timsfly

sure, lets do that sometime this winter, crane one day and capps the next or vice a versa. I can only fish thru the week, wed, and thursdays are best for me.

I remember when I lived in the little house where my shop sits now, sitting on the pack porch on the cool mornings in nov. and dec, drinking coffee and relaxing, it was almost always quite, only time there was much noise was early and late when people were on their way to work. You can fish down below the park right now and you will probably not see another fisherman any where, just the occasional farmer checking his cows. It is a good time of the year to be fishing on the small stream, things are very quite right now.

You must have been in zone 2, it starts at Dry Hollow and goes to the new bridge, the one that is just below the old dam, and then zone 3 goes down to Off Davis holler. I wish we could fish in zone 3 in the winter, but conservation told me they couldn't police it and the upper area, so it is closed.

Zone 3 was empty because you are not supposed to be fishing in zone 3 during the winter, only 1 and 2 are open for C&R season your lucky you didn't get the warden after you. Zone 3 is closed from nov 1st-feb 28th or 29th depending on the year

Those are good pics, but don't you worry there are some nice trout in that part of the creek, I've seen and caught few really nice bows and browns out of there. I was fishing with a guy once who thru a bugger in where shoal and capps come togeather, and he had a real nice brown on, it would have went 24" real easy. But this was in feb. the water was a little higher and there were several trout in there that day. I have caught a lot of trout out of the holes above the bridge(bridge above where shoal and capps come togeather. Holler some time thru the week and I'll come over and fish with you. I can't fish during the weekends, I have my reagular 3hr a day job, fri, sat, and sunday. Thurdays a good day for me. I used to only live 15 minutes from Jolly, we used to fish it quite a bit.

fishing was really good today, lots of top water action, saw a lot of midges out early and before I left around 12:00 there were a lot of caddis and a few blue wing olives hatching. I caught most of my fish today on bunny leeches, some as big as a #4(orange/white) I did very good on these, and I never went smaller than 4X tippet today. I caught and released only 7 fish today but all were over 3lbs, my biggest was 6lbs, and I had a 5lb as well the rest were 3's and 4's. and all but one were caught on a bunny bug or leech pattern. I caught 1 on the ornage/white bunny bug, 1 on a tan bunny bug, 3 on a purple squirrel bug, tied like the bunny bugs. and 2 on a white san juan worm. I didn't fish any dries today but Roger was catching a few on a griffith gnat, Garrison was catching few, didn't see what he was throwing, and Steve was using cracklebacks and he said he had caught a few. I did see a few jig fisherman catching one now and again, but they didn't seem to be real well. After a busy weekend, sometimes you need to throw something totaly different, that is why I was throwing the bunny bugs, I didn't catch #'s but the bigger fish took a lot of intrest in those flies today. I had several more take the fly I just didn't hook them well enough to land them. It was a nice day on the river, if you want to have the river more to yourself come on a monday, I fished from dry hollow to the low water bridge this morning before I ever had company. Good day to be on the river.

I was fishing a tungsten headed purple #10 bunny leech, and I was using 5X fluorocarbon tippet, I haven't went smaller yet, I used 4X fluorocarbon a few times today on larger fish, and had no problems. I landed 4 over 5lbs today and probably 10 or more over 3lbs, most on a purple leech or a tan woolybugger, and a few on a chamios worm. Roger was catching fish nearly every cast on a # 16 caddis, and there was surface activity all day long. I finished up the day with John, Larry, and Harvey up by the hatchery, and when I left those guys(except Harvey, he was with me) were still catching trout, I just got tired and headed home. It looked like everybody down today was catching trout.

We have had a good opeing this year for the C&R season, nice weather, lots of nice fish and good dry fly and nymph fishing. I caught this 22" rainbow this morning and saw several more pics of other nice fish that had been caught the past few days. The dry fly fishing was very good this afternoon, I caught 9 on a #16 elk hair caddis, 4 on a black ant, and 5 on a parachute adams, and a hole bunch on eggs, copper johns, and san juan worms. There were several people down today and most of the people I saw were catching fish regulary, I did see one small boy, probably around 8 years old, land a nice 4lb + rainbow on a black yellow jig, he was fishing it under an old red/white cork, it was a lot of fun watching him land that fish, his dad did a fine job releasing the fish. I am also adding a pic of the new cell tower that is more than 1/2 way finished. When this is done you won't have an excuse for not getting that phone call from the office, I wish they wouldn't have built the thing, but what is done is done.

