Project Healing Waters

BrianS, how is the river floating? Prediction for late July? Anything dangerous or noteworthy? Got a Project Healing Waters group we're wanting to float either on the 11pt or Current.

Now THAT is a VERY good idea!

And what does ANY of that competition crap have to do with a guy with a bass boat and a fly rod along with his spinning gear on lower Taneycomo who doesn't even know what rate, brand, and length his rod is? I'm sure he's gonna run out and buy 15 fly lines and extra spools just because that's the way the US Fly Fishing Team guys (who continue to get SERVED year after year) would do it. LMAO! Please, Randy. Who do you think you're impressing with this BS?

Dude, I have probably logged more hours fishing lower Taney from a boat with a fly rod in the past decade than anyone mentioned in this thread except for Forsythian...including the authors of those wonderful books. And lower Taneycomo actually fishes more like a big river than it does a lake. Some deep water techniques are handy, and most of that comes from stillwater fly fishing circles. But lower Taney ALWAYS has a considerable current with very few isolated locations that are exceptions. This ain't Scotland. But something tells me you haven't fly fished in either place. I agree that this chap would probably learn more useful stuff by reading stillwater and big river fly fishing "how to's" than by talking to any pro in this area about fly rodding lower Taneycomo. The pro's simply don't do it. But it can pay off in a big way now and then if you know where the fish should be...trout, bass, and pan fish. As for locating fish on stillwaters...trolling around with a wooly bugger, huh? Not me. Growing up fishing from human-powered watercraft with no electronics, you learn to read the bank and predict submerged structures based on that. You move from likely spot to likely spot with a "sure-fire" generic fly pattern (something that will catch all types of fish in all conditions) making 1-3 casts at each likely holding spot. Keep moving until you catch something. Then make 3 more casts to the spot where you caught the fish. If no more takes at that location, keep moving. Fishing big water is about covering all the myriad likely holding spots the big water has to offer that you can in the amount of time you have to fish. AS SOON as a spot slows down...MOVE! And I carry exactly THREE different types of fly lines when fishing big rivers and/or lakes. Fifteen means you have no idea what you're doing, so you're taking everything but the kitchen sink..."just in case." Of course, the old fellow who taught me to play golf carried a driver, a 9 iron, and a putter...and nothing else. He loved to get the exercise of walking vs. riding a cart, but he was old and didn't want to lug a full set of clubs around in the TX heat. That old retired doctor took many a $100 bill off of younger men with top-o-the-line, full sets of golf clubs. A true master of 3 clubs will beat a guy who is using clubs he has not mastered nearly every time. And who has truly mastered every club in a full set who isn't on the PGA tour? You can get by with a floating, intermediate sink tip, and full sinking express line. By altering the leaders and weights of your flies with one of these three lines, you can effectively fish any depth a fly rod will reach...which is 0 to 20 feet (give or take a couple of feet).

Depends on what you want to accomplish. You can spend some $$$ and get set up to fish flies down to as deep as 20' or so...sinking lines, 6-7wt rods, etc. Fly fishing that deep is a much slower process than your typical spin fishing version or fly fishing shallow. It's a patient man's game. But you can hook some serious fish that way. I have to agree with the micro-jigs 6' under a small float as a general rule for lower Taney. This produces well in mid-depth and shallower water such aas coves, near docks, etc. Try hot pink and white thread jigs in 1/100th oz and peach, rainbow, and red glo-ball micro-jigs in 1/100th oz. You can add a red or pink or tan San Juan Worm dropper to that if you like. If water clarity is really good, tie on a size 16 soft hackle as a dropper instead of the worm...or a size 16 blood midge. Slack line drift with a floating fly line will produce if you find the fish.

It was still pretty murky once you got about 1/2 way between Althea Spring and James Lane yesterday midday. I wouldn't say "muddy," but not good fishing water yet. I was up at ROLF Sunday evening and the river was already clearing nicely. This morning...even with no direct sunlight yet...I can see bottom contours behind Taylors'. But the CFS is still running 50% higher than it was before the rain. Floating from Patrick to 160 yesterday, we caught trout, carp, smallmouth, sunfish, stripers, and shiners on the fly. None of the fish were remarkable in size or numbers (except for one shiner that was pushing 8"). But the diversity was kind of cool and we were just happy to be catching anything on the fly rod after all the muddy water last weekend.

