Bill Babler

Boys, I agree with you to some extent, but have fished both lake Barclay and Kentucky Lake during the same period and if he is looking for that kind of size and quality action on TR, it ANINT GONNA HAPPEN. We have had a tremendious resurgance in our crappie in the last 3yrs. but it is still not the type or kind of fishing that other bodies of water even in our region have. According to lake shocking studies up until about 3yrs. ago TR had the lowest number of crappie per acre of any of the major Mo. impoundments. Haven't talked to willie anderson in a while but I bet the numbers in the last couple of years have came up dramaticly. If he is staying at the point and wants to see water a little more similar to the southern lakes I would tralier to either viola or to cape fair. The virgin bluff area has just been outstanding the last couple of years at that time frame. Also in and around the mouth of flat creek. Another real good area is the Big and Little Indian in the Baxter area, This area is known for really nice crappie and the whites are usually in there around that time. There are a group of guys that stay at shell knob during the first week of april and fish that baxter area and the strings of crappie they bring out are fantastic. I have spoken to them over the years and most of their fish, even at that time of year come in the 15 to 20 ft. range around cedars. They are not bank fishermen. They say the clarity of the water is a real factor. They seem to think the crappie hang about 3 to 5 ft. under the visibility line in most instances. I'm not going to argue with them as they are the best i have seen on TR. I do know they catch most of their fish on maribou jigs in the 16th to 32nd. oz size. They use no tube jigs or soft plastics and for the most part fish up and down, even at that time of year. May or may not help.

You are to early for the whites, in any consistant numbers or patterns. Try looking up the kings river around royal point. and using your electronics on channel swings in the upper kings.

You might check that white bass limit. Seems to me there is a certain number over a certain size that you are able to keep. example: only 5 over 15 inches or something like that. Please check, I know there is some kind of length regulation, or there has been on tablerock. Also if you would please don't kill largemouth or smallmouth bass. It wasn't very long ago that we were having real ploblems with water quality affecting the numbers of these fish. It has only been in the last couple of years, that we have seen a nice rebound. If the water remains like it is all that could be gone with a extremely poor spawn. there is still a mercury warning and heavy metal warning for the comsumption of bass on Table rock.

May be a day late and a buck short, but just wanted to comment on the quality of fishing in the lower section of the restricted area on Saturday. Had to worm my way thru quite a bit of traffic to get up to the area but the fishing and lack of fishing activity in the zone was great. Only 3 or 4 other boats were in the stretch from Andy's to the Fall Creek boat ramp. I have never seen the ammount of midging activity that was going on in the zone. Shallow to deep for the 2 plus hrs. I was up there, it was fantastic. The size 14 tungston headed blood zebra midge was taking fish as soon as it hit the water. The fly would not have to drift more than a foot or two before it was nailed. Extreme action and it seemed the other boats were also having excellent results. Just a word about the traffic. I have fished taney since the early 70's and that was about the maximum carring capasity of traffic for the area in front of Fall Creek Marina. The number of boats BLOCKING THE CHANNEL ON THE LEFT BANK WAS OUTRAGIOUS. The traffic in front of the working marina blocking access to the dock was just unreasonable. On the way out of the restricted area at 12:30, I counted 35 boats in this very slim stretch of water, from Fall Creek to the end of the dock. From Fall Creek to about the gas pumps of the marina, directly in front of the marina, a delta of rock and gravel has accumulated over the years and the water depth is not measured in feet, but in inches. The channel is on the extreme left bank going up stream, and this area needs to be kept clear of anchored bait fisherman. If we run over your tight lines or mess you up, we have absolutely no choice. For goodness sakes, why people think this is a trout gold mine is crazy. Believe me, there are much better places to fish than infront of the Fall Creek boat dock. All Phil's tournaments are being won down stream. Everyone seemed to be very curtious and allow boats to pass up and down stream without much fussing, but last week these channel fisherman were gripping. A great idea would be to anchor on the shallow side and fish to the channel. Probably to complicated. The folks at Fall Creek are very nice but they have to make a living, just like the lower resorts. Please leave their dock open to traffic and don't block the channel on the left. This is the one area that I can see a problem on the lake. If we don't want further government regulations, we had better just plain use some common sense or some one will make the whole area in there a nonfishing section of the lake. Come to think about it that wouldn't be a bad idea. Good luck.

