JestersHK

Nice job Livie! I am subscribed to this thread for sure. We'll have to get Livie and my oldest river rat out there together. Maybe you can help us put a list together as I showed her this post and she wants to do the same! Have a great little creek not too far from us which I am sure could get her started. Glad you guys could get some time in. I wanted to hit the creeks for some smallie action this past weekend, but with the rain it was chocolate milk too...

Saw the last one cast and man the water looked stained. I'm 10 days away from being back in the water! Can't wait to fish the CAM tourney either. Hope to see some OA members there. Any scoop on what they are hitting? @FMCBrandon has been tying up jigs and flies like a mad man in anticipation. I think Phils last report said the darker colors were working well? We'll likely bring everything just in case.

Here's a few more on a different phone. These 2 toms are the biggest I've ever seen... They are always together and different birds than the the ones I posted earlier in Turkey battle

This was out my window again this morning...

Good deal! Looks like a great pond you got there. I've never had much success jigging under a float without some type of bait attached be it a piece of worm or a minnow jig combo.

That first one has sculpin written all over it. I'd love to drag some of those over the bottom down on Taney!

Fish look very healthy! Cool way to spend the day. Any active jigging or just chucking them out and letting them sit?

3 girls too! We should start a club lol. I did the math and in 8 years for 3 months I will actually have 3 teenage girls until the oldest turns 20... I wouldn't want it any other way though honestly.

True that buddy... Not looking forward to the teenage years with 3 girls

Wow! Slow day at work here and just plowed through 16 pages of this thread... Not sure what to make of it either as once we got to Mermen I spit soda all up in my keyboard. I will say I have learned more here than I have contributed back, and its something I hope to work on. I also think despite some occasional ugliness and maybe a few outliers I bet all of us would be more than happy to share an adult beverage together around a campsite after a long day of fishing a friendly CPR tourney to talk/lie about all our sea monsters we have slayed. As for me I'm still being outfished by my daughter when it comes to small water smallies, shes got a knack for always catching the big ones, and the best part is I could care less what anyone thinks of my "fishing skills"

Yeah, I never shot any other arrows, but don't see myself using anything else with the accuracy out of these. I picked up the cheapie Buck Commander target from wal-mart for like $25 bucks. It's holding up ok so far, if I hit the exact same hole at the same angle I've buried one up to the fletching. They do come out super easy though. One thing I will say is do not shoot them at the targets at Busch wildlife archery range. The Carbon fuses to the burlap material that they use for targets, Plus I had about 4 inches of arrow sticking out the back... Had to take a rock and hammer the fieldpoint from out the back to break the bond, and it left resin all over the arrow to boot...

HAHA Yep, I went through the same... Great bunch of folks over there though. Super helpful. I went with the new Tactical Tapps Carbon 22in from SSAS. BEE's are great too from what I hear, tried and true. I read so many good reviews on his Tapps figured I couldn't go wrong and was very pleased with the results. Ordering some more here soon in case I lose a few during turkey season LOL.

I picked up a Barnett DOA last year during black Friday... Although there are some out there with issues I have been more than impressed with the performance and accuracy. crossbownation.com is a pretty amazing site. Guys over there are super helpful and are more than willing to help you out. One thing I learned quick was make sure to buy once cry once on arrows... I had some arrows custom built at from Jerry at www.southshorearcherysupply.com His arrows are amazing and at even 30 yards I have to shoot at different bullseyes in fear of robinhooding an arrow. I knew they were accurate, but the end results of literally shooting the same hole over and over blew me away...

Man that is a tank of a rainbow... One of these days I'll get into one like that... Thanks for the report Phil.

Beaut Fish, Congrats on the PB

Yeah the moss was pretty bad in places... Hoping it gets flushed out. Worse was the trash... I always pick up trash, but this year my pouch on my waders was full before I even got down to the bluff wall... I'm sure the wind didn't help, but man never seen so much trash in the water. Picked up around a dozen or so more rainbows this morning, before we headed out. Fished a red zebra midge, weighted silver bead head with silver wrap. Caught a real nice one down at the outlet and a few more after that. Tried top water again with no luck today, and the rest came on John deer patterned jigs on the buggy whip. I normally stick to sculpin patterns and earth tones for my jigs, never usually throw the crazy combos, but yellow and bright green worked great this weekend between the four of us. Water again was stained, but we still used 2lb Maxima, and 2lb vanish for line.

Great weathered today despite the wind. Knew it would be windy and was expecting the worst, but it was manageable. Slow day for me here. Brought 25 to hand, over half of those were on top water though so that made the afternoon fun. Fished an ant pattern, don't think it was what they wanted but stuck with it and caught a few nice ones. The boys both hit there limits and caught fish here and there so that's really all we wanted fit this trip Saw allot of nice size fish in the stream, and on the stringers.

Got down mid day Friday. Hit the water around noon. Caught 15 on a mix of jigs, and landed 3 on top water in the afternoon with a floating ant pattern. John Deer seems to be the go to color. Worked yesterday and today. Fishing with my cuz FMCBrandon and his 2 boys. They were tearing them up this morning on yellow and red, and then olive jigs up by the dam. Landed 8 this morning, and one 14 inch brown but man he was skinny... Lots of perch in the steam too. Water is a bit stained, but fishings been OK. Not as crowded either as I thought it would be. Hopefully Brandon will throw some pics up...

Hopefully we'll get a crack at em soon!

Awesome report buddy, and I'm stoked for you that you hit your goals my friend! Even better you got the share it with your kiddo. Congrats!

Maybe just me, but can't see your pics... Tried a few different phones and puters...

Not as crazy as I thought it would be from the looks of it. With the crappy weather and work I sat this one out this year. I'll be down this weekend though. I'm sure I'll be able to get my combat fishing fix in then.

Looks like an awesome trip! Nice job.

Haha, that sounds like an awesome trip! When we vacation anywhere near the ocean I maybe sleep 2 or 3 hours in any given 24 hour period. I fish as hard as possible. Heck we pull all nighters regularly on Taney, but man as the years go by it gets harder... Duane Doty told me the best quote saying at some point you just aren't that mad at them anymore lol. I'm sure one day I'll get there, but not yet

Thats Awesome! Thanks for sharing. I fully expect my oldest kiddo to out fish me this year, and I'll be happy when she lands a lunker. My wife's been out a few times with me, but really just goes to support me and my fishing addicition. She did hang about a $10 spot worth of jigs in the trees at Meramec one day I would just get done tying on a new one and bam right back into the same tree... She tried doing a charter with me in Florida once too and ended up chumming the water for me and then sleeping in the cabin LOL. She's missing her sea legs I guess, but I'm lucky to have one that knows I need my time in the woods or on the water.