Flysmallie

If you could make it warmer than last year that would be great. The tarps and heater are fine but it was really cold down on the water.

Michael, I am causing your pop up problem. I will end it as soon as I see that $1,000 gift certificate.

Several years ago it was $50. My dad found out the hard way. And the dumb thing was he had just forgot to re-new his. He had a current non-resident license for Oklahoma, Arkansas, Texas & Mexico (yeah he fishes a lot) but they still didn't let it slide. Cost him $50 and I had to quit fishing and drive him to a marina so he could get his Missouri license. He has a lifetime now, so he's good to go.

Not sure if it will work on yours, but I've always been able to send my pics in a text message from my phone to my email address.

I'm also an addict. I bought a 3wt mainly for my daughter to use for perch jerking and I'm in love with it. It's a Echo 7'6" 4pc. Has been a lot a fun this year chasing goggle eye and smallmouth with it. I can't land a decent fish on it, but that's not the rods fault. I would also suggest sticking with the shorter rod. Come to think of it I don't think I have ever let my daughter cast it, but that's her problem!!!

It actually has at least two hooks. I've seen the tying instructions that sparkleminnow posted on another forum and I thought he talked about using a double hook on the back. I've been using something similar with great results, it's better than a Torpedo and doesn't have the splash down that the Torpedo has. Mine only has one hook point and does not have the prop. This is something that I was trying to figure out add when I ran across the Coffey Grinder a couple of months ago. Thanks for the great design sparkleminnow!

Well after checking the forum this morning I decided I should go fishing. Only a couple of problems. One, I wanted to catch a trout and two, I needed to be home by 2pm. Since it was already 9am I figured that roaring River was my best bet. OK, so it was stupid. The time it would take me to get there from Springfield wouldn't be worth the amount of time I would have to fish plus I should probably stay home and mow the yard. So at 9:21 I pull out of the driveway. Was fishing by 11 and knew I had to leave no later than 12:30. I ended up with six all on an olive pine squirrel. I tried black for awhile and they would swipe at it but no hookups. The water is still moving pretty good and it's still pretty dingy. I would guess visibility at about 18 inches. Caught a couple real small rainbows and saw another guy catch one that was probably no more that 5 inches. Oh well it was a lot of driving for such a short amount of water time but it was needed and worth it. I may head back Friday if anyone is interested.

I've been been using barbless flies for smallmouth for a couple of years. I don't feel that I'm loosing anymore fish than I did already. As long as you can keep tension on the line you should be okay.

I was thinking the same thing as you guys. I think I saw some floaters on Saturday that were sponsored by Zig Zag.

I haven't seen an 18 inch or even 16 inch smallie all year. The floods, kids and work have really hurt me too. I have had some fun with the 12 to 13 inchers though. But then I haven't put my 3wt down all summer. I love that little rod. And all of the fish have been caught on the same little popper. I ain't setting any records, but I'm having a blast.

Your first smallmouth on a fly rod??? I thought we were going to go sometime. We talk about it at least once a year. That was a nice one too.

If they gave out tickets for drunk and stupid the river would be a traffic jam. Kerr to Galena has been very busy a lot lately. Most have seemed well mannered but you always find a few idiots out there. A few weeks ago I was down there with my 9 year old daughter. We passed this gravel bar that must have had 30 of the rivers finest just hanging out. My daughter looks back at me and real quietly says; "Look Dad, it's a whole redneck family". Gosh, I love that girl! Yes it was nice to see MDC out. That's the second weekend in a row that I've been checked. Last weekend was at Pomme de Terre. If he would have checked the boat just down from us he could have written a ticket. When we got close to the next boat they asked if it was MDC. They were real nervous since they didn't have fishing licenses. I just don't get these people. If I was going to break the law I wouldn't tell everybody about it. I guess that's one of the problems with drunk and stupid.

Don't know what you call it but Lightning Bug fits. I'm sorry I didn't mean to poke fun at your situation, but it is a good name. Hope you are doing well and that's a nice looking bug.