Yep an 8 1/2 or 9' 5 wt will do most of what you need. If you are going to fish taney alot go with the 5wt, if you are going to fish taney some, but fish the parks more, I would opt for a 4wt. Everybody will have an opinon to offer, but Echo, or TFO would both be good rods, both are priced pretty good, and both have good warranties.

Yes, I think Crane and Mill Creek have Mcloud river rainbows.

Yeh the water is clear and low up there right now, JJtroutbum, do you want pics of the creek and stuff like that ? I'll try to do better, I usually just take a pic of the fish right quick, but I'll do some scenery next time.

Fished crane again today, fished above town, it is a lot brushier and the stream is a lot smaller than what it is down below town, I saw lots of fish today, but only landed 3 but had a blast anyway, it was so brushy in a few spots it would have been better to have had a short spinning rod, than the fly rod I had. Here are few pics. The dark trout in the photo was about 16" long, I hooked him, he made one run and he was gone, oh well that is the way it goes. Caught em all on a 1/80th oz woolybugger jig, ginger in color.

Prices don't look bad at all, I saved it to my favroites Thanks.

The conservation guys have told me time and again that there is no natural reproduction in Roaring River, but how could there not be ? The rainbows keep going in other streams in the area, so I think yes there has to be some natural reproduction, not much maybe but there has to be some. I catch those little fellows quite often and they look as wild as a trout can look.

I took a few pics to show the water quality, I've had a few phone calls and e-mails all asking what condtion the water was in, so here you go. Here is a little Video of some lunkers at Roaring River. http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u294/ti...nt=PB110003.flv

The kids in the area build small dams to hold the water back each year, and each year the floods take em out, it is fishing pretty good. I fished it a few weeks ago. We have had a lot of water this year, and that kept the water high enough to keep most of the silt moving on down stream.

The bridge at, or just below the muncy cemetary is the muncy bridge.

You can get a good map on www.google.com/maps I use this a lot when going to new places. You can center in on Roaring River state park, and then you can move the map to the east and follow F-hwy. the road marked Prior rd, is the road that takes you to muncy, and if you go on down to hwy 86, and turn to the south, you'll see FR-2280, this will take you to Curry bridge, and the bridge is the end of Roaring River, every thing below the bridge is considered lake, there are trout below the bridge in the winter and some even into late spring. The best fishing is from the bridge up, good luck.

I fished Mill Creek today, first time I've been up there in over 20 years, it hasn't changed a whole lot, the trout all looked the same. I caught 3 nice trout, hooked several more and had many strikes that I missed, seen some holes that would have 3 or 4 12" trout in them and then holes that looked just as nice would only have one 10"-12" trout, the trout have plenty to eat, the little creek is full of creek chubs, sculpins and crawfish, the trout will never starve. I caught all my trout on a #12 tung headed pine squirrel nymph, no tail just has the micro squirrel palmered on the hook, it was dark brown. I started at the picnic area on CR7550 and walked up stream from there, fished about 3 hrs. I don't know if the water level is normal now or low but you had to walk a ways between fish holding areas.

It's not cheap but a great deal of fun, it is cheaper to reload than to buy over the counter. But you'll spend a bit getting bullets, powder, primers, and there are lots of other gadgest one can buy, it isn't as bad as fly tying. I have a few guns that you can't buy ammo for anymore and I have to reload, but depends on how much you shoot if it is going to save you money in the long run. Buy good equipment, I have a RCBS Rock Chucker, with 3 dies and a few other gadgets it was around 300.00 new, but I'll bet you can get a deal on e-bay or maybe your local gun shop, and I see decent reloaders in pawn shops from time to time. Good luck

Yeh I was as happy with that big bow on crane as I was with that big char on the Ugashik, both were a thrill, but it has been awhile since I've caught a 20" fish off of crane, I've hooked a few but I hadn't landed one like that in awhile, I'll give him a few weeks to rest and go back and see if he is ready for another fight.

I put all the pics on my photobucket site if you want to look at all of them. http://s171.photobucket.com/albums/u294/ti...nt=PB070221.jpg You can pull this one up and then just thumb thru them if you want.

