Micheal Kyle

I'm going tonight hope to see everyone down there this will be 3rd Tuesday in a row. I hope to keep the trend up except for the fact that I was down there three times last week, hope she dont get mad. Thank god the crowds will be gone. I hope HA/HA. Michael

Phil, Rumors of the trout say that it was you. A great fish for this time of year hope somthing will surface about the fish for proof. Are you going to be in today I thought that I might come down I want to know about renting a boat. Michael

Ming, I have been using intermediate and type 3 full sink lines. Do to the time restrictions, I do not think there would be much need for topwater, unless it is raining or heavily overcast. Because of the bulkiness of the flies I have been throwing and the wind, I have been using a 10 weight. For my smaller flies 4 - 5", I will use an 8 weight. I am using simple leaders, 60" of 30# with 18 - 24" of 60# bite tippet. I have been using Rio Flouroflex, but will be trying Frog Hair in the near future. I have not turned to wire leaders yet and hopefully do not have to, because they take some of the action away from my flies. jim

Thanks Phil for the Fellows' Lake column! Fishing was good in late April and the first week of May for the several times I was able to go. I have been trying to catch a muskie on a fly rod and have had a couple of follows. One fish was in the 28 - 30" class and the other was in the 46 - 48" class. I have been catching numerous bass in the 2 - 5 pound range on the large muskie type flies that I have been throwing. The flies that have been producing the best results for me are 5 to 9" in length. Colors have been white, chartreuse, orange, yellow, black, as well as shad and bluegill color combinations. Patterns that are producing for me are Whistlers, Deceivers, CF Baitfish, various Tarpon flies and a rattling wool head streamer ( simular to Popovics Siliclone fly ). jim

When will Fellows Lake have a section in the Forum? It has some excellent fishing. Bass, Crappie, Bluegill, as well as Muskies! jim

Hey guys Just wanted to let you know how we did on our week long float trip and hunting trip. We floated from Mt.Hersy to Woolum what this trip was, was the 2006 Harrison media hunt with Knight and Hale Game calls and since I'm on the prostaff I got to go. (finally something fun ha/ha) I'm sure glad we decided to do a combo of events because the turkey hunting was basicaly nonexistant but the Smallmouth fishing was great. We fished for two full days and I would have to say that I personaly had about 40-50 smallies a day. They would range anywhere from 6"to 18" around 3 1/4 lbs. I took my boga grip to keep people straight. I was catching my fish on crawfish and sculpin pats. Most of the time I was using my floating lines but I did use a sink tip in the deeper sections. There were several times that I was unable to use a fly rod so I would throw the YUM 4" wooly bug it was a great crawfish pattern. Not only was the small mouth fishing good but the rock bass were everywhere and they were hitting the same stuff. The water was in great condtion we were using flat bottom Tracker boats that they let us borrow for the week and we had no problem getting from point a to b. I would have to say that the water avg depth was around three feet in the deeper pools like down from Cain cabin and down by Skull Rock the water was from 10-20 feet deep. I hope to have some pics on here in a couple of days, with my Spring Fling on Saturday I have had no time to post them but I will post a few. Hope to see everyone on Saturday . Michael

Hello Fellow Fly Fishers, Do not forget, this Saturday, April 22, from 8 am to 5 pm, our Second Annual Spring Fling, here at Backcountry Outfitters, 1316 E Battlefield, Springfield, MO. Davy Wotton will be doing two seminars. One at 10:00 am, on Drifting, what goes on above and below the water's surface. The second is at 3:00 pm, on Wet Fly Fishing, with classic wet flies as shown in his Wet Fly Ways video. Davy will also be doing some fly tying demos, including a unique baitfish pattern, as well as wet flies and soft hackles. Hope to see you here, Michael

Looks like your Good Friday continued into Saturday if you did fish on Good Friday. It sure is blast out there with the kids, I know that Madelyn loves it because everytime I hook up to the boat she wants to go fishing and she is only 2 1/2 years old. What a great time and great pics. Michael

