duckydoty

I was busy getting chased around by bears at Brooks Falls today fishing with DD'sMC. In the first 4 hours of trying to fish, we only got to fish for a total of about 30 minutes because there were 52 bears in the area. I will make it out tomorrow for a little duck hunting on the Naknek River though. Harlequins, gadwalls, mallards, pintail, teal, buffle heads, ruddy's, cacklers, and sand hills are on the hit list tomorrow!

Thanks Phil!

It's all been going on Facebook this year. Limited time to make posts and slower than snail snot internet. King season was great with several 30 + pound kings. Over 1.4 million sockeye came up the Naknek river this year. Silver salmon have been in the river for 2 weeks now. The smelt fishing for rainbows was off the hook. biggest bow was 32 inches on the smelt fly. All the rivers are going to the bead right now with the pinks and sockeyes starting to drop their eggs. Rafting the Kulik, Moraine, and Funnel have been awesome. Kvichak River is getting real hot with the chummies dropping eggs. Everything around Bechearoff Lake is chucked full of Dollies and Char. We went over to Bible Camp yesterday and 4 people had a fish on every cast for 5 hours straight. Plum wore me out un hooking fish! I'll try to get some pictures posted this week if I get a little time

Jeff, I'm up in Alaska now, but will be back in the Branson area before duck season starts in the South Zone. There are some great places to hunt on Lower Taney, Upper Bull Shoals and of course TR. F&F has got the big lake hunting rigs dialed in. Hope to be reading your duck hunting reports on the forum and might see you on the water this coming season.

Caught some nice walleye yesterday at the CC access. Caught them trolling on rapala shad raps during the middle of the day in 7 to 9 feet of water on the flats right across and to the left from the ramp.

Got an unexpected trip down to Taney today. Been real busy packing for my summer of guiding up in Alaska and figured I was done fishing Taney till I return in October. Yesterday afternoon, a friend (Matt) called and explained he was going to the Kenai Peninsula in Mid June and wanted some advice on how to fish and what to fish with. I thought it was best for him to just meet me down at Taney and I would give him some flies that I like to use in Alaska and teach him how to "Chuck and Duck" (one of the easiest and most productive ways to fish in Alaska). We met at the Pavillion parking lot just after noon and visited for a while. There was 1/2 unit running and the water was at a perfect flow for "chucking and ducking". The flow was very simular to many of the rivers I fish in Alaska. I decided it was best to just head over to Lilley's Landing to get my buddy set up with all the line and terminal tackle he would need. We walked in the door and Darren was there to help. He knew right where the 20# Amnesia line, Lead Master Pliers, Pencil Lead, size 10 Barrel Swivels and Snap Swivels, 2x and 5x tippet was and had us out the door in less than 10 minutes with everything Matt needed for "Chucking and Ducking". Back at the Pavillion parking lot, I proceeded to show Matt how to fill the fly reel with the Amnesia line, attach about 5 feet of 2x tippet as a "leader", slide on the snap swivel, attach the barrel swivel, attach 30-36 inches of 5x tippet and how to cut, punch, and attach the pencil lead with the Lead Master Pliers. Once rigged up for fishing Taney with the chuck and duck method, I proceeded to explain the difference in rigging for Alaska. In Alaska the 2x tippet that is used as a 5 foot leader would be replaced with 18-20 pound test, and the 30-36 inch piece of 5x tippet would be replaced with 2 or 3x tippet. We were now ready to fish and headed for the water. Just below outlet #2 I spent a little bit of time showing Matt how to cast the chuck and duck rig and explained while showing him how to cast just a little up stream and lead the fly down stream with the rod. I also showed him how to always set the hook down stream while fishing this method. Within just a few cast, I felt my buddy had the hang of it, so we headed down to the rebar hole, where there was some faster water. It was just a couple of cast's and "Fish On!" Now I was fishing pine squirrel sculpins on a sinking leader and Matt was fishing the pine squirrel sculpins aslo. I was getting a few hits and only one or two hook ups to every ten fish caught by Matt with the chuck and duck rig. I was being out fished BAD! I spent a little more time with Matt explaining to him how he needed to feel the bottom while fishing this method. If he cast out in front and did not feel the bottom on the drift, then he needed to cast futher up stream. If this did not allow him to feel the "ticking" of the bottom, he then needed to add more lead to the rig. If he felt the bottom too much and was getting hung up alot, he needed to take some weight off. We fished till around 5 pm before calling it a day. Back at the truck, I gave my buddy a dozen or so of my favorite rainbow and char flies that I like to use in Mid-June and explained to him what materials they are made of and how to tie them. I ended up catching 6 or 7 fish stripping the pine squirrel on a sinking leader, but Matt.......I think he ended up with 40 or more fish to hand. He was pretty excited about learning a new method of fly fishing and I'm sure his confidence is pretty high for his up-coming Alaskan adventure. Hope ya'll have a great summer!