Put in a Shelvin around 9:30am with a lot of cloud cover. It was pretty quiet and the fishing was good until the sun came out. All that sun caused a major aluminum hatch and both of those pretty much shut the fishing down. We did get checked by a couple of conservation agents that had themselves a nice little setup in the shade. It was nice to see them out there checking everybody that was fishing. Talked to a man and woman that had been checked. They put in the same time we did. They received a ticket because they had 2 smallmouth under the length limit. We had ran accross them several times during the day and it looked like they were keeping everything that they caught. It was nice to see the MDC out there doing their job and catching a couple of poachers.

I have to say I'm a little jealous that your 5 year old can cats better than me!!! I really need to get my daughters down there. How far of a drive is it from Springfield?

Enforcement will always be an issue. Education is the key to everything. That's why we have to educate as many people as we can. Does anyone have any involvement with the Missouri Smallmouth Alliance? I have been looking at their website but it appears to be out of date and not much going on.

So it was you that scared my family.

I agree on the limb lines. We saw a lot of those throughout that whole section.

Floated and fished with some great friends this weekend. We put in Saturday at Hazelgreen access and took out Sunday at 133 bridge. The smallmouth fishing was not what it was last year when we floated this same area, but we expected that with all of the flooding. What was really suprising was the number of largemouth and spots. We didn't see that many last year. This year they out numbered the smallmouth. Most of the fish were caught on soft plastics but I also did well on a old standard issue #3 Mepps spinner. Saturday afternoon we made camp in a bend in the river that was completely shaded at 4:30 in the afternoon. It was a great spot because it was really really hot. There was some backwater across the river from us that was just begging me to fish it. So I waited until it was good and shaded and jumped in my new canoe with 3wt in hand. I tied on a little foam bodied popper and started catching 8" to 10" goggle eye all over the place. That was a lot of fun on that little rod. Then I noticed a good looking spot. Right where the fastwater seam met the backwater there was a stump with weeds on one side. I got as close as I dared while trying to stay out of the fastwater. My fly landed right next to the stump with about as much stealth as a goose that's been shot out of the sky. That's when this bass, had to be at least 18", comes leaping out of the water and lands directly on my fly, mouth first. Well all that really needs to be said is that I lost that one!!! Too big a fish for that little of a rod with a 6X tippet and a complete retard hanging onto it. I thought if I could get him out in the open water that I might have a chance but I couldn't get him away from that tree, so I let him have my fly and I went to camp to start my aluminum can recycling program. It wasn't a long fight, but it's one I will never forget. What a blast.

We floated from Hazelgreen access to 133 bridge. We did catch one spot right at Hazelgreen.

I'm in. I still haven't made up my mind on a slot or a max like 18". I would love to see catch and release but I don't think it well ever happen. Never hurts to ask though. If catch and keep is a concern of MDC then they can let these people catch and kill every spot there is. We fished Gasconade over the weekend and caught more spots than we did smallmouth. I did however hook a good largemouth or spot, not sure which, but it wasn't a smallmouth. I saw it clear the water as it dove on the popper I was using on a 3wt for goggle eye. Not a good ending. Seriously, if anyone is interested in getting something started let me know. I would be very interested in helping.

I fished it several times last year. Crankbaits didn't seem to work here as well as they do on our other streams. Did catch a lot of fish on plastics on spinning tackle and large streamers on the fly rod. On one trip we did very well on buzz baits early and late in the day.

I bought a 3wt Echo Classic a few months ago. Put a Ross Flystart on it and then spent the bucks on Rio line. I've only used it a few times but I love it. It was within your price range, I think I spent around $280. The only place to buy it though is Backcountry Outfitters. I get BCO rewards points for saying that. Michael says that when I get 10,000 points he will give me a new leader. Can't wait for that. Hi Michael, haven't seen you in a while. Hope everything is going great. I think you still owe me a fishing trip.

Brian, These guys are right on. You need a good compound followed by a wax. The problem that you are having by compounding and it looking good for awhile is common. The problem is that you are probably removing very little of the oxidation and the oils in the compound are hiding the rest. Once the compound washes off, you have the same problem. On gelcoat you need a pretty aggresive compound and sometimes wet sanding with 1000 grit paper is needed to do it right. I sent you a message about coming down and looking at the other repairs that we had talked about. If you want let me know and I'll grab a buffer and some compound, we could probably get them buffed out in a couple of hours. I used to detail boats, so I've got this down pretty good. If you have a day open in the next couple of weeks let me know.