jdmidwest

Lilley, what is the rest of the story. Is someone else making a profit off of his patterns? Our is everyone he guides and uses his flies taking one for a pattern and tying more of them. I have always admired the guy that comes up with an original pattern or style of fly tying, but I have many, many pattern books that have flies with a persons name on them and the recipe for the fly listed along side of them. What is the recipe for? I was thinking about buying and fly and was wondering if it has anything in it that is bad for me? It is to make one just like it for yourself, so you can copy it exactly. And they are published by Umpqua, Orvis, and the Federation of Fly Fishers to name a few. Fame and fortune in this sport is recognition and the warm fuzzy feeling you get when you have passed your knowledge along to another. Haven't you felt sorry the the guy beating the water to a froth with a woolly bugger, and not catching anything during a hatch, and give him one of your hand tied flies that you are tearing them up on? You know he will save it, and try to copy it for later use. This grasshopper, is why we are called trout bums.........if we could make a living at it, it would be a job.

One should never buy a rod on price alone. What are you going to use it for? What size water and flies are you going to fish the most? Do you travel to places on a plane? Is there a dealer or a friend that has one so you can test cast it? The best advice would be to hook up with an experienced fly fisher or reputable fly shop and test cast a few different types of rods. I noticed that you did not specify a line weight or rod length, just price. In order of importance while fishing, the rod first, the line, then the reel. A poor rod or line will ruin the cast to the fish. The reel only comes into play if you hook up..........

Mark, if you are coming from STL try this place. Scenic Rivers Boats & Motors 7027 Stormy Ln Bonne Terre, MO 63628 (573) 358-7040. Should be on the way off 67 Hwy and is close enough to Black and Current rivers to offer a jet or 2. Also, pick up a trader paper when you get down south and see what is in it. We fish out of a modified Tracker 16' Panfish special with a 25hp Merc jet. The front stick steering is great for seeing the river in front of you while you are motoring. The shop in Doniphan modified the transom for the extra height. Good little boat to handle in tight spots, but the hull is thin, light gauge alum. and can't take much abuse on the rocks. A prop would be tough there, the advantage of a jet setup is that the drive is usually even with the bottom of the hull to skim the shoals. Ours will run in about 6" to 8" of water depending on the load. The way the riffles have flattened out over the past several years combined with the low flows, we still have limits of how far up you can run the boat.

Unfortunately, Montauk has dredged in the past when floods have silted up the holes. I have seen dredges above the waterfall in the past and warnings on opening day of deeper water in some of the holes that were dredged. In the past 5 years they have concentrated more on natural improvements like the big rocks in the campground area. This is to create natural scour holes and they seem to work some. Still, alot of the old deep holes have filled with gravel. This goes on outside of the park throughout the entire river. Low water is only part of the problems. In the 20 years I have fished the upper Current, most of the deeper holes have disappeared and the river has "flattened out" with gravel. What is really needed is better timber practices to control gravel and improve the watershed above the park and throughout the state.

No luck over the weekend? Did you go to Doniphan and check things out there? There should be some used boats for sale this time of year.

Did you let them go?? I saw very few rainbows right above or below Baptist, mainly browns. Nothing wrong with that, browns are more fun. There were mainly Rainbows around the cabins below the park, and several browns in the park too. Wish I had more time to fish the river, maybe now with gas on the downswing.

Spent the day on Current River above and below Baptist Access Saturday morning. Released a 22" and a 17" brown along with several smaller ones. Water is low and fish were shy. Alot of redds with mating pairs of brownies. Need to be careful where you walk to protect the beds. Not much hatching off, caught everything on beadheads. Fished the park Sunday after the crowds left out and caught several nice ones. One female shed her eggs when I handled her. I always remember the spawn being later in November. Seems early this year. Serious lack of Rainbows below the park....

$4000????? Maybe for the motor and jet, or something used this time of year. JD

Mark, I think it is Current River Marine, It is on the south side of town as you are leaving on 142. 573-996-7710 JD

If you are looking for a jet boat, try the shop in Doniphan. They know what they are doing and will set you up with a good rig. Or you can buy a kayak and fish out of that. I fish 11 pt both ways and wade in winter time. Depends on which end of the river I fish. Jet boats are noisy and a nuisance on the weekends, but since the 25 hp rule went into effect, it is better than the old days. I have seen water skiing below Whitten on the weekends before the 25 hp rule. That made for a big cluster f... The big boats tend to stay on the lower current river now. With the water flows of the past 5 years, most everything above Whitten has been off limits to even a jet. On a single day trip I tend to take the jet boat and motor up from Riverton to above Whitten and drift back. Can cover water faster if weather moves in. If I have more than 1 day, I take a float in the yak and wade fish the other day. Since the trophy area formed, the best fish are down below Turner in the deeper holes.

Montauk is more of a "remote" destination than many of the other areas mentioned. Most of the Park visitors come from areas like St. Louis that have great fly shops. You don't just stumble into Montauk and decide to fly fish and need a rod and reel. A successful fly shop needs a steady income to stay alive. Montuak would have to make its living March thru October unless the catch and release season is extended there like at Meramac. I hail from the Cape Girardeau area and we have nothing that resembles a fly shop. I shop mail order or drive to St. Louis for all of my supplies. At least the store at Montauk is carrying some of the basics to keep you going if you need something. As for the comment about no one at the Montauk store knowing anything about fly fishing, I hope they don't read this forum and get offended. Some of those guys fish it more than anyone else and know the insect cycles well. They just tire of getting asked what type of glo ball to use or what flavor of cheese are they hitting. Take a few minutes and ask the old guy what fly he suggests.

I am amazed at the negativity regarding the Spring River. Apparantly the only time anyone goes is on Saturday or a Holiday. Almost any place is a drunkfest on Saturday or a Holiday. I have been on the Spring River several times this year and have a great time fishing. Float camps don't start dumping in canoes till after 8, the drunks hit the river at noon, then after that it is over. Most of the traffic is past Riverside Campground by 4:00. Any other time is Great for fishing and the fish are plentiful. Campgrounds empty out by noon on Sunday. Everything is quiet through the week. And, there is law enforcement on the river on Saturday and Sunday. They are Ark Fish and Game agents and they are undercover in Old Town Kayaks. They are there to enforce the law and you will not know who they are till you are checked. Great bunch of guys. If you want a good time, take a day off during the week and go. Besides, the float crowd is only May thru August, the rest of the year is for fishing. October floats on the Spring River can be real productive. The river is stocked throughout the year except for icy roads and snow when they can't run the trucks. The only thing that has run me off the river while fishing was a horizontal snow that created a white out condition. Get out and fish and quit bitchin......java script:emoticon('', 'smid_21')