Fishingmill

Awesome fish. My guess is approx. 4-5 lbs. Beautiful Missouri specimen right there.

@Gavin, I'd be interested to hear if fishing was good on the section of river I was fishing (Tan Vat to Baptist Camp). That day I talked to a few other guys who said that it was also a rough day. Not sure if this is just one day or a recent trend. @jackdizo and @joeD, I've always caught fish in this stretch, but I just didn't see as many fish as I normally do. It could be a combination of a few things: 1. Flooding could have washed some fish downstream, especially the rainbows that I am used to seeing. 2. The flooding changed the river and the fish were not where I am used to looking. 3. The river was low and the fish moved further downstream. 4. I was trying out some new flies. 5. The fish just weren't biting and the ones that did were biting very light (I missed 3 fish that day - 2 on nymphs under an indicator and 1 on a dry fly). 6. The weather, unusually warm and windy. But here's some positive thoughts... there are a lot of really cool runs in the this section now and I am sure the rainbows will start to stack up when they start stocking regularly.

First let me say, the weather was wonderful. Hard to beat fishing in 70 degrees in February. I fished from Tan Vat to Baptist Camp. River has changed a lot from the winter flooding. Most pools are completely different. As nice as the weather was, I didn't catch a single trout the entire day. Been probably 3 years since I've been skunked trout fishing. Fish were biting very light. I hooked into three browns that day and they all got off before I could get them in. I also didn't see as many fish as I normally do. Other guys I talked to only managed to catch a few Bottom line: tough day fishing but at least the weather was nice.

Great post and comments. Thanks for sharing. Smallmouth on a fly rod is a wonderful thing. I was fortunate enough to fish in Northern Michigan and caught a 20 inch smallie on the fly. It was a tug of war match until the very end. One of the hardest fighting fish I've ever caught. I was using very thick tippet (probably 15-20lbs) and put a lot of pressure on the fish during the fight, so it is difficult to compare it to the large trout I've caught. I've caught lots of trout over 20 inches, but I am usually using the small tippet possible, usually 4x or 5x. I would never fight a large trout like I would a large smallmouth. Maybe that's what makes smallmouth on the fly so much fun.

@jfrith that picture is awesome. Congrats.

I went to Montauk on Sunday. Fished the flies only section. Water was a little high and pretty murky. It looked like there were several rainbows spawning in rapids. Not sure if it is normal for this time of year. Kinda slow but saw a few rainbows in the 2-4 lb range. I was using a variety of nymphs. Very light takes so there were several that I missed.

Very interesting year with all the rain. Tried to focus on more warm water fly fishing this year. Caught my first grass carp on the fly then immediately broke that record. Caught my first decent largemouth on the fly. Caught a new personal best rainbow trout on the fly. Also, caught several new species on the fly: yellow perch, longnose gar, smallmouth buffalo, common carp, blue catfish, silver carp

Thanks, I'll probably try to go down Sunday. It's either here or maybe Montauk. Even if I don't fish, it will be interesting to see the water and if there are any changes.

Anyone know how Maramec Springs looks? I was thinking of taking a trip down there just to see how it looks, but don't want to waste my time if the park isn't even open.

Beautiful sunrise.

@FlyfshI've never used a gopro in a cave, so you got me there. Haha.

Gopro are best for capturing outdoor action footage. They aren't great for indoor shots with low lighting. You can get a refurb dslr with a lens for about the same price as the GoPro Hero4 Black. A good dslr will record video in low light and allow you to zoom. But they aren't as durable or waterproof as a GoPro.

I like the new look.

Yeah, this is the biggest fish I've seen at BSSP in a long time. I'm sure he will get caught a few times during C&R season. Glad to hear he is still alive. Hopefully the people that catch him handle him with care. It's pretty challenging landing these fish in such tight quarters.

Congratulations. I agree with Flysmallie, no need for a measuring tape. As long as you have a memory (and a picture for proof to your friends), that's all that matters. I always keep a measuring tape in my pack, but rarely use it. I usually just put the fish against the handle of my net and then measure the net later on.

It depends whether they are running water and no one can predict that 100%. That's the risk of fishing tailwaters. Typically, I think you will find wadable water in January, but that could change if we get a big rain. Even if they are running water, you will be able fish along the bank. This summer I had a lot of fun fishing in high water near the outlets. I even had a 20+ fish morning one of the days, which turned out to be better than when I went in the fall.

That's where the editing part comes in. No one wants to sit there for 30 minutes to watch someone catch one fish. Unfortunately, there people are still that insist on uploading these kinds of videos. I usually just take still shots from my video. Since I mostly fly fish alone, this helps me get a decent shot of the fish so I can get it back in the water quickly.

What do you want to do with the video? Like others said, the gopro isn't great for taking photos, but it is still one of the best action cameras for most. You can take pretty good video without having to worry about water ruining your camera. I have a gopro hero3+ black that I've used the past two years. I've made a few upgrades recently and now have a few hero4 cameras that I've just started playing with. There's lots of mounts out there sold by gopro and various third parties. I mostly use a tripod (with the tripod mount) to get all my fishing video (above and below water), but also have a few of the other mounts that I've tested. I took my gopro with me on a kayak trip in Michigan two summers ago. I used a chest mount and a mount on the kayak to take some video. Here are still images from the video I took to give you an idea of what you can do. Most of the video I record is total crap. The real magic happens with editing and that requires a decent computer. I've posted some videos on OAF that shows what the gopro and editing can do. I can give you as much information as you want just let me know.

Mic, if you are having trouble landing fish with 6x tippet, you should try using flurocarbon line. It is a little stronger and smaller than nylon. I mostly fish 5x fluro at the trout parks and have no problem landing fish. I do use 6x for picky trout, usually to tie on my second fly on a tandem rig. I seldom have a fish break my line, but when I do it's mostly because I've made an amateur mistake... trying to bring in the fish too soon, landing the fish by hand instead of using a net, having my rod tip pointed in a weird position like down pointed at the fish, not having the drag set correctly where the fish takes out too much line or the drag is set too tight, or accidentally snagging the fish. Keeping the rod tip up will help keep the fish from breaking your line most of the time, but it's also difficult to put pressure needed to land a fish. It's not always easy, but that's fly fishing.

It measured 22 inches.

Ha, I wouldn't ever use powerbait. It's all flies only at BSSP right now. Caught it in zone 2 below the hatchery outflow. The first time it took a small midge pattern. Second time it took an egg fly.

Caught my personal best rainbow this weekend at BSSP. I hooked it once but came off before I could get it in. Tracked it for another hour before I finally landed it.

@jackdizo Thanks man. It takes me several trips before I have enough decent footage for a video. Good luck.

Thanks for sharing this Phil. Have you noticed the trout gorging themselves on scuds?

Triploids don't have to waste energy spawning so they grow bigger/faster.