Troutgod1

I read they were stocking the lower R.R. yesterday, so I went down about 3 yesterday afternoon to the area above the Muncy Cemetary. I walked upstream and found a nice big bend in the river, and it had several rainbows holding at the tail of the pool, caught 3 of them on a conehead olive woolybugger, I used this fly because I had read it was a good fly for fishing this area, and it worked well, I walked another 200 yds or so up stream and found another nice looking area, and it also had a few fish, I tried the Olive conehead and it worked again, I landed 2 in that hole and had 2 more hit, that got away, but it was a nice afternoon, it was getting dark and colder so I headed in, at the truck I found a few guys fishing in the river and they had maybe 6 fish between them on stringers and they were fishing jigs and I think powerbait, they were going to go home and have a trout dinner. Oh well the river is in great shape and I can't wait for opening morning, march 1st is always a good time, not really the best fishing day, I will fish, but I see lots of fisherman I know and I really just like to watch for entertainments sake, you'll see a lot of things happen on march 1st that might not happen again for the rest of the year. I talked to Kevin at the hatchery and they stocked another 100 lunkers and 4000 more stocker sized trout in the river, that is a lot of trout.

I agree with Michael, I try to spend all my money with my local shops, I don't mail order or by from people that are trying to sell stuff out of their homes or cars, where will they be if I have a problem with my discount item, I'll tell you where they will be nowhere in sight when you have a problem, I've been dealing with Tim's Fly Shop and some with Backcountry outfitters for years and I've had a problem now and again and both shops were quick to help out and replace or fix the problem, get that from someone over the internet, not going to happen. I shop with the shops in Branson while I'm there fishing but I buy mostly from my local shops. I remember once I had purchased a line from one of the above mentioned shops, it had a bubble or something about 30 feet into the line,I fished it awhile and when in the shop next I told the owner, he looked at the line, replaced it, put a new line on for me told me it was a problem for the manufacturer and it was done, great customer service. So think about that kind of stuff before buying from someone that is selling stuff in bulk out of the house or car, what kind of help can you get from them in the future, NONE. Anyway I like calling the shops for water updates, it really helps sometimes. I don't know Brian and this is not against him in any way, but I support my local shops.

my dad and I both fished monday and sunday, we did real well. Tim suggested to my dad that he try a san jaun worm and a copper john dropper, we did this and dad caught his second big fish of the season, it was a nice fat 22" rainbow, man was he happy. We caught 23 fish on sunday and only landed 16 on monday, but it was a good two days of fishing.

yeh I heard that six were let go, and more may follow, that I heard from a park employee.

I would love a fishing trip with Tim the Trout God Homesley, he is the best, I've fished around him some, he is always good with the info, he helped me catch my first lunker trout, it was almost 6 lbs. I watched him monday catch a nice 5 lb rainbow on his new toy a 5' bamboo fly rod, he was catching fish everytime I saw him on monday, and I think he was fishing dries a lot of the time.

I'll be up soon, need some smallmouth flies and a new fly line. The family and some of my friends are comming to springfield to do our christmas shopping in a week or so. See you then. Hope your buisness does great.

Are these the socks you were talking about ? They are very nice, I bought a pair last friday and have wore them all weekend, very warm and they don't slip down around my ankles like some of my socks do, next time I'm in Springfield I'll buy another pair.

[b]Heard there was going to a sale When do the new owners take over Backcountry outfitters ? I am going to be in Springfield next week, wanted to stop by and check them out, heard there was going to be one heck of a sale to elminate some unwanted inventory ? Anybody else heard about this, I would like to get a bargin or two before christmas. Also heard they were going to put in a fly tying table up in the front of the store, and were going to have coffee brewing most of the time, always looking for a place to hear a few good fish stories. While my family is shopping I can pop in and tie a few flies try out a new vise, to get some shopping suggestions for my mom, she will by something neat for Christmas if I can explain to her what I want. I'm going to buy a 6' Bamboo fly rod this week, anybody got any small lightweight used fly reels that would work and look good on a bamboo fly rod ?

