Brian K. Shaffer

Anybody tried Knot Sense from Loon Outdoors ? I have not.. but I have some to try now. screaming reels - Brian

I am all for that - a Butts fly tying class / featuring Striper and Bass flies.. and some knot tying and connection help on the side. Sometime mid Summer woul dbe best so as we can all plan on it. Jeremy would be up for it too.. he ties some enormous wide assortment of flies.. not just trout / bass /saltwater stuff. You know the Calucci knot I'm talking about BB -- I bet thats the one you're offering to share. screaming reels - Brian

( hopefully the ref's dont make up for this years superbowl next year ) I agree with KR.. Seahawks should have won.. but they outplayed themselves and the Steelers at the same time if that makes any sense. The referee's had their part in it.. we have to admit that endzone offensive pass interference was just plain old bull... The Seahawks blew the game on many levels. Clock mismanagement.. missed plays and missed tackles. But the Steelers still know they won with 1 or 2 very bad calls made in thier favor. No one liked that Bud Magic Fridge commercial ? Only me huh.. oh well.. ho hum.. best fishes - Brian

HUH ? I forget the Pied Piper rhyme... how does it go ? best fishes - Brian

Yeah.. I am kinda try that Needle Knot.. I remember the Al Calucci story on how to do it.. but since I have the Shimazaki Leader splicing tool.. it should be just as easy. I will post back my findings. The Calucci one had very little weight associated with it.. and I like that. The Shimazaki shows making a couple loops after bringing it thru the fly line.. thus making in a 5wt a pretty big knot I would imagine. I will let you guys know - Brian

Butts and FishBDS - First of all, what specific line are you using? Rio Grand / Rio Anything Second, was the knot a simple nail knot YES or a needle-nail knot piercing the side of the line? If either, did you apply any type of coating or sealer to the knot? NO Or, was the connection something entirely different? No L2L or loop to loops, yeck! Will try to help you. BB I can see where I am probably going wrong.. no additional glue to seal out water from getting in the tip as you mentioned FishBDS. I can notice this within one days fishing a brand new line.. the only lines I really ever loved and didnt notice any problems with is old Orvis Wonderline and any style of XXD or XDP or GPX. My current fly line does it real bad after just an hour of fishing.. perhaps the nail knot is just too big and has an existing problem I havent found at the knot allowing water in. thanks for any help - Brian

Jeez.. what with all the other cars parked around them.. I can clearly see why they just drove where ever they wanted to ' hook up '! Whooops - Brian

Great story.. great commentary.. nice fish! Your son surely won the battle.. even coming away a batle wound. You mentioned you hooked yourself in the cheek... OUCH! I have hooked myself a few times.. the worst of all times was a day at Roaring River fishing dries. I was false casting and somehow managed to bury the fly in the skin of my left wrist sort-of on the top of my hand. It was stuck good.. and it hurt bad when the line went back behind me to finish the cast after the fly was enlodged in my flesh. I could only clip the tippet.. keep casting and pretend it wasnt there for a few hours til I had the courage to get it out the hard way... by popping the barb thru and clipping it.. whether or not there is a piece of hook still in me remains to be seen. best fishes - Brian

Hey guys and gals - I found a couple spools of 4X and 5X I can also do the 2 for $17.50 sale for. You probably will never find fluorocarbon on sale.. unless it is poop. No poop here. best fishes all - Brian

I too liked the Caveman one for FedEx. The other caveman saying youre fired and he is all, but FedEx doesnt even exist yet.. and he's all.. thats not my problem. He kicks that dog thing then gets squashed.. pretty interesting. That was Jay Mohr as the can rep in the Pepsi commercials.. he is kinda funny.. he calls Jim Rome's show a lot. Most Original - Emerald Nuts The ones that were good : FedEx Caveman Squashed / Bud Light Magic Fridge / Ameriquest "that killed him" / Hummer Little Monster Decent game.. only exactly opposite how I called it. I had Seahawks 21-10. Wrongo! best fishes - Brian

