DeepDiver75

If we don't get any more tyers by the time that I get back from fishing this weekend I'll close it down and set a due date. May 18th is a possibility or if that's too soon maybe June 1st. You guys chime in and let me know what works for your schedules. With only 8 tyers we can just work out a date amongst ourselves that will work for everyone.

I was wondering if anyone knew what the best route to take from Taney dam area to get to Beaver tailwaters and an approximate time it would take? I have been to Beaver previously just not from Taney. Trying to figure out what time we would need to leave Sat morning to make it over there for the tournament. Thanks for any info.

I'm still trying to weasel the day off and round up a team. If I can get it off I only have 3 for my team so far. Will there likely be someone at the check-in to make a 4th? Will we still be able to participate if there's not? I'm also assuming that the registration will be open until the start of the tournament Sat. morning? Sorry for all the questions , just want to get my facts straight before I involve others.

If you're a tailwater guy the same scud or sowbug patterns that you may use there will work equally well at BSSP. It's been a couple of weeks since I've been down but they were doing real well on a #18 olive or grey scud at that time. The area of fast water from the bridge to the hatchery outlet was holding a few nice fish last time I was there. The fishing should be good this weekend and contrary to some peoples thoughts you won't have to fish with gut imitations or pellet flys to catch them. There are very few trout in the state of Missouri that don't grow up eating brown pellets so my trout from BSSP are just as "natural" as yours are.

Fished Taney Friday afternoon (yes in that hellacious T-storm) and Saturday. Despite the rain,sleet,lightning and wind the fishing was great. Had the entire place almost to ourselves on Friday and caught fish at will almost everywhere we went. I probably had my best luck in the stretch right below rebar hole, but it was really a matter of if you find the fish they'll bite. Fishing a two fly rig with a #20 Dk olive scud as the point fly and a G-Bug as a dropper. If you didn't get a take on the drift you could just let the flies swing around downstream and over 1/2 the time you'd get a take as the flies were swinging up in the water column (usually the G-Bug). Saturday was a little nicer and the fishing was about the same. A few more people on Saturday though. Didn't see a lot of big fish (over 20") as I was sight fishing the shallow runs, but lots of numbers in all the usual spots. There seemed to be a lot more moss than in past years, is this the didymo that they talk about on other tailwaters or just a benign form of moss. Just wanted to make sure that I wasn't helping to spread the stuff around.

I updated the list of tyers today. Sorry about the delay but I was down at Taney fishing Friday and Saturday in the rain ( I'll post a report on the Taney forum). We just need two more tyers and then we'll pick a due date. I think that I'll give it till Friday and then we'll close it up and go with however many tyers we have. Don't forget to tie an extra fly to be sent to Rolan for posting. Looking forward to seeing some of these interesting caddis patterns (and fishing them!!)

If everyone is in agreement that already signed up then we'll add one more fly to each package and we'll send it Rolan's way. I suppose the easiest way to do this is for all of the flies to still come to me and I'll get one of each pattern back in the mail to Rolan for posting. Still need a few more tyers for this swap, let's see your favorite caddis pattern!!

We are stopping the entry at 10 tyers and you will need to tie 2 flies per person for a total of 20 flies. As far as deadlines, I was hoping to get all tyers signed up before I set a deadline for sending them in. At this point with you on board we only need 3 more tyers and then we can discuss a timeline amongst those involved in the swap. I realize everyone has different responsibility's and available time so I am open to suggestions for an acceptable date for completion.

Looking for 4 more tyers in the Caddis Imitation swap. Any style of fly will do so long as it imitates a caddis. All ability levels welcome!!!!!! Don't let those posts about some flies not being up to par affect your opportunity to do something like this. The only way to get better is to tie...tie....tie.

I don't know about anyone else but the flies that I deem not up to par seem to sit just fine with the trout. I have a container that I put all of my "seconds" in and I give them to my friends son who is really into flyfishing. Every time we go on a trip he's using my seconds and outfishing both of us!! What looks like a poorly tied fly to one individual might look like a perfectly good meal to a trout. Just do the best that you can and don't worry about a feather out of place, the trout won't care.

I think Caddis has a good idea. Let's limit the swap to 10 tyers and have everyone tye up 2 flies per person. There's nothing worse than finding the "hot" fly in your box only to break it off on the next cast and find out it was the only one you had. It looks like we have some interest so I'll post patterns up top and we'll see if we can get 10 tyers. If anyone else involved doesn't like the 2 flies per rule just voice in and let me know your opinion.

Wondered if anyone would be interested in another swap so soon after the last one? It gives me a good excuse to sit down and tie. If enough interest is shown I'll host a new swap. Thought that we might try Caddis imitations. Doesn't matter whether it's a dry/ emerger /nymph just your favorite caddis imitation. From reading the reports lately it seems as though the caddis are popping all over the Ozarks so thought this pattern might be a good one for a new swap. No timelines at this point , let's see if anyone is interested. 1) DeepDiver75 - Green caddis emerger 2) Kansas Fly Fisher - #14 elk hair caddis 3) Steve Smith - CDC elk hair caddis 4) Troutchaser - #16 Brambridge caddis 5) The Caddis - Biot caddis 6) jjTroutbum - Rick's Caddis 7) Zach Bearden - Brown fluttering caddis 8) KicknBass - Deer hair and Turkey Quill caddis 9) LShack2 - Green butt soft hackle

Finished tying my flies last night and will package up this weekend and have in the mail on Monday. I'm looking forward to seeing everyones patterns and trying them out.

