Golden Blend

Fished from 10am till the horn. Water was up slightly and a bit off color. Landed approx. 25 between two of us, 2 break-offs, a few LDRs and countless misses; most fish were 11-13" with the biggest being 16". My fishing buddy landed 12, not bad for only second time fly fishing, had a blast! Most productive fly was BH 3-color glo-ball (majority of fish caught on globalls fished deep within 60 yds upstream from the dam). Other flies that caught fish were red san juan, olive crackleback and olive wooly. Fish were consistently striking from 10am till about 5pm, when they seemed to shut it down. Great day of fishing!

Excellent discussions, on topic, thanks so much!

Thanks Phil, when you say "working a jig", do you mean reeling slowly while keeping it on the bottom as suggested by Gator?

Yeah, I guess I deserved some flack for that typo! just for the record, Sherwood needs no influence, I'm actually surprised Patfish beat him to the punch, even though it was only by 3 min.

yes, good point! I meant 1/8 oz...

I make it to Taney every other year with a group of trout fishing buddies. While my preference is to flyfish below the dam, I'm usually forced to drift in the boat due to water levels that prevent wading...my timing has been horrible in the past re: water generation. It's as if they know I'm coming! Don't get me wrong, I also enjoy the drift fishing, but after 1/2 hour of bouncing power bait of the bottom, I'm pretty bored with it, even though it produces lots of fish. I've had some success with rapalas, rogues, spoons, but not so much with jigs, which I hear work well at Taney. This tells me my approach is flawed. I typically throw an 8 oz. jig (white, olive or brown) against the bank and worked it back to the boat. Any suggestions on how to be more effective with these jigs? Does anyone bounce them off the bottom like powerbait? Appreciate any pointers.

here

Agreed. Patfish and I along with a couple other buddies really enjoyed the discussion and picked up a few pointers. Looking forward to an upper Taney trip first week of Feb! Great job Phil, it was a pleasure meeting you.

Fished Cane Bluff to Greer last Sunday (10/12), then Riverton to the Arkanasas border Monday & Tuesday. Received light and steady 4 hr rain on Monday, but weather was otherwise perfect. River is in outstanding shape in my opinion. One very low spot above Greer, but if you are below that, you'll be in great shape. Good luck!

Brian, thanks for the insight. I've never fished the Eleven Point, but have a 3-day float trip scheduled for mid-October, most likely from Greer to Riverton. Just wondering, what line/rod weight do you recommend and what are your thoughts re: sinking line, sink-tip line or just sinking leader? Do you drift flies under an indicator? With split-shot? Do you ever hook into any smallies with the crawdad flies? Thanks in advance for any advice, really looking forward to this trip!

Arrived 6:45am to find park completely flooded; campground and lower level parking lot had 8 - 10" of standing brown water. The Maramec crested shortly after after our arrival. Original stream boundaries were identified by a distinct line separating the brown and murky green water. At one point, Patfish and I waded through the woods in waist-deep water and made it to the bridge, found a drowned doe along the way; water either came up too fast for her or perhaps she tried to swim and didn't quite make it. Water began dropping very quickly and was back near its banks by 4:00pm. Tried variety of bh flies all morning with no success; just couldn't get close enough to fish original stream and the 20-30 mph wind gusts weren't helping much either. We were effectively limited to fishing the picnic table area b/t the lower lot and the stream. I reluctantly broke down in the afternoon and rigged up the ultralight spinning rod, caught and released three fish with lots of weight and power bait and called it a day...a long hard day of fishing.

Great fish, buddy!

What a fish! Would've guessed he was heavier based on the pics.