Fitz

Well I started fishing the parks from the time I could walk. My dad would always make special arangements for the family to go to benett or mon tauk for some part of the summer. I can remember seeing him fly fish around 1991 and trying to imitate him with my spinning rod and jig. boy did that lead to a lot of hang ups in trees and a couple close calls with passer bys. It seemed like i fell in the water and spent most of my time changing clothes rather than i did fishing. (looking at my dads fishing journal this seems to be true- the ruel was 3 changes of clothes and we headed home somethimes no one got to fish as we headed home before the buzzer sounded). Sooner or later my dad gave me a fly rod and I was hooked. Started tying and fishing alot, but when i came to school i thought this was all over, where am i going to go and fish living in springfield. then i met this kid that was always talking of these great days on taney, telling me of catching huge numbers of fish. although i had fished the parks i never really seemed to get them figured out. Ill be frank i didnt believe any of the stories that this kid was telling me. 20 fish in a day sounded like a strech of the imagination- and what he was saying like 50 fish in a day seemed like a down right lie. He fianlly coned me into going with him and fishing at night. boy was that the best time ever. we both caught so many fish that neither of us even said anything, we just laughed our tails off. by the end we just decided that we should pack it up and head back so we could go to class the next moring. this started a great friendship and a lot more fishing trips, although it did lead to us doing some stupid things like skipping parties and driving to taney to fish for an hour or leaving at 2 in the morning climbing through trees around point royal deciding wether or not to jump in when they are running 4- how deep could it really be right?, or just driving there several times knowing that they were running 4, but knowing that we might get there and it would be off- or at least knowing that we needed to check and see if the recording wa right, or the time we decided that colorado wasnt that far of a drive and we could fish for 15 hours if we drove straight trough both ways- these were the great times when we could fish 4 or 5 times a week and the only repercusions were some pissed off girlfriends, a skipped class, or the great expense of fuel on a college budget. thanks to BK (kctroutman) I've been fishing since 2002 and will be fishing there for years to come. Nathan Fitzgerald

Made it to Rim Shoals on Friday night (17th). Fished Sat. morning from sun up until around 12. I was fishing with a zebra midge tied in a tan color with a brass head and a brass rib. I fished from the public access pont down to the last shoal I could wade out on where the river comes back together from the island. I caught a decent number of fish- all rainbows- all of which were between eight and thirteen inches. the sow bug was awesome and provided some great mid day fun when the fishing was starting to taper off. I saw many tiers demonstrating a great number of new patterns that I hope I can add to my arsenal. I saw Paul Munn demonstrating some great deer hair work, something that i definately need some improvement on. fished again that evening, but with only moderate success. That night I stayed with Mr. Bill and Jeremy Hunt- thanks a bunch for the place to lay a werry head! Went out with Bill the next day in his boat and fished up from the boat put in. we were fishing zebras in assorted sizes and we both caught some fish despite the gail force winds puting a huge up stream chop on the water. bill landed several in the 16-18 in range while i held staedy on the smaller fish. I was able to land a few cuts, my first of the season. I was a great trip and a lot of fun was had. I really enjoyed seeing so many tiers at the sow bug. I think its wonderful that so many people can come in for that event. It was my first time attending, but it definetly wont be my last. thanks to everyone who works to put this thing on. Went to Bull Shoals in search of white bass and crappie from the 22nd till the 25th with my father. we stayed a wimpys resort- a great cheap place to stay. this location did put us on the lower part of bull shoals howeve, and the cold weather snap didn't come at a very good time. we weren't able to locate any white bass or crappie. I had heard that they were staging in the mouths some, but the only fish we could find were in deep water towards the main lake. since my dad was complaining that he was tired of getting the kak beat out of him riding up and down the lake- it was rough, but not that rough, we headed down below the dam on friday night. we were both able to land a few bows and we felt content knowing that we hadn't gotten skunked on our fishing trip. we both fished midges starting with a zebra in size 18 black and red, and there was a small hatch coming off once the sun got low. I switched to an emerger and was able to get a few more bows fishing it on the swing. Its nice to catch fish on a trip like that, but something has to be said for eating plenty of steaks and watching the basketball tourny on tv at night, and i wouldnt trade the times i spend with him enjoying each others company and swaping tales for anything. Nathan Fitzgerald