Between Tan Vat and Baptist is some terrific trout fishing, but you have to key on the structures along the banks, etc. The small deeper holes and runs associated with boulders, cutbanks, and deadfalls are holding concentrated trout. It is not uncommon for me to wade to one deadfall and pull 4-6 nice trout out of there, then wade down to the next one and do it again...and so on. Highly visible nymphs dead drifted as close to the structure as possible tends to do the trick. So will mohair leeches, sculpins, etc. on a sink tip fished with a quartering downstream presentation that swings the fly close to the structure/through the holding water. Ignore these shallow riffles in this section. Have fun.

Bman, You need to email this guy the pictures and let him know you took the pics and all the details: Aaron.Pondrom@mdc.mo.gov He is VERY interested and wanted to thank you for your help. He is a south-central MO game warden I know.

You're having trouble because there are none. Only statewide regulations for trout fishing apply on the Spring River.

Brian, I see you met my friend Kevin M. and got clued in about Wapiti. Cool. Great guy. I'll be checking in at Taylor's early next week and staying through July 6th. See you on the river.

You mean like THESE? P.S. Click on "THESE" for the full story.

The moral of this story is that the Little Piney is a somewhat "forgotten" stream among area anglers. In part, this is due to the fact that it is almost ONLY fishable from a canoe or kayak. And it is, in part, due to the fact that it is a wild rainbow trout fishery with relatively small average sized fish...of which you can keep exactly NONE. With that said, that's EXACTLY my kind of stream! Take a 3wt, a 5wt, and a boat. Have some fun...mostly all by yourself.

Phil, here's a link to a good friend of mine and big supporter of PHWFF. He donates a % of total sales revenue from this site every year to PHWFF, FFF, TU, and 1% for the Planet. He sells flies pretty cheaply by the dozen. http://www.flyfishingbenefactors.com

Trav, the DUCK HUNTERS call Lost Forest Cove "Cockleberry Cove." But I have never heard of a Huckleberry Cove on Taneycomo. They also call Duck Cove and Duck Island "Diver John's" because he built that duck blind and held that dock permit from the 1970's until his death. The hunters also call Sunken Forest Cove/Island "Taneycomo Terrace" because the residents and management there seem to think they own it and nobody should be duck hunting there. In reality, the island...like all the others...is owned by Empire Electric Company, and there is what would constitute a permissive easement on all of the islands (meaning Empire does not have them posted and has not made an attempt to keep hunters, anglers, etc. off of them for DECADES).

Last time I checked, destruction of private property (vandalism) is a more serious crime than trespassing under MO law. But people can justify anything they feel like doing. "There is a way that seems right in one's own eyes, but the ends thereof is death." Proverbs Moral: the property owner who "defends" his private property rights by seizing or damaging a trespasser's vehicle, shooting "warning shots," etc. is at FAR greater risk of a criminal conviction and civil judgment than the trespasser is. MOST landowners are smart enough to know this. MOST of the bluster and stories are myths from "the good ole days." Navigable Waterway is the key with regard to trespass rights. If the stream was ever used for commercial navigation (including floating logs down it to sell) to ANY extent, then floating it or walking it BELOW the high water mark is LEGAL. Access is still an issue that can get you in trouble though. You must access it at a public spot or get permission from a private landowner. If the stream was NOT used commercially, then this does not apply and state riparian rights laws rule the day. Lizard summarized that well: own both sides, you're the boss. Own only one bank, and you only control to the the historical high water mark. But...as Al said...discretion is the better part of valor. Choose your battles wisely...and safely. If you end up in municipal or county court, a local landowner is going to usually prevail. If you can take the issue to state or federal court, the LAW will usually prevail. And you have to SURVIVE to get to the courtroom in the first place. In the end analysis, I have NEVER had a problem with private property trespass priveleges. ONCE I was refused permission to hunt, but never to fish. And that one time I was giver permission to hunt in the future the very next day. It seems the outfitter put us on the WRONG field to shoot geese...something he is infamous for, but we didn't know that. After I apologized and explained, the landowner gave us permission to hunt his land (thousands of surrounding acres) ANYTIME we did NOT use that outfitter. LOL Moral: shine your boots (so to speak) and ask politely FIRST. Tell them who you are, where you're from, that you will fish strictly C&R with barbless hooks, what vehicle you will ALWAYS show up in, give them your cell #, etc. and ask permission for THE FUTURE. Don't walk up in waders and a fishing vest! FYI, if you are a member of the nearest FFF or TU chapter, mention that. It helps. In my experience, BASS and NAFC membership doesn't help. If you see property posted "No Fishing," then don't even ask. Go ask the nearest unposted neighbor. This way, you too can bat 1000 on getting trespass priveleges. And you will find that quite often you will get MORE than you asked for.

