OKFlyFisher44

Amen to that you lucky dog! If the generation stops for sunday, I'll be at the Watts area around 7:00 in a black/silver Dodge truck. If it doesn't stop...I'm probably going to fish the Arkansas for stripers if they're not generating.

Dude, I tried calling you a couple saturdays ago when I was heading to Missouri!

Morton... Unless they turn the water off, I wouldn't even risk it to be honest with you. I've been watching the generation levels and the generation schedule...doesn't look too promising. And there's a 70% chance of rain thursday. I thought we might of had a glimmer of hope today because they shut off generation early this morning for several hours but they're scheduled to generate all day tomorrow. Check these websites throughout the week and you'll have a good idea of whats going on... USGS Generation Table - Lower Illinois SWPA Generation Daily Schedule If they do turn off the water for the weekend, I'll be down there Sunday to fish more than likely!

Here...

I'll put it on the calendar and try to sneak down there...probably won't make till sunday though. Hopefully we have a good stocking of big fish this year....

That is crazy that the upper access was dry just a month ago! We walked quite a ways upstream on sunday and there was fish the whole way up! Once that water starts flowing those fish get on the move! I think the creek would be amazing if it could keep the flows that it had on sunday most of the year. That makes me sad to think that the upper access is dried up most of the time, I had a lot more fun fishing the little pocket water than I did fishing the lower access with the deeper runs. Which I'd imagine that once the flows drop, the lower access becomes pretty similiar to how the upper section is laid out.

Crane is an awesome little stream. Its definitely on the top of my list as a favorite place to fish. It was tough going early on but we finally got 'em in the afternoon. I think the abnormal rainfall we've had the last couple of years have done these fish a lot of good. All the fish were really fat and healthy. There are plenty of fish for generations to come as long as they don't get killed by a drought or something in the coming summers.

More pictures

After much debate friday night, I finally decided to load up my gear and leave for Missouri after work to fish Crane on sunday. Made base-camp at Roaring River with plans to fish that evening but after setting up camp, I just kind of walked around in Zone 2 and watched people fish. Water was high and flowing pretty good, but was fishable. My buddy Joey from Arkansas pulled into camp later and we went into Cassville to eat dinner. Anyways, went to bed later that night with the truck thermo saying 34 degrees...freaking great camping weather! We got over to Crane the next morning a little after 8:00. We started at the lower access and began to work our way downstream. I'd never fished Crane before but it really is a gem. The un-touched wildness of the place really makes you think you're somewhere else besides Missouri. The creek was up still a bit and just a touch off-color, not muddy by no means though. The vegation was all laid down from the flood waters which made moving from section to section very easy, which was nice. Joey pulled 2 nice McClouds out of one of the 1st holes we hit, one of the fish being in the 18" range...just a toad of a fish for a McCloud! We got excited thinking that was a sign of things to come. We fished the rest of the primo water of the lower section till we got to where the creek widens and gets very deep....without catching another fish. We were stumped to say the least. The holes all looked really good even with the higher flows. Joey had come through this section the day before with his dad and caught several fish. We decided to pack it up for lunch. After a quick bite from the local gas station, we formatted a new game plan and headed to the upper access. It was amazing how different the stream is in the upper section. Lots of skinny water and many places where you could just jump across the creek even with the high flows. It was going to provide a whole new set of challenges for us. Stealth was going to be key to any success with such small water. We headed down the hiking trail just a bit and then put in just below a couple small holes that looked really fishy. Joey pulled out a lil' 8" McCloud on his 2nd drift, the fish was FULL of color. Absolutely beautiful fish. Very cool to see. I crouched down next to a tree and flipped a cast next to a lil' undercut bank and on the 1st drift, bam! Pulled out an awesome looking little McCloud, basically the same size as Joeys. Fish was full of color with the par marks, white tipped fins, etc. I was glad to have gotten the skunk off my back finally. We kept moving upstream the rest of the afternoon and, I must say, it seemed like the water just kept getting better and better the further we went. This little stream really has some character. It would go from skinny little pocket water where you'd only pull out 1 fish and then it'd widen back out a bit into a fairly deep run. On 2 different runs, we pulled out 4 fish, each fish in the 8"-12" range. We stumbled upon a log jam later on that resulted into a deep little hole just in front of it. We stood there for a bit and just watched till we spotted a few trout stacked up just in front of the log jam, 1 of the fish was in the 16"-18" range. After adding another split shot to the setup and switching to a tungsten bead san juan....I was able to get the fly deep enough to the fish. On the 4th drift I hooked up with the big fish...to only lose him a few seconds later with a broken off tippet. Either broke off at the split shot or just above it. A huge bummer but at the same time it was cool to hook into a nice fish. We continued upstream and caught fish here and there. It was a fantastic afteroon to say the least. It was an epic day in my book...1 of the best trips I've had fly fishing. Crane is definitely on the top of my list, just such a cool place to fish. I went into the day with an open mind, knowing there was a good chance that we could get skunked with the reputation that this lil' stream has. It really looked like that was going to be the story of the day but then everything turned out great in the afternoon. I could not be happier with my 1st trip to Crane.

