tjm

If you are required to carry I'd want it accessible and for 90% of the time that means armpit. Learn to shoot with the left hand and carry that piece under the right arm , if you right shoulder is giving you trouble you won't be able to manage a second shot with it anyhow. I found that I shoot better left handed.

I think of Spey being for Big Rivers and for long casts like the Spey River where it was invented or the salmon streams of the PNW, casting two hand rods casting at over 60', reaching across most of the stream and beyond much manipulation, other than an initial mend. I wouldn't expect flies suitable for that style to be of much use to me. But of course I may be wrong because I have never seen Spey fishing except in books and a long ago movie. What I have read on line indicates the left coast advocates of Spey fishing adhere have rules governing each part of the cast and swing, with names for every position of the rod. I swing wets but I'd never want to Spey.

Do you think a fly simply on the swing 60-70' away from the angler has a lot of action/wiggle going on? I always figured the water disturbance and profile were the important factors, but then I've never been Spey fishing. And I always guessed the trailing hooks were snag devices to be used when the river was piled full of non-feeding fish on the way to spawn, but again I never was in the places where those are used.

I've never done well with poppers and consequently don't make them any more. A gurgler makes plenty of disturbance for me and is tons easier to construct. but, I have seen pictures of small poppers made from flipflops that the guy claimed worked fine for him. It's fly material I haven't yet used and as close as the nearest closet.

I can't recall if my last material came from JoAnn or Dollar Tree. I'll never use up all the feathers, fur and yarn stuff I bought back in the '70-'80s. Most of what I buy these days are interesting craft items or toys that I imagine turning into fish bait. I'm glad you guys are keeping the suppliers in business, I'm always looking but seldom see anything that I can use. Getting better at not losing flies and only getting out 30-40 times a year has curtailed my need to tie as many as I once did. At the same time my flies got simpler and use fewer materials. I never had trouble catching fish on nice days in winter, I don't like to fish a sunny day in summer though. I think winter fishing requires the bait to be closer to the fish and easier for the fish to capture, they will work harder in warmer water. Kinda the opposite of me.

That crazy, maybe dangerous, and he still operates a business? What's his customers like?

They all look like perch to me. I have caught lots of sunfish that look like hybrids of some sort, never any pictures and don't usually remove them from the water if I can bump the barbless hook out. If I don't forget, I'll pay attention to the fins next spring. I'm pretty sure I've caught some splotchy fish here before, but... There was I believe a note on one of those pages saying maybe the fish in Eastern OK were shadow X rockbass.

I could fish that, wrench. when I searched the two patterns you named both came up with bead heads. The flies I used to fish a lot looked similar to the one on your finger with out the "tail", I often carried the floss halfway round the bend. In March they might be #22-24,

I always fished those chironomids on floating line in still water and bobbers weren't needed but they weren't beaded. I guess I'm wondering if the bead is what makes it a "midge" pattern?

Is a bead required on a midge pattern? I didn't use them when I fished "small chironomids" often, many years ago. With a hard body, the weight of hook and rib always sank them, the beads look out of proportion to me, and must make them head heavy. My chironomids were mostly red with gold wire or black with silver wire, although I had a few in green, orange and cream; always on #18-20 and always with "gills", but that was still water in a far away place. For some reason I always think bobber when I see a bead head.

I thought Al said shadow bass in this area, but the Elk inventory by MDC after 1998 lists Ambloplites rupestris and no other Ambloplites that I can find. Interesting that in that USGS page it says So a Mo. biologist is the source of some of the stuff they posted. And on this page https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=372 USGS says about the Ozark bass It seems the Centerton hatchery didn't realize they had a new species and they just passed them "rock bass" out. About half the town of Centerton and several nearby areas drain into the Elk so it'd not be surprising if the Ozark bass are here and not recognized.

What kind of goggle eye do we have in the Elk/Arkansas drainage?

Which three colors do you go back to? Which two sizes have caught the most fish for you? I need to tie some up.

Actually Phil didn't say it was too cold, he just mentioned temperature, that particular tail water might be to warm at the time of year they spawn or it might just fluctuate more than they can stand. at any rate the water is not what works for them. Maybe it has too many boots or not enough sand, maybe just when the eggs are ready to hatch the USACE opens a couple flood gates and kill them all.

dang good thing too, carp are bad enough as an invasive.

http://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/67446-lilleys-lake-taneycomo-fishing-report-august-31/?tab=comments#comment-585847 Phil Lilley said " Our brown trout do make a run to the dam area in the fall to spawn, although they are not actually successful creating any young trout. They go through the actions and lay eggs but because of water flow and temperature, none hatch. " That says they actually spawn but the eggs don't survive.

It is proven that some genetic diversity is lost in hatchery fish and that might explain why they don't adapt. Or it may be that Germany is so much colder than southern Mo. that they have adapted as far as they can but not enough to be a successful invasive. In places like New Zealand where the German trout have become invasive they have devastated the native species. Ness, does Taney have long shoals with gravel bottom where the water is still lake bottom cold and flow is relatively stable in fall? Do the Ar. tailwaters? I ask because I'm not familiar with any of then- they are all outside my five counties.

We'll never know. I think these guys have intimidated him with all the tractor "jokes".

That's one I didn't know. But then according to the Federals they are an invasive in the Ozarks anyway. https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=373

What's your theory? Why? I'm guessing you hit on it; hours of light trigger the German trout. I'll guess hours of light also affect the springtime spawners, gets them moving, but because spring weather is fickle those species have added a temperature requirement to their genetics. Wonder if the water temps are the same every where when the sunfish start to spawn?

Thanks Ness, I had read that before but had no idea where. They need colder water than our streams have.

Someone in the past said they go through all the motions in Taney but the water temps and flow are too variable for the eggs to hatch. edit; twas Phil- Where are they in Mo. that water conditions would be conducive to a successful spawn?

Did the pickup camper in the '70s and if you want to run to town to get an egg or loaf of bread or lantern fuel- whatever you ran out of or she forgot to bring- you essentially have to tear down the camp and rebuild afterwards, it's good for daily travel though where you'd be tearing down and setting up anyway. I've never done the trailer thing, but think we'd like a small one now, instant camp even in a parking lot.

Three smaller dome tents pitch easier and quicker, we had boys and girls and us. camped hundreds of times that way. Big tents are hard to pitch and hard to carry or stow in the trunk. I like the medium cost, that say they sleep 6 but only have room for three. Exterior frames with fly/cover. hanging hooks from frame rather than sewed in sleeves. I can't recommend a current model because the last kid is now approaching middle age so it was a while ago. but similar to this https://www.cabelas.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=2960989&type=product&WT.z_btnclk=YMAL-2960989&WT.z_pg_ref=prd2314983

And then there the iridescents like the indigo bunting that looks blue in sunlight but is black in shade and complimentary colors that cancel each other out. "Most of what a trout eats is 3/8" long and brown"