OKFlyFisher44

I knew that Terry...but that fish just looks freakish compared to Rip's brown. You know what I mean?

That is unreal. Can you imagine hooking into a fish like with a 5wt rod? No chance. But that is amazing, even cooler is the they're brothers and young guys at that...

That's a nice fish! Carp are a lot of fun on a fly rod...it can become very very addicting, chasing the Golden Ghost! I can't imagine fighting one of those toads on a 5wt! I use a 7wt and its almost not enough rod for the larger fish!

Like other have said, go with stockingfoot waders. You won't be sorry. I agree also to spend a little extra $$$ and get a quality pair of waders the 1st time out. You won't be sorry. If you think you're going to stick with fly fishing, which most do, then you'll be happy you bought good quality gear. As far as brands, I'm wearing Orvis Silver Labels w/ Chota STL wading boots. I've had my Silver Labels for going on 3 years and they've been great. I've put them through the paces and not an issue yet. They've very comfortable and breathe very well even in HOT weather. Plus they were under $200! Now they don't have all the high-end features but I can do without. I absolutely love my Chota boots. This is my 2nd pair. I had a pair of Abrams Creek boots and they are a great boot for the money. I'd definitely look at them for $70. I sold them to my nephew and he loves them as well. I have a pair of Chota STLs now that I just got about a month ago. I got 'em for just under $100 and they're amazing. Very comfortable and offer lots of support. I don't think I'll ever buy another pair of wading boots again. My nephew just bought a pair of Hodgeman Lakestream breathables and I'm very impressed with them. They looked very "cheap" in the pictures but after getting my hands on them, I'm very impressed. They feel and look very well constructed, as good as my Silver Labels. Only time will tell how durable they are. I will say they have very good reviews on Cabelas and they're on sale right for $70 on Cabelas Bargain Cave site. On the customer service issue with Orvis, I've only had to deal with them once with a broken rod that was my dads rod. I called them up and told them the situation. The rod was actually a discontinued model but they said to send it in and they would repair it or warranty the rod. Just over a week later, there was a brand new rod sitting on my door-step. No questions asked. I have nothing but good things to say about Orvis. I say, if you want a lower price point...go with Hogdeman or Cabelas. If you're going to spend some money...definitely Simms, Patagonia, Orvis, etc....

Seems like late winter to spring is the best time to be at Zink. I did really well down there a few times in March and April. No stripers but lots of sand bass with the occasional drum. I think they've all went downstream since the water is so warm...who knows though. But honestly...next spring, unless I'm just pressed for time...I'll be spending my time down on the lower illinois for stripers.

LOL...probably won't really heat up again till next spring when they start to make their spawning run. But I imagine there are quite a few resident fish in the Lower Illinois to warrant fishing for them for most of the year. Couldn't tell ya on the Gore Landing question...might be a good idea to check out. You could probably actually kayak quite a bit of the river if you could find someone to drop you off upstream and then work your way down to Gore Landing. That's just a guess though...don't hold me to that! Trout fishing is about to really pick up down on the lower illinois with fall/winter fishing...if you've got a 3-5wt rod, you can really have a blast!

I'm pretty sure you're catching the tail end of the season but its still worth trying. Its like fishing for steelhead, sometimes they're there....then they're not! Any deep hole with a decent amount of current will hold fish if there are any around. Just have to do some walking and scouting....I'm still on a learning curve myself. Where you from?

You just can't escape the technological pressures of popular society these days. First it was MySpace, then it was Facebook, and now...my own blog. But hey, its a fishing blog...so far I've kinda enjoyed rattling off the 1st few posts. Its kind of an outlet for my thoughts when I'm not fishing! Anyways...just thought I'd share it with you guys. Post any comments you want...doesn't matter to me. Below is the link to the blog! An Okie Trout Bum's Story

That's really odd? It shouldnt matter if you're just going in to park and fish. I don't understand that at all. I haven't had an issue yet, but I've always got there way before they were open so I just parked and walked in. Maybe someone can clarify this for us...

I'm wondering if all the stripers, hybrids, and sand bass haven't all went back downstream away from the dam? Or who knows....I don't know if I'll go back till next spring. I think there's still a few stripers hanging around in the lower illinois below tenkiller but its almost like steelhead fishing....the fish of a 1000 casts! But its so worth it... I dont know though, I might try to sneak down there tomorrow if the water looks good....see what I can't stir up!

#10s and #12s...

LOL! All I wanted to know was if anyone had fished Tan Vat lately? There hadn't been a report in a while and I was just curious. Didn't want anyone to teach me how to fish the Current, I've got a pretty good idea. I never thought it would blow up into this...its quite amusing actually. To the point though, I'll hopefully be sneaking down to the Current in a few weeks. When I last fished it in April, it was amazing and I've been itching to come back. Thanks for the input that pertained to the subject guys. Always great stuff. Scudz, I don't have anything to say to you or about you....but man...lol...

Holy crap...is that guy for real?

Fished @ R.R. on sunday from 1:00 till 7:30. Weather was freakin' perfect and the crowds were pretty thin. Got to fish wherever I wanted, which was nice. Tied on a foam hopper pattern I tied up earlier in the weekend and never changed patterns. It was a blast! I was reminded why I hate fishing 7X so much though....I only had 4 foam hoppers and finally broke them off on fish after a few hours of fishing. Had to break myself of setting the hook too hard... A quick trip up to Tim's and I picked up some chernobyl ants along with some foam hopper patterns. The foam bodies on the ants were a bit larger than the hoppers I was fishing earlier. I missed several fish as I think they weren't completely taking the fly. I trimmed up the foam bodies a bit and bent the hook out just a touch. It was game on after that! Caught a ton of fish the rest of the afternoon. Probably the most fun I've ever had at R.R. besides sight fishing to big trout in the winter. Anywhere that the trees were over-hanging the water....laid it out with a big flop so it'd get the fish's attention and they would nail it most times! I had 1 fish eat the fly 4 times on 4 different casts before I finally hooked him! Its a great time to be on the water....

