duckydoty

Sounds like a great trip. Looking forward to the pictures. I've heard about the wild horses in that area.

We might just have to take you up on that. The only way to guarantee she does not out fish us it to tape one arm behind her back.

Good report Rick. Getcha some on that long rod!

We do run a bunch of them with the single siwash hooks off the tail end of the lure. If running trebles we some times cut one of the three hooks off the treble. One hook on the upper lip and two on the bottom seals the mouth closed and makes for a difficult unhook sometimes. Once the season gets good and going, you kinda just start making do with what you got. Shipping is outrageous where we are in remote western Alaska. At least $1.00 per pound unless it is bulky no weight stuff, then even more.

He's got the number to the little red phone on the inside that gets answered on the 1st ring or head will roll.

I like the report. LOL! Have not been there since 98 or 99. I'm sure things have not changed much.

Got some Alaskan Wild Salmon fillets getting ready for the smoker right now. Hope to see some of you fellas out there to help me get rid of it.

Usually the 1st week of April is the best time to hit the Blunks hole and Taylor shoals area. Less crowds early in the morning (3 am). I have have fished the place all to myself during violent thunderstorms. Something about lightning cracking everywhere and straight line winds usually runs people off. Another good trick is to get down there about 4 pm and start grilling chicken wings, ribs and hamburgers. That usually clears out a few spots from the fellas that have been at it all day. Sends em home hungry.

We are probably way more relaxed than you think. We will usually carry a can of pepper spray, but it, for the most part, never gets used. The bears are interested in fishing and catching fish. They could pretty much care less about you.

It can be tough to fish with one unit running. Less options for wading. You will have to concentrate on the little seams and eddies. I really like fishing along the bank below outlet 2 with one or two units on. You have to use quite a bit of weight to get your flies down. If you see a feeding lane, work it.

Yes, I did. I hit it while doing a double haul. He has got it in a bag of rice. Hopefully it will dry out and be fine.

Ha! Thanks Marty

Sounds like you had a good time. Gotta love how fowl weather thins the crowds. Looks like someone was fishing with the short stick?

Dang!

You got that right.

He's smilin on the inside! Thanks for posting the photos Chief. Takes me back to when I was a kid and would get dropped off on the creek for the weekend to fend for myself.

Thanks Gavin, and yes, I agree!

This is a good example of one that we consider still fishable condition.

They are up in Alaska right now. Some of them are up to 50% white plastic. Those kings are rough on them. Most of them have the hooks taken off and were probably headed for the land fill this summer when we open the lodge back up. Might have to consider shipping them home. There are probably three big rubber maid tubs filled with them

You are welcome. Happy to test flies any time. I will try the blue one on my next trip fishing Taney. Should be over the weekend.

I put those up just for you Scott! You gonna hit back with some striper and walleye pictures?

Those look fantastic. Do any of you guys use the mag warts? We use them a lot in Alaska for kings. Boxes and boxes full of old ones, probably 1500 to 2000 of them that are in need of repainting. One or two big kings on a lure and the paint is destroyed.

Yesterday, before the snow started, I committed another 30 minutes to testing one of Mic's midges on Upper Lake Taneycomo. The midge I tested yesterday was probably a size 18 tied with a light tan fur collar. I fished it in the same area as the 1st test (the flats between outlets one and two) and then fished that area with an olive pine squirrel sculpin to set a base line on how the bite was. The wind was blowing out of the East for this test at about 10 to 12 mph (now remember, they say, when the wind blows out of the East, fish bite the least). There was a lot of chop on the water and good surface action happening with fish midging. I was using 7x flouro carbon for this test. Started off right on the bank casting into shallow water. Wind caught the fly line right off the bat on the first cast and put me in the weeds on my back cast. Fly was gone. Tied another one on of the same color and moved out just a little bit to make sure it would not happen again. This fly had a hard time breaking the surface tension of the water and would float on top pretty good even with all the chop. I went with it. Started skating it across the surface through all the midging fish and sure enough picked on up on about the 5th cast. This got the fly wet enough to finally get it under the surface with just a little tug once it hit the water. Swung the fly, stripped the fly, dead drifted the fly through all the midging action and did not get a solid hook up with another fish for the duration of the 30 minute test. Got several hits, or what I like to call short strikes but did not land another fish. After 30 minutes of testing, I put on the olive pine squirrel and started fishing. It was slow. I fished the pine squirrel with any and every retrieve you could think of and landed only 2 fish. Pretty tough fishing conditions for conducting the test. After the test was over I did switch over to fishing a size 16 zebra midge about 30 inches under an indicator and started picking up fish pretty good. I guess, even though there was a lot of surface action, the fish were picking the midges up off the bottom, and I probably should have tried Mics midge as a dropper under these conditions. Leaves me a good excuse to get out and fish it again. Again, I liked the looks of the fly and the size of the fly. With the lighter tan colored hair as a colar, it kind of reminded me of a mini caddis. It caught a fish and got a few other bites under harsh fishing conditions. I don't know if it was the perfect fly for the day, but that is just fishing. I would use it again. Would like to try it on a sunny warmer day when you can see the midges coming off the water.

I wanted to fish Taney in the snow yesterday and got down there with a buddy about 9:30 am to make sure I was there before the forecasted 10 am snow. Only 3 other cars in the parking lot. Wind was blowing up stream at a pretty good clip making it real easy to mend my line, but hard to cast. Started off with testing another one of Mic's midges and I will write another report on that. Fishing was kind of slow until around noon. I finally started picking up good numbers of around the rebar hole on olive pine squirrel sculpins. Buddy got cold and left, and then Phil showed up around 3:30 pm and brought the snow with him. The bite was pretty good when the snow started for about an hour and then just shut down. Caught several fish on the Mega Worm and pine squirrel sculpins. Had a good time fishing with a couple of buddies. Phil did land a nice male rainbow, and we got to fish in the snow.

Welcome to the forum. Try the ponds up in Lincoln County at William Logan Conservation area and Whiteside Conservation Areas. They are just north of Troy a little bit. Lincoln Lake in Cuiver River State Park also. Or you could head south to Bismark and fish Bismark Lake and Council Bluff Lake is down that way too.