DaddyO

KSBass, I've been thinking about trying a Furled Leader. I have a 8.5ft 5wt. I, mostly, midge/nymph fish, sometimes streamer fish and occasionally dry fly fish. What do you recommend?

Welcome Andrea. Good to have you aboard. Regarding the Lower Illinois, look down the forum to the Upper and Lower Illinois section. You will find lots of good information to help you be successful catching fish on the fly rod. Let me know if you have any specific questions and I will try to help you.

I caught all of them right smack dab in the mouth. hahah JK. I caught them all over the river. I started out at the first turn off on the power site road on the other side of the island. Then I worked my way up to the Kiddie Pool in front of the island. Then I fished the fast shallow water in front of the pool. Then I fished the slow deep water about 100 yards in front of the island on the other side of the river. After taking a break for a late lunch, I went to the Watts area and worked my way downstream to the bend in the river. Just look for where the fish are stacked up and feeding. BobWhite Recipe Hook: 1/80th Lead Head Jig Hook Thread: White 6/0 Body: White unwaxed Dental Floss Instructions: 1. Paint the lead head white. Powder coat is best or use white fingernail polish. 2. Lay down a thread base on the hook to just above the hook point. 3. Wind thread to middle of hook shank, tie in the dental floss and wind back to hook point. 4. Wind thread all the way back to the head and put a half hitch on it. 6. Wind the Dental Floss to the head in over lapping turns, working back and forth to build a tapered body. 7. Whip finish and coat all of the floss in Sally Hansen's Hard as Nails. Hair and Copper Recipe Hook: #14 Scud Hook Thread: Brown 6/0 Tail: Pheasant Tail fibers Rib: Copper Wire Body: Brown Dubbing Brush out the dubbing to get the buggy look.

Well, even thought it rained a couple of times, it was still a wonderful day on the river. I met a few nice people and caught lots of fish. I lost track of the number of fish that I caught. I know I caught more than 50 fish. It was just silly. At times, I was catching fish on every drift. All the fish that I caught were caught on a BobWhite 1/80th, Hair&Copper #14 or BeadHead Pheasant Tail Nymph #16. Most of the fish were the standard stocker size. However, I caught 4 different fish that were in the 2 lb range. All in All, it was a good day. Sorry, No Pictures. I was there by myself and I didn't feel like dragging them up on the bank to take pictures.

Hopefully, I'll be down their tomorrow. I'll let you know if I see any signs.

Chance, Next time you decide to go, give me a call. I'd love to fish that river with somebody that knows the river. I don't mind the challenging times. It makes me appreciate the fish even more when I do hook up. You and your buddies keep up the good work on the blog. The writing and the art of story telling is being represented very well by you guys. Phil

Chance, Nice pics. I really liked your buddy's story, on your blog, about this trip. I tried to leave a comment, but couldn't because it needed some kind of ID. Anyway, it looks like you guys had a good time. I'm gonna have to make my way over to the Current one of these days. Phil

Well, it's been too long since I've fished the Lower Illinois. I plan on going Saturday, if the weather and water cooperate. Maybe I'll see some of you guys down there.

Most of the fish were caught at the end of Zone 2. We parked in the parking lot by the old dam and worked our way upstream and then back downstream.

I'm looking at the Generation chart for Taneycomo and I am wondering, how can I tell what is a good level to wade at? I know I could wade if the generation was 0, but, what is optimum and what is safely wade-able? Can one of you guys offer advise?

No. It is a Hair and Copper fly. It's a play on words. It is tied like the Hare and Copper http://www.flyguysoutfitting.com/Hareandcoppersbs.html I call it a Hair and Copper instead of Hare and Copper because I don't tie it using Hare's mask. I use some dark brown dubbing that I made, I don't use the lead wrap because I am using a Tungsten bead and I use a Scud Hook instead of the straight shanked Nymph Hook. I think that I've posted a picture of it on one of my other topics. If you can't find the pictue, Let me know and I'll post another one. I'd post it now but I'm using my wife's computer right now.

Well, Dad and I fished Roaring River yesterday. Not very crowded on a Tuesday, it was great! We caught lots of fish. At first, I couldn't get them to hit the same thing twice. I caught 1 on a #16 Olive thread midge, 1 on a Pink Chenille egg, 1 on a Pheasant Tail and 1 on a Hendrickson Dry fly. I think that I could have caught more on the Hendrickson but I snapped it off and it was the only one that I had. I switched to a Black and Copper Zebra midge and caught several fish and then they shut down. So, I switched to my Hair and Copper (goto fly) and it was game on for the rest of the day. I caught 1 brown, that I should've taken a picture of because of how pretty it was, and the rest were fat and feisty rainbows with the biggest fish being around 2 lbs. Overall, it was a great day.

DD, Thanks for the feedback. I'll tie some up!

I'm thinking about fishing Roaring River on Tuesday. What flies should I have in my arsenal? Is the fishing below the park any good?

How do you clean them?

Well, I wasn't going to chime in on this, but, here I go anyway.... I like all kinds of music. Rock, Blues, Country, Jazz, Gospel, Contemporary Christian, etc... However, I don't really like CRAP, I mean, RAP music. Now, I have some friends that do like RAP music, it's just not my thing. But, I don't condemn them for it. Catching a nice fish and shouting "BOOYAH!!" is not my thing either. However, I don't condemn the guy because he was excited about his catch. Who knows, maybe it was his biggest fish ever. I usually practice catch and release, but, sometimes I will stringer a limit of fish and take it home for a meal or two. I've also been known to lay a fish on the ground in shallow water and take a picture of it, with my rod next to it for perspective. These kind of things may not be your "thing". But, so what, the fish in the pictures are all released and the fish on the stringer are all eaten. OTF had his rant. Some of us have responded. We could go on and on with this thread, but in the end, it doesn't really matter. To each his own. Let's drop it. Now, How about some fishing reports!!!

What do they taste like? Are bones an issue?

Nice!!

I'm about to start re-reading Robert Jordan's Wheel Of Time series. There were supposed to be 12 books in the series and the author, unfortunately, died after book 11. His wife has hired another writer to finish the series based on the authors notes and recordings of the final book. However, the last book has now turned into a trilogy. And.. Note to Cricket... I am also a fan of R. A. Salvatore and have read almost all of the Dark Elf books. Sea of Swords is a good book, but the ones that follow are some of the best.

Snow Fly, thanks for the tip. I'll do that also.

I went out last Friday. Was there for a couple of hours. Lots of people there. Fishing was slow. I caught 12 in the 3 1/2 hours that I fished. I just checked the river levels. I wish that I was out there now. It looks perfect.

Thom, That is, exactly, the info that I was looking for. I'm gonna go get some at my local Bass Pro and give it a go. Thanks!

Thom, What powder paint are you using? I've been using fingernail polish in black or white for my 1/80th jig heads but I think powder coating may be better. I've never used it and would, very much, appreciate your advise. Thanks!

Nice ties. Are those 1/80th jigs? Do you paint the heads or do you powder coat them?

Nope.