Between Phil and my wife Becky, I need a few more bosses. Had a real nice trip out of Eagle Rock on Friday. Started around 8:30 am and worked from Big M to just before Holiday Island. Loads and Loads of Crappie fisherman on the water, all seem to really be catching fish, weather it be shallow or on the deep docks. I think we are going to have a Crappie year to remember. Bass at that end of the lake, just like the knob, were on transition banks and it was just a fantastic morning. All largemouth on main lake transitions, every bank I hit, I caught fish. Had a big fish pull off right at the boat after 3 jumps. Got the best out of her but would have loved to have had her smile for the camera. Every fish was caught on a Tim Hughes Purple Shad transparent rogue. Boy is that a mouthfull. About 15 fish with at least a limit of quality keepers. At 10:30 the wind switched to the North and that was all she wrote. Fished until about 1:00 and not another bite. I had started with a pull over sweater on and was going to go to a short sleeve T-shirt, when the wind switched I had to put on my coat. The Prussure change and the temp change can really nail these fish at this time of the year. I have never seen such a good bite stop so quickly. It was just like a switch had been turned off. I really think it was Buster's fault as he called and as soon as I talked to him the fishing got bad. He probably put the wammey on me cause he was home baby sitting. For those boys that want to fish in April you could sure do worse than Eagle Rock, Viola, or Big M. Great, Great early fishing for multi species on the Rock. Good Luck

Excellent Point by Simsmarine. The safety issue is always first. However, checked with the MO State Water Patrol and there is no state or federal statute concerning kill switches and life jackets during fishing tournaments, other than those pertaining to every day water craft activity. The kill switch is a great idea and the pfd has to be readely accessable. No statute to even say it has to be worn. This info comes from the headquarters at Jefferson City. All major bass tournaments require the kill switch and the pfd to be worn, but it is not state or federal law. These are just tournament regulations, and a great idea.

Bobby M. is right. Water temperature is the main factor this time of year in shad die off. Don't get your hopes up for any coming thru the turbines however as there dosen't even seem to be any water coming thru at this time. When surface temps hit the mid. to low 40's, It kills shad. We had a really cool weekend, but it's about 70 today and they are calling for 70's next week. COLD weather is probably over. It's getting pretty late for subzero weather and that is what it would take to cool the lake to the temp range that we would have a shad kill coming thru, at this time of year. We have had a very moderate winter and these windy days will really warm Table Rock. I'm guessing surface temp would have to be near or under 40 to get the kind or results that you would want on taney. However, it just takes a few coming thru the peek their interest. We can always hope. The few I saw 4, were all in the Big Cedar area of the lake and were on the main lake. The Coves seem to be a couple of degrees warmer than the main lake. When it's right, you can see them by the thousands. Haven't seen that yet. Good Luck.

Grab yourself a pointer 100 or the new X-Rap or a suspending Rogue. These stick baits seem to fish really well on 10lb. test. Give it a heave and either reel it quickly or jerk it several times in rapid succession to achieve its maximum depth. Let the bait suspend motionless for a second or two and then start a eratic twitching of the bait back to your location. If you can jerk the bait and have it remain in the same spot or with very little movement back to you the better off you are. 99.9% of the strikes will come as the bait sets motionless between twitches. Whites, silver or chartruse are great colors for these baits. Strikes will most generally feel like a slight tap or you will just feel weight on the line when you start your next series or jerks. If you have fished a Spook it is a very similar movement. Jerk, Jerk, Jerk, pause.Don't be afraid to let the bait set for 10 to 20 seconds between twitches. See what they want and give it to them that way.Good Luck Bill Babler