The early Jews belly-ached and yearned for the "good ole days" in captivity in Egypt. The Romans named the Greek civilization the "classical period." The Renaissance was sparked by a desire to "return to the essentials of yesteryear." Adults in the late 1800s referred to the first half of the 1800s as "the good ole days." By 1900, the "good ole days" were the Reconstruction Era following the Civil War...unless you were from the South (then the "good ole days" were still pre-Civil War). The Amish and Mennonites got stuck in the "good ole days." It's an understatement to say they have SEVERE recruitment difficulties. My parents viewed the "good ole days" as the post-war era of the late 1940s and 1950s...when (for instance) minorities had to sit in the back of the bus and give up their seats to whites, drink from separate water fountains, and live largely segregated from white society and cancer or a heart attack was an automatic death sentence. Youth today are really into "retro" culture...meaning the 1970s and 1980s. They view these as the "good ole days," but try to get them to give up their cell phones and Xboxes, and you've got a fight on your hands! Resevoirs ARE settling tanks. If they discharge via a top-water spillway, that's not such a bad thing for the downstream fishery. But our hydro-electric dams that predominantly discharge via sucking massive quantities of water from the increasingly polluted BOTTOM of the lakes are a real concern that only grows with time. But I will remind everyone that most of the Ozarks had NO ELECTRICITY before these dams were built. While I think we need to figure out how to minimize these toxic effects of the dam designs, that too will be PROGRESS...not a return to "the good ole days" when such technological innovations didn't exist. I, for one, don't like the status quo. I don't like "routine" in fishing (or much of anything else). I enjoy the added challenge of always having to adapt to changing conditions. This is the "magic" of life if you ask me.

The big bass go deep. That's from mid-June until mid-October. But...again..."deep" down there isn't like "deep" up here. And you can still catch the stray lunker and plenty of pan fish on top and in the shallows for the first hour or so of daylight and the hour of twilight in the evenings. There are a few other lakes in the area with cooler water (spring-fed) that offer good shallow water bass fishing during the dog dayz of summer. Also...from mid-June through September, be prepared for 100 degree heat and high humidity. Aluminum boats will get so hot they'll burn you by mid-afternoon on sunny days. Drink tons of water and Gatorade. Lay off the sodas, tea, coffee, and SUGAR. Eat bananas or take a potassium supplement. And think: MOSQUITOS! I use a product calles Smartshield that is SPF 30 sunscreen and DEET-free insect repellant in one compound. Works great. They're out of Dallas. www.smartshield.com If you camp, be aware that east Texas has brown scorpions and sand burs. Don't go barefoot in grass! And be careful handling wood for campfires and such. The scorps LUV old woodpiles and deadfalls. The only other real hazards are Cottommouths and Copperheads...maybe the occasional Rattlesnake in the dry, rocky areas. The best boats are flat-bottomed boats with a wide beam no longer than 18' bow-to-stern. Some of the best fishing is in pretty tight quarters. And...while the lake does get choppy in wind...flat-bottom boats are almost a necessity due to the standing timber, grass beds, and shallow depths.

Sorry I've been "off-line" since the event, gang...thanks to AT&T losing a tower in downtown Springfield. Now I'm in STL giving PHWFF presentations to the KofC at Cuba, MO, and Ozark Fly Fishers. So I have comms again! I really want to thank all of the volunteers Phil rounded up. You guys gave up your own fishing time to fish with complete strangers without really knowing what you were in for. I appreciate that immensely. But...as you have said...it generally turns out to be a very memorable and rewarding experience. I also want to thank Phil and all the great family and staff at Lilley's Landing for the FABULOUS hospitality and generous donation. I also want to thank the employees of Dick Clark's American Bandstand Theater for their generous donation. And I want to especially thank Phil for offering to host this event and ram-rodding the whole thing. Gas, groceries, time, lost rental income...it adds up and I have a pretty good idea what it adds up to. But the BIG contribution is the effort it takes to pull something like this off smoothly. http://ozarksfirst.com/content/fulltext/?cid=21186 is the link to the story and video from KOLR-10 News

