JestersHK

So Saturday night even though I had a pretty good jig bite going the fish were hammering top water between the dam and outlet one... There was a pretty decent hatch going on so I figured I'd try it. We saw a ton of lightning bugs on the way in and had a ton of moonlight almost to the point you didn't need a headlamp. So I tied on a little floating Ant/ bug pattern to begin with My cuz was giving me some trouble as you generally have to be able to see the fly and the fish you are casting to, but I decided to cast in the general area and mentally checked off a 6 foot circle where my fly may have landed due to my crappy casting and then wait for the boil or for the fish to surface. At first there was a lot of false hook sets, then a few I know I just missed on, then I finally had a good cast lay down nice and smooth and BAM my little floating ant/lightning bug looking fly got hammered. Being I was throwing jigs and sticks all day I broke off on the hook set on from what I saw was a pretty decent fish... That was my last fly of that pattern from one of my trips out east so I put on a big narly looking fly Brandon had made up for me from when I was in Idaho. After a few cast and a few more misses I finally nailed a 13in bow on it. Was pretty rewarding for me, as it is definitely not an ideal time to fish top water as you literally have everything going against ya, but I think you can get away with not making that perfect cast at night, and maybe do not have to have a perfect match on the hatch once they are actively feeding. Something I will definitely try again, as it can get a bit boring at night some evenings, and especially on Taneycomo I've found it always pays off to switch things up and try new stuff.

Well done Livie! Awesome bird you got there. Awesome story John and I'm glad you guys were able to have a successful hunt!

Our last night things were getting back to what I call a normal night. We started up by the cable and first cast I hooked into a 4lb Walleye... He was fiesty which is unusual as most of my walleye catches they sort of just mosey in to ya. After releasing him it wasn't long before I started catching some bows. Size was definitely bigger, but I think our biggest bow this weekend was 16 inches... so not much in the way of big ones. Caught some more of the lake stockers too, and it seemed like no matter where you went the lake was full of those guys travelling up and down in big herds. Back to reality now though... Looking forward to my next trip down already. I'll post some pics here when phones get booted up.

Fished last evening and didn't have much luck again. Waters been off forever it seems like... Today was a great day however. We headed to Phil's early and participated in the CAM tournament. We boated up to trophy area to start, and although I had a rough morning, FMCBrandon my cuz was doing really well on a small 1/32 olive jig. There were still tons of small fish traveling in huge herds up and down the narrows. I finally switched to a smaller black jig and started picking up fish consistently. 15 inch was our biggest however and most were around 10 or 12. I could never catch up to Brandon and he ended up in 4th place overall with 27 total. A special thanks to Phil for hosting such a great tournament for an even greater cause. Finishing up dinner now, and we hope we can maybe finally get a night but going tonight... I'll post some pics of my other phone here eventually...

Fishing was tough for us today. We made the run up to point Royale right as they shut the generation down. We picked up a few here and there, and Brandon stuck a nice fat 16 incher on a jig. Had a few decent fish on the stick bait today, and saw a ton of fish, but we couldn't convince them to bite. Heading back out now for the evening.

Beautiful morning on the lake. Last night was tough fishing. Got some water going this morning and they are starting to cooperate

Hit the water around 2:00am. Had one little dink so far on a stick bait. No generation and we're still trying to find some to get dialed in. Got a bit chilly tonight... Going to have some awesome weather this weekend though. Taking a break for a bit, then we're heading back at it.

This has been a really good conversation. I agree that folks have their own opinions of what success is to them and the view of other anglers. And right or wrong it is their opinion that they are entitled to. At the end of the day I think its a large part of the diversity that makes this forum great. I know we have some really amazing anglers here who fish both for them selves and some competitively in the tournament world. I know I have zero desire to ever fish for competition, not because I am scared or embarrassed to not do well, but for the simple fact I fish to get away from the day to day grind of my busy life. I know one thing I appreciate is the ones who do share their experiences. I'm sure we have some awesome anglers here who choose not to post pics or report anything and thats fine too. I try to share my experiences here in the hopes there other other guys like me, who are stuck at a desk most of the time and have crazy busy lives, and maybe the pics I can post up will make the day brighter for them as they also are stuck indoors or buried in kids activities and sports every weekend. I hope maybe it inspires them to find time to take a break and just get out there and fish. Sure I'll fish the occasional tournament for fun, and yes you'll see a clicker on my vest as I like to count my fish totals for the year, but I am doing that for me and nobody else. Well maybe to rub it in a bit with my fishing brothers

Dropping a place holder here. Just a few hours away until I head down with my cuz FMCBrandon. We are going to try and hit it hard and fish through the evening tonight down in the trophy area. Will be fishing all day Friday and all night too and syncing up with Phil to fish the tournament on Saturday. I'll try better this time to keep a live blog going of our hopefully plentiful catches. Hopefully we'll get a chance to meet up with some fellow forum members too. If anyone wants to join us for the night bite we always like the company, and it really is an awesome time to fish. We'll be in a white trailblazer, and I'll be the ugly bald guy in a red cardinals hoodie , so stop by and say hi or shoot me an IM! We generally only fish the trophy section at night.

