Eric82

HAHA!!!! Didn't catch any of any size but caught a good amount and they were purty. Crayfish colored leeches, blond leeches, and poppers did the trick.

Cool thanks Gavin. Currently it looks like the level had spiked cause of the rain but it looks to be going down quickly. fingers crossed.

I am floating the BP for the first time this weekend. 6x to Ross (canoe hatch section i know but floating with hatchers so anyway). Is there anything different/unique to the BP i should take into consideration when choosing flies? Im assuming the usual crayfish patterns, woolly buggers will work? Is there usually a good topwater bite? Also that section, 6x to Ross, is that for the most part a more wide open section with depth and not a lot of dragging? I know we got our fairshare of rain last weekend. The reason i'm asking is that i have outriggers for my yak that lend well to standing and fishing but i wouldnt bring them on places like the upper current due to the current and turns etc. Is this section of the Piney pretty slow? Either way i'll be finding out myself soon enough but any little info helps!! Tight lines!!! Eric

Love that middle pic!!!

that chartuese should work good. i was down in florida for my honeymoon last year and that was the go to color.

I love all the streams you mentioned. For me though little piney has became my favorite blue ribbon stream in the area. I love catching wild trout and the LP rarely disappoints.

Love them creeks!!! Great report!!! Here's a smallie from a creek you wouldn't think would have smallies...

Nice!!!

Thanks for the report!!! I haven't been down since the beginning of May with all the rain etc. How was the conditions? Cleared up? Still a little high? Sounds like no problem either way....

nice fish. ahh those secret creeks....

Montauk was really crowded but tan vat downstream wasn't bad at all. I was pretty much by myself. I can't speak for upstream. Thanks for the kind words Johnsfolly. I caught a few decent sized ones on Friday at the park but only the little guys down at tan vat. I was letting a soft hackle swing into the bank. That's where they would strike. I had a lot of short strikes too. The key was letting the fly dangle in the current longer than usual.

I hit up the current today. Went downstream of tan vat. Water was moving pretty good but better than Friday. Caught 4 more of these little guys.

Yeah I was surprised it looked so good as well. LP has definitely became my favorite trout stream.

Well my smallmouth chasing has been thwarted thus far this weekend. So I told myself maybe try for some trout today. Got to Lane Spring this morning hoping for the best. Chocolate milk. So I decided to see if Montauk conditions were better. A lot better. While the water was up some it wasn't in too bad of shape. The weather cooperated while I was there and I caught a few. I caught this little guy as well. This was the second time this year I've caught a parr marked trout at montauk. Wondering again if possible stream bred. I like to think it was. Haha.

I love my phillipson 6 footers. i've had a Master 6 foot 6in that is now at the bottom of the current these days and i currently have a phillipson fly fox. They're both solid 6 wts. i love old glass rods so most of my stuff is vintage or built myself. i also have a Garcia 2535 which is a 6ft 6in that i stripped down and rebuilt. it is a 6/7wt. they come up on ebay and are reasonably priced.

you can get a 6 ft eagle claw 4/5 wt for about 30 bucks. i got one a few years back and still use it from time to time.

With memorial day weekend starting for me tomorrow i was wondering if i may inquire on how i should approach smallie fishing this weekend. With the weather forecast as it is i'm trying to determine where i should target fish this weekend. My gut tells me to fish as far up into headwater areas or tribs as i can to find water that will have the most limited affect from the rain. That's my thoughts anyway. Maybe everything will be negatively affected but i want the best possibility to bring a few to hand. For example thinking of upper reaches of the meramec like short bend, or redbluff area of Huzzah... What y'all think? Thanks!!!!

i was actually using soft hackles that day and my dad was using pine squirrel leeches. As to being mostly a nymph rod it can handle other stuff as well. I was fishing a stream with Ozark character in northeast MO last weekend and i was catching fish on the banty using poppers and #8-#10 wooly buggers. It can cast suprisingly well and farther than you would think. The key is to get the rhythm correct and the heavier line. I have been able to adapt my cast pretty naturally to the rod since i mostly use shorter fly rods. Its a fun little rod and definitely not a toy... HAHA!

yeah 4'4" for real!! It actually casts pretty good. The trick is to use a 5wt line for which the rod was designed for. Most of the trout came from the LP. Mill was down at the time and Dad didn't want to wander downstream too far that day so i didn't make a trek of it that day.

i stopped by there briefly last saturday and cfs was about 475 and 4.40ish on level. was too high and fast for me. walked around about 10 min and left...

My Dad and I hit up the Little Piney, Mill Creek, and the Courtois today. Tried out the bamboo rod I finally finished. My dad inaugurated the new glass rod I just finished for him as well. We both brought some fish to hand. The LP and Mill creek were down but the Huzzah was blown out. Also tried out a new to me Garcia glass 7wt metal spigot ferrules and an abercrombie Banty 4'4". That Banty was fun and casted surprisingly well. Fun long day.

i seen that when it was all going down on the news and thought the same thing.

I agree with Al going from Bass downstream. I like the Bass to Scotia. Less crowded. Floating on down to Onondaga is nice too since you hit up the Meramec briefly. Actually i went down for 4 days to Huzzah Conservation a few weeks ago (Still need to post about it). Anyway the temps were still hovering right under 60 degrees and the water was still high from a rain earlier in the week. The fish were holding deep in this instance and the ones i caught were along the bank eddies and cover. Most of my luck was on BH mohair leeches in crawdad color and black pistol petes. Not much luck topwater yet. However, this weekend that might change. Good luck to you!!!

X-cellent!!!

I have a Phillipson MF80 8' 7wt in excellent condition with original tube and sock. I'm looking to trade for a Fenwick 7wt. Preferably an 807 but open to other 7wt Fenwick models. Eric