Nobody said anything about these flies actually looking good!! I hope it's not a pre-requisite to be a good tyer to enter these swaps? In all seriousness I have only been tying for a little under a year now and I still have a lot to learn. I don't know about anyone else but after the flies have been exchanged I would welcome any comments from people who recieve my flies (as long as you're not too hard on me). Most of what I know I've learned from trial and error so good advice is always welcome.

I totally agree with the last comment. If you go to a trout park expecting serenity and solitude you're in for a big surprise, but there are times when the fishing bug bites and we hit the closest most convenient spot. I definitely prefer tailwater fishing if it weren't for the generation issue. I just want to know where all these people are fishing that say trout parks are too crowded. The last couple of trips that I've made to Taney or Norfolk dam to fish, it was all I could do to find a parking spot! Recently theres been a few times when I just had a seat at Taney and watched for a while because I didn't feel comfortable squeezing my way in with so many people fishing. I'm afraid that the only way to get away from crowded fishing conditions anymore is to pay for access to private water and my pocketbook won't allow that.

Spoonbill - 78 pounds from Osage river near Osceola Catfish (flathead) - 58 pounds from Clinton lake spillway

I've fished Taberville in years past and I've almost always done better there about the 1st of April. I wonder if the colder winter and snow & ice runoff hasn't cooled the water off a little more than last year and slowed down the migration. I didn't even pay attention to the temps at Osceola yesterday. I plan on snagging a couple more times this year in between trout fishing trips so I'll post my results. I'ts sure nice to get real-time reports from people who have just been out.

Thanks to all for the info. I know that these wouldn't be any good for the dry fly angler but if you do a lot of nymphing you should give them a try. A very handy little item.

While down at BSSP on opening weekend I purchased some extremely small tippet rings for my fly rod. I had never used them before( really never seen them before) but after using one for my nymphing setup I don't think I'll ever not use one now. It worked out great. I used a 6' piece of 5x to my tippett ring and then a 4' piece of 7x to my first fly. Not only do you not have to worry about knots slipping because of line size differences but I found that when I got a tangle ( and with my sub-par casting technique it happened more than I would like to admit in that 5 days) by snipping the tippet knot on one side of the ring I could almost always slide the main line and tippet ring out of the mess and simply re-tie a piece of tippet. Anyway, I can't seem to locate these in any local stores , does anyone know of anywhere else they can be purchased? Don't even know if anyone else uses these or not.

Fished the Osage down at Osceola on opening day. Got the boat in about 6:30 and fished until 1:30 , ended up with 2 fish between 2 of us. The largest was a female about 55# the other a small male about 30#. There were fish being caught but considering the amount of boats on the water I would say it was kind of slow. Couple more weeks of warm weather ought to push them up.

Thanks for the info. JDMidwest you say you have a Creek Company boat? I was thinking about a TU boat but I have since read some bad reviews about faulty valves and leaks. I am now looking at a Creek Company with 9' pontoons for around $350. Have you had any issues with your boat?

Was wondering if anyone has fished this area and what you thought of it. A friend of mine wants to drive to Des Moines and pick up his son and then do some trout fishing. We are familiar with all of the ozark streams but thought since we were up that way why not try something new. After fishing our streams and rivers will it be a disappointment? Just do not know what to expect, we don't have to catch lots of big fish to have a good time (that's what RockBridge is for) just want to catch a few fish in a new scenic area. Any suggestions would be appreciated. By the way we all flyfish so we're looking for good areas for flyfishing

I am interested in purchasing a pontoon boat for floating streams like the NFOW or the Niangua. I have never tried one of these boats so I'm a beginner at rowing if that would influence what type of boat to purchase. There seems to be such price desparity between brands and models that I wondered what I should be looking for? Some of the Trout Unlimited models that I have seen are pretty affordable compared to other brands, does anyone know if they are a quality boat? I assume that I need to be looking at 8' pontoons or longer to handle the moving water? Any info from folks who own pontoon boats would be greatly appreciated. I don't want to spend an arm & a leg but I don't want a craft that's not safe for the waters I intend to fish. Thanks

I am an avid diver and keep a boat on the lake at Indian Point so I generally dive SpoonbillBluff 15 to 20 times a year at all different times. I have never seen a spoonbill at that location although I did see a small one off the wall at enchanted forest. I enjoy snagging spoonbill also but this would not be a good location for it. Steep bluff wall full of large trees with limbs stretching out in all directions. Besides that this time of year you will encounter divers there more times than not and snagging and scuba diving definitely don't mix!!

If fishing from a boat I prefer my broomstick with a Penn level -wind. On the rare occassion that I snag from shore I do think that a longer spinning rod is more beneficial because you can get a better swing with the hooks and improve your odds. Anyone else on the board here going to be around Osceola on opening day? That's where I'm starting the season this year.