Buzz

My formal appeal to the Board of Directors in in the mail as I type this. It states that, "Although I did fish longer than the alloted time, the fish had just started to turn on and I hadn't smelled the fire yet." Those Chubs you speak of sir, are Rainbow Chubs and they are quite unique to our area. Just ask Drew. Oh yeah, did I mention that fly rodders rule?????

Looks like a lot of fun. Were those last 2 pics from Shoal Creek.

That sounds like a great day. Your big fish looks a lot like the one I caught Friday. It had a big kype jaw an an ugly knot on his lower jaw too. Deep was what I had to do also, if it wasn't bumping the bottom I didn't get bit. I keep saying I'm gonna get up to BSSP, but I just haven't yet.

Nice fish. Glad to see they were still hungry after the weekend crowd left. What did you catch it on???

It was great meeting you Andy. I really enjoyed the day fishing and cutting up. I was a little worried about the weather, but it didn't seem to bother the fishing at all. I love lite tackle fishing on the smaller streams and am glad we had such a good day. We will definitely do some more fishing. And I'm gonna teach you the fine art of jig fishing too.

Great fish Chris. Good meeting you.

Hey Eric, you really should listen to these guys because they really know what they are talking about. Heck, I've learned a lot just reading this thread. That being said, I will tell you that I am probably the cheapest fisherman you could ever want to meet. I have an Okuma 4/5 rod and an Okuma SVT reel that was purchased at Academy Sports and Outdoors. Total cost was right at $100.00. Until recently, I had it rigged up with 5 wtf SA flyline ( about $25.00 ), but found a spool of Orvis 4 wtf line that I had bought a while back and forgotten about ( can't remember what I paid for it ). Backing line came from Wal-mart for about $ 5.00. I've used this rig for the last 2 1/2 years and have done everything you are talking about. Dries down to about #20 and big streamers up to #4's. I don't really get into the tapered leader and all of the knots either, although this year I purchased 4 furled leaders, 1 mono and 3 thread, which I have been using more as an extension of the flyline. Usually I'll just use a 9' length of Fluro in either 2 or 4 lb. test line for nymphs and streamers and as was said earlier, I also use regular mono for dries. The knots I use are the arbor knot, blood knot, and the old tried and true improved clinch knot. I guess what I'm really saying is, buy what you can afford. Get a rod and reel that feels good to you and go fishing. The really expensive part is the flies that you'll need, even tying your own has a pretty good start up cost. Just my .02 worth.

Eric- I couldn't change my avatar because nobody would know who I was. KC- Too bad you had to head back home today, but I understand. Kevin- I also enjoyed talking to you and Ronnie. I want to do that fishing thing too. Looking forward to it.

Thanks Cricket. And thanks to Dano for doing the name change for me. I did catch a lot of fish and a couple of really nice fish. Unfortunately the biggun' broke me off. There were some really big fish caught by some of the others too. It was a good time.

After being on this forum for quite a while and seeing all of the great names that you guys have come up with, I got to thinking about my own name. Obviously it wasn't too inventive nor is my new name , but after meeting everyone at Roaring River yesterday I realized, I have no other logical choice but to just go with "Buzz". Since most everyone knows me by this name anyway. Thanks for your time and carry on. Buzzz

Well put. I couldn't agree more. I too have gained a lot from being a part of this forum. Priceless. Thanks Cricket.

Caught two good fish and broke off one lunker. It was a great day to be on the river and meeting a bunch of great people. First good fish: Second good fish:

It was good meeting all of the OAF members and catching some nice fish to boot. I caught my first nice sized fish early on an olive bunny bug, but caught the most on a tandem rig with a wooly midge ( something like a burlap ) and a zebra midge dropper. The small tan zebra caught the majority of my fish including my biggest fish that I was able to land. Tan seemed to be the best color for me, but also red and rust zebras caught fish. I hooked up with one true lunker that would go about 5 pounds, but he was smarter than I was. He hit a tan wooly midge and took off upstream. When I was trying to get him on the reel he came back downstream to my side and as soon as I managed to tighten the line on him he took off across stream and broke me off. Oh well, like someone said, " It is always fun hooking up with a lunker, even if you don't always land it."