I'm going to have to go with the San Juan. I've only been lucky enough to fish it 1 time and that was with my dad when I was 15. We did a drift boat trip and my dad never fished. LOL, just took pictures and watched me fish. It was an amazing trip on an amazing piece of water. Something I'll never forget for as long as I live... In a close second, the Current River in the spring time when the Caddis come off in SWARMS. Dry fly action non-stop, one of my favorite trips. I haven't been out West besides to San Juan...but I'm young, but you can bet your bottom dollar I've got a "To Fish List" that I've already started and it involves many trips to Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana.

How'd the creek look? Was it still really off-color? Or was it just running a little high but was kinda clear?

I couldn't agree more...

If this rain will let up...give it about a week and they'll start backing off on the generation, usually! But they're forecasting for more rain this week so it might be a while before we see no generation. I'm anxious as well. We were up at Branson last weekend for some goose hunting on Table Rock but did some fishing sunday morning. They were generating on Taneycomo as well....so I'm ready for some low water! I'm thinking about going over to the Arkansas if things don't get better....at least there's a window of a few hours for good wading conditions.

Cabelas brand gear seems to be really quality stuff. I think its higher quality gear than most of the Bass Pro brand stuff myself. I have a pair of Cabelas neoprene bootfoot waders that I use for duck hunting and I absolutely love them. Very comfortable and very warm. I bought a pair of the Cabelas Three Forks 420-denier bootfoot waders for my 13 y/o nephew over the summer to fish Taneycomo and they've held up really good to his abuse too. Read the reviews on Cabelas website though too, they're really helpful in most cases with making a decision. I will say that I've researched some of the Guidewear waders when I was looking at buying a pair off EBay to have as a backup pair...some of the reviews weren't that great in comparision to others. So just do your research and spend some time reading those reviews... Just my thoughts...

Depending on what the weather does and the generation on the Lower Illinois...I might try sneaking out this sunday or monday. Haven't been down there in a while but the water has been low for a few hours each day, so it might be good. Who knows... I'll give you guys a shout if I decide to go fish...

Exactly what Phil said. Don't be afraid to try it. The fish will stack up along the edges of the banks, away from the main current so they're quite accessible. Just gotta get your fly down to them. There's a couple of spots off the top of my head that I'd bet you could find tons of trout stacked up below the Watts area....

I concur as well. Very valid points. I thought about those things but man, it'd be cool to see one down there. You would think with as many people who come down there on the weekends to fish, that you'd get a decent amount of business though. I was completely floored the 1st time I pulled into Marvals and seen that ENTIRE place packed full of people!! Just don't know if it'd be enough to keep a place afloat. Especially during the winter, I'd think it would be tough. You'd have to have limited hours during the winter time I bet....much like how Tim runs his shop during the catch n' release season at Roaring River. But in the current economy we live in...it'd be tough.