LOL!!!! Now that is just wrong, Phil!

If guiding out of a boat with a motor, you must be U.S. Coast Guard Licensed and it is highly recommended to be insured. You do not need the Coast Guard License to guide while wade fishing, or out of a non-motorized vessel such as a canoe, drift boat, or raft. You will pretty much be an independent contractor as far as guiding in Missouri. As Gavin stated, you will need certain permits to guide on certain waters in Missouri. It will take you quite a while to build a client base, and if guiding for a resort or other place that brings the clients to you, you will start at the bottom of the list (only getting trips when the A-Team is already booked up). I would recommend going to Alaska and getting the Coast Guard License. Some camps and lodges offer help in obtaining your Coast Guard Licensing. Then guide up there for 5 or 6 seasons and build a client list from people all over the world that you meet while guiding up there. You can then let them know what Missouri has to offer them and how you can help them experience the adventures that Missouri has to offer. It takes a lot of work and time, but just like everything else, you have to start somewhere, and that is usually at the bottom.

going to bed with burning arms.....love it when that happens!

I finally got it to play. I had to turn off my firewall

I had a guest last year up in Alaska........94 years old. He fished hard all day, He even did a little wade fishing. Grant you, most of the fishing was done from a boat, but he could still fling a spinning rod a long ways out and he had a great time fighting 10 pound silver salmon all day long.

Sounds like the population of stripers might just be growing on its own. Kind of exciting. I'm gonna do my best when I get back from Alaska to help slow that growth trend down a little bit. Seems like they have been spilling over Beaver and it wont be long till they start spilling over TR into Taney. I bet them stripers will grow real fast once the get there.

BwaaaHaaaHaaa. I cant spell too well either. I always try to have MonaChari proof read my reports before posting them, but some mistakes still get through. What's even worse, is when we spend an hour working on a report and post it. Then while reading it on my phone, I find another error and try to edit it and end up losing the whole post. Cant stand it when that happens!

Them fish are waiting on you

Looks like you had some fun. As for the goats......yeah, some people have been putting them out to feed the Ozark Howlers.

Your making my mouth water, Scott!

