Foghorn

Thanks for sharing-looks like a lot of great memories for your family.

Nice fish Sandy! If you see a couple newbie fly fisherman at Taney today, it might be my brother in law and a couple members from his church. He's fly fished 4-5 times and guess he's guiding the other guys.🤣

That will catch fish.

Several in the 1 1/2-3# range in the trout parks anymore and you'd have the boys circling you to catch those fish. Hoping you fool a couple nice browns along with the rainbows.

Sandy, you'll have to do like Susie-she has 3-4 pairs of sunglasses in both cars. We headed out one time and got 2 blocks only to turn around as she didn't have a certain pair in the Explorer. She did have 3 other pair in it. Hope you're putting on a show at Taney.

I believe that is what Tim told us when we visited his shop in August.

My copy arrived yesterday after 13 days . Told Sandy I think it came over the Andes mountains on a mule pack train. Guess I need to get Amazon Prime. Rick's book brought back a lot of great memories!

Enjoyed the video. It's the closest park to where we live and I fish it the least. Buddy and his kids had some nice fish a couple weeks ago.

That tiger trout has an awesome scale pattern.

I still haven't figured out what happened to my fly rod and reel in that picture with Rick. I might have been the net man that day.😀

Got one ordered and after texting some of the boys, they ordered one.

There was a short obituary in the Laclede County Record and a picture from the days of neoprene waders of Ed's passing.

I received a phone call over the weekend with the caller telling me that long time Bennett Springs resident and fly shop owner Ed Elersic had passed away. I was hesitant to initially say anything as I hadn't found anything in the news or on social media. After talking to Charlie Reading and Ben from the hatchery, they confirmed the info from the phone call. Thought a lot of the OA family would remember Ed and Kay from the old Springview Fly shop in the park and later out on the highway.

In what would appear to be a repeat of my last trip to Montauk, the usual group of wife Susie, buddy Pike and I took a day trip to Montauk. Little brother and his wife had been in the park camping since Monday. He hasn't fly fished a bunch so thought it would be a good time to fish with him and help him a little. Started in the campground and started catching some decent stockers. I had checked the lunker board and saw where several good fish had been caught so wasn't expecting the brown I lost to be available and we never saw it. After several hours and quite a few fish, we went back to brother's camper for lunch. Pike did catch and release a nice rainbow that might have been close to 3#. After lunch we headed to the fly zone to Hudson"s corner and finished off the day in that long stretch of water. It was full of fish and we managed to catch a lot of fish there. Brother had somehow messed up his ultralight fly reel so I brought a spare for him to use the next couple days. Haven't got a morning report from him today but hopefully he has a good morning. We were encouraged by the number of fish in the fly zone and some better quality fish from the last time.

I had texted Sandy earlier that morning to see how she was doing and she said you and Pat were headed to Bennett. We had the 2 oldest grandsons for the last couple days so we weren't going to get there either. Had to get them home today for their annual trip to Florida. Bought my first fiberglass fly rod back in the mid 60's at a police auction at the county courthouse. It was an old Fenwick and it also had a Martin automatic reel with it. Caught my first limit of trout on that rod a couple years later at Montauk. Thanks for the report Marty. May have to get my little 5'3" Fenwick out of the closet and fish it again.

Nice fish and always enjoy your posts and pics.

So Susie , old baseball buddy J Pike and I headed to Montauk yesterday morning. Older brother gave glowing reports on his last camping trip there so we headed out. Not as crowded as I expected but it was only Thursday. We started in the bait zone with ultra light fly rod outfits expecting the normal stocker size fish we've seen in the trout parks for the last several years. Caught a lot of 10-12" fish but was looking for a brown trout. Over the years, the combination of high temps and low water has brought browns I assume out of the river into the park. We've caught a lot of big browns under those conditions until the lads started banging them down below the cable. I did find a nice fish in the 4.5-5# range and hooked him on about the 3rd cast on my old reliable fox squirrel nymph. It was a pretty good fight for the first 4-5 minutes but she finally threw the hook. Shortly after we headed to the fly zone and did find more fish which is usually the case and they were harder to catch which is also usually the case. Susie and I caught a good number of fish using egg patterns drifted along the bottom. Did catch a nice 2.5-2.75# fish at Hudson's corner. She didn't want the size #18 egg but did want the old fox squirrel nymph again. All in all a nice day with the fishing and the wildlife in the park.

Probably 15 years or so ago ,I was fishing at Roaring River. Came upon one of the older guys I used to fish with at Bennett but hadn't seen him in years. We talked old times and big fish and then he says' Hey, you still tying those little jigs and if you are I want to trade you some flies for them". I would have given him my flies but was interested to see what he was offering. He dug in his fly box and came out with some #18-20 tan nymphs. He used the smallest lead wire and tan embroidery floss and finished the head with a dark brown thread wrap. Since then , I've caught a lot of trout on this pattern. Tore them up on the San Juan ,Taney and the trout parks. You have to pick your spots to fish it effectively as it doesn't have much for a fish to hone in on in fast or in the riffles. Think it's kind of like trying to sneak an M&M by me.

Atta girl Sandy!

It's been a bumper crop this year at our place for mulberries. Have kept me busy washing and using the leaf blower to keep the driveway clean. Susie has been making some mulberry jelly.

Congrats on your PB rainbow and a really nice brown!

Enjoyed the pictures and nice fish too!

Got a text from Miss Sandy this morning and she's invited any and all friends to meet at the Outlets at Taneycomo round 2:30 to say your final goodbyes to Rick. Might include some stories of fishing with Rick thru the years.

Got a text from Mrs. Laker(Sandy) this morning that she would like to share with our OA members. The service for Rick is at the Springfield Veterans cemetery May 31st at 1:00 pm. The service will only last until 1:20 . Anyone who wants to go with the family to spread Rick's ashes below Table Rock Dam is more than welcome. Your also welcome to put on your waders and get in the water or watch from the bank. The family plans on meeting for dinner in his honor at the Keeter Center at 4:00 pm. You would need to RSVP with the center if you wish to eat there.

That's as good a birthday gift as there is!