Been watching the water too... I'll tell you this much, if there is generation I am throwing sticks exclusively this weekend. Going to fully commit myself to it, and see if I can hook into a nice one.

HAHA my old man has always been a backwards reel guy. Whenever I pick up his bass rods I always end up doing that too! See you guys tomorrow!

I may be called crazy and hey I've been called worse, but there are also some folks out there who are more "fishy" than others... The guys who catch fish without trying... or maybe without having the perfect technique or even gear. These folks will just catch fish no matter how hard they try not to. I know this fishing luck may seem silly like a magical unicorn, but there are times even when I have had it, where 2 of my buddies using same line, lure, technique, and in some cases the same rod setup who stand next to me and cast and cast and cast, while I'm reeling in fish consistently. Not sure what to call it, but I do love when I get to be that guy. One thing I always try to remember is to always fish happy. Getting frustrated for me always ends up in just more frustration and negates the whole point of me being out there in the first place.

Love those sculpin, and looks like you all had a blast. John Deere really has been the hot color down there this season.

Yeah, those little chubs were quite the bait thieves lol. I did hook almost all of them right in the upper lip, and they all live to swim another day. I need to get some more really light tippett too as the 2lb was a pain to tie that tiny Scud on... Also instead of hand lining the second day we rigged up a cane pole to get some better reach to spook them less. We'll get these schedules figured out and get the girls together for sure!

I can see it becoming a new obsession. I'm going to go sculpin hunting this weekend at Taney if I can. May need some help on how to catch one of those! Pretty sure it was an orange throat darter. Have a blurrier up close pic that shows the throat and the tail spots. Creek chub makes sense as there were some larger ones swimming around with them I couldn't get to bite as they spooked really easily. Also gotta find some smaller hooks too. Was using a tiny scud I had in the fly box, although our catching numbers did go up once I started tipping the hook with tiny pieces off a cheese stick Thanks for the ID, I'll add them to my new list, and I will say for those knocking or never trying this it is an absolute blast and can be very challenging. Best part was spending the day outside away from the electronics and dumb TV, letting the kiddos get muddy and play in the water and dirt! Girls are already asking when we are going creek hopping again...

Thanks for the report! Have some new sculpin patterns we are going to try here in a few days.

@fmcbrandon and I were just swapping pics of some sculpin patterns he's making for us for this weekend. First off I have zero skills making flies LOL Brandon is the expert here. I consider myself the visionary So I'm thinking about a really fishy sculpin pattern that we can use to jig / bounce on the bottom through current, or work it slow with less flow. I like the inverted hook, and the challenge for us is keeping the lure at the right angle and attitude. I envisioned a rectangular piece of wedged shape or flat lead with a hook channel cut in for the base... Not sure where we will end up, but thats what we are shootin for! Found this one which looks pretty awesome. Your flies have my brain cooking BH.

Heck throw some of that stuff up in the Buy Sell Trade Forum here!

After church today, my girls begged me to go back down and explore the creek some more. Armed with some muck Boots and the same tiny Scud we quickly nabbed some more minnows. Then I spotted a darter, and was able to net him up. Also caught a different minnow with no stripes. Caught one minnow that was almost as long as the zip lock bag, and saw one in the creek that is close to 7 or 8 inches long. Looked like a small bass at first... Saw a colored up water snake too. My 5 yr old was first to spot him too. She's got a good eye for nature so far. So thanks John for starting another fun addiction for me and the girls! Had a blast the last 2 days trying to chase down those monster minnows!

Also found a pretty cool crinoid fossil.

Our little creek cleared up so took the girls down to explore for a bit. The were some darters that I just could not get netted, but we did catch 3 of these little guys. I just call them minnows, but I'm sure somebody can tell me the exact name. Caught them on a tiny Scud, no rod just hand fishing off a water bottle.

Such a true statement... I will even apologize profusely when I'm fishing with my kiddos or others and the occasional crossover will happen. Some people still like to piss and moan about it or have a snide remark. I've moved my rugrats a few times to other areas as well just to avoid an ugly scenario of someone running their mouths off in front of the kids...

Thanks for the report Phil. That bottom one looks super healthy, chunky, and nice full fins. Can't wait to do some night fishing with some generation. Last few times I was down had no water at night to throw the sticks!

Dang thats a monster!