timsfly

I've had my muck boots for two years now, they are great, I use them almost everyday. Completly waterproof, and I did punch a hole in mine last year, but they were very easy to patch, just used my wader repair kit on them, best 100.00 boots I've ever had.

I don't think it will be messed up this weekend, even with all the ice and stuff, it won't melt fast enough to muddy the river, now it might come up a bit, but I don't think it will hurt a thing, might make it better even, and the fishing has been mighty good. I talked to one of the park guys today, other than a few limbs down and I think he said they lost a couple of trees, we made out much better than they did just 20 miles to the south, poor arkansas really got the brunt of this last storm.

I don't shovel, I'll just wait for the sun But I have the jeep running now, letting it warm up, I'm going to go down the road a bit and do a little fishing. got to catch a trout today.

I sent you a PM, let me know when you are going, I'll meet you there and show you some of those secret holes, the ones I won't show Michael in springfield I'll show you, I've known you longer

I use different color of threads to tell my flies apart. black for unweighted brown for 5-10 wraps of lead yellow for 10+ and red for bead + lead I use .015 for most of my small flies and .020 for my small buggers and .025 and larger for #8 sized flies and bigger. I still use a bit of .030 sometimes, and I use a coffee brown when I use it on a big fly.

I don't know but prices are on the rise, I bought a 5000 round case of 22. long rifles a few months ago, and I'm glad I did, they are 40.00 more than when I bought them in nov. I also stocked up on .45 colt and .38's you never know when you might need a bunch in a hurry. I guess I should go ahead and buy another case of .223 ammo, you never know when it might be needed, we shoot a lot of coyotes and stuff around here, and cans

I would go with the Dyna-king, been tying on two proffesional Dyna-kings for over 30 years with nary a problem. They are tough.

I have seen some good midge activity on crane creek, and you can catch fish on a griffiths gnat but I just seem to get the better 10" + fish on bigger flies. There are a few places, where you could catch a bunch of 5" fish if you just fished a gnat. I have caught fish on a zebra midge, and other small nymphs, such as WD-40's and small brassies, but only after adding a lot of weight, or using them behind a bigger fly, the fish on crane will hit nearly anything if it gets there attention and looks to be a food item, I don't find them very picky on what they'll eat.

I fish some very heavy # 8 and # 10 bead heads over on crane, sometimes your drift is very limited, and you have to get down quick, the fish don't seem to mind a bigger meal, I think they eat a lot of crawfish, sculpins, minnows and each other most of the time. A big attractor dry has worked for me for years over there, most fish are small on the dry, but over the years I've had a few pushing 20" on a dry, those are great fun, they really seem to fight harder when hooked near the surface. Another thing on Crane, I think the river in areas has way to many trout, and the trout probably have to eat about anything that comes to them, if it looks natural I think they will hit it, or if it is drifting in a natural way, it might be food so they take a chance and eat the offering, same thing with western trout on fast little creeks, limited season for food and a lot of competition for what food there is. Of course this is just my opinion.

You should have a good time, Crane fished very well today. I stayed in and above town, I fished to the railroad bridge below town and then went to the first conservation area and fished down about 1/2 way to the 2nd conservation parking area. #10 hares ears and #12 tan stimulators were great today.

There are a couple of places you can pull over and walk to the creek along the road, but the conservation parking lot is down past the bridge (the bridge up by the mill) a few miles, at the old bridge, I think it might be Walleye road, just above where capps runs into shoal creek. The next stocking will be just before march 1st, or sometime around that time. The guys at the hatchery will call me and tell me, if I call them and remind them, I want to know when the next stocking will be. Capps is a great little creek, have fun. How did you guys do at the park. fishing was pretty good yesterday afternoon, I hooked big one in front of the lodge, but it got off just as I was about to land it, but I caught a slew of smaller fish.

those are really good pics, I saw a few eagles today, but my camera won't take pics that good.

yep sorry about that I meant to post that. 8-4 fri, sat, sun, and mondays untill the second full weekend of feb. looks like the 16th of feb. this year.

Crane was fun yesterday nobody around, caught several. The park is fishing great this morning, very cold a light dusting of snow, nothing to make driving dangerous, or anything, but it is pretty. Saw 2 eagles one in a tree by the lodge, and one down by the fish cleaning station, where I started fishing. I only caught 5 trout this morning, very cold, cleaned the rod tip out several times, the ice kept building up on the tip and the first 3 eyes, the fish are very active today, maybe the cooler temps makes them more frisky, of course the water in the park doesn't change much for the first few miles, but maybe the trout just like the cooler weather as do I. It was 5 when I got to the shop this morning.

No snow, and none expected that I'm aware of. Just bone chilling cold, I'm going to go fish crane in a few minutes, I think it will be quiet down there today.

March will be ok, there will be more people, but the fishing should be good. We have some really good dry fly fishing in march, if the water stays normal, march 9th would be a good time to be here.

I was at the river today, it is still in great shape, it won't change unless we get lots of rain or snow. You can only fish zones 1 and 2 right now, zone 3 is always closed during the C&R season.

The float from stubblefield to EE is great, some nice smallmouth in there. I will put in at stubblefield, but I wouldn't leave a rig there, it gets rough in there sometimes, there have been lots of fights, lots of arrests down there and they found a body down there last year, so it is best fished in broad daylight. EE doesn't seem to get that kind of attention, I guess because it is right on the hwy, and right out in the open, I fish down that way quite a bit in the summer, There is some good fishing down there. Right there in Jenkins it gets a bit crowded also in the summer, but when it is 90+ outside you are going to have people swimming, but the fishing is worth it.

The Echo classic rods are very good, retail was 149.00, that rod has been discontinued. But it will still carry a lifetime warranty if it is new. So if you can get it I would, I sold a lot of those rods the past few years, I sold a lot more 8' 4wt than 9' 4wts, but the whole series of the Echo classics cast well.

I'm sure it will remain open in some fashion.

Yes it has lots of memories for me also, I have been going in that old lodge since 1969 or there abouts, I used to live in one of the rooms upstairs, lived in one every summer for about 8 summers, man the fun I had. It hasn't changed much in all that time, it has remained much the same.

I'm glad they are building the new park store, for me in my buisness it will be great, if people are already in their cars, driving to the new store, it will make them that much more likely for them to come see me, there won't be anymore of that walking in from the stream to get a soda or a sandwich. I've heard all kinds of rumors about the old lodge, talk of making it into a Historical building. restoring it like it used to be and renting out the rooms and I've heard that they might make it into a nature center type of building. There really in no telling what the state might decide to do. When the DNR is involved in something anything could happen.

It is a wonderful placed best enjoyed in the fall, winter and early spring, the drug people and drunks take it over in the summer time, it is a shame but it is a place I won't go without a gun, in the spring or summer, you might see anything. It is a great place to put in a canoe, but I wouldn't park a vehicle there.

The new park store does not even have a foundation yet, I doubt they'll have it ready before March 1st, if they do they are really going to have to start working. So far they have just done some dirt work, no construction had been started, at least not last week. Maybe they done something today, but yesterday there was no work going on. I'm not sure who is bulding it, if it is the state doing the work, it may take a long time if they hired it out it will get done in a timely manner.

Nothing in the park will be open then, there are several places just outside the park, first one I would check out would be Roaring River resort, their # is 417-847-3235 There will be plenty of fishing below the park, if you like to walk. Nice place here is there web site http://www.roaringriverresort.com/