Flysmallie

Good luck Trav. I'll be interested in hearing your report. I haven't fished Toledo Bend or Sam Rayburn, but I've always wanted to. I've done the Fork thing a bunch and Falcon a couple of times. Falcon would be hard for me to pass up right now, but it is a drive. But it's nice to get out of the Ozarks and fish other areas. I'm headed to Falcon this fall with my dad and probably some buddies. We might even head over into Mexico and hit one of the hot lakes over there. That's what so great about that area, you have a several other options if you can't get bit on one lake.

Nice. It's amazing the things you can find in wally world and hobby stores. Those are some nice poppers.

Great photos Jeremy

You are very right, Phil is a great guy. Welcome to the forum. You can learn a lot here as well as make new friends that would be more than willing to take you out and give you a few pointers.

I see a lot of guys asking about new rods lately and it's really hard to make a recommendation. When you purchase a fly rod you get the option of casting the rod and that's what you are mainly looking for, how well does it fit your casting style. But with conventional tackle you have to resort to others recommendations or just stand in the isle and give it a couple of good shakes! Which doesn't really tell you anything. It would be nice to be able to pull a crankbait through the water on a new rod that you were thinking about purchasing. I would like to see how it feels, how it vibrates. The feel of a crankbait moving through the water is the most important thing to me on a crankbait rod. My dad says I'm an idiot, well not idiot but I know how Phil doesn't want us to use profanity, but on a good crankbait rod I swear I can sometimes feel a bite before I actually feel the pressure on the line. I think this is caused by the fish sucking in the bait and the movement of the bait going away for a split second before you feel the pressure of the fish. I'm not sure of the Model, but the rod that I use is a Abu Garcia rod thats about 10 years old and was close to $300.00 at that time. I know that this gives you no help in determining what rod to purchase, I just wish there was a way to really try a rod before you make the purchase. Because all you are doing when you are standing in the isle giving it a shake is just looking ignorant! Disclaimer: If you are one of the ones that does shake the rod in the isle, don't worry we all do it. I do it every time I walk through Bass Pro.

Good job OzarkFishman. I think that learning and trying new techniques is one of best things you can do. Too many people continue fishing the same way with the same old boring results. Now I gotta go try that outlet!!

Sissy. Actually I'd like the night time lows to be somewhere above 50 but I don't really care either. As long as there is a campfire I'm happy. I hear what you are saying about the girls. I don't get to go anywhere without some extensive planning and pleading with the wife. And of course we have a volleyball tournament almost every weekend until April. But we do need to do it this year. Maybe we can plan a smallmouth trip. But my flies will be in the mail in the morning. I know, I know, I'm holding up the whole deal. Sorry about being so late. Not only am I fat, I'm lazy too!!

Nice fly Don. Have you decided when we are going camping yet???

Great pictures ecce38. But of course you always post great pics. Thanks for sharing.

I like warm water. Welcome to the forum.

I'm almost done. Have nothing better to do right now then tie flies. Of course my wife would probably disagree. PM me your address, unless you want to pick them up from me Friday at Bennett Springs???? Gonna go back up and try some different stuff on Friday. Going to have a rookie with me so I will probably get outfished!!

I really wish that I went fishing like I had planned on. But instead I decided to stay home get some work done and spend some time with the kids. Brought the vise in out of the garage so it could warm-up. I might be able to tie some flies later. I'm afraid to get too close to it, might freeze my tounge to it again . I have no idea where my kids are hiding at but it's obvious that they don't care to spend any time with Dad right now. They only cruise through the living room every once in a while to get some more munchies, pausing only long enough to change the channel on the TV to the Disney Channel or Nickelodeon. I can't see what's on from where I'm at but I can still hear it. It's driving me crazy. I really wish I would have went fishing like I planned.

Good luck with that one. Most businesses are cutting unnecessary expenses right now. Maybe when the economy picks up, but that might be awhile.

Relax Dano. You are getting way to worked up over a reel.

I have been thinking about doing this. I love my Sit Backer but it doesn't work very well with the molded seats in my canoe. They look just like the ones in the boat siusaluki has. First problem is they aren't very good for a big guy. Second, they don't work very well for a tandem canoe that you want to reverse when using it solo. Anybody have any thoughts on how to make these seats?

Okay, Okay. I'll tie the darn things already. I always wait till the last minute. I'll try to get them done tonight.

Terry, after awhile you don't even notice the noise.

Great shot Terry. And yeah I did wade down the river with mine hanging around my neck again today!!!

I second the Sharkskin. It's wonderful. I have it on a 5wt and Rio Gold on my 3wt. I can tell quite a difference in those two but both are great quality lines. Yeah it makes some noise but it floats like crazy.

Fished Bennett for the first time today with my best friend Russ. Russ is not much on fly fishing for trout but he puts up with that and I put up with his crappie trips! We drove around for a bit first thing and thought the Whistle Bridge looked interesting. Russ hooked up with one right off the bat on a scud but lost him. You could really tell that he hadn't picked up a fly rod in about a year. Of course I was throwing a streamer, on a 3wt, yeah I know, I'm a retard. Had several swipe at many different streamers, but no takers. Finally put on an egg and caught my first fish. Small rainbow and then a small sucker right after that. Then things got real slow. With all the stuff we were carrying we didn't have a single split shot between us. I had a hard time getting that egg down quick enough to get bit. Lost several more fish and decided to move down river. Picked up a couple more fish on the egg on downriver but it was pretty slow. Stood in one spot for a long time trying to get some smallies that I spotted to bite. The only bite I was able to coax out of them went unnoticed until I saw one of them turn and spit out my fly. That was smart. About that time Russ walks up and pushes me like he's going to push me in the river. That's when I realized that my feet were firmly frozen to the rock I was standing on. Ended up pulling the felt sole off of one of my boots. But not all the way, just the front to about half way back. That increased the level of wading difficulty. We ended up wading a little more downstream before retreating to the heater in the car. We had to make an early getaway since the family had other plans for me in the afternoon. I really enjoyed Bennett. What a beautiful place. I have to make it back there very soon. And maybe I will be a little better prepared. I did see a monster trout hanging around the bridge plus several nice smallies. I love that!!! Oh yeah don't forget, there is no fish cleaning in the bathroom sinks. The scary thing is that this must have been a problem at some point if they put up the signs. People really do amaze me.

She is right, you do rock! You have her out making the money while you are fishing. Maybe I need you to help me train my wife!

Well I can't take the poll because I have never been there. That will probably change by the end of next week. You guys have my curiosity up so I have to go look around.

Just found out that I get to go to Washington, Mo and deal with a few upset customers. What a joy that will be. Oh well there is always Friday.

Well when I'm after smallmouth it's just one small box in my pocket, along with some pliers and however many cold beers that I can fit in the rest of my pockets.

I hesitate to jump on board because my free time is so wierd. Most people know that I have a lot of it, but very little of that falls on a weekend. But I would love to join the Hickory Stream Team. I believe that if this is worked correctly and you don't intentionaly try to embaress the city, then many good things could come out of this. I like the idea MarkinKC has with getting a cleanup story published in the MDC Conservationist Magazine. Every bit of publicity is going to place some pressure on the city to do something. But a lot of the problem is that they really may be under staffed. Just like the ideas of the waste barrels in popular places. You have a couple of problems with this. The first one is who is going to pick up the trash? It would have to be done more than once a week because of problem number two. How would you keep the locals from using it for their household trash. I think that's why most accesses have taken the waste barrels away. Anyway, we have some great ideas. But the only way that we will gain any support from the city is if we step in and do a lot of the work up front.