Greg_s

For a mono leader to braid, I use either the Albright Knot http://www.netknots....ht_special.html or the Seaguar Knot. http://www.netknots....aguar_knot.html For general braid to lure knots I use either the Palomar knot http://www.netknots....lomar_knot.html or the San Diego Jam Knot with 4 turns. http://www.netknots....o_jam_knot.html The San Diego Jam Knot, aka Reverse Uni Knot is by and far my favorite general purpose fishing knot. I tests around 96% for mono, flourocarbon and braid. It is also very easy to tie once it has been done a couple of times.

The only definative way to tell is to count the rays on the anal fin. Less than 30 is a channel cat. 30 or more is a blue cat.

Rapala F9 silver, 7lbs largemouth. She was busting minnows and I just threw to the boil. Caught a couple over 5lbs that day on the same lure. Largest smallie is in my profile pic. 4lbs on a #4 chartruse and white clouser.

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In the fast runs, Czech nymphing works well. Otherwise, dead drifting nymphs has worked great for me. I have luck on green copper johns, tung teasers, and prince nymphs most of the time. There are always small olive woolly buggers, mohair leaches, and assorted egg colors with me for backup too.

3 things will be your friend: finesse worm on a shaky head wacky rigged senko drop shot finesse worm Low and slow is probably the best bet. Finding the warmest water is going to help too as those fish will be the most active.

I had one. That is until I found that it was not meant for casting nor will it with out birds nesting. They are meant as line holders for jigging/trolling on 10' poles. A small spincaster might do well.

I learned to cast with a hard cover book under my casting arm. It's the same idea as the $20 bill. As my casting progressed, I learned you really don't need to put a lot of power into casting as the rod will do most of the work for shorter distances. I also use the "thumb on top of the rod" grip as I think I can feel the rod load better. For indicators, I like the Lightning Strike footballs. They cast well and a small amount of floatant will increase bouyancy by quite a bit. For casting practice, get a cheap line in the next weight up and cast in the yard. I have a 9' 5wt St. Croix Avid that will shoot a 6wt SA GPX line a country mile and you can really feel the rod load when casting the heavier line.

Brian, go ahead and email off the board. I don't want to give too much info out on here. There's not much for crowds and I'd like to keep it that way as much as possible. g-strick@charter.net

It's my local haunt and a nice small stream overall. The white ribbon section is stocked and there have been recent reports of spawning males and spawned out females caught in the last couple of months. The red ribbon section is less urban and more wild but still easily accessed by hwy 17 at all areas. The fish average 12"-14" but occasionally you can hook into something larger. The red ribbon section and the Gasconade river nearby hold good populations of larger than average rock bass and average sized Smallmouth. The Smallmouth in my avatar was taken from this general area.

They have been spotty right now but were great a few weeks ago. Yesterday was slow but I still managed to catch this guy. Chartuse/White or Purple/White Clousers are great in my section.

Thanks guys, I planned on keeping the woolly bugger. It seems to be the best searching pattern I've fished in this area. That particular tie has proven successful on pretty much every spieces I can think of around here. I was planning on trying a few different variations on the Clouser Swimming Nymph and Skips Dad that have produced well on smallmouth in that stream. I figure the swimming nymph and woolly will allow me to fish the upper and middle column with the baby crayfish imitation for the bottom. Maybe an unweighted woolly on a sink tip for the lower column too? Me thinks this could lead to a slight obsession for a while... Edit: How did you present the ants? Dead drift?

Anyone have a few good recipes for catching catfish? I managed my first fly rod catfish yesterday on a woolly bugger by accident and now I want to catch more.

I've now bought a 3rd spool for my 2 if that counts...

I own both types also and the clamp style from BP. My favorite by far is the pedestal though. I can tie watching television, in the den, or in the back of my car if need be. My pedestal is unique though as my father custom machined only 2. One for him and one for myself.

I own a 2 size and couldn't be happier. They are great reals and worth every penny. With backup spools only $20, I use mine for both my 5 and 6 weight rods.

Times fished: 0800 - 1230 Air Temperature: Comfy Weather: Sunny Water Level: Low Water quality: Slightly Cloudy What worked: Bead-Head Olive Woolly Bugger The morning started by parking at the bottom of the bridge on Hwy 17, near the mouth of the stream. Driving past the Red Ribbon section, I'd always wanted to give it a try and today gave me the opportunity. The stream was considerably lower than earlier in the year, but the flow was pretty good. Having never fished this section and not sure what to expect, I tied on a BH woolly bugger I've grown fond of in this area. This choice proved to be the right one and it never was changed until it became too tattered to use. Even so, it was replaced with the same pattern until I ran through all that I brought with me. This stream holds a very healthy population of rock bass with voracious appetites. Not only that, but their size is good too. The largest of the morning was a fiery 10 1/4 inches. He hit like a small mouth and ran just as hard making for a good fight. The total count was about 28 ranging in size from 5 inches to 10 or so, with an average right around 7-8. Next is the pan fish. There are a lot of them here, but nothing very big. The largest was around 6 inches. Keeping track of pan fish is like counting the bread crumbs in a bakery but to guess, a total around 3 dozen sounds about right. Everything liked that bugger today, even 6 small drum. The largest was about 10 inches and the smallest around 8. What can I say, they're drum. The smallies were few, but those I did catch were good fighters. The largest, a 13 incher, was a good fight. He hit hard while I was picking on a pool of rock bass and managed to wrap me up on a submerged log. With a little finesse, he came untangled before the 4x tippet popped. Total count was 3. Finally, the trout were also elusive but both were good fighters. The first was hooked in the same pool as my largest rock bass of the morning. He shook his head like an angry bull when the hook bit into the corner of his mouth and never stopped until released. The second was taken from underneath a fallen tree in another pool and he put up an equally entertaining fight. Pics of both are below. I definitely need to start bringing my real digital camera with me. Overall, this is a nice stream to just relax on and seems underutilized compared to the Gasconade that it flows into. It's simple to fish and with a variety of species, you'll never get bored.

If you do float through, take care when you come up to the spillway. There are a lot of jagged rocks at the bottom of it and I don't suggest that you go over it in the boat/canoe/etc. Pull off to the right and carry your boat/canoe/etc over the spillway. I floated over it in a zodiac and don't suggest anyone else do so in anything less. I think we ended up popping a floor plate loose at the bottom of it though.