DaddyO

Fished with my brother today. We started off at the gravel parking lot below the dam. We hit the first run about 50 yards down from the spillway below the island. I fished with David Games' yellow midge with olive flash. I caught 5 fish in this run. Then I went to the backside of the island and caught 5 more. Then I decided to try a red San Juan Worm (SJW). No takers in this area. We decided to load up and head to the Watts area. I was trying to catch a fish on the SJW because I have never used it on the LIR. Funny huh? Anyway, I picked up 2 fish on the SJW and then things slowed down. So, I added David Games' midge as a dropper off of the SJW. Look out Door, cause Katy is fixin to Bar it. I lost track of the number of fish that I caught. And, I was pleasantly surprised to find that the fish in the Watts area were much bigger than the ones around the island.

Well, color me JEALOUS!! I really wish that I'd had the time to commit to this swap. I'm looking forward to seeing the pics of the group of flies together.

Phil has one of the best stocked fly shops that I've ever been into. If you need something for fly tying, he probably has it. I know that he sells a lot of flies that were tied by local tyers and I've purchased a few. I will have to say that I've caught fish on every fly that I purchased from Phil's fly shop.

Looks like right in the mouth.

Zoom Ultravibe SpeedCraw. It's the only one I use. In green or brown.

Don't buy the pantyhose. Steal hers.

Here's another: "Left My Woman"

A good friend of mine has a son that is in this band. The Wild Feathers is an up and coming band that you should be hearing more about in the coming months. The will have their first album releasing soon. Some of the same people that put The Eagles together have collaborated in putting this group together, also. Here a a couple of YouTube links. My friend's son, Joel King, is singing lead on the Hard Times song. This is the classic Jayhawks song "Blue" These 4 guys were the heads of their own bands before being picked for this new group. They are all singer/song writer/musicians. Expect to hear a lot of good harmony. I really like their sound, but, I may be biased.

Wow!! What a pig of a Rainbow. Nicely Done.

Chance, It was all good. I really liked the shot of the Cotter Bridge at the end. I need to start planning my annual Father/Sons trip with my Dad and Brothers. Your video made me remember all of the good times I've had with them. Thanks!!

Thanks. That's exactly what mine looked like. I'll have to tie up some PTN's like you mentioned. I can see how those would be effective.

Is this the Olive midge that is tied with yellow thread and olive midge flash? If so, what size and are you wrapping the whole thing with the midge flash or just using it as a rib? I tied up a couple in size #16 and wrapped over all of the yellow thread in touching turns with the midge flash. I also hit it with a coat of Sally Hansens. I tried it Saturday but didn't get any takers. I will, however, give it another chance by itself instead of the two fly rig that I had it in. (midge and Pheasant tail combo)

Sweet!!

I was on the water for about 5 hours. Another Owasso member, scuba.pete. Maybe we all need to get together and do an outing. Yes, that hole is usually productive. I like to position myself so that I can bounce my indicator off of the downed tree with a Hair and Copper tied on. If there are fish in the hole, they'll hit that fly before the drift completes. I like to start my day off at that hole and then move on to other places.

I got on the water about 7:30am, which was later than I wanted. I went to the top of the island. There were already a few people in my holes of choice. Interestingly, very few people at the Kiddie Pool. The water was off and very low. I rigged up and went to the big water above the pool. I caught a couple of fish on the Hair and Copper. I looked down river and noticed that one of my spots was empty. So, I reeled in my line and started making my way down river. When I got to the Kiddie Pool, I noticed that it was empty and there were 4 bait fishermen headed to my spot and they were closer than me!! Dang it! Foiled again! Since the Kiddie Pool was empty I thought I'd make a few casts. First cast with the Bobwhite and Fish On! Nice fish. I caught 2 fish back to back and they shut down. Catching the 2 fish also brought in a few people to the hole. Time to try another spot. Bait fishermen still in my spot. I didn't get to fish it all day. Went downstream to the bottom of the island. Switched to a #16 Bead Head Pheasant Tail and started picking up fish. I caught my biggest fish of the day below the Island. She was 14 - 15 inches and had quite a belly on her. Very fat fish, put a nice bend in the rod. It was an enjoyable day of hard fishing for 10 Rainbows and 2 perch. (No Pics. Maybe next time.)

I, generally, stay out of places where I'm not at the top of the food chain.

David, I don't know what your approach to fly fishing is, but, my rule is that I give a fly 10 good drifts through a section that I know is holding fish. If that fly is rejected 10 times, I change flies. I keep doing this until I figure out what they are keying in on. Eventually, you figure out which flies are the most consistent producers in the areas that you fish. Then, if you want to go for numbers, your chances improve if you use the consistent producers. Good Luck.

When my brothers and Dad and I take our annual trip to fish Taney, White and Norfork, we fish daylight to dark and some nights. My Dad, usually, doesn't keep count of his fish, he just fishes and enjoys his sons being competitive and trash talking. Even though us brothers are in our 40's and 50's, when we get on the river with a fishing rod in our hands, we feel like boys again. So, naturally, we compete. Well, the competition is really between me and my younger brother. I'm the middle child and my older brother (by 1 year) is never in the hunt. It isn't uncommon for us to have over 100 fish per day. We usually wind up with a Norfork Slam between the two of us and only rarely accomplish it on our own. The fish only counts if you touch it. LDR's don't count and we fish close enough to each other to keep us honest. We've even fished through a downpour because there wan't any lighting and the fish never stopped biting. It's all in good fun and my best memories are of these trips with my Dad and Brothers. I turned my Younger brother on to stripping streamers at night last year. He hasn't stopped talking about it, yet. We usually make this trip in October. I can't wait!!

Dude!! I was ready to sit back and read a couple of chapters of that prose.

Beautiful Photos! Thanks for sharing. I really like the one of he Doe and Fawn

Welcome, John!

Nick, dgames and the others gave you some excellent advice for the Lower Illinois and nymph fishing in general. The tactics that were mentioned are important, but having the right nymph for the section of water that you are fishing is equally important. Using the tactics mentioned by the other guys, a GRHE or black Zebra Midge in the slack water above the Kiddie Pool is usually successful. Brightly colored weighted flies that get down fast are good choices in the Kiddie Pool. Buggier looking flies, midges and worms are good from the Kiddie Pool down to the bottom of the island along the back side. You can usually catch fish until you are tired of catching them using those flies and tactics in this section of the river alone. If you would rather strip a Wooly Bugger, try them in Black, Olive and Brown through out the Lower Illinois for Trout and through out the Upper Illinois for Small Mouth. I'll be in and out of town for the next couple of weeks. When my schedule slows down, I'll plan a trip to the Lower Illinois and give you a call.

It would probably be cheaper just to buy them if you aren't going to tie them yourself.

Nick, I don't know about the Elk River, however, if you go to the Upper Illinois, you'll want to make the trip during the week to avoid as much of the party crowd as possible. i.e. Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Hopper????? I thought we'd lost you. Nice to see you posting on the board again.