Aaron J Scott

This week's deal at Fish Itch is of the buy-one-get-one variety. You can get two spools of Vicious Fishing Pro Elite 100% Fluoro (12 and 14 lbs) for the price of one! There's about 50 left. Deal ends Sunday night. We're also running a fun contest on our Facebook page today. We giving away five sets of the Vicious spools--what you need to do to win is get 7 of your friends to visit the Fish Itch Facebook page and post "@Your Name" and "Get Vicious!" The contest ends tonight at midnight PST.

This week's Fish Itch deal is on an interesting new soft plastic bait called the Bombshell Turtle. When you consider the "big fish, big meal" and "nest guarding" modes of fishing logic, it's not surprising that these turtle-shaped baits would catch some brutes. With the deal, you get a pack of "June Bug" and a pack of "Black/Silver" colors. There are six three-inch baits per pack. This is a great opportunity to try out some new baits without spending a bunch of money! $6.95 for the two pack, plus shipping. Our friends at Castalia Outdoors recommend Texas-rigging these with a 3/0 worm hook and a 1/16 oz or 1/8 oz weight. Look for strikes on the drop, then pop and rest with a slow retrieve. This deal is good for the next few days--ends at 11:59 p.m. on Sunday!

On the drive down, there was still lots of good color, but I think the wind has blown off most of the leaves along the creek.

I'm pretty sure it's a tin-bismuth alloy.

Today is the last day for this week's deal at Fish Itch: half off a 24-piece lead-free jig head assortment. 1/8 oz, 1/16 oz and 1/32 oz jig heads in both red and bronze hooks. I know lead is seemingly a mainstay, but the stuff is toxic and is barred on some waters in the country. There's a lot of nontoxic options out there, and I know the common complaint is that they aren't as cheap as lead. Here's a pretty cheap alternative. If you happen to miss this week's deal, check back anyways, cuz we'll have a new deal at Fish Itch--something you bass guys should definitely check out.

Packed up both the rod and the photo gear and headed to the Lower Wire Road access yesterday, hoping to find some fall color and maybe a few fish. Looks like I missed the leaves by a fews days, maybe a week or so, but finally landed my first couple of Crane Creek McClouds. Didn't get any good photos of the fish, but I think this photo is a keeper:

This week's deal is for you fly guys out there. 13 flies for $8--less that $.62 per fly--from the Recycled Fish/West-Fly online fly shop. You get several nymphs, a few wet flies, a couple dries and an emerger--all coast-to-coast go-to patterns. We'll donate $2 from each purchase to Recycled Fish. This deal has been selling really well, so if you need a few extra flies for cheap, you better get on it quick. Click here to check out the deal at Fish Itch!

In the last year or so, while I was living down in Hot Springs, Ark., I frequented the Little Missouri tailwater below Lake Greeson. Compared to Taney, it's pretty small potatoes, but it always offered some fun fishing--and gave the fly fishers of northern Louisiana and Texas a place to run off to for a weekend. While I was down there, I got to fish the water right below the tailwater immediately before and after stream improvements. With zero generation, the water right below the dam, for about 250 yards, was about a foot deep, slow as molasses, but crystal clear and cold--except on hot summer days, when the bedrock would soak up the heat and warm the water. To help improve the habitat, AGFC installed several bank constrictors and "lunker bunkers" to help provide some actual flow and holding areas for fish in both zero and full generation. Jeff Guerin, the Phil Lilley of the lower Little Missouri, tracked the progress on his site. It wasn't long before it was obvious that the habitat improvements actually did their job. A month or two later, I caught fish holding in the current right below the last set of boulders that wouldn't have been there without those improvements.

I have a few photo assignments in the Branson area tomorrow, so I'll try to swing by the dam and snap some photos of the progress.

The Irish Wilderness, on the east side of the Eleven Point, has a great loop and a few spurs. If you go from the trailhead and take the loop north, you'll head to Bliss Spring. There's a campsite above the river not far from the spring, at an old homestead site with a chimney. There's a good run right there with the bend in the river, and you're on the right side.

Oh, forgot to mention: there are 18 hooks in all--6 of the 1/0, 5 of the 2/0, 4 of the 3/0, and 3 of the 4/0. I'm not a bass guy, but I know from buying big fly tying hooks that you can easily spend a lot of dough on hooks--this is a great deal for some high-quality steel.

Hey guys! Here's the latest deal at Fish Itch: 52% off a four-pack assortment of Tru-Turn hooks from TTI Blakemore. These are their bass worm models, in sizes 1/0 to 4/0. A few nice things about these hooks: These are cam-action hooks with a special bend in the shank, meaning that when you get a take and set the hook, it's going to turn towards pressure--which means better mouth hookups than conventional j-hooks (which, in turn, makes for easier catch-and-release practices, which is better for the ones you're not going to keep). There are a few slices in the hook shank by the eye to help keep bait or artificials in place. Plus, these are blood-red colored, which give trigger signals like a gill flash or bleeding bait to predators. Right now, they're only $5 at Fish Itch. Stock up, try 'em out, we think you'll really dig these hooks. Also, if you're on Twitter, we're pledging 10 cents for every new follow to Anglers Against Breast Cancer during October (up to 1000 new followers). You can find us on Twitter here: @Fish_Itch. We're also on Facebook: The Fish Itch Page on Facebook

Yup, and no rain in the forecast, either.

