Randall

well, i went down on thursday and had pretty much the whole fly only section to myself. fish were rising like crazy and absolutely loved the white crackleback i was throwing. whatever was hatching looked pretty similar to cracklebacks, i have no clue what they were though. it was a pretty short day, but plenty of fish, including three browns and a real nice rainbow from the c&r area. one thing i noticed was that i could barely catch anything on nymphs and midges for some reason.

congratulations bud.

i want to head down this friday, but before i go, i need to find out what the crowds are usually like on good friday. i appreciate any help. -randall

i can't believe california would ticket a man for killing a cougar that attacked his kid and killed his wife. i don't know any person that wouldn't do the same. i was taught that if you do come across a cat in the woods, never run, never turn your back, if you're unarmed, find something to protect yourself with, slowly back away, and make yourself look as large as possible. chances are, it'll leave you alone anyway, but like with any other animal, don't assume anything. sound right to the guys from cat country?

my position on shooting an endangered animal is that my well being is waaay more important than any animal. i won't necessarily shoot on site, but i do have a comfort zone of about 50 yards and i will kill any predator big enough to target me inside that range. the consistent sightings i was talking about earlier make me a little uncomfortable. a brazen cat can be a problem in my book. jorob, the lioness stalking the house does make sense. it was used to people, associated them with food, and the reported sighting of the one by my place was in a front yard.

i'm from warrenton, and i've seen more than one mountain lion, one being black that both my parents have seen consistently. i'm with gonefishin and flem on the "endangered" animal opinion... if it can eat me and i can see it, i'm gonna kill it. my real problem is with people who raise large predators though. i doubt many of you will believe this, but there was actually a report of an african lioness that escaped from one of those places that raises large predators back when i was in highschool. for about two months i think, sheriffs deputies were escorting kids to and from the bus stop because of reported sightings on my road, within a mile from my house. wild cats may pose a slight danger, and kill deer, cattle, and pets but a predator that is used to people is a threat when it escapes. you know it isn't afraid of people, and that it associates us with food, a deadly combination.

if it holds beer and ice, order me one.

sounds great. thanks for all your help

i've never tried it, and was wondering if anybody flyfishes particularly for crappie? if so, what patterns work well, and how do you fish them? any help would be appreciated. thanks -randall

how'd they get that? i'm impressed.

i heard this morning that the walleye bite was good, but the tailwater there is 2+ hours from here, and with gas like this, and us being in college, none of us can justify the trip without a good chance at some hybrids. thanks for the input though, i appreciate it.

now that its warming up, my buddies and i are gonna be heading down just below the dam... does anybody know if people are catching many hybrids and stripers, and is there any way to know when they're gonna run water?

its about over... how'd they all do... got any fish pics?

definitley not... i always stay there when i go to taney and the gates have never been closed while i was there. i do go in and out at all hours too.

thanks bud... hate to ask more, but does anybody know what it imitates?

awesome... thanks. i'm gonna give it a shot next time i get to columbia to get supplies.

whats a shift key? i wasn't insulted by the extremism statement, but by the statement implying that my comparison between baiting and shuffling made me unreasonable. i like to think that i'm a reasonable, intelligent person capable of making sensible arguments. as for my last post, i'm really not mean-spirited, and i said some things that were inappropriate- sorry. i stand by everything after the first sentence still. i think this topic is pretty much dead, anything added any more will pretty much just be redundent.

any idea how to tie it?

well, i wanna wish you an early welcome to the show me state. a couple of my frat brothers are from cali, one from tracy, and the other from some place in no-cal. they don't like the cold, and they always tell us how backwards we are, but they love it here. you're gonna love branson... i know i'm always looking forward to my next trip. later -randall

well, its been a while since i posted on here, but i'm drunk and i'm gonna go ahead and break my favorite rule... never argue with an idiot because they'll only drag you down to their level and beat you with experience. gone fishin... you asked how any reasonable person could associate baiting deer with shuffling. you then compared shuffling with kicking up the trail you use to walk to your stand. i was not comparing the acts, but the ethics of the acts. you mis-qouted me once, then insulted me. i gave you the benefit of the doubt when you misquoted me, but i took offense when you could not come up with a better argument to my comparison between baiting and shuffling than a weak personal insult. i'll be the first to admit that my fly-fishing skills are nothing notable, but i'm getting better with each time i get on the water. why? maybe its because i talk to people and learn new techniques, figure out others, and learn from my mistakes. after meeting 4 of the members of the forum here, i had the best day on taney since i started fly fishin seriously last summer. i learned to how to swing, fish a some new patterns, a little about entemology, and a few new techniques for tying. thanks to all four of you, you know who you are, i really don't want to drop names here. i also like to think that i educated a gentleman about shuffling. i began talking to him just before he hit the water. he was telling me how he was set up to catch the fish at his feet, until i told him that shuffling was unsportsmanlike, and taught him some of the same things i had learned since my first visit last summer. if you want to know why i hate shuffling so much, i'll tell you why. any person that can afford to purchase a fly rod, and every person i have seen fishing the trophy area does not fish solely for the purpose of putting food on the table. they fish for sport. shuffling is not sporting, i believe it to be hard on the streambed, it is unattractive, and it is unnenessary to catch fish. a man i have very much respect for said something i like, "if i want to catch fish, i will, otherwise, i'm gonna play around and perfect my game." missouri has 4 trout parks for people who want to catch fish on every cast. trophy areas like uppper taneycomo should be reserved for those who truly enjoy the art of fooling their quarry and improving their fishing skills by learning new techniques and perfecting those already learned. gone fishin, i understand that you are not a shuffler, and you have been okay at playing devil's advocate, but don't put a period where i put a comma, and don't insult me.

truman tailwater is fun, but the fishing there is kind of spotty for us when we go down. if they're running water, the fishing is great, but if they aren't, i have trouble catching. i was thinking about doing some trout fishing this weekend, but i'm afraid the rivers are still up. i'd check out the level of the current before you drive all the way down there. there's also thomas hill reservior if you want to fish for crappie whites and hybrids. some of my buddies told me it was producing pretty well, but they were in a boat and i didn't go. good luck with the brief.

welcome to the forum. there's plenty of good people on here that'll help you out with just about any question you might have. hope it helps you out as much as it helped me.

i was down there this week and saw a couple sows... a kid being guided hooked into one, but for the most part, there wasn't anything of size.

i'm gonna be going to taney monday, and fishing monday afternoon, night, then tuesday, wednesday, and thursay until the afternoon. i was wanting to see who else will be fishing the trophy area then.

how much rain did you get down there? enough to change fishing conditions next week?