Buzz

I know what you mean about unnatural. When I first started fly fishing I had reels that had a right hand crank. Later I bought a reel that had a left hand crank and I literally smacked myself on the forehead. Thinking: This just makes sense and is so much easier. Good luck with your decision.

Bass Pro is Bass Pro. So is Wal-Mart, Academy, and many more. I don't go to Bass Pro looking for the best deals, because I know I won't get them there. Thier prices are way too high for what an average angler will want to spend. God forbid you are just starting out. But, I have had a couple of instances where I was impressed with customer service. 1st) I bought a bass pro bass rod ( this was back in the 80's ) and I broke the tip off of it, I don't even remember how, and took it back to the store to see what they would do for me. I didn't expect much. The girl at the service desk told me to go and get another rod to replace it. Problem: They had changed this particular rod and didn't carry it anymore. I talked to an associate and he pointed me to the comparable rod .It was traded out without question. The latest situation was Feb. this year. My wife wanted some gloves that would allow her to work with her camera equipment and still have some sort of feel. Anyway, we started off in the bass fishing area which had gloves. I didn't see anything that would work, so I asked an associate and he directed me to the fly shop. Guess what? That's where we found what we were looking for. I guess the moral to the story is: You Can't Always Get What You Want, But If You Try, Sometimes You Get What You Need.

Before you go and throw that reel away you should give it a try. I've been using the old style right crank baitcasters for years and have seriously been considering getting a left crank reel. Not unlike what you do with most spinnning reels, cast with the right hand and crank with the left. The hand change up alone is a pain for some topwater baits that you want to start as soon as they hit the water. I, like most, have figured out how to manage this but it is still something that has to be timed perfectly. Give it a try and see how you like it. If you don't like it, I'm sure you will find a buyer on this forum. This might just be a lucky day for you.

I also posted the link to my Facebook page.

Nice fish Ollie, but a little funky looking. I'm glad you were able to get out and fish.

. Me too. I also hope the government does the right thing. It seems like this has been going on way too long. I can't remember how many of these I've sent to our reps.

Done. Thanks for posting ducky.

Rare indeed. That boy can catchem' for sure.

I've been fishing since I can remember. My uncle took me to Roaring River when I was about 12. That was my first experience with trout. I caught the heck out of them on trout worms. Later, much later, I went back and had a very tough time, but still caught a few fish. I mostly remember watching the fly fishermen casting that long rod and hooking up with fish while I had trouble getting a look. I remembered my dad had gone to Canada back in the late 60's and still had the old glass rod and the automatic reel so I asked to borrow it. Long story short, I went back to Roaring River, still not knowing what the hell I was dong, and caught fish. I also lost the biggest park fish I've ever hooked up with on that day. I still have that old glass rod, but it's since been turned into a big bass rod. Some 26 years later I have finally figured out the darned trout and am now moving toward warmwater fish. It's been great and has turned into one of the loves of my life. As many of us can agree.

As I see it, Fly fishing is something that a lot of us picked up later in life, me at the ripe old age of 24, while almost all of us started out fishing for panfish and bass. It is not a cheap sport. Whether you buy your flies or your supplies at a brick and morter or online depends on your location. I have to drive at least 1 hour to my nearest fly shop, Plateau has been getting a lot of my business, but I have been going to Springfield much more often than before. Most of the flies that I buy are from online stores that offer either free shipping or deals that beat fly shops prices or the cost of tying myself. So to say that prices going up means the interest is high doesn't match up with supply and demand. Online competition is going to be tough to beat when you can shop 10 stores in one evening as opposed to one or 2 actual shops in one day. Gas costs has a lot to do with how I buy anymore. If I can get the product bought and shipped at a lower cost than making the drive I will be buying online. But if I'm in the neighborhood of a fly shop, Plateau or Tim's, I will always opt to buy from them.

Great photo.

Great pics. Good luck this weekend.

We did pick up a lot of trash Saturday even though we didn't actually get into the creek itself. There was plenty around the edges.

My best have all come in summer. All from Shoal Creek. Two 17" and one 17 1/2" all on watermelon softcraw jigs from fast water that had quite a bit of depth. The biggest came from a hole that runs along a bank that the railroad runs above it had big big chunk rocks. Pics of the first two fish. Of course I can't find the pic of the third, But what's a half inch. Right? June July

Very nice fish.

Until you get a yak there a bunch of places you can get to and fish without a boat, if you are willing to get wet.

You can buy them either way, like MOGUY said. I bought a couple of pairs of Neoprene boot foot waders that were nice when the weather and water was cold, but were mostly worthless when it warmed up. As long as the waders are kept in good shape you can replace the boots at a much cheaper cost.

I really like my breathable Magellan waders from Academy. I'd say waders and boots cost right at $ 100.00. You can spend as much money as you want, but if the quality is not there it can be expensive replacing them. I have had no problems with mine and I'm starting my 3rd year. Definitely try them on in the store, boots and all. You want to be sure they have full range of motion, but not too loose. remember you will probably be wearing extra layers if you plan on fishing any during the winter months. You'll want to try on the boots after you have decided on the waders. Boot sizes are misleading. I ended up buying size 14 boots because my waders have the neoprene sock feet my actual shoe size is a 9. BTW, I bought the $30.00 rubber wading boots. For what I do they are perfect. You may decide you need a better quality boot depending on where you fish.Remember also that your boots need to be comfortable if you expect to fish all day.

Thanks guys it was fun. I know Chief, you have been telling me for years. You know,after I lost that red craw I tied on a wiggle wart just to compare the 2 baits and I really prefer the Excaliber bait. It has a whole lot more vibration and it didnt get hung up so that I couldn't get it back until the last time of course. I'm going to Academy to get a few more. Well, I was incorrect about the maker of the red craw crankbait I was throwing today. It was actually a H20 Express bait. So when I went to Academy I got a couple more of them and a couple Excalibur cranks. I'm ready now.

With the break from cold weather and having a bad case of cabin fever I decided today would be a good day to hit one of my favorite walk in spots. I got to the water at about 8:15 and started with the trusty spinnerbait. It didn't take long before I caught a nice feisty smallmouth. Long story shortened, I didn't have anymore takers on the spinnerbait, nothing on the soft craw, and not a look at the stickbait. So I dug into the crankbait box and pulled out a red craw colored Excaliber square bill. That's when the fun really started. I caught my first on about the third cast. A fat Kentucky at about 15 inches that hit just outside of the weedline. One more keeper fish came from the same whole, but that was it. I explored some more down stream but no takers, so I headed back upstream a ways and caught 1 more keeper and one dink. By the time I got back up to the point I had started there were 6 people fishing on the other side of the creek. Not such a secret after all. The wind by now was absolutely howling out of the south. Still throwing the square bill, I caught 2 more nice fish from around big rocks. The last fish was a very nice brownie, probably 15 or 16 inches, that slammed the crank after it came over a big rock. My biggest in a while and my first on a crankbait in a really long time. Not a bad 3 and a half hours fishing.

Years ago we were fishing around Cape Fair and found two fish like that except they had both died. The biggest was close to 7 lb. and the smaller was at about 3 or 4 lbs. It is quite a sight to see.

Great picture of the kids.

I really enjoy reading your posts and blog.I have the itch too and I'm hoping for a Crane trip and hopefully a trip to Taney soon.

It sounds like a good time for a good cause. I'll try to make it.