USFWS today added the Ozark Hellbender to the Endangered Species list. Read the full USFWS press release here.

This week's deal at Fish Itch is for a beautiful 24" x 18" poster print titled "Monarch of the Sky." This incredible image was shot by professional wildlife photographer Michael Mauro. If you've ever listened to the "Fish Schtick" podcast, Michael produces the show. This photo, which celebrates the beauty of wildlife and our national symbol, will ship rolled in a tube so it will frame nicely without any creases. For this week only, you can pick up this poster for only $12.50--half off it's original price. Your purchase will put $1.25 towards the conservation and stewardship education efforts at Recycled Fish. If you want to be one of the first to know about our next deal, make sure you sign up at the site to get the Monday morning email announcement. Thanks, guys!

Yeah, it's usually pretty handy to get out frequently and not feel the pinch quite so bad. Except that one time when I almost high-centered it on some backroad, trying to get to a walk-in access on the Current ... then I could've used something with a little less gas mileage and a little more ground clearance!

I think it's not stated enough--not every single fish needs a photo. And if you are going to photo a fish, get the camera turned on, focused and ready before you pull the trout out of the water. That way, you can fire off a couple shots in just a few seconds and not stress the fish much more than they already are. With the generation off, I'll be down there early tomorrow. Tall lanky guy not catching fish--that's me. My blue stickered-up Prius will be in the lot. Give me a holler.

It's the reason I have a giant spool of Mr. Crappie high-viz mono in with my fluorocarbon! I have a few friends who do the Euro-nymphing techique really well and I picked it up from them. As far as I can guess, just about all the competitive fly fisherman use some type of Euro nymphing technique. And because competition fly fishing limits what you can put on your leader, the work-around is to tie in a short length of high-viz mono into your leader. That way you have something easily visible to watch if you don't already feel the subtle takes. Since I'm nowhere near the level of a competitive angler, I primarily use it as a depth indicator because I'll know about how much tippet is below that, and then work from feel.

Ditto on the weight. You want to be ticking the bottom. The problem I always have to be aware of is that I need to be fishing deeper than I probably am, so keep adding on weight until you get there, and adjust your indicator accordingly. All of the beadhead nymphs I tie have tungsten beads--sometimes two--because I want them to get down fast. From what I can reckon, the naturals don't really descend through the water column--they are either rising to the top (which is why a lift is effective) or drifting from one rock to another (I've heard this called "behavioral drift"). So I want a heavy nymph that gets down quickly to the bottom and drift from there. Plus, with a tung-head, the fly is going to ride with more of the point up, which is going to help prevent so many snags. IMO, I've gotten to where I don't use an indicator and either watch the end of the fly line or a mono sighter built into the leader. When you're fishing a two- or three-fly rig, maybe with some weight, the indicator is just another point in the line to foul up. Of course, I've never gotten really good at indicator fishing anyway ...

So, who wants to make a prediction on the water tomorrow? I've really been wanting to do some wading on Taney and finally have some time tomorrow morning. Hopefully the corps will keep up the off-in-the-morning-on-in-the-afternoon pattern they've had this week.

Honestly, on two separate occasions in the last year, I've had a muskrat swimming either right at me or right at the boat. What's their deal? Silly waterlogged rodent...

Speaking of douchebaggery, has anyone noticed the copious amount of condom wrappers at the upper access parking lot? I usually keep a few trash bags in my car to pick up the area, but I don't usually pack rubber gloves. Perhaps I should start doing that. Hmm ... McClouds = aphrodisiac?

Okay, take this with a grain of salt, because I myself have yet to land a McCloud on Crane, but I would opt to stop in Crane. Capps can be a lot of fun, but likely the other guys said, it's going to be really tough right now--tougher than it typically is. It's more of a put-and-take fishery, and it's been a while since they've been "put." You might consider just doing some recon on Crane. I might be out there Saturday morning, so if you see a tall lanky guy not catching fish, give me a shout. I drive a blue Prius with trouty stickers on the back glass.

Beautiful fish! It's been a few years since I've been to the Current and this gets me jonesing even more for a trip up there.

Hey guys. We're in our second week at Fish Itch with a new deal: 50% off a Grip-On Light from Tipsee. That's only $5 for a really handy piece of gear. The Grip-On Light has a clip on the top so it's easy to attach to the bill of a ballcap, but the really nice thing are the grippy feet that will hold on to practically any round/tubular surface--a rod, landing net, boat railing, etc. They are extremely durable and virtually water-resistant. The super-bright LED bulb is rated for 50,000+ hours. Pick one (or a few up) and stash them wherever you might need some light in a pinch--your tackle box, glove compartment, tool box, etc. Plus, 50 cents of each purchase will go to the conservation/stewardship organization Recycled Fish. 50% off a Grip-On Light from Tipsee