Hey everyone, Is it good Friday or what, we caught so many fish today it was impossible to keep a count. We fished all over Flat creek and on up in the James river. I would have to say that between the Steve and I we had about 100 crappie. The males are up and the females are right behind if not allready up on the bank. I would have to say that am was slow but when the south wind picked up around 1:00 pm it really got good. We were fly fishing jigs under a float and we would pick fish up 6" -6' the water temps were around 68. Hope that everyone will have a chance to get out this weekend and catch some fish. Beware there were alot of spoonbillers out today I did not see them snagging to many of them. With all the boat traffic out there be aware of you surroundings at all times. p.s. Steve did have a Largemouth that would go 4-5 lbs she was full of eggs and was 19" long, he caught her on a 1/100 oz jig. Go figure Oh well everyone have fun and be safe. WE DID RELEASE HER:> Michael

Phil, I have been catching some great whites and crappie down by the old 173 bridge, a lot of great areas to wade.

Brian, Try smaller wings, fewer fibers. Also, they need to be tied more in front of your body materials and such, as well as your thread needs to be flat. jim

I have been fishing The flat creek arm everyday for about a week. The crappie have just exploded. I had a guide trip on Wednesday for crappie and just tore the big slabs up. We were fly fishing and using 1/80-1/124 jigs under a float and it did not matter what color they were if you got it in front of them they would take the fly.(jig) I had temp readings in the afternoon of 68-70 depending on where you were as the progressed the fish moved in to the shallows and were pretty much everywhere. In the morning we started fishing the bluffs with pole timber that were ajacent to deep water by the afternoon the fish had moved up and were in sandy pee gravel banks. We had to work the fly very slow in the afternoon. We had a lot of keepers but were only keeping fish that were over 11 inches. The sows that we were catching that had eggs in them we released and there was quite a few of them that still had eggs in them. For the three of us we had around 120 crappie all day and three limits by the end of the day that would avg 12". We fished down there all day and ther were quite a few diffrences from the am to pm. In the am you will want to fish pole timber and work the fly fast in the afternoon you will want to work it slow and just off the bottom. It seemed that the fish were from 8'-6" good luck to everyone and plase be cautious with all the other boaters that are out it can get pretty harry somtimes with that many people out there. Michael

It is the same way on the James and Flat creek arms aswell. I have put the stripper rods away for a week or two so that I can enjoy the carppie fishing. The crowds are bad and you are right the people will just go right in front of you so that they can fish the bank. They don't understand stay away from the fish catch more fish idea. Good luck.

Hello I just wanted to let you all know that I talked to my good friend Davy Wotton on Sunday night. He said that he will be tying some new bait fish patterns that work for Trout and any warm water fish. He said that he would like to do two programs the first will be at 10am and it will be about drifting ( understanding what goes on above and below the water surface) should be very interresting. The second one will at 3:00 pm and it will be his Wet Flies Ways. Those two programs should be very educational for everyone involed. I would also like to tell you that all fly tying supplies will be 10% off (excluding vises and tools). Hope to see everyone there. Michael

I wish I would have that same kind of luck. Great fish. I was out on friday and it sucked. Michael

Hello everyone, Hope that the fishing is great. I just wanted to extend and invite to everyone for our 2nd annual Spring Fling on Saturday, April 22nd from 8:00am-5:00pm. It should be a great time again. Last year was a blast and with what we have on the ticket this year should even be better. Davy Wotton will be up here tying and giving a seminar on how to tie and fish the traditional wet flies. We will also have a casting pond so that you can try out any and all rods in the store. There will be factory reps here all day from Scott Fly rods, Winston Fly Rods, Lamson, Rio fly lines, Fish Pond chest packs, William Joesph, Dr. Slick, Wachter Nets, G-Loomis, Ross Reels, Umpqua Fly tying, Action Optics, Wulff Fly Lines, Tibor-Billy Pate, Scientific Anglers, Echo fly rods, Frog Hair Leaders and Tippet and Nautilus Reels. We will have the fly fishing seminar at 3:00 pm with door prizes to follow including: a Scott fly rod, a Lamson Reel, a Fish Pond chest pack, and a few Rio and S/A fly lines. Must be present to win. Hope to see everyone there, if you have any questions regarding the event please feel free to give us a call at the shop 417-889-6548. Thanks Michael & Kristina Kyle