After "Date Night" last night, DDsMC (my MonaChari) and I met up with Laker67 (Rick) for late night fishing under the "Super Moon" on Upper Lake Taneycomo. We met Rick down at the pavilion around 10pm, and visited for a while before gearing up. After catching up on everything we had done all winter, and reminiscing over old stories and the people we used to see down on the lake late at night, we decided to get on the water. The moon was unbelievable last night. There was a fog lifting above the water and it was so bright that you could see details of footprints on the bank without turning on a light. They were supposed to be generating 1/2 unit all night, but the water was all the way off. MonaChari and I started with white mink sculpins and fished closed to outlet 1. MonaChari was the first one to hook up, and as a matter of fact, the only one catching fish for quite a while. I tried changing colors, used different stripping techniques and could only manage a few short strikes. MonaChari's 3rd fish was the best one of the night, being a healthy 19 inch Bow. After Rick and I got tired of getting skunked and watching MonaChari catching all the fish, we decided to move up to the flats between outlets 1 and 2. I changed back to the white mink sculpin and on my first cast, caught a fish. Finally got the skunk off my back. I started picking up quite a few fish, and thought I was doing pretty good then things just stopped for me. Not the case for MonaChari. Rick had even put his rod down and was on the bank watching her fish, trying to learn her retrieval technique, He kept hollering over to me "Duane, she's got another!". Dang! I was being out fished by a "Girl"! We quit fishing about 1:30 am. I think I ended up with 9 or 10 fish and MonaChari probably had double that to hand. We started chatting with Rick again under the pavillion and before we knew it, it was 3am. Had a great night being out fished by my wife and a nice visit with a good friend, enjoying some "Moon Shine".

Yeah, how things have changed since introducing the giant squid.......

Just thought I'd give this a bump. It sure was a funny story when it happened

Hey Phil.........These links no longer work?????? Just seeing how things have changed over the years

I would like to try the flats between outlet one and two with half a unit running. With the water off, the current is usually too slow to just dead drift. Half a unit should be just enough for dead drifting streamers up there.

I use shoe goo. Take a tube to Alaska every year.

Patrick Any kind of head light or small flash light will work. The only time we use them is when tying on new flies, untangling a mess, or taking pictures. The lights spook the fish, so the more you keep it off, the better your fishing will be. Any kind of streamers will work at night. Size 8-10 seem to work the best. Just make sure you have a variety of colors such as white, grey, olive, brown, red and black. One of these colors will usually work on any given night. I bring both weighted and none weighted ones. The streamers can be anything from wooley buggers, pine squirrel sculping, mohair leeches, Leonard's pms's and hibernators, or slump busters. Just as long as they are between an inch to 1 1/2 inches long. I throw them on a 6 wt rod with floating line using 2 or 3x leaders and tippet and vary my retrieves untill I find out what the fish want. Sometimes it is a fast strip. Sometimes no strip at all, just a dead drift or it can be anything in between. After I've tried all the various stripping speeds and dont get a bite, I then change colors and repeat all the speeds. Eventually I find what they want and then stick to that. Hope this helps you out some and by all means....get down there and give it a try

You've found a great place to learn alot! Welcome aboard Chase. Hope to see you on the water sometime

Phil and I Inducted a new member into the club last night. It was Ryan's 5th time fly fishing and his first time stripping streamers at night. At first, things seemed to be against Ryan's conversion to the Dark Side. Ryan and I arrived at the parking lot only to realize he had forgotten his waders. After a quick run back to the house for the waders we met with Phil. Phil had been tied up at a lengthy staff meeting. In a last minute decision, he chose to forego waders and went for some wet wading. We were all back in the game. Turns out the water took a little longer to drop, so we really did not miss any action. We started on the flats between outlet one and two, where I had picked up some good fish the night before. We were throwing black pine squirrel sculpins. I spent some time with Ryan, working on his cast and retrieve. It was not long until we started getting into a few fish. Nothing too hot and heavy, so we started changing colors. We found the white mink sculpins were catching the most fish. At first, Phil said the water was not too bad......I knew better. There was no way that I could have wet waded last night. He lasted about an hour or so before admitting he was getting cold. I got to give him credit....he lasted alot longer than I would have. Ryan and I hung around the flats just a little longer, picking up a few more fish, then moved on down below the rebar hole. Ryan was really starting to get the hang of this night fishing. We both picked up 8 or 10 fish down there. Around 1 am, we decided we would call it quits after one more fish. Well, that last fish took 45 minutes to catch. The moon was fantastic last night and the fog coming off the water was spectacular! I think Ryan will be back as a full pledged member to the Lake Taneycomo Strippers Club!