http://ozarksflyanglers.blogspot.com/2008/...nt-results.html

I use a LOT of WJ stuff and have since they first started this line and asked me to field test and review a bunch of stuff. Their hunting brand, Badlands, had been a gear sponsor of my hunting business. I don't love EVERY product they make, but I love MANY of their products and the way they stand behind their gear and take care of their customers. FYI, they don't care if you buy it at a garage sale. If it is WJ gear, they will repair or replace it FREE (including shipping both ways) regardless of how or why it got damaged. In fact, they say they will replace stuff if you get too fat for it! FYI, they have also been pretty supportive of Project Healing Waters. All around good folks. And they have become more sensitive to price points in the past couple of years. In the early days, some of their gear was WAY over-priced. Not anymore. In fact, I think they have the best breathable wader buy on the market right now in their W-2 waders @ $179. I was glad to see Backcountry Outfitters start to carry the WJ brand. I think it will be good for him. My favorite WJ product right now other than their waders (which Michael has opted NOT to carry) is their Hemocuts. This is a high quality hemostat with a flat bite out on the tip, serrated bite for grip deeper in, and a 1.5" razor-sharp scissor at the back end of the scissoring blades. They also have an eye-clearing punch just behind the "business end" of the hemos at the start of the handles that is fantastic. So they will grip, squeeze, cut, and clear hook eyes with the exact same motion/grip. Without adjusting them in your hand or anything, you can remove a hook, pinch on a split-shot, clear the eye of a hook, and cut the excess tippet off of a fly or knot. This effectively eliminated TWO other dangling tools from my pack. I now have ONLY the Hemocuts hanging from a retractor...nothing else. And that's cool!

Interesting opinions/experiences. I grew up on Lake Fork. I know many of the pros and guides who call Lake Fork "home." Whom, by the way, are some of the best in the world. (there's a reason for that) As to techniques...it could not be MORE different than TRL! No wonder guys go and only catch a couple fish in a long weekend trip if they believe that. "If the only tool in your toolbox is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail." East TX lakes are what are called "dish-pan lakes." They are impounded SWAMPS fed by rivers most Midwesterns would call creeks and creeks most Midwesterners would call springs. They have alligators and such...although gator sightings are not "common." TRL is a very DEEP and very CLEAR lake by comparison. LF was BUILT by TPWD specifically to be a trophy largemouth bass lake. It is the ONLY one of it's kind in the world. Habitat was engineered and BUILT before the lake was filled. And it was all done by TPWD biologists. Furthermore, the lake is FULL of standing timber. The flats coming out of the feeder creek arms and such are often MILES long and wide and only 1-4 ft deep and stumpy as Hell. Many unskilled anglers boat up to the EDGES of these huge creek arms and fish the relatively open and deep water. That's OK in the winter. That's boring as heck in Spring/Summer/Fall. The bass in LF get on these flats to spawn in May and stay there until late June when the water gets too warm. These fish are laid up in 1-3' of water in heavy structure and vegetation. That's NOT how it works on TRL! In the dog days of summer, the fish head to deeper water...which in TX is 10-18'...most being 10-14'. LF is deeper than many ETX lakes, but that means the creek channels get to 20' or more. Most creek channels and river beds in ETX lakes are 6-12' deep. When the fish go "deep," they usually suspend until late Fall. During this part of the year, you fish jigs, spinners, and suspended crankbaits. During the spawning season, you fish Bang-o's, unweighted worms, shallow running crankbaits, buzz baits, and topwater stuff up in the shallows...often casting onto dry ground, structure, etc. and dragging the bait INTO the water (slight exaggeration to make a point...but it happens and works). When the fish go to the bottom in late Fall/early Winter, you go to TX-rigged worms and deep jigs and spinners fished vertically in the deep timber. Fly fishing for bass on LF has become high sport thanks mostly to the pioneering efforts of one local pro. But I won't endorse any individual down there. Too many friends. Google will tell you what you need to know. This is especially productive during the spawning season. Take an 8-10 wt 9' rod, floating and sink-tip lines, and BIG poppers, streamers, etc. If you aren't used to this sort of fly fishing, take some Aleve for your shoulder and forearm pain. This is WORK! But it's a BLAST! LF also has awesome crappie and sunfish fishing that can be a rip on a fly rod! It's also great fun on light spinning tackle. The "area" has TONS of other stuff to do. But "area" in TX is a bigger notion than in most parts of the country. It's not uncommon for Texans to have a 30 minute drive to the grocery store and post office. Driving 2 hours to go shopping is COMMON for the women-folk. But LF is NOT TLR or LOZ. There isn't much nightlife or entertainment built up right on the lake. But surrounding towns of Mineola, Sulphur Springs, Canton, and even Tyler (30 minutes away) have PLENTY of other activities and attractions. But you won't see 40 million billboards on the highways telling you what they are. You also won't see huge racks of tourism brochures in the lobby or foyer of every motel, restaurant, etc. You ASK THE PEOPLE. Texans are VERY friendly and LOVE tourists. They are extremely polite. And, around there, everyone knows most everyone else. So they promote one another. If you head to the nearest Wal-Mart, you'll be about 1/4 mile from my mother's house. Right across the intersection is Gary Yamamoto's HQ/lure shop. Definitely worth a pit stop. Mineola is one of the nation's most award-winning Main Street communities. So downtown Mineola has excellent small town tourist activities much like the "old" Branson did. Spending a day walking around downtown is well worth it. Art galleries, antique shops, great mom-n-pop restaurants, one of the coolest old-fashioned hardware stores on Earth, etc. And Mineola is also home to a fabulous folk music series of house-concerts that go on most weekends. Canton has First Monday Trade Days, the world's largest flea market. It is awesome! Don't think of it as a flea market. They sell EVERYTHING from RVs and motorcycles and sports cars to hunting dogs, chickens, horses, and exotic firearms. And it's a truly a buy-sell-trade swap meet. Top dealers and collectors from all over America come there every month on the weekend before the first Monday of the month. Rodeos are common in season in every town in the area. And there is dirt-track auto racing. Dallas is only about an hour away. Nothing to do but fish? That's funny. LF also has decent big water duck hunting from Xmas to the end of January. It makes a great cast-n-blast trip that time of year.