I will be sure to tell everyone

Greg, You and Phil are on the right track with the woolys. I would also cast a Mohair Leech. I would also cast a Crackleback and strip it in just like a wooly or a leech. I have found that on a windy day that those are deadly, fishing them in that manner will actually have the fly right under the surface and the fish love that presentation. Michael

I would like to add my 2 cents in on the pontoons. I have an Outcast and love it the one I have is the PAC 9000 I feel that is the best one they make. It is the one with twin pontoons and that is great safty feature, it is 9 foot long. I have alot of room that I can pack anything that I want the wieght capcity is 500 lbs and has a 10 year warranty. For someone that is on a budget The Discorvey or the Fishcat series are great. The Discovery series start out at 375-699 all have a 5 year warranty and have a great weight capacity 300-400 lbs. They are all aroud the same weight from 65-70 lbs. And it looks like they all come with the optional trolling motor mount. The Fishcat series are about the same price and about the same load capcity they start out at 379-599. The Fishcat Cougar has the same quad pontoon system that the Pac 9000 has and sells for 599 it weight is 6 pounds more than the Pac 9000 at 75 lbs. I feel that the outcast system are the best system for your buck. If you want to take a look at them I have them in my shop for sale and if you wanted I would sell my pac 9000. Give me a call if you want 417-889-6548. Michael

King Ming, Just wanted to let you know that Jim Murphy works for me at my shop and is an excellent bait fish tier. If you want you can call or stop by anytime and talk to him. Jim has tied at SOC and out at the national fly fishing conclave,for the last couple of years. He is also the 5 time S.M.F.F. fly tier of the year. I'm not sure if you knows this but we do have tying night here at the shop on the 1st and 3rd Monday of every month and we tie a lot of warm water patterns. I feel that Jim is one of the best in this area with those patterns. Good luck Michael

When I fish for bass I like the Smithwick Rogue the 110mm (5.5"). I have caught some real nice Bass in the lower lake, the great thing with the Rogue is that the big browns also like them. I have a couple that Tim Hughes custom painted for me that are the color of a rainbow and they work great. I have serveral more that Tim has painted for me in various shad colors and they work great. Just rememeber they are bass and they love bait fish. Good luck. Michael

Went fishing down below zink dam on Saturday and did pretty well. We started at 9 a.m. and it fished great for about 2 hours it then tappered off. We caught a bunch of carp and snagged a few spoonbills and landed a couple of them. I had my Boga that weighes up to 50 lbs and they maxed it out, we thought that they would be around 70-75 lbs. There were 6 of us in our group and we had a total of 40-50- stripers and hybirds and whites between us pretty slow. But we did have a good time I think that we will be back down on Saturday. Michael

I have fished the Gummy minnow #6 for whites and they are awesome. They come in size 2-8 and various colors, I like the blue and pearl the best. They are pricey they retail for $3.50 for 4-8 and the number 2 are are $5.00/1. I do have them in my shop. I have fished them in the lower lake and the trout love them. They will work for any species of fish.

I had a guide trip on Friday and the biggest fish that we landed was a 20" Brown. About 2:00p.m. I was just down from Chuck and the guy that he was guiding caught and landed a nice male Rainbow we weighed the fish and it wieghed in at 6.9 lbs a very nice fish, that is the biggest fish that I have seen caught and landed in a couple of weeks. Michael

I have to say that the United States was built on the morals of small business owners. I have to say that I hate to see Branson grow so much, I do understand that people do make alot of money from the toursim. As a small business owner I would think that the alderman would look at the situation, and realize the they are running people off because the have uncontrolled growth. The city needs to look at how they can handle the traffic in a better way soon they will be backed up to the dam . I know that I do not like to sit in traffic when I'm on vaction. I think that the small busisness owners should start telling people how they are being pushed out of town do to the large corporations taking over. Who would have thought that you could take a parcel of land with a slope on it of 30-40% and put a building on it. I would like to know what they have in place to control the snaitary and storm sewers with all of this growth, can the current plant handle the load. Nice big condos want to have a nice looking place first thing they want outside is green grass lots of fertilizer to make and keep it green, where does the excess go? I have an idea two words Table Rock I have to think that is the old farm boy comming out in me. I think that we should load the alderman up on a bus and take them to the great state of Kansas and so them some of the irrigation ponds and how they really support nothing because the ph is so out of wack. That might be fun !