I agree. Last year if the bug wasn't big and ugly the big fish wouldn't pay a lot of attention to it. Big streamers can wear a guy out but they will also catch some big fish.

Nice fish BM. I'm glad you finally gave up looking for them towels and went fishing.

Sorry to be so late. Happy Birthday ( belated ) guys. My computer was down all last night, just got it up and running again this evening.

I'm not sure how big the Golden/Palomino trout will get, but the true Golden Rainbow does get just as big as a regular rainbow. From what I've read and been told they are a much easier target for Herons and Eagles. The one I caught was just under 8 pounds and the state of Missouri ( at the time ) didn't have any place for it in their record books.

That sounds like a great quest Andy. I got to wondering about the differences between the two strains so I did a search and finally found a site that offered pictures ( more like colored drawings ) of the two species. There was a report last summer about The Little Sugar that showed a pic of a really nice Smallmouth. Comments were made about the white patch on the back of the gill plate. Questions were asked but, I don't think they were ever answered. Anyway the Northern Smallmouth has some distinctions from the Neosho and that is one of them. I'm not sure if I've ever caught a Neosho strain or not. Thanks for the motivation to pay more attention the brownies that we catch over here. Check this out: http://www.fish-fishes.com/fresh_water_fis...smallmouth.html Buzz

That fish looks a lot like like some wild fish we caught early this year. The colors are almost identical. Has anybody noticed any fins clipped on the fish stocked at either Hickory or Capp's? I haven't. I've seen skinned up noses and tails on the fresh stockers, but not really any clipped fins. I'm wondering why the hatcheries might do this in some places and not others? Maybe because they are White Ribbon streams with no real evidence of any successful spawning. I don't know, but I would appreciate an explanation if someone has one.

looking forward to meeting you too Ronnie.

There have been several fish of that size and bigger caught out of the creek over the years. Since the big floods hit the hatcheries we haven't seen any big fish put into Hickory, but with the recent high water and flooding in Neosho it is possible that it got out of the hatchery or the little holding pond by Big Spring Park. All I'm saying is that it is possible, I just haven't seen any sign of a really good stocking yet. I could be wrong though. I did talk to a guy a couple of weeks back who said that someone caught a 5 lb. trout below the low water bridge in the park. Either way that is still a nice fish. Purefish- Maybe you would want to join our stream team and help clean up some of that trash you speak of?

Yeah, those are some that I forgot. Also ,I have Bunny leeches and Mohair Leeches, which produced some nice fish last year at R.R C&R. Anyone else have the same flies that I throw. Where's that dadgummed Ginko.?

Ok, I've got a story for ya. No pics though. When I was about 6 or 7 my dad bought his first big boat. It was a Glassmaster with the walk though windshield. One day soon after, he took me and my younger brother to Stockton Lake to try it out. We got out on the lake and he rigged us both up with rods and lures, I think the one I had on was a Lazy Ike, and started trolling around a big cove. I don't remember how long it took, but I hooked into something and yelled at dad. He slowed the boat down and instructed me what to do. After cranking and cranking that fighting fish I finally got it to the boat. It was a 35" Northern Pike. I was absolutely thrilled, until he said that we had to throw it back because it wasn't big enough. darn. I also remember another boat going by and giving the thumb's up sign or what ever it was back in 1969. Soon after we started trolling again my brother caught his Northern. I remember him laying on his back trying to reel that fish in. Still funny when I think of it. It was short too unfortunately. No pic's and we didn't get to take the fish home to Mom, but it was a great memory that I won't soon forget. Where's that Ginko. I never can remember where I put that stuff.

Thanks for the report Tim. That fish is sure colored up. I hope to get down there soon, it may have to wait until Dec. now though.

I heard on the radio about a company , I think it may be Virgin Airlines, who are going to build a hotel in space. 2 months of training, 4 days in space, only $4.4 million.