Flysmallie

Fished for about 3 hours midday Thursday. Caught a lot of fat fish. The pine squirrel has finally failed me, I only caught 2 fish on it. Of course half of the fish run off right after they see it. Maybe I have scared them. I gotta quit fishing the same 3 or 4 pools. Caught several on a soft hackle, caught a bunch on san juan worms, a few on a gnat. But the majority of the fish came on the little fly pictured below. Thanks Steve Smith. There were several times that 2 or 3 fish wanted that fly at the same time. It looked like they were fighting over it under water. Saw rvconrad, he was up a ways from me and across the stream. Good to see you out there catching fish rvconrad. It looked like you were doing well. Sorry I didn't come over and speak, but when I waved at you I was already about 30 minutes behind schedule. I really needed to leave right then. And if you noticed I didn't.

I'm sorry MrDucky. I won't come stand by you anymore. At least I didn't fall on you!! I think it would be nice if a book like this had maps of the park. It doesn't have to be anything of great detail.

I use the gel on all my foam flies. You can put a little bead of it on top of the thread and it won't soak into the thread or dry as fast.

Don, the thinner strips will make it alot easier. I have several whole skins that were already precut. The strips that are about an 1/8" wide seem to be the easiest to work with. I have been using some larger strips on some smallmouth patterns and they do seem to be a little more difficult to work with. One thing that I have noticed is that don't really look right until you complete the fly and then stroke the hair back a few times. I'm not a good fly tyer. Not even close to being good. The past two nights I have sat down and tied 15 to 20 flies to be ready for the Benefit Tournament. In those 30 to 40 flies, I have tied 12 pine squirrels. Anybody want to guess what I'm going to start out with on Saturday??

Maddog sure is a funny name for a stripper. Is he as hot as Leonard?

Dano, don't tell anybody else, but can I go with you? I've always wanted to fish Crooked Creek. Don't know why I haven't.

Mine will be in the mail on Tuesday. I've had them done for awhile but completely forgot to send them. Sorry.

Another great story Terry. Thank you.

Well that's a whole nuther story. A couple of years ago at Taney, while trying to get out of the rising waters, I did the splits in my waders. Now this wouldn't be so bad if I had the body of an olympic athlete, but I don't. Not even close. They didn't rip, but it did pull the seams enough to cause some leakage.

Thanks for the tip Jeremy. I've never thought about tying a smaller fly on a larger hook. It makes perfect sense and probably makes it a lot easier to tie.

I haven't been bass fishing. I've caught some trout, chased some whites with very little luck and scared a couple of smaliies out of the stream. How did your painting experience turn out. Last time I talked to you it sounded like you were having some problems but I drove out of cell phone coverage before I thought I could really help you. Sorry about that.

You really need to have a long talk with your boss.

Our team is also complete. Flysmallie MrDucky Duckydoty Rich I'm not sure why I'm fishing with a bunch of ducks but I did hear Phil say that pee rolls off their backs. That info may come in handy.

I agree that the minimum's need to be changed but I do not have an educated opinion about what it should be. I have only seen one smallmouth over 20 inches caught out of our streams. A guy had it in a five gallon bucket trying to give it away. When I asked why he didn't release it, he said that he had never caught a smallie that size and he wasn't letting it go. I still kick myself for not taking the fish and releasing it after he left. I measured the fish and it was just short of 21". However, I have seen at least one more that was as long, if not larger, on that same stretch of stream. I have also seen the stringers with short fish on them as well as the remains of fish that were cleaned and obviously too short. It seems that no matter what we do to make things better, we are fighting a losing battle amongst those who think they are above the regulations. Plus the fact that I see more and more fat and happy otters each year. Besides all these problems, there are still some quality fish left in our streams. They do seem to be getting smarter and harder to catch though. One thing that you need to do to catch better quality fish is be able to change your style of fishing. I have friends that will only throw a white rooster tail or little crawdad crankbait. They do catch a lot of fish and the occasional 15" to 16" fish. But how many people do you see on our streams fishing the same way. Al's information has showed us that he has caught a lot of fish on a spinnerbait that he created, it's his confidence bait, but it's also unique. You have to find a bait that these fish haven't seen a million times. I've only been fishing our streams for smallmouth for about 6 years, but I spent a lot of time chasing them on our lakes long before that. One thing that I figured out on the lakes is that a lot of people were doing the same things and getting the same results. Once I changed my tactics and style of smallmouth fishing I was able to consistently catch better quality smallmouth on the lake. Once I developed the same mindset for the streams the quality of those fish went up as well. A smallmouth is a very aggressive fish. Most people think that is a no brainer but I don't think most understand how agressive they really are. Once while fishing my favorite smallie waters on Stockton my Dad and I saw several smallies chasing shad close to shore. We saw a smallmouth chasing a shad so hard that he actually ran himself about five foot up on the bank and landed on the backside of a huge rock, no chance of getting back to the water. I beached the boat and put him back. My dad thought I was nuts, but a fish like that deserves to live. But that is what I mean by really agressive, they will eat most anything and I don't think they worry too much about the size of it either. If you want to catch quality fish you have to throw something bigger than a 1/8 oz. rooster tail. I guess my point is to change it up a bit if you are not catching the quality fish that you think you should. Yes it is a lot of fun to catch a lot of fish, but you can increase the quality and still keep the numbers if you find the right thing. I mostly flyfish for smallmouth these days, but I can gaurantee you that the flies that you find in my fly box are not ones that you would think you would find. Last year I fished a lot of carolina rigged worm flies and a shakey head style fly. I'm not just using plastics for these on a fly rod, these flies work much better than plastics. I also love using poppers, but you won't find me using deer hair poppers very often either. I would have to agree that the quality of the fish in our streams is not what it used to be, but remember there are still some quality fish out there. Just because you aren't catching as many does not necessarily mean they are not there, it may just mean that you need to change your offering or style. And if you are so lucky to catch a monster smallie in our streams, take a couple of pictures and let it go to fight another day.

