DaddyO

So, should I be using a 5wt or light rod with the 6-7x tippet as Randall suggested?

They would have to be running at least one generator for you guys to use your drift boat. Otherwise, you'll be dragging it a good deal of the way.

Guys, Thanks for all of the feedback. I will definitely put it to use. Greg, no apologies necessary. I've had limited experience with big fish and still consider myself to be a newbie fly fisherman. That's why I started this thread. TwoSets, I hope you were joking or talking about somebody else as I have never fished with you.

Dave, the fish I lost was on 6x tippet and he broke my line. I had landed 4 fish prior to this one. 2sheds, the fish was hooked on a black and copper #16 zebra midge. I agree with the methods mentioned on handling and releasing but if I let the fish dictate the fight won't that be to its own demise?

So, how long is too long to fight the fish? I was using a 7wt rod with 6x tippet. What would be an estimate on the size of fish that could be landed and how long to fight it and still be able to revive? I know that there are a lot of variables but I'm kinda looking for a rule of thumb on this one. Thanks in advance for the feedback.

OK, I need a little help from some of you, more experienced, anglers. I'm thinking of coming back to Taney in a few weeks. I lost a nice brown last week because I applied a little too much pressure on my line trying to land him faster. My fear was of one of fighting him so long that I wouldn't be able to revive him for release. So, how long is too long to fight a fish and still be able to revive him?

Well, we got back from our trip last night. This was, absolutely the best trip that we have had. 2 states, 3 rivers, 200 fish. We drove from Tulsa to Branson on Wednesday night and arrived at our Condo at Holiday Hills about 8:30pm. We spent the evening tying flies and got up early and headed to Taney Como. Thursday - Day 1 – Overcast skies and mist. It felt good to get on the water again and start flinging flies. It felt even better flinging flies in the company of my Dad and 2 brothers. There’s nothing like a little camaraderie and trash talk among brothers while competing to catch the most or biggest fish. The fish in Taney Como were as beautiful as ever and sometimes willing to consume our midge offerings. We ran into Tim, of Tim’s Flyshop, while we were there. Needless to say, he caught more fish than any one of us did. My mojo was off that day as I had forgotten my sun glasses and couldn’t see the fish that I was trying to catch. I also left my truck keys with my Dad and then promptly forgot the combination to get back into the truck. (I must be getting some-timers disease) Anyway, they blew the siren too early and then ran more generators than were scheduled for a longer period than scheduled. So, we decided it was time to call it a day and get something to eat and tie up more flies for the next day of fishing. Friday - Day 2 – Overcast skies, mist, light rain off and on. We got up and found out that Taney had the generators running again and were scheduled to have them on all day. So, we decided to make the drive from Branson to Mountain Home. We stopped by the Blue Ribbon Fly Shop and picked up our licenses and a few other goodies. Then we headed down to the Norfork River. The fish in the Norfork have always cooperated with us. They must know that we release all of them. I used #16 Olive thread midge with a peacock herl collar and silver bead. My brother used a #18 Zebra Midge and my Dad used #16 grey sowbugs. We caught Rainbows and a few browns. Dad caught a fairly nice rainbow. Saturday – Day 3 – Overcast skies, Rained cats and Dogs Generation at Taney again. My Dad and brother didn’t want to fish Taney with the water moving even though I told them that it was fishable. So, we looked at the generation schedule for Norfork and Bull Shoals Dam. BSD was supposed to run from noon to 3pm and Norfork was supposed to start at 4pm. Our plan was to go to Norfork first and BSD second after the blew the siren and Norfork. So, we started our drive to Mountain Home again. It rained on us the whole way down there and stopped just as we pulled in to Quarry Park. We changed into our waders and headed down to the river to find it cloudy from the muddy stream runoff caused by the rain. We walked around searching and casting for fish in areas that used to hold fish. No nibbles and no hookups. My brother said “I’m ready to go.” I saw a fish jump and told him that the fish were in here, we just had to figure out what they would hit. Dad was working his way down to us and I was tying on new tippet when he caught his first fish on our faithful BobWhite micro jig. Before Dad could land his fish, my brother caught his first fish of the day on the BobWhite also. I decided to tie on a BobWhite and join in on the fun. Before the siren sounded we had caught 86 fish with my brother and I getting 3 fish in on the Norfork Grand Slam. I needed a Brookie to complete the Slam and he needed a Cutthroat to complete his Slam. The consolation was that we achieved the Slam as a team. Dad caught his biggest brown to date. During the course of catching the 84 fish, we ran out of BobWhite’s. We switched to a fly that my Dad tied up and had good success with it. I don’t have a name for the fly but it was tied on a #10 Scud Hook with a Brass tungsten bead and the body was wrapped pink chenille with a white or black thread collar. We moved to BSD and arrived just after the park flooded from all the rain that they got. The river was full of muddy water that looked like it was coming from the Golf course. There were seams of clear water interspersed with the cloudy muddy water. We walked down to the water and started tossing our pink flies in the seams. The fish would hit them as soon as they hit the water. I caught 6 fish, Dad caught 4 and my brother caught 4. Those 14 fish made our catch an even 100 for the day. Sunday – Day 4 – Overcast skies This was our last day to fish and we fished Taney until noon. I caught 6 Rainbows and got to fight a really nice Brown for about 10 minutes before losing him. I was able to get him to the net once but he juked when I jived and he took off for another run. I lost him a few minutes after that. (by the way all of the fish on this day at Taney were caught on a #16 black zebra midge with a copper bead and a copper rib.) I'll post pictures later.