Actually, not only reels, but limited edition PHWFF logo aluminum fly boxes as well. Great prices, great cause, great gear. What's not to love? CLICK HERE for more info.

Frankly, I don't know why people stop fishing for them. They eat in schools in early morning and late evening all year long. The only difference is where you will find them and the extreme concentrations of spawning season. As the water warms, they also feed shallower and shallower up to the point where it gets too warm for them...probably 75 degrees. I grew up fishing for white bass in East Texas lakes. We never heard of a white bass "season." But by July, we only caught them on topwater in the cool spring-fed lakes at dawn and dusk. Generally, in June sometime we would switch to deep jigs and Texas-rigged 6" worms and catch them on humps in deep water (deep water in East Texas is anything over 10').

Leonard, It might be a good idea to take along some picnic games: horseshoes, lawn darts, frisbee, washers, etc. Those are pretty popular in the campground with the kids and adults. I might skip the lawn darts with a 4 and 7 year old boy, but we sure played with them when we were their ages. You won't be throwing many rocks at snakes down there this time of year. You won't be too far from Mill Creek, either. And I hear it is fishing exceptionally well right now. A lot of the kids also take their bicycles and ride around the campgrounds together. All the sites also have picnic tables. So you may not want to forget Lego, Lincoln Logs, board games, etc. In other words, there's fishing, fishing, floating, and fishing. LOL

Yes, farmers notoriously hate the weather no matter what kind they get. It's always "too dry" or "too wet." This is the nature of crop farming. You are also correct about the barley shortages due to ethanol mandates and subsidies in the upper plains and Rockies. A "no plant" rice year in the rice belt will simply make matters worse for the brewers, but it will also adversely impact feed prices (again). And that translates into higher food costs across the board (again). My real point was that when it comes to a question of tourism/recreation vs. agriculture, we all know which the powers that be choose...almost EVERY time. So, until the Mississippi drops enough to evacuate the flood water in the Delta, we're going to have lakes at/near flood pool. Typically, the big river starts to get back to normal flows in mid-July. But...as we saw in 1993...heavy rainfall in the warm season in the Midwest can delay that into the Fall. On a positive note for sportsmen, if you love flooded timber duck hunting in AR and/or duck hunting the coastal marshes, it looks like this coming season could provide plenty of both! LOL If there's no rice in the Delta, the ducks will hit the timber harder than usual and then fly on south to the Gulf...or back into the corn belt if there's no snow pack. It's all kind of like my oldest brother says when they ask him "paper or plastic?" He looks off into the ceiling and does the "on the other hand" gesture and says, "Trees or seagulls...seagulls or trees. Which do I want to kill today?" Personally, I prefer to kill seagulls. We can't live without trees. But I think we'd make do without seagulls.