Well upon entering the parking lot @ 12:35 the gauge in the truck read 73. Once I got out of the truck I realized it was going to be a day of hard casting. The wind was extremely strong! The clouds were passing overhead with a great deal of speed, but when its overcast and there is a chop on the water the fishing has traditionally been good for me. There weren't many people out this afternoon, and I headed to the rapids above rebar. I was able to make cast both ways starting off, but soon the wind became quite a pain. The longest casts were in the 10 yard range for awhile, but the fish were still hitting. Around 3:45 things changed drastically, it got cold-really cold. the wind picked up even more and casts became limited to a pull across the top of the water, a big mend, and then letting lots of line out off the reel and rod for an extended drift. There were a few larger fish hanging on the northern bank at rebar, and i was able to hook a couple- the chop on the water allowed me to get pretty close- and I landed one (right at 21 inches gorgeous color). I started when it was warm with a grey scud and san juan, and when it turned off cold, and since i had broken off the san juan, i switched to a midge. I first went with size 20 midge with a red bead head and a body of black ultra wire, switched to a zebra midge in black, and eventually ended with a midge emerger made with a red rib body, and a puff of grey dubbing for a head and a piece of antron thread laid over the dubbing coming forward to the eye. this last patern seemed to really pay off as it got dark.---If you have any questions about the emerger PM me and Ill try to explain it better, or send you a pic. I believe I caught right around 40 fish, but i was having a problem reading the pinch indicator in the chop, and got quite a few weak hook sets that popped out. By the time i finally made it back to the truck at 6:25 the thermometor read 35. There had been quite a change in the weather, but the fishing had stayed pretty steady all afternoon. Just a thought, maybe someone could contact the makers of NicoTROL, or one of the anti smoking patch makers and see if they could develop one that would help people stop shuffling- kind of a step program where it slowly helped them stop this bad habit. Only a few of em out today, I guess the wind would make it hard to drop it real close to your feet?? Good Fishing to everyone this weekend, if it stays this cold make sure to take a couple extra windproof layers.

TEST POST

Well I spent Valentine's day on the trout stream--- surrounded by my true love--- the trout. Fishing was good, for the most part. I started above rebar fishing the riffles and casting from the middle towards both banks. I was able to land several rainbows all of which were in the 12-14 inch range. Most of these strikes came when the wind kicked up and put a bit of a chop on the water. I worked my way down fishing as I went and ended up standing about ten yards from the last line of rebar on the north side of the stream. I was able to pull a few nice fish out by drifting my flies on both sides of the last rebar on the north side. I finally hooked up with a monster that made several nice runs before breaking my off as I prepared for a photo op. I think it would have been between 25-30 inches- I had a nice look as it was getting tired, or so I thought- right before the break off. After a few more fish from around rebar I worked my way up to #2 and fished the slower water just above the outlet. I was able to catch three browns the biggest of which was right at 18 inches. I soon found that my camera battery had expired and wasnt able to get a picture of the lagest. fishing stayed hot untill 6:30 when the water was to high to fish my fly combo, and it was to dark to re-tie. the last 20 minutes were the hottest with the water rising and the sun dropping it seemed like every cast resulted in a fish. I caught the majority of my fish on a #14 grey scud and a beige san juan, with the san juan dropped off of the scud by about 12 inches. Good fishing --- Have fun FITZ

I witnessed something that was absolutely crazy today. I had had some fun around rebar, and hooked a very large rainbow that broke me off after what seemed like a five minute fight- who knows how long it really was- the fish was over 25 and closer to thrity inches. I broke him off right by the bank trying to beach him for a photo op, but thats another tale. Well it was getting late and I decided to walk up towards #2 and look around above it and in the outlet just to see what was happening up there. By the time I arrived at #2 there were several guys fishing so I sat down on the large square rock. A few seconds later a older gentlemen came down the stairs and promptly walked right into the exact spot one of the original fishermen were fishing. The original fisherman spoke hastily and used some profanity in order to describe his disgust as he reeled in and came to the bank. Then to everyone's surprise the guy who walked in on him quickly stormed the beach and threw down his rod. The next few seconds were quite tense to say the least as they sized each other up and prepared to fight. Luckily the original fisherman-who had a few hefty friends with him, decided that leaving was the best answer. I've seen behavior similar to this in the trout parks, but this is the first time on taney. I goes without saying that I quickly found my "relaxing" spot to sit was anything but relaxing. Thank goodness that most people can deal with these matters in a little bit more civilized manner. But all is well--the fish were really hitting all the way until 6:30 when it was to dark and the water was a bit to high to fish with what I had on.

Hello to all, I have really been enjoying ozark anglers, and decided why not register and get active? I have been a user of conservation cafe, but have found it less informative than ozarkanglers. I have been adicted to the flytying recipies section. I live in springfield and go to school at drury. This gives me plenty of time to fish Taney in the late afternoon. I've made it to the fly tying class at lilley's several times, and it never ceases to teach me new things. I tie my own flies and fool around building rods every once in a while. thanks for the great site I'm looking forward to using it.