tangledup

I’m stuck at home today so on my quest to branch out and catch more species on my fly rod this year I decided to try my hand at some baitfish patterns. This was my first attempt at the Hoo Fly developed by Johnny King. He developed it as a saltwater pattern but I don’t know why I couldn’t change the colors and make it work around here. As long as it catches fish I think I’m going to like it. Super quick and easy to tie, which is a huge plus for me, and it only uses craft fur and laser dub.

Red brassies in size 16 worked well for us in the beginning last year as well but they stopped producing over the summer.

I did well with pink and orange frenchies last fall. I have yet to catch a Crane Creek trout on a wooly bugger but that doesn't stop me from throwing them lol.

I’m light on flies right now but I picked up a few things from the fly shop and hope to do some tying this weekend. If I can get a few tied up I’m going to head down there one day next week and try my luck.

Duck season kept me busy (not to mention work) so I haven't been to Crane Creek recently. In this lull between duck season and turkey season my mind has turned back to fishing and I find myself missing this little stream. I'd love to hear some stories if anyone has been lately.

It was my first attempt at tying jigs. I'm pleased with how they turned out. The craft fur and eyes I already had so all I needed were the jig heads. They were $9.50 for 50 plus another $5 per 50 to have them powdercoated so I'm not out much.

I have access to some private land not far from there where we duck hunt. Usually do pretty well there as far as the white bass go. I tied some crappie jigs for a friend of mine the other day and liked the way they looked. I think I’m going to try some clousers in the same color schemes.

Getting a start on the clousers.

I've got a pretty good spot.

You aren't kidding. I only totaled 29 ducks for the year and it definitely wasn't for lack of effort!

Thanks! I'll take all the help I can get. I've started watching/reading some stuff on white bass fishing with a fly rod and tying different types of baitfish patterns. You're suggestion about heavier weighted flies makes sense to me, coming from a spin fishing background until a couple years ago, because I couldn't figure out how guys were getting those airweight flies (unweighted craft fur patterns and such) down deep enough. Maybe they are usingpoly leaders and such. I bought an intermediate line but now I'm thinking I should also go get a Type III line as well.

I've been wanting to get into fly fishing for bigger species for a little while now, but I spent so much money on duck hunting equipment this year this year I figured I better give the bank account a rest. Yesterday I was in the Bass Pro outlet and found a Redington 8wt, Cabelas SR3 reel, and a Rio sinking line all for about $100. They may not be the most elegant setup in the world but I ran it by a couple people who are better acquainted with fly fishing stuff than I am and they both said those pieces of kit will fish just fine. I also stopped by the fly shop and grabbed stuff to tie up some different fly patterns so hopefully I will be ready for some white bass on a fly rod this year!

I'm married so I no longer have to worry about such frivolous things......

I found a White River landing net at Crane Creek this morning. Looks to be almost brand new and has a magnetic holder attached. I’d say whoever lost it got it snagged on a bush and didn’t realize it was gone until they got back to their truck. Lmk if it’s yours or you know someone who lost one.

I've heard many good things about Hargrove's but I've never been there. I don't make it to STL very often but I'll have to check them out the next time I'm up there.

A Sig 365. I’ve been wanting one for a while to replace my Glock 42 as my daily carry. It was actually my wife who made me buy it. She knew I had been looking at them so while I was looking at fishing stuff she snuck off and had the gun desk pull one out for me then told me go fill out the paperwork.

Well I went back to Bass Pro, but I didn’t buy the fly rod like you guys suggested. So I bought a new gun instead lol.

I’m always willing take to a rod for a test run Lol. Just don’t know anyone who has one. And honestly I’m novice enough that I probably wouldn’t know a good casting rod from a bad. I have days that I go out and make great presentations and think I’m getting the hang of it, then I’ll go right back the next day and my line always ends up in a tree or piled in a mess at my feet. I’m not sure how effective I would be at testing a rod.

WARNING: This is going to be a "what rod should I buy post" so if you hate newbie questions like that, the door is over there. I was poking around the Bass Pro Outlet yesterday (that place is going to be the cause of my divorce) and they had several TFO fly rods marked down. I wasn't super familiar with the brand so I came home and did a little research. After reading reviews on Bass Pro, Amazon, and this site I decided $100 seemed like a pretty decent deal. Here is my question: I currently use a Cabela's RLS rod/reel in a 9' 5wt. It has worked well for me in everything from small spring creeks, stocked trout parks, the James River, and pond fishing. The majority of my fishing is chasing rainbows on small creeks and streams and some trips to the trout parks a few times a year. I would be interested in hearing your opinions on whether I should get a better quality rod similar to the setup I'm using or expand my arsenal so to speak and purchase a lighter 3 or 4wt rod since I spend a decent amount of time on small streams chasing trout.

It has certainly changed the dynamic of going to places like Roaring River and other state parks. Even my son has noticed it and commented on how there is just a different type of people now. Before COVID I feel there was a sort of unwritten code of conduct among outdoor enthusiasts: be polite and respectful; respect personal space on hiking trails, rivers, etc.; pick up after yourself and leave an area better than you found it. With more people using our outdoor resources it seems like that code of conduct is vanishing. You can tell many people didn't have parents or mentors who taught them how to respect nature and others in nature. Instead they treat a day at a beautiful river or campground like a trip to an amusement park where they crowd each other, throw their trash all over the place and their only concern is how quickly they can get from one "attraction" to the next, with no regard for the people in between them and their next destination. We took my son's scout group to the Buffalo River last weekend and I spoke to one of the rangers before we started our community service project on one of the trails. He made the same observations and told me he noticed a complete change in the attitude and behavior of people since the "pandemic" started. It's really sad.

The last time my son and I fished there when it was hot (sometime during the first week of August) I was so frustrated with the number of people who were wading/swimming/lawn chair sitting in the no wade zones. One couple even came and tossed a couple kayaks in bend right above the handicap area in Zone 2.

We are loading up to take our scouts to the Buffalo River this weekend so I won't be able to make it today, but I would love to meet you down there for some fishing sometime. The hopper pattern was working well the last time I was there.

Up until now the majority of my fly fishing has been for trout, and most of that in small spring fed streams so the tapered leaders work just fine for me. I'm like tjm, I like to keep things simple and it doesn't get much simpler than grabbing a leader off the shelf and putting two loops together. Hand tying my own leaders is something I want to try but I have to admit, when I first started fly fishing and was reading about line/leader selection, learning 13,000 new knots, and all this stuff you HAVE to do or you won't catch a fish, I quickly became overwhelmed. Now that I've spent more time fishing than reading about it I'm starting to figure out what works for me and what doesn't and I have a little better handle on it. Maybe hand tied leaders are in the near future.

Interesting! I’ve never messed with furled leaders but that looks so simple I’m going to have to give it a try.

Bass leader question: This weekend we are camping on the Buffalo River and my son and I are taking our 5wt fly rods (the only size we each have right now). I tied up some small clousers, buggers, leeches, etc. trying to keep the size appropriate for our 5wt rods. I've been researching building a bass leader and while there are many, many opinions, there also seems to be a common theme of using a 6-8' leader built with sections of 30#, 15-20#, then 10-12# mono when using a floating line. For some of the smaller patterns I may take that a step further and use tippet of 0X-2X. Here is my question: many of the sites I've read and posts I've seen on this forum and other places refer to using Maxima for building leaders. I have lots of mono in Stren, Trilene, and other manufacturers for bass fishing on spinning gear. Obviously Maxima is desirable for certain reasons, but is there any reason I can't use the other brands of mono that I already have?