Glad to hear you are doing well Tim. Ronnie

Well we are just a couple weeks away from this event and we still need one more to fill our team. I know somebody out there wants to do this. And heck if you go with me and MrDucky you know one of us in going to fall at some point so you are going to be in for a good laugh. Then we have a guy named Rich on our team and he is always good for a laugh. However if you want to be on a team that is going for the gold, you might want to consider doing something different. We are not the best but I can bet we will have the most fun. I gave up competitive fishing a couple of years ago and I have no intentions of going back. The only reason I am in any kind of tournament is to help out this little girl. I will be driving out of Springfield and picking up Rich and John along the way. If you are worried about getting there or the expense of gas, don't worry I have it covered. All you need to bring is the $25 to fish and a sense of humor. Call me if you have any questions. Ronnie 417-839-5530

Backcountry Outfitters 1316 E. Battlefield Springfield MO 65804 P: (417) 889-6548 Or you can just drive my car. It goes there automatically, and stops by the ATM on the way.

I started fishing around 10:30 this morning and hooked several but was able to land only one on a pine squirrel. Walked up to the big hole and ran into MrDucky. He was hogging a spot so I pushed him out of the way and went on fishing. Caught another on the squirrel then switched to a zebra midge. Caught several on that. Well Ducky just had to have one, but I held out as log as I could. We were standing there talking when I tried to take a step closer to him and got my foot caught up in one of those little curbs on the sidewalk. Yeah I went down, HARD. I didn't end up in the water but I might have dented the concrete. After composing myself I got away from Ducky, don't tell him but I think he causes people to fall down. I started catching a few on a G-gnat until I lost the only one I had. Why is it that I always only have one gnat with me?? After I lost that I decided to try to catch a few more on the squirrel and then head home. Told Ducky bye and walked back down to the pools below the big hole. Caught a couple and circled back around to the other side of the big hole. Thought I would walk over and see what Ducky was up to one last time before I left. I tried to step up on the walkway from the run below and ripped the crotch out of my jeans . That was a great way to end the day. At least I caught some fish though. Thanks for being there for moral support Ducky and telling everyone that I was some kind of pervert. And on the way home my brakes started making some horrible noise so that will be Friday's fun. By the time I got home I could hardly get out of the car. Apparently when a guy my size falls flat on the concrete it makes you a little sore. The guy that said a bad day fishing is better than a good day at work has never been with me.

Present. I sure did miss having something to do while I watched the news. Did you know they show the weather on there!!

Alright motroutbum I have to question this, not because I think you are wrong just because I am confused. I've looked at a lot of soft hackle patterns and some people swear that you have to tie in by the tip and some say the butt. Can anybody give me a reason that one is better than the other, or is it really just tyer preference.

Great story Terry. I really enjoy reading these.

I knew there was something wrong with you Steve. No wonder your flies smell like crap!!! Wash your hands thoroughly next time you fix me a dog.

That's the one that I saw last time I was down there.

TroutFearMe, I said your target would be small, but I admire you for writing a book, any book. Success is something that will be determined by you. If you are wanting to make money on this, then you may not find it to be "successful". However, if the joy of writing the book in the hopes of helping others is what you after, then I know you will be succesful. I've started two books in my life, one fiction and one about fishing, just have never finished them. One was started over 15 years ago.

I feel that any book about one particular body of water is going to have a very limited audience. Trout parks are so small that it doesn't take very much asking, digging and watching others to figure out what's succesful. It may be a good option for a beginner that is going to be concentrating on that particular park, but that is still a very limited audience.