Good topic, Chief. The original question was: "How long does a stocker trout have to live in the "wild" before it is considered wild?" The answer is in the question. A "stocker trout" is not a "wild trout". So, it would never be considered wild. I do like the term "Feral Trout" and I consider the stocker to become feral when they lose the silver bullet look and develop their color, fins and feral behavior. However, I don't know how long it takes for that to happen. Regardless of the look, I do enjoy catching them and I am thankful of the hatchery programs that are in place that allows me to continue to enjoy this way of life.

Greg, The oldest dog in that picture looks just like my Ally did. She also had the working class look like yours does. I prefer that style instead of the "Show" style. The "Show" corgis have bigger bones and look a little more blocky with bigger feet.

Greg, Corgi's are great dogs! About 14 years ago my wife wanted us to get a dog and our compromise was a Corgi. (I wanted a Blue Heeler) Anyway, my wife said that this was going to be her dog. So she and the dog took all the Obedience training classes available. I started out going to the classes and watching them, but, I had to stop going because the dog would listen to my wife when I walked in the door. It turns out that Ally, the dog, thought that I was the Alpha Dog in the pack. Anyway, to make a long story short, it turns out that the dog only had eyes for me. Ally was great with the kids. When they were young, she would herd them around the yard, dig in the sandbox with them and slide down the slide with them. She always had a smile on her face. She started think that she was one of the kids and we got another corgi so that she could have some dog companionship. Ally and Gabby were both Welsh Corgi's. Ally died a couple of years ago and I fear that Gabby may not have many years left. Welsh Corgi's are a great breed and I encourage anyone to get this breed if they are looking for a good family dog. One note of caution, this breed REALLY sheds. A really good brushing when they start will help keep it in control. Now that I've started tying flies, I look back on all that dubbing material that went to waste.

Go to Quarry Park at the base of Norfork Dam. When you pull into the parking lot, stay to the left and it will take you to a parking lot down at the river's edge. If you walk over the the top left of the parking lot, you will see a walk bridge that crosses over a creek that is feeding into the river. That creek is Dry Run Creek. You cannot fish upstream of that walk bridge unless you are 15 and under or handicapped. I may be off on the age. There are plenty of wade in access points to the Norfork river in this general area from the parking lot upstream and downstream. If the siren sounds, get off of the river, immediately. It rises very quickly.

Brian, Great job. Amen, to what Phil said.

From one Tulsan to another, Welcome!

I don't know a whole lot about the Current River. How do I get to where I need to fish it from Branson?

Hey guys, I will be making a trip to Branson with my Dad and two brothers. We do a fly fishing trip every year. I have a timeshare in Branson and we are going to use that as our Base of Operation. We plan on fishing Taney Como, White River, Norfork River and maybe Roaring River. We are going to do some night fishing on Taney, also. I know that these fishieries are all unique, however, what is your recomendation for flies to use mid-September? Will we still be able to fish terestrials? If so, should I tie up hoppers, beetles, ants??? Is there a specific pattern that is better than any other? I'll be taking my fly tying stuff also and I plan on having a supply of Zebra Midges 16-18, Sowbugs, Scuds, etc.. Are there specific colors that work better on each of these rivers? What are your thoughts? Thanks in advance. DaddyO

Try this link Dan's Turkey Tail Emerger and scroll down to find the picture. I had the same question and one of these guys tied one based on the recipe and took some pictures. Mr. Berry would have to tell us if this is accurate or not.

Thanks for the post. I'm sitting here at work reading this and visualizing the whole trip. Sounds like you had a great time. Those are, truly, days to remember. I don't think that I can ever recall fond memories of "cleaning the garage"

Yes. To at least two others that replied to this post.

There are several small ponds in Owasso that are surrounded by housing editions. There is also a pond by the Home Depot in Owasso and across 96th St North by Panera. You can, pretty much, drive around Owasso and see the small ponds. There id another one across from the High School to the West.

Greg, Here's a pic of the Hair & Copper fly: Hook: TMC 2487 #12 - #16 (I like #14 the best) Head: Copper Tungsten Bead Thread: Brown 6/0 Tail: Pheasant Tail Fibers (2 or 3) Rib: Copper Wire Body: Brown Dubbing

That is interesting. I heard that noise behind me a couple of times and I thought that I had dropped my cast, but I knew that I hadn't. I've never had this happen before, to any of my T-beads.

I bought some White River 3/32 round tungsten beads (Copper in color) a couple of weeks ago from Bass Pro Shops. I used them to tie up some #14 Hair and Copper flies. These flies really catch fish. Anyway, I was on the Lower Illinois river yesterday and everytime I tied on one of these flies, I would catch a few fish and then stop catching them. Anytime that I get a good couple of drifts through an area that I believe to be holding fish and nothing happnes, I check my fly to make sure that I don't have any moss hanging from it or anything weird going on with the fly. When I checked the fly, the tungsten bead was gone. I thought, maybe, it had slipped off of the eye of the hook and was on the line. I checked. It wasn't. It had just broken apart and fallen off. This happened to all three of the flies that I tied out of that batch of beads. Have you guys had this happen to any of you???

Phil, The site looks like it was put together very well. I like the layout. My 10 cent opinion, adjusted for inflation, is that you add a Staff link with photos and short bios on the staff.

I would like to see a show that starts off saying where you are going to go, what kind of fish you are going to target, what kind of flies are going to be used (maybe even show the tying of the flies) then show how the flies are fished while actually catching fish.