 colors of Congo Hair - darker color over white both on top of the hook shank. The darker colored hank (accent) is about half of the white hank. 2. Trim tail - 2.25 inches long from point of hook to end of tail 3. Tie in two additional hanks for the tail - one on top and one on bottom. each hank extending about 1 inch from the point of the hook back. 4. Tie the Chenille 5. Wrap the Chenille forward in tight wraps to a point at about 2/3 of the hook shank. Tie off an trim away the excess. 6. Tie in two hanks of Congo Hair with 3 wraps or thread - one hank on top and one on bottom of the hook shank. The ends should extend back over the tail. 7. In a single wrap move the thread back over the top of the first wrap made of the 3 wraps used to secure the Congo hair. 8. Pull each Congo Hair Hank back and secure with a couple of tight thread wraps ending with a couple of wraps in front of the blunted end that was created from pulling the Congo Hair back. 9. Trim the ends of each Hank longer than the final trim will be. This creates the first section. 10. Repeat steps 6 through 9 to create 3 or 4 more sections. (The number of section needed may vary some. Ideally the last section, in this example the black section, ends just behind the hook eye). 11. Tie in the head section - Repeat steps 6 through 9 using a contrasting color. 12. Wrap thread to create a cone shaped head, whip finish and trim. 13. Roughly trim the hair to the basic shape. Leave the hair a little long. 14. Cover the head with Loon's Hard Head and put the fly on a drying wheel to dry. 15. After the Hard Head has dried - Attach Googly Eyes, (I use Goop to glue on the eyes) and put the fly back on the drying wheel. 16. After the Goop has dried - Do a fine trim of the Congo hair Sorry about the color changing pattern Once you ty a couple of these you'll find that they are both quick and simple to ty. In this batch I used White Congo Hair as the primary color and black for the heads. With Chartreuse, Fl. Yellow and light brown as accent colors. For Chenille I liked the Pearl a lot, Chartreuse, Yellow and I made one with Root beer chenille before I ran out of Googly eyes. I hope it's not to long before I can post something on how they catch Smallmouth. Fair Winds and Following Seas!

Spent a few days floating a local River 5/30 - 6/1 for some much needed fishing R and R. Caught a lot of fish but none to brag about. All the Smallies were in the 3 to 10 inch range. Still the numbers were good. Rainbows on Friday, Rainbows and Smallies on Saturday and all Smallmouth on Sunday. Had a blast and was surprised by a crazy hatch of bugs Saturday night. You can read all about it, if you want, on my blog SoMuchWater.com

I now live in the Jefferson City area but grew up in Southwest Missouri. Was an avid Bait caster Bass fisher in my youth but that all ended when I picked up a fly some 20 plus years ago. Ty my own flies for Smallmouth and Trout and fish them as mush as I possible can. Been blogging for a number of years now and recently started a new blog SoMuchWater.com. Still mostly fish south of I-44 but I starting to locate some fare water up this way. Nothing as clears as the creeks south of here though. Fair Winds and Following Seas!