duckydoty

Got down to Taney about 3:30 p.m. The parking lot was crowded and lots of people out enjoying the nice weather. One of the regular day shifters was even out there wet wading. Walking down the stairs by outlet 2, I noticed a few of the day-shifters sitting around the rocks at the bottom of the stairs. I sat down and visited with them for a while, then hit the water. Headed down towards the rebar hole and started fishing just above the chute heading into the hole. Lots of fish activity in that area. Started with a crackle back and cast across the current stripping it back in as it swung down into the chute. Caught 5 or 6 fish on the crackle back and then switched to a renegade. Lots of chasers and a few hook ups on that. Switched over to an olive pine squirrel sculpin and really started picking up fish. Brought to hand one nice buck about 3 1/2 pounds that squirted milk every time I touched him. Guess I know what all that fish activity was about now. Headed up to the truck just before dark and switched over to the night time gear. Went down at dark and started fishing the old gauntlet area with the olive pine squirrel. Got a few hits and only brought 2 to hand. Switched over to black and headed down towards the old point area and caught 4 or 5 more before deciding to head on down to boat launch area. Waded across the river and fished directly across from the launch. Got hits on just about every cast but only brought 5 to hand till the moon came up. Had to switch over to a white mink sculpin after to moon came up to continue catching fish. Picked up 15 more before calling it an evening. Most fish came from just casting across the current and letting it dead drift. Did pick up the last 5 by ever so slowly stripping it in with long and slow strips. Most fish after dark were in the 10 to 13 inch range but 4 or 5 of them would go 15-17 inches.

Sounds like you had a great day.

Hey Tightline. That is awesome you found a great mess of crappie. Did not mean anything by the vicious rumor statement. Been hearing others are getting into them on the Rock also. I know Babler can get into fish where ever he goes. Seen him in action in Alaska. In my eyes, your post gives others hope on whats out there. Thanks for sharing with us. Now, I'm out the door to play with some slick backs.

And I thought I would be bored when duck season ended. Headed to Roaring River in a little bit to see my buddy Tim, then have a little get together to go to down at Taney this afternoon and a little grill session to do at the pavilion, then I want to head over to Powersite to have another try at them Walters over there, but now I'm hearing vicious rumors of crappie biting on the Rock and Chris is finding money by the bag full. Not enough hours in the day to do everything I want to do today!

I might have a fillet or 4 left.

I can see there are 8 of us just waiting for a little more information. I know we cant expect GPS coordinates, but a general area, or even type of bank, docks, pole timber, something to go on.....

Sounds like fun. Make it before the end of June.

Just learned this morning that he passed away 2 days after we last met. I spent an hour talking with him and telling stories. He will be missed! http://www.gormanscharpf.com/sitemaker/sites/Gorman1/obit.cgi?user=876582Rhoden#.UP4HW74Ypv4.facebook

Enjoyed the reports Marty and looking forward to the photos. It was a fun season, not the best, but fun for sure. Can't wait to see what next year brings, and I will be giving you a call or 10.

Depends on what they cost and what your learning. There are lots of times when I'm guiding up in Alaska and wish the guest would have taken a few fly casting lessons before they came on a trip of a lifetime.

I saw a lot of small ones up by the rock pile Friday night.

De-Duckify.....love it!

Great pictures Marty!

The 2nd of Feb might be a good time to run up Swan Creek or Beaver Creek and spend some time catching 4-5 inch creek chubs on the fly rod. Put them in a bucket of ice water with a bubbler, then head on over to Barkers Hole and try to play with some walleyes. Thats what I hope to be doing over the next 4 or 5 weeks.

To be honest with you, as a beginner, the most important thing to spend your money on is fly line. Any rod, and any reel can cast a good fly line. Those cheap lines you can pick up for $10-$20 will just aggrivate the tar out of you. They will keep coils in them, sink when you want them to float and hinder your ability to cast. You can get away with going cheap on a rod and reel, but spend the money on a good fly line. Make sure it is matched to the rod or even oversized by one weight. A medium action (full to mid flex) rod will be a little more forgiving while learning to cast and getting your timing down for back casts. Fast action rods give you less of a window to keep your cast good. Any reel that holds line will work as long as you can pull the line off it without breaking 7x tippet. Some of the click and paw reels are a little too tight and if you get a fish on that needs to run, you will end up breaking him off. If you purchase a combo or set up from a flyshop, try casting a couple of different rigs in the parking lot to see what feels good. I'm sure they will give you some pointers also.

We hunted Cockleburr this morning with out anybody else to bother us this morning. Beautiful, cold, and crisp out. Had a few birds work us early and knocked 4 of them out of the sky. Slowed down real quick, so we were outta there by 9. Saw quite a few birds on the main lake on the way back down to empire. Not near as much ice as I was hoping for. This warm up today is not gonna help much. Might go back out one more day, but other than that, I think I'm done this season.

John, We did talk about it. I could not believe these guys. They were nice enough as we were picking up and did not shoot our direction like the guys in Bull Creek did on opening weekend, but it was a sheer lack of respect for other hunters for sure. They had a blind built up across the cove, but we were there first. I guess we should have just set up in their blind but I had more respect for another hunter than that. I've been talking to a few people about what we have to do in this area to get some kind of a refuge or something to attract ducks in this area. The fields below power site would be a perfect area for this. Just a couple of levys and some food planted for the ducks would make all the difference in the world for us. There are no refuges to speak of in this part of the state and if we just gave the ducks a reason to stick around, I think it would help the hunting out quite a bit. Right now if we get new birds, they might sit on one of the lakes for a day or two, then they are outta here. I dont know what we can do about all these duck commandos running around, but I wish they would get a clue

We hunted lower Taney yesterday. Saw maybe 150 birds but only a few wanted to work us. Ended up bagging 3 gadwall and due to feeling over crowded by an other group of hunters that came in and set up 50 yards right across from us, we decided just to go fishing the rest of the day. Did catch a lot of trout on midges and sowbugs up by the dam.

Welcome to the forum! We'll be neighbors. I winter on Coney Island just east of Kimberling City.

Welcome to the forum!

Not near as many around Table Rock, Taney, and Bull Shoals area as compared to the Mississippi north of St. Louis. Two completely different areas. The only thing we have going for us is open water. No food to speak of in this area as far as flooded fields and such that can hold birds for a long time. The only draw we really have for hunters from other areas is the fact that the South Zone season is open till the 20th of January. A few people come down here to get in just one more hunt. We can have good hunts down here, but for the most part, it is not an everyday thing.

Hope everything goes well for you Eric!

I use a lot of Orvis. Not saying I like it or not. Just pays me well to use it.

Awesome video Chris! Really enjoyed it and thanks for sharing!

That is funny