jdmidwest

Drew A 7 wt will do, but if you are buying a new rod you might want to go with an 8 wt rod in at least 9'. It all depends on how far you will cast and how big of flies you will use. Make sure you get a weight forward or bass taper line to help you cast the bigger flies. As far as flies go, poppers, streamers, and big nymphs will be what you will us for the most part. Bigger food for bigger fish. Fishing from at boat into the bank or cover will be most productive.

I wonder why there are not many people recommending a handheld GPS unit. I think they are an excellent solution, something portable that can be used in more than one application. I have always steered clear of an "all in one" device. They are usually limited in their functionality. A little sonar, a little thermometer, a little GPS, so on. Not usually ever the best of each. Magellan makes a Explorist 210 series that has a USB connection to a PC that can be uploaded/download to a software program like National Geographic TOPO. You can make custom maps and keep track of your places in the software.

Bill, I assume you are using a camera with the capability of various settings, ie a professional digital slr of some sort. You did not go into detail on it. If so, have you tried shooting in natural light only without the flash on a nice sunny day? Open up the aperature setting so you will get the best exposure and the most depth of field so everything is in focus. You may have to use a tripod and even a bulb type release to prevent shake. A wide angle lens will work too. Try adjusting the white balance or turning it off. To get a true blue lake the polarizer filter or maybe a colored filter could give you the effect. What looks blue to us may not look blue to the camera due to a reflection or a white balance correction. Try metering the exposure with a gray card or different colored cards for an effect too. If all else fails, shoot the room and then shoot the lake in the blue color, crop the lake and put it in the window with Photoshop! The trouble with the new professional series digital slr's out today is the learning curve on figuring out all of the features and settings. Auto setting just does not give you what you want to see. It interprets the data given to it and arranges it how it wants it based on the camera settings. I turn off alot of the features and make manual adjustments to get things to turn out right sometimes. I even turn autofocus off and go to manual focus for most of my shots because you never know really what it is going to focus on.

Lem passed away? He came and helped out on a flycasting course we offered 15 years ago at our Orvis shop. Great guy. I remember the renegade fly he tyed and fished. He worked out of Springview Fly Shop at Bennett. What happened to him, old age or something else?

I see, I read a little closer. Cheap rods with chrome guides do wear out fast. Same goes with spinning rods, chrome sucks, just a thin coat of metal on softer metal. Just another way to cut corners. Not many rod makers use chrome any more.

In order to make a more durable fly, you could add some wire in the pattern. Or you could use wire for the dubbing loop itself which would be really tough. There is a company that mass produces it in the form of a dubbing brush if memory serves me correct. I tend to fish the fly till it does not resemble the original fly at all. Repeated catches tend to pick out dubbing and give it a buggier look. When it looks like crap, retire it to the scrap pile and tie another on. Then you get more practice retying a new fly. If you tye your own, it should not be a big deal.

What kind of rod did you wear the guides out on? I assume you are talking about the tip guide, not the snake guides.

Wally world has a Leatherman Blast/C301 knife combo on clearance for $19. What a deal, the knife alone is worth that, the combo originally sold for $49 which was a good deal. I have used and carried a Leatherman tool since they first came out and would not be without one. I presently own about 10 of them in different configurations. Great warranty and great product. Needless to say their knives are of the same quality. This is a new one with the locking blades and the rounded grips and it has replaced my wave as my everyday carry tool. The knife is half serrated and will shave hair with a few strokes on a stone. It also has an assist opening feature and pocket clip. I have other tools but none have been as good as the leatherman. Gerber is a finger masher when you use the pliers due to the handle design. SOG takes to long to open and the plier head tends to rotate when you use it. Some of the others are not even made anymore. I recently picked up a Remington Bird Hunters tool with snips, gut hook and choke wrench that will be good for the