The small crankbait like Phil mentioned, floating Rapala's and Rogue's.. I think they work.. treat the trout just like bass and go after them with something big! It can work real well during certain dead spells. best of luck - Brian

I managed to fish an hour or so at a local golf course in one of their secluded ponds. It is way out of the way of golfers.. so there is no way I am gonna get nailed by a little white ball. Today for instance, I caught 4. All relatively small.. but at least it was fishing. I saw one real nice in there.. over 20 inches for sure. I was using a simple shad minnow style pattern that I could see well in the water. All the bass ran up to it and just inhaled it... without missing a beat. I was using my 9ft 5wt and tapered down to about 2X which is 10lb or so tippet. I wasnt casting but maybe 12-15 feet out of the tip of the rod and just seeing it land and stripping it back slow and letting it sink a little. I didnt fish another pond closeby because the water was just really way too low. I didnt see another person fishing there today... but occasionally I see a resident there trying to catch turtles. Strange... I write this though so that maybe you guys would give it a shot at a golf course near you someday. Very easy access.. willing and eager fish.. low pressure (if any) and big fun! Summer popper fishing is just way too easy to do for bass.. and it makes a great switch from Taneycomo trouting. best fishes - Brian

I have asked MDC if they would consider an egg trade with Arkansas for Brooks or Cutts and the answer was the same each and every time that its been brought up : they do not have the funds available or the space to introduce a new species of trout. The always remind me that MDC stocked Kokanee Salmon in 1968 and 1969, but they were eating stocker size trout out of the lake.. so they stopped rather quickly. One guy said to me once.. if it aint broke.. why fix it ? concerning the introduction of other new trout species into Taneycomo. I would be all for it.. like Dano said / an Ozarks grand slam is a real treat, and somedays if you get into a real bunch of small fish you could grand slam 4 or 5 times over. Those brookies I have read are quite weak...polar opposites from the brown trout. Raising brookies is difficult work.. takes a lot of extra time and preventative measures. I am not sure on the cutts.. but they are really pretty and like the brookie it would be neat-o to pull one out of Taney. You can imagine how difficult it would be to teach the tourists what trout is which specie. We have trouble enough now getting the tourists the difference between a brown and rainbow.. I could only imagine how much more diffucult it would make the jobs of the game wardens. Oh, and you guys were talking about Cutt-Bows in Taney.. its true. The MDC sometimes buys eggs from cross strained fish.. and even the fish they do use out of Taney itself.. sometimes they end up with strains crossing one another. Wether or not you could get someone to admit that outright.. thats probably not gonna happen. They want us to believe it is only rainbow or browns.. nothing in between. But no doubt we have all caught the fish that looks way too much like a cross between a rainbow and a cutthroat to call it a cut-bow. Funny thing.. years ago.. I mentioned in jest to a guy that I caught a rainbrown. He was all -- wow -- and we took it much further and came up with brownbow.. and Kokabow and BowKokaBrown. best fishes - Brian

Have you considered any of the reels by Bass Pro or Cabelas ? High end reels for low end prices for sure. I will echo the thoughts on the Teton Tioga, they are sweet reels for under a 100 bucks! best of luck, let us know what you get - Brian

What types of flies do we need to have tied for this time of year? Anything that works in all trout waters works here.. seriously.. try them out! Is wading going to be sufficient or will a boat/float/canoe be a necessity? Wade the upper end throuought - also the Rim Shoals water, also sections of Rea Valley. What options regarding lodging do we have? Stay at Blue Ribbons offerings.. or for more money stay at Rim Shoals. Try to get in at Charlies below the Norfolk River and talk to / watch wading angler as to where they go on foot or in boat close to the dock. MORE TO COME FRIDAY - to both posts here / Hall's trip .. Brian ..