Beardsley Branch Report for Brett 2-23-06 About 60 degrees today with a nice Southerly Breeze. Good fish chop on the water. Brett, I hit Beardsley starting about 1pm today after the honeydews were completed. Don’t know what I’m saying, they are never done. Wanted to stir you up a couple of spots. I fished the main channel bank going in on the left thru the docks and standing pole timber. It had a great breeze on it. No Luck. Fished the left transition bank coming in No Luck. Fished the right side dock bank and interior point, these are my favorites a little later. No Luck. I was fishing a suspending rogue and a X-Rap. Fished about an hour and a half in the cove. Water temp 46.9 slightly overcast with sun peeking thru sometime. Should have been good. Went to the main lake and fished the cedars on high dive bluff end and my first cast caught a short KY. Started on the bluff ends all the way up to Brushy just past the concrete fortress on the south side of the bridge. Caught fish on every bluff end with a nice KY on the X-Rap under the fortress. Don’t know why but I stopped again at high dive and for some reason caught a nice keeper KY from the same cedar that I caught the short earlier. There are so many places to fish, I rarely do that. A good friend had been fishing Lake O last week and he said If you find a location with fish, hit it time and time again. Seems to work right now on the rock also. Went back up and to the east side and fished the bluff end before State Park marina. Caught several shorts on this bluff end, all out of trees. Stopped at the bluff end just before Clevenger, and caught another nice keeper KY. 13 fish with 3 nice keepers, all the fish were KY’s. Main lake was 44.9 degrees a couple of degrees cooler than Beardsley. This is completely different than fishing the White River, out of Shell Knob. The fish up there are on transition banks and are mainly Largemouth. Everything I caught, was a Spot on this end. Used several stickbaits, the best being the white X bait and the next was a purple transparent Tim Hughes Spending rogue. Also caught fish on a modified Buster Loving suspending rogue in clown. Used 10 lb. Pline and moved the bait pretty slowly in the trees. Saw lots of dying shad and they kind of tell you how to move the bait. A couple or snaps and let it sit for a couple of seconds and wiggle it again.. The water is very clear and was able to see the bass take the bait several times. Also saw a couple of refusal flashes, at least it had their interest. Hope this helps. Couple of Pictures of the KY’s included. Good Luck Bill Babler, Whiteriver Outfitters Guide Service www.whiteriverlodgebb.com

Snowflake, Hope you were kind and cut off lots of hooks. PB is a great way to catch a limit of fish in the bait area of the lake, but is really hard on tender tummy's. If you make them bleed they are pretty much history. The area you were fishing is fantastic for sculpin micro-jigs under a float. You will continue to catch loads of fish and will do them little harm. Good Luck.

Matt, probably not exactly the right choice of baits and location for this time of year. Next time out in that location of the lake try a pointer 100 or the suspending rogue. Concentrate on bluff ends where any wind is present, and also on channel swings. This is the area where the main channel touches or moves very close to the bank. fish these swings the length of where the channel is running along the bank and about 100 yds. either side of the start and stop. Also be aware on how the bank transitions. from vertical to chunk rock and then to gravel. Concentrate on these areas. Fish the stickbaits in a jerking motion and allow the bait to pause between jerks. Not constant motion. Fish will take the bait as it rests between the twitches. You may think you are hung up or just feel a lite crappie like tap, or even a spongy type feel at the end of the line. Set the Hook. If you have the presents of cedars in that area, cast the bait just past the tree and jerk the bait into and i mean into the tree limbs. Let it pause and twitch it in the same place. These baits are hard to hang up and when they do just motor over and get it. It's worth the effort as good largemouth will sometimes be in the cedars at these channel swing locations. Don't feel bad though as a good half day in that area this time of year is probably 8 to 10 bites. Good luck.

Kurt, SKMO absolutely nailed your question. I have guided the Shell Knob area for the past 20 years and you couldn't have gotten a better reply. Hickory Hollow, or the old Ackin Back Resort that all the locals call it is a great place to stay during the Spring White Bass and Walleye runs. After that you are about trapped. The Crappie will remain pretty constant up the rivfer and the Largemouth hang out up there in decent numbers, but smallie's and spot's like a littler cleaner and deeper atmosphere. If your a bass fisherman and want the opportunity to catch a larger concentration of fish, move out to the main lake. June is primo! It is the time of year that the guides wait for. Spots and smallies will be post-spawn and in large concentrations on the flats and channel swings out in front of the spawning coves. Long main lake points and deep cove mouths will provide excellent topwater action usually until the sun hits the water in the mornings. You can either swim a 4in Chomper single tail grub or dropshot these same places after the suns up a while. this is the time to be able to really use your electronics as the fish will be hungry and ganged up after the spawn. Great catches of White Bass can also come at this time on the deep main lake points as they are post spawn also and chasing. shad early and late. Up the river where you are staying the catfishing will be very good on limb lines using perch or shiners. Also trotlines using perch or crawfish will catch lots of great cats. Try long lining the pole timber flats from Hickory Hollow to Royal Pt. You will catch all you want to eat. Please be kind to the bass. Have fun with them and let the next person catch them again. You can only eat them once. Enjoy the Shell Knob Eagle Rock, Baxter area, without a doubt an assume part of the White River. Also bait the lines for the cats really late, right before dark or the turtles will eat all your goodies. Bill Babler Whiteriver Outfitters Guide Service.