Good lord...what did I do? I just asked if anyone had fished there lately....

Phil... Grey, green, and tan scuds have always produced for me at Taney...well they produce for everyone down there. San juan worms in brown and red too. Zebra midges in black and red w/ silver wire have also been good. Sculpin patterns are a must for both day and night trips. On my last trip, soft hackles and cracklebacks worked very well too. I've caught a few fish on egg patterns too... At night...mohair leeches, wooly buggers, and egg-sucking leeches have worked for me in my short Taney night fishing career. You can throw bigger flies and heavier tippet at night too...just in case you hook into a pig! Another thing Phil....I really really recommend driving over to the Current River and fishing there for a day. Its a 2 1/2 hour drive but its well worth it. The hopper fishing is supposed to be awesome down there from August till October. Lots of nice water to fish outside of the state park. Replace roaring river with the current...I promise, you'll enjoy it.

Things have been good, been fishing a lot! Next time I go fish, I'll shoot you a text and we'll go fish. I've been going on monday mornings to the lower illinois. Didn't get to go yesterday. I'm going up to Grand Lake this weekend to our lake-house and fish with my dad saturday evening and sunday morning. Thinking about sneaking over to Roaring River sunday afternoon to fish some beetles and grasshoppers. Might camp out sunday night and fish monday....maybe... Didn't get to fish or play golf this weekend so I'm having withdrawels!

Haven't seen a report from the area around Tan Vat in sometime. Just curious if anyone has fished it lately? Trying to make a trip up there sometime soon!

I used to have tons of access to farm ponds all around my house here just outside of Mannford...couda provided you with enough places to fish for a month straight! But...2 of the landowners passed away so the land was sold by their kids to people who won't let you fish there anymore. The other 2 landowners have leased out the property to people to run their cattle on...and now won't allow to me to fish their ponds. What happened to the good ol' days when you could ask anyone to fish anywhere and they just didn't care....it really sucks...

Maxima or Frog Hair is great stuff to use. Maxima is cheaper overall, no matter if you buy the leader kit or buy individual spools. There are some really cool leader formula tools available on the 'net, they use Excel for the basis of the program. You can put in how long of a leader, what size tippet, etc....and it'll give you specs to build off of. I don't hand-tie all my leaders but I have a few formulas I use to rebuild a tapered leader that I've bought over the counter once I've used up the tippet section. If you fish ALL the time, I think it would save you money over time as long as the cost of the materials doesn't sky-rocket over time. Plus its just another intimate part of the sport...

Yellow or Green in size 14-16 is what worked for us. No weight. I even would put the fly in the dry-shake after I caught a fish so it'd float high when dead-drifted but just under surface when stripped. Worked very well...

Took a weekend with some family to come down to Branson so while we were there, as always, I squeezed in some fishing since the weather was going to be nice. Couldn't of asked for nicer weather all weekend, it was almost chilly down on the water early in the mornings especially after you've been standing in the water for some time. Got down to the dam around 6:30 saturday morning along with the rest of the tourist population of Branson. I walked downstream and started at one of my favorite spots, the small run below the large downed tree. Started off with a sculpin pattern, swinging it out and stripping it back. Nothing. Went to a san juan worm w/ a scud dropper. Got 1 fish to hand. Switched to a beadhead scud w/ a red zebra midge dropper. Got 2 fish to hand. Fishing was SLOW...that was the only 3 strikes that I got too. I was a little perplexed. I thought with the cooler weather and the over-cast skies, fishing would be excellent. I moved downstream to the Big Hole and combed the waters with not even a half-hearted twitch of my indicator. During this time I started noticing the trout had kicked into feeding on something either on top or just below the surface. I watched for sometime and grabbed a couple bugs out of the air. Compared them to a couple of dries, switched to 7X, and tied on. I got a couple of rises outta fish but they just turned into LDRs. At that point, I had to get back to the cabin to go to lunch with the family and the wife wanted to shop. Got down to the dam at 6:00 sunday morning to an almost empty parking lot so I was excited about that. Geared up and walked down to the Big Hole again to find the fish feeding again. Back to the drawing board again, but I figured they must be feeding sub-surface. Tied on a crackleback and it was game on after that! Had a great time fishing the rest of the morning. The fish would take the fly on a dead-drift off the surface or stripping it back to me after it'd swung out. Lots of fun. Had a bunch of hook-ups and LDRs but still managed to bring 15 fish to hand with a nice 18" 'bow and a fat 16" brown being the nicest fish of the morning. My nephew and cousin joined me around 8:30 and I got them rigged up with cracklebacks and they got into some fish as well. We had a good time... It was a good time fishing a different pattern on Taney... Sorry no pictures, the wife had the camera the entire time...

Just sat down and watched it off my DVR. Pretty cool episode. You're a TV star now!

Thanks Steve...I'll make a mental note of that next time I go down...which might be in the morning!

Where's T&M? Never heard of that area before. See...I was thinking night fishing for the stripers would be awesome since its been so hot lately that I'd bet they're laying low during the day in those deep holes and then feeding at night but who knows. The thought of fishing down there at night is kinda freaky to me...I mean, Taneycomo has lights everywhere and I've fished there enough that I have a good idea how the river is laid out. But I'd bet it would pay off in the form of some big stripers if you fished down there at night! I'm going to try and sneak back up there saturday afternoon or sunday morning...