I had one of the best days on Crane that I've ever had, I caught and released 29 rainbow trout today, a personal best for me on that creek. Caught them on black stimulators, clousers, big buggers, some rabbit strip flies, and some on a gray wulff, and caught the most on a #12 Copper john, with a copper bead, and red copper wire, with a hares ear thorax and it had the wide pearl flash with the epoxy on the back. Oh and I had small rubber legs tied on it like a madem ex sort of like that anyway. Fished below town mostly, I did fish in town from the park bridge down and caught a few, but did best below town. The fish are in really good shape on crane this year, I'm hoping they get in a good spawn this year, I don't think they did well last year, the first nasty floods came just about the time they were starting to spawn. the fish in the first pic is 20" and is one of the nicest fish I've caught this year on crane.

Fished a few hrs below Roaring River park today, caught 9 trout, 5 browns, 4 rainbows. Nothing over 15" but all appeared to be in good shape, all of them came out on a #8 mohair leech(olive) I started at the conservation area below the park, fished there a bit, and then drove down to the next bridge(muncy). Caught most of my fish around the conservation area parking lot, caught the nicest fish about 1/4 mile above the muncy bridge, it was a nice 15" brown. Great weather, saw a few more fish, missed several. Lots of deer out and about today, saw 1 nice buck and 7 does this afternoon.

A good spinning rod that is ultra light/light action something made for 2-6lb line, you want a good reel with a smooth drag, a drag that sticks or is jerky can cost you a big fish. We use a lot of marabou jigs 1/16th-1/100th in size. I have done a lot of jig fishing here at roaring river over the years and I would stick with the 1/16th and the 1/32nd size most of time on the first weekend, as the fish get hammered as the weekend goes, the smaller jigs will work a bit better. My favorite jig is the ole roaring river special in moss green, I tie it on a 1/32 oz head, I have caught hundreds of 3lb + trout on this jig. Next would be black/yellow, white, brown, olive, olive/brown, olive/black, and then I use ginger a lot also, these same colors work in the woolybuggers also. Next comes the monofiliment, I like the maxima in 2 or 3lb, I will use 4lb sometimes on opening weekend, because you can get away with it then, as the season progresses I will drop down to 2 or 3lb line. Other good lines are vanish in the 2 or 4lb, p-line, and ande all in 2 or 4lb. Glo-balls and thread jigs fished under an indicator work well also, white thread jigs are usually the best, chartruse can be good also. Glo-ball in orange, pink, tri-colored, and the oregon cheese are my favorites, and there will be lots of trout caught on these thru out the C&R season. Good luck, here is the report I posted on my site, good luck have a fun C&R season no matter where you fish. C&R season starts the 14th of nov. The fishing looks to be very good this year. The hatchery has stocked some lunkers, over 100 over 3lbs. Another 1500 or so in the 10” To 15” range, not as big as last years batch, But still some nice fish. The river is in great shape, the spring and Summer rains have really been a blessing, this year, the river is in better shape than it has been in for years. Good flies to use on opening day would be the always effective Wooybugger, and baby bugger. Pheasant tail nymphs, hares ears, copper Johns, prince nymphs, and sow bugs will work very well. Zebra midges, small burlaps, and small midges will work all day. Marabou streamers are always a good bet in the early morning. My favorite colors for streamers or woolybuggers are the black, brown, Tan, or the olive(moss green). There are always some good hatches in the winter, caddis come off almost everyday, and on the warmer days, beetles and ants are good, and blue wing olives and midges hatch off nearly every day also, we have some pretty good dry fly fishing all winter long. I have seen it at 15 degrees and the hatches were so thick the flies would hatch off rise up hit the cold air and die and fall back in the water and the fish were going after them as soon as they hit the water, that was a fun day, cold but fun. Before the park closed on oct 31st, I had been using a copper john/micro egg Combo and had been doing pretty well every morning, sometimes catching 7 or 8 before heading off to work. A dropper off your lead fly will usually catch more fish for you. http://ozarkanglers.com/index.php?option=c...9&Itemid=57 Go to this site and it will really explain the dropper system to you if you have Any questions. Well I’m on the way out to go fishing, so if you have anymore questions e-mail me at timsfly@hotmail.com or Call the shop at 417-847-4956 I’m going to be open every weekend 10 a.m.- 1 p.m. fri, sat, and sun. I’ll be closed on Mondays. Tim's Fly Shop