Bill, got me fired up with his report on the rock so I ventured out of Shell Knob to fish the upper White from Cambell Pt. to Eagle Rock. Tried to stay on transition banks and the first 100 yrds into cove mouths on the channel side. Fished alot of main lake on the channel swings also using the pointer and 2 different custom rogues. Cambell Pt. to Shell Knob was pretty slow with 5 fish and only 1 keeper, but it was a real nice largemouth, taken off the boat ramp at the Point. Shell Knob Bridge to Big M. Fishing fairely quickly on complete flat water with not a bit of a stir I caught another 5 with 3 keepers. These are mainly honey holes that I have caught fish on for years, that always seem to hold jerk bait fish. Some of the spots you would think that I'm the jerk for fishing them if you didn't know they held fish, they just look deserted and flat. BigM to Roaring river 6 more fish with 1 keeper, a really good one. I work lots of cedars and some really brushy pole that usually hold rogue fish but no fish at all from the trees, only heavy rock banks and a couple on honey holes on flat, flat gravel. Water temp at start 47.8 end of day 49.2 Of the 16 fish 11 were largemouth and I had 5 spots. All the keepers were largemouth. All fish were in really good shape and looked to be getting ready to start transition. Didn't do anything but throw the jerk bait, I felt I had a really nice 7hrs. on the water.

Long time client and friend Dave Mangelsdorf wondered down from Saint Louie to enjoy some of our Spring type weather yesterday. With Dave's buddy Chip Baker we started at short creek on lots of rising fish. Draw down was on with water being slightly off color, and for the sake of me I couldn't get those short creek fish figured out on the fly rod. Went thru durn near the whole fly box but they were zoned in on a size 28 to 30 grey midge, and I just ain't got none that small that I wanted to mess with at that time of the morning. Somewhat blind you know. and didn't want to go to 7 or 8X that early, you shouldn't have to. While I was messing around with reloading Chip picked up a 7ft. spinning rod loaded with 2lb. line and a 64oz. sculpin jig, and commenced to catch one after another. I thought AH, HA! Loaded a sculpin wolley on both rods and told them to start hauling them in and I would just sit in the middle and take off fish. 15 minutes later and without another fish I had, had enough and headed for the restricted area. Taneycomo is like real estate location is everything. All our troubles were forgotten. Fish were midging hard but I could also see alot of flashing and digging. The perfect opportunity for my favorite tandem. I loaded up both boys with a crackleback in size 14 for an indicator and dropped a scud in grey and one in mink under them. We fished until about 5 pm with that tandem and the action never stopped. Only 5 fish came on the crackleback but they are 5 we wouldn't have caught on top with a strike indicator. Numbers were huge with both men well over 50 fish, but the size is very disturbing. As most of you know, I have been fishing and guiding taney, for over 30 years and I can't really remember every catching this many small fish. The upper river is simply loaded with 8in to 11in fish. You can see schools of 30 to 50 fish all over the flats from Andy's house to fall creek. Catch one and a dozen follow it to the boat. Our top 7 or 8 fish were around 15 inch and that is pretty poor for putting well over 100 fish in the boat by experenced fisherman. Good news is that you can catch a fish about every other cast. shouldn't complain I guess. Thought with the new regs, we would be doing better than that. Boys, if you get a chance take some of these smaller fish out of the restricted area,as I know it has to be near capasity there are just thousands of fish in the lower part of the area. In parting, stopped by short creek on the way in so as not to let it defeat me. They ate the tandem like candy. They were still after the small midges but it didn't seem to matter, they really wanted the scud. Water was a bit clearer, maby that was the difference. Who knows

Duckman, Sorry I missed ya. Haven't been on the forum for a few days due to obligations with some sponsors. Would be glad to set you up if I'm around at the same time you are. Phil and I will be in st. louie this week giving a presentation at queenie park if your in that neck of the woods. Again sorry I wasn't around. Bill