Just curious as to what everyone thought about this idea? What if someone opened a fly shop with guide service, could it survive? Obviously besides fly tackle you'd want to sell normal ultra-light tackle, live bait, licenses, ice, basic groceries, etc. What do you guys think? I know there's a fly shop down in SE Oklahoma on the Mountain Fork...why not the Lower Illinois?

I really don't think it'd be worth your time if you're targeting trout. From the handful of times I've fished the lower illinois, it seems the trout are concentrated in a few select areas. I've walked from Watts all the way up to the dam and there's a ton of dead water in there that probably holds few trout. I've walked downstream of Watts a little ways as well and its pretty dead water that way too. There's some quality looking water below Marvels that might hold trout but I've never tried it. Always just fished for stripers down there. I could be dead wrong though. Might be a different story when they're running 1 generator though. It might be a good tactic with some sink tips and big streamers for stripers....you could really fish the deeper holes. I don't know....just my thoughts.

Hey! Look who's back! I don't think the size is going to matter. I've caught them on small san juans and the larger chamois (sp?) style san juans...just depends on the setup I'm fishing. All I know is, they work VERY well...

Size 10 I believe...heh, whatever hook size I have laying around on the desk when I sit down to tie is what I use. So it varies sometimes...

Left out this morning at 4:45 and headed for the lower illinois. Got to the parking lot at the Watts area about 6:15 and there was already 3 other cars there with guys getting geared up. Heh, Ive been used to fishing on Mondays and having the whole place to myself! Oh well...got geared up and headed downstream. I fished below and above the parking lot....there was a ton of fish in the river from this weeks stockings. The ODWC has really out-done theirselves. The hot fly was the san juan worm this morning, never even changed patterns. I was fishing with a dropper and never hooked a fish on the dropper. Takes were very light though, had a lot of LDRs and missed strikes. There was a few times that I'd just lift the rod to re-cast and I'd have a fish on. The weather was great with over-cast skies and cooler temps. I even wet-waded this morning and it was very nice. Ended the day with 29 rainbows and, finally, caught a couple of browns. They were just little guys but it was cool to see 'em in the river. There were some nicer fish in the river too. Caught several fish in the 15-16" range and hooked a rainbow that had to be 18-20" range, but he broke me off soon as he made a hard run. A guy fishing below me landed a nice rainbow that had to be 20", it was a dang nice fish. This fall and winter should be a good time to be on the water at the lower illinois.

Google "Leader Calc" and it should take you to an Excel program that you can download. There are also spec sheets all over the internet for several basic leaders. Heck, if you've got some time....just Google "hand-tied tapered leaders" and you'll find HOURS of reading. I killed an entire afternoon a while back reading up on the topic...it was kind of ridiculous. Thats when I stumbled upon the LeaderCalc program. If you can't find it...shoot me your email address and I'll email it to you. I've got it saved on my computer.... I agree with ya guys...I don't think you'd really save much money by doing it. Modern tapered mono leaders are great today. But its kind of like tying flies...just another way to get more involved in the sport. I don't tie ALL my own flies, just my favorite patterns that I use a lot here in the Ozarks. Probably would be kind of handy to have a couple of spare hand-tied leaders in the vest or pack if the need arised, instead of having to drive back to the nearest fly shop because you got your leader in a tangled mess. But then again, I always have a spare leader in my waistpack...so yeah...whatever. I'm with 3wt though...learn a few simple knots and just keep rebuilding your tapered leaders. Much easier....

I think I agree that they don't become "wild"...but just acquire the wild instinct and behavior of a native fish. It could be one in the same, I guess? But...to me, a wild fish is one who is stream-born in the water that it swims. Either way, I sure do like to catch them! That's all that matters!