Bring the Bamboo wulff rod to the shop with you on friday, I'll swing by, I've always wanted that rod, since I seen you catch that 8lb rainbow with it a few years back.

Who in the area sells Filson Clothes and fishing bags ?

Still here fishing a lot on beaver

Good luck to Michael and Kristina, hope you do well in your future endeavors But maybe this is a good move for those of us that shop in Springfield from time to time I'm up there some taking kin to the Dr. and stuff like that and I have to say I've been in a time or two and there were things missing that I would like to have had, maybe the new owner will fill the gap and put some items in for those of us that can't afford 500.00 + rods I would also like to see some more fly tying items, and maybe some more affordable packs and vests, also a better and a bit cheaper type of wooden net. A nicer selection of 100.00-200.00 reels I just can't afford a 800.00 Able and a 800.00 sage rod, I can buy a 300.00 outfit once in awhile and a 500.00 once evey year or so, but I need variety. I have bought some nice stuff from Michael over the years and it has all been to quality. Maybe the new owner can just make it different, more shopper friendly for those of us on a budget Good luck to the new guy, I'll be in to meet you one of these days, someone will have to go to the Dr. or there is always the dec. christmas shopping trip to the mall Yuck I hate that one Keep the coffee on and I'll be by to do some christmas shopping this year.

I think my favorite river(creek) other than my home water would have to Flat Creek, that starts in cassville and ends down near Galena Mo. In certain parts of this creek you'll find trout, and they are fun, some trout over 11 pounds have come out of flat creek over the years. I like it cause you can catch everything out of this creek, smallmouth, largemouth, gogleye, catfish, and on the lower side closer to the lake, you can get crappie and white bass, and the white bass and crappie will move way up the creek sometimes, I've caught crappie as high as the bridge on EE hwy. It is a great creek to float and it doesn't get the pressure, some of the rivers get in the summer.

Fished Roaring River on sunday, do not call the state park if you are looking for a water report, they don't have a clue. I called the shop at the top of the hill, Tim told me the water had come down a lot and it was greenish brown now. It was about 2 feet higher than it had been last time I was down, but I was there so I was going to fish, I started at the top of the C&R area, Tim at the shop told me the bigger trout would come up into the flow that was comming into the river from the hollow, man was he right, there must have been 3 or 4 in there that were over 5lbs and one big one kept comming up and going back down stream, I put on the biggest woolybugger I had and 2 bb shot and cast in along the seem line of the real fast water. After about 10 minutes I put on a third bb shot and then I started catching fish, had to get right down on the bottom, never hooked a monster, but had 2 that were 16" and one that was about 4" long, I had a bigger fish break me off on a san juan worm, only had one, that will teach me to just have one of anything. I fished about 3 hrs for those 3 fish, but it was nice not a lot of people down, but there were a lot of people driving around, guess it was just to nice a day to be inside for most people. I think I could have use 5X tippet, Tim at the shop told me I could use 5X and do good, but short on funds so stuck with the 6X tippet, might have landed that bigger fish if I had, had 5X. Wanted to go to taney, but looks like it is going to be hard to fish, for awhile unless you have a boat.

Fished the C&R area sat, good numbers of browns and rainbows in there, saw a couple of monsters hanging out near the bridge, but couldn't get them to hit on anything, had good luck on hares ears, copper johns, and sow bugs. Had one nice 17" rainbow on a stimulator, and had another 12" brown on a beetle, but most fish I caught were on a nymph. Used 6X tippet early, when the sun came up, had to switch to 7X. Sunday, fished just nymphs, it was kinda nasty sunday, did best on a red zebra, and a copper john dropper. Fished the upper section on sunday, had maybe 20 fish each day. Park closes the last of oct. so I guess I'll fish a few more weekends before it is all over, and C&R season begins.