Note - I might fish after.. but not before the trash pickup. I have given it quite a bit of thought over the last few days being up there fishing.. and I think the best thing to do is to meet up at noon.. get the word out to anyone elese who would like to pitch in.. have a snack or two with the guys we will all eventually put faces to the O/A names.. and then just comb the upper 1, 2, and 3 chute sides on foot. People willing to pick up everything and anything they see. Up by 1 - there is debris in the woods by the lot and by the water.. not a lot.. but by 2 there is a little bit of trash all over everywhere it seems.. and I know it aint very much.. but when other people see us picking up trash it will hopefully instill the same thoughts into them. Pick up what someone else was just too busy to disgard correctly. ( it is infectious.. ya know, doing the right thing ) Between 2 and 3.. the trails.. the parking lots.. there is trash that could be removed. After 3 and into 4 there is trash in the trails and again some up the roads or parking areas. The boat ramp area has its share too, so we should jump in the back of a track and run down there with the idea of 4 - 6 of us getting it cleaned up down there. I will end up at the end of the trails nearest Pointe Royale with a new trash bag - still not finished.. but happy that we can all pitch in and make our mark if we put our minds to it. I think Walkie Talkies could help us.. at least - stay in touch. Supplies we will need I can get from the Hatchery. Gloves might be an idea if you don't wanna get stuck with anything or pick up anything that would be too weird to touch bare handed. Thanks to all you guys who do show up for your support. Perhaps it will be an annual event.. who knows. see ya'll there - I'll be wearing a solid yellow sequined jumpsuit with a 10 gallon foam cowboy hat. ( just kidding ) .. Brian ..

Ooopph.. thats a nice brownie! As Seth questioned, where / how / when / what ? best fishes - Brian

WOW - what a great read! I only wish I could add to this thread.. but I just do not have the experience. Carry on fella's. best fishes - Brian

Sounds kinda like me on Crane bs28 - I just dont get there as often as before... numerous reasoning for me on Crane too.. people / lack of water / snakes / access / weeds / slow fishing at times / difficulty in locating fish.. are just a few. I should get up there and fish this river though.. I really enjoyed reading about it.. hopefully it isnt gonna end up like parts of the James River.. yeck! best fishes - Brian

We - ALL - need yellow longbilled hats to recognize one another onstream with satellite tracking systems. WAIT - strike that last idea completely. I wear an older long billed Simms hat and hippers this time of year when I can get away with it. I cast a yellow fly rod that is very easily spotted, and I usually end up talking on stream with other sometimes more then fishing. Unless the fishing is anything less than stellar. Oh - and I have a good-sized beard going at the moment. Darkish brown to red in color. People still mistake me for Brad Wright -- ha ha best fishes - Brian

Jeremy will show you how to 'GrandMa Weave' patterns on request at the tying clinics here at the shop - so if you get into the area on a Tuesday.. stop by around 7pm for class. Also - check out danica.com for other nice wovens.. like Oliver Edwards patterns! happy tying - Brian

I have a few extra spools of 6X Rio Fluoroflex Plus, so I am offering them up here. These are fresh spools.. not old outdated junk stock. 2 spools of 6X for $17.50 shipped to you. (reg retail is $12.95 for one) PayPal and USPS Postal Money order only accepted as payment. email me direct : ozrkflyfisher@wmconnect.com Thanks for looking in - Brian

To be quite honest - everything works for bluegills. We are quite blessed to have a large population of bluegills in Taneycomo, and when you find a few really just about everything you can think to throw at them will work. Given the right conditions.. the right season.. you've got your terrestrials that work great... you've got your poppers.. those work great too. If you wish to go subsurface you should try proven patterns like damsel and dragon fly nymphs, also small leech type patterns.. woolies in all sizes and colors.. baitfish patterns.. you should really just try everything. One more thing - a true staple on bluegills is the Feather-Craft Mackie Bug. That thing just works like a charm. Also, try anything similar with ruber legs. best of luck - Brian

What a great story! Boy that Dry Run Creek should / could be done here! My little heart melted when the youngster said he kissed the fish then let it go. Thanks for the report Dano! best fishes - Brian

OK Guys - I got a huge issue with this. Why is it that my nail know will sink in one days worth of fishing a brand new fly line ? Am I missing something ? please help me - Brian