duckydoty

I'm gonna have to report you to the admin team for saying those dirty four letter words on the forum.....

Nice fish!

Thanks for the report. It should get hot and heavy up there later this week.

I usually have at least one of these heavy flies just for the weight as the dropper fly or anchor and sometimes I will have smaller flies further up the line. It just all depends on the conditions of the water, current and depth. If I can get it to go down fast, I will go smaller.

That is one pretty Rainbow. Just think, Friday, I drove up to the St. Louis area to spend the weekend. I could not wait to get back home?????

There are a lot of different ways to fish Crane. It all depends on what you want out of it. Sometimes I like to fish drys over there and that is when I take my 7' 2 wt. Other times when I am polish nymphing the heavy flies, a 9' 4 or 5 wt work better for me. I would not fish an indicator over there, but that is just me. A lot of the holes at Crane, you basically have to sling-shot your fly into the hole or even just dip it in like fishing with a cane pole. It is just the only way to get into some of those really tight spots in the middle of all wood and logs. Most people pass these spots because they figure they could never get a fly down into them or even out of them, with a fish, impossable. That is where they are wrong. You have got to try them. Heavy, heavy flies are the only way to have some control and to get them down fast enough without washing away into all the wood with the current. Heavier line is needed also to bring the fish out faster with less of a chance of loosing the fish and your flies. Even with this, you are going to loose them often, but the payoff is BIG! No guts, no glory, simple as that. There are alot of deeper pools with fast current flowing into them at Crane. These are great spots for polish nymphing with the heavy flies. Basically, you flick the fly upstream and high stick it back down stream past you keeping your line in contact with your fly leading it down stream at the same rate of the current. You are fishing by feel, and you will feel the bite if you are doing it properly. Hook set is always down stream. Again, heavy flies are needed for this. Some of my flies have 38 wraps of .15 dia. lead along with a 1/8 inch bead. Now these are tied on a size 10 TMC 3769, so it is not that big of a fly, just super heavy. I catch the 5 and 6 inchers on it all the time. Also I have ran these flies in tandem and even up to three of them to get the rig heavy enough to get down to where I wanted to be. If you are not hanging up on the bottom every now and then, your not fishing deep enough. Hope I've inspired some ideas.

They are all records for me Rick, but that's about it. Now your makin me blush. I believe ths stats show that you are the one we are lucky to have on this forum.

That was a good fight, but I'd have to say the best and most exciting was the 20 pound, 36 inch rainbow up in Alaska last year on a 6 wt fly rod. I've seen Phil down there a few times. He likes going to Beaver and Swan better though. They are shorter drives for him.

Sounds good to me Don. That is usually one of my last hurahs before heading back up to Alaska for the season. Hey, I just looked at my log book, and this is the week last year that I caught 4 walleye up by Walnut Springs during the middle of the day in a 3 hour period with the smallest on being 6 pounds and the largest just over nine. Might want to go check that out too!

Thanks for posting

Well, you came to the right place. Some people say on here that pictures are proof, and the 1st liar doesnt stand a chance around here.

Sweet! Thanks for sharing, and welcome to the forum!

Awesome fish! Catch it on cheese? Fly? Jig? More details please! Again, Awesome fish for Crane!

It rained hard all day yesterday in the area. Hard enough that I passed on fishing Crane today. Dont know what it really looks like today, but I was guessing it to be high. Should be fishable by Friday though.

I was throwing a 10wt with the Lamson Litespeed 4 reel. That is the largest reel Lamson makes. It is the size of a mini-cooper tire. I would not use less than and 8 wt. and you better have plenty of backing.

Size 2-4 clousers with a sinking line. Sorry to say, the spoonbill are not taking the fly, they are getting snagged. Happened upon this technique in Tulsa, fishing tha Arkansas River for stripers and hybreds. Ended up snagging a few paddle fish????

No boat required and you can park at the boat launch parking lot close to the hatchery and follow the trail down to that area.

I have caught them up to 70 pounds on the fly rod in the past.

Here is a great article put out by the MDC on Paddle Fish. Missouri Paddle Fish I also read somewhere that the current Missouri State Record Paddle Fish, which was caught on Table Rock in the James River Arm was thought to have been a fish that had survived from the original stocking of Table Rock Lake, which would have made that fish right around 25 years old at the time it was caught. I have caught several spoonbills that have had thier bills chopped off by boat motors, giant scars across thier backs and even missing most of thier tails from run-ins with boats. Good luck to all you fellas going out next week. I'm gonna wait till the water is right around 50 degrees and the first swell that comes down the James, I'll be over at Blunk Hole or Taylor shoals waiting for them with the fly rod!

Good report. Trying to talk myself into going down there this afternoon, but dont know if all this rain will blow the creek out today.

I have found a few during the last week of March. You might get into some

Up stream is great. I always do well on soft hackles and midges there. If the water is off you should be able to go up and cross over to the island. That is Lookout island. Always good fishing on the bottom side of it.

Welcome to the forum Jeff. See you on the water