Great weather the first week of the new year for taney fishing. River is really full of fish, but they seem to be the wrong size. Couple of wading trips earlier this week fishing the conservation ramp and down abit. Caught fish on a size 10 stimi. Dropped a 18 ginger scud under the stimiulator but fish liked the dry. Boy that's a switch! They quit on it after a while but were still midging, went to a crackleback size 16 and caught about 14 total. Nothing on the bottom sucker. All were extremely small, I mean tiny. Fished the lower section of the restricted area from Andy's house to short creek in the bait area using the stimulator as an indicator and swinging a 18 blood midge under it. fish after fish at both the midge and the dry thru the restricted area and all were again extremely small. Lots of silver bullets. Went ahead and drifted the dock side from fall to short creek with the same patterns and the fish size really improved with several nice fish in the 17 inch class. Had at least 15 fish on the stimulator. Boys on 1 generator or less, if you aren't using a dry as an indicator you are missing alot of quality topwater bites. Try it. To make the presentation with a tandem fly rig all you need to do is to increase the size of your casting loop, to prevent the hooks catching each other. To do this just pull down on the rod handle on your forward cast. By forcing the rod butt down it will open your loop and keep the flies seperated. Just before the line hits the water give a slight tug or haul and this will present your flies in a perfect seperated manner. Lots of fun with the dry on top. Humpies, Stimulators, and Irrestiable Caddis are great drys for this. See ya on the River.

Boys, excellent trapping info. Sounds like you guys have slung a little steel in your time. Trapped pro for about 6 yrs. just after college. Mostly Western land trapping. Did however stay at home and run about 200 sets a day for coon, mink, fox and water edge critters, Nov thru Dec each year. Special criteria for taney is you have a water rise and fall of about 3ft. per day. makes water edge tough if you want water sets. Also its no problem to catch coon! The problem is keeping them out of your mink sets. You can use no bait or no scent or you will have them. Spoke to one of my buddies that has trapped over 1000 mink on taney in the last 30 years and a blind set is the absolute only way to catch them and keep the coons out. Any hole and I mean any hole baited or unbaited will be checked out by the coons. He uses a tunnel set with a 3ft. length of 4in pvc that has been trap dyed black. Sets it at water edge or at a narrow with a 110 conibar on each end and camos it with flat big rocks to hold during rises. If you get a big rise you just won't catch them. He also said he would catch just about as many during the day as the mink work taney all day, so you are ok on the blind tunnel. The pocket will catch a mink if he comes by befor a coon can find it. He says the same day you set it befor dark, cause at dark you will have a coon. You can't use a foot hold cause a coon will still look thru the tunnel and get in it. Sometines you can put the connie in the middle of two pvc tunnels and be ok. Also one must remember that nowadays you can use no killing trap larger than a 120 about a 5 in trap, above the water. As for the coons narring off their pinkies the no. 11 double jaw has really almost entirely eliminated it. Espically south. Around lake of ozarks and north where it freezes every night the exposed pinkies will soon numb and have no feeling and the critter biting at the trap will keep working at it till its free. Coons can't think like that. it just happens, from biting and twisting. Usually the wrong size trap and unswiveled along with cold.. In this area using a double jaw 11 which is a size 1 1/2 the exposed toes on an unbroken leg don't freeze and he is just sitting there waiting for ya. When you are trying to make a living from fur, which I did, you can't loose critters and you can't make a career out of each set. Using an 11 with 4 swivels in the 1ft. trap chain prevents any loss from either bone breakage, twisting and rolling or jerking as he has no room to run and jerk. Drowning sets are great but take tons of time and make a mess of fur. Without a doubt they are the best for hiding your catch and dispatching it quickly. If your just going to put out a few sets and recreational trap they are great. Nice fluffy dry critters on a short leash are best, when your trying to look at a couple of hundred sets per day. Boys there is alot of outdoor woodmanship that will be going down the drain when we go. It's great to hear from you. Bill Babler

B. Babler White River Outfitters Guide service. How typical is that. What a great couple of days on upper taney. I have guided all over including Alaska and nothing and I mean nothing will produce like our little portion of the White River. Build the fly try it and they will come. Man it's sure fun. Glad you had that kind of trip, Thanks for the report.

B. Babler White River Outfitters I have really enjoyed reading your various thoughts on boat operation. As a former Water Patrol Officer and a guide of over 20 yrs. let me give you my procedure, on how I for the most part operate. First and formost, you must remember that you are always responsible for your wake. Federal Law. If your boat wake damages or causes capsize, you are responsible. Lets talk about Short Creek to Fall Creek. Extremely narrow, and very shallow on the South Side. On flat water if there are boats anchored it is very easy to go to idle speed. This does not mean plow, it means slow. On running water keep it on top. If boats are anchored during running water in this area they shouldn't be. It's time to move. Still be curtious and move as far from them as possible. In the short grass around Fall Creek, nothing frosts my you no what, by boats anchored in the channel on the South. This is a navagation channel and should be kept open at all times. Still yet, what are you going to do? Slow down if you have to and just bite the bullet for a couple of minutes. STAY AWAY FROM FALL CREEK DOCK AT HIGH OR PLOW SPEED UNDER ANY WATER CONDITION Or Phil or I will hear about it and it is just common courtesy. If you want a reputation as a bad boater you will get it in this area. Fall Creek to Lookout. Flat water, for the most part idle speed on the 1 1/2 mile stretch unless you have a jet and use the flat side on Point Royal. In the channel on the South East you should be at idle speed. Only takes a couple of minutes to get ot lookout. Don't worry about passing people to close at idle speed in this area, every knows that you have to keep in the channel, and If they don't, they shouldn't be up there. Running water, same as below Fall Creek. Let her rip but stay away from other boater. If I can cast easily into a boat that is passing at high speed, you are way to close if I am drifting and you are flying. Gosh, all this is, common sense. Lookout to dam, flat water watch out for the jet boats, is all that I can say. Have also heard some complaints of the drift boat guides anchoring in front of people fly fishing flat water. Let's just get along and move a little bit. The drift boat guys are ok up there down to lookout on flat water but if power generations starts they only have a couple of seams they can do any good on, and for the most part they beat those fish up so bad, that after a while its like throwing rocks at them. They are pretty harmless. As for speeding jet guide boats. There are only a couple and for the sake of me I couldn't tell you what to do about it. Is it really a huge proplem? If so, just in a pleasant way say something to them. As boat guides they have a lot of river they can fish. On generation, you need to be on top to get anywhere in this area again stay as far from other boaters as possible. As a guide it's my job and responsibility to keep my people in all the fish that I can, and on our stretch of the White River, ie Taneycomo there is no better way to constantly be in fresh fish than in a power boat. This is just the way this river/lake system works. If everyone would just think how you would like to be treated instead of whats good for me, we wouldn't have a bit of a problem. Good fishing Ya'll

Yes they are the same jigs. Merlin Olsen was one of the chief clebs. to promote the jig. The manufactor is Turner Jones formerly of California, where the jigs has been used for over 30 years. They are made under the name of Turner Jones Micro jigs and come in sizes of 556 oz. size 20, 256 oz. size 14 and 126oz. size 10 Bass Pro Shop used to handle them under micro jigs made by Lucky Strike but they were of very poor quality and came apart quite easily. Due to some patent infringements I don't believe BP has them anymore. They are completely hand tied and the srink wrap holds the hen hackle tail to the body. The eyes seem to make a different on the natural colors, but the bright colors for moving water a crome head seems to be the best bet. You can find them in any fly shop in the west or down on the white river. Phil also has them. Never use a forcept on them simply put your finger on the head and push the hook out. You can literally catch a 100 fish per jig if you are delicate with it. It's not sliced bread but it is another yummy goddie to have in your fly box.

When it's good its real Good.

B. Babler White River Outfitters Guide Service Gosh! If it was like this every day I'm sure I would almost know what Heaven was to be for me. Don and Mike from St. Louie told me that last years fishing extravaganva was good so the pressure was on. Thanks to the trout it was off fast. Drifting 264th oz. micro jigs in pink with crome heads from Andy Williams place to Fall Creek was out of site. I KNOW, I KNOW if you don't tie it you don't use it. As Phil will atest, nothing and I mean nothing will out produce this nymph on moving water. The micro is constructed with tungston, hen hackle and shrink wrapped and it is a monster. Used throughout the west it has surely found a home on the White River. Today many, many trout in the 12 to 19 inch range found it fasionable as foder and they kept on and kept on biting it. These folks wanted some fish to eat and it was all I could do to come up with a limit of fish under 12 inches. Not only were they biting the micro, but the 2 in. strike indicator that they were throwing on the 7ft. spinning rods were consumed almost as well. Man, what a day it would have been for a dry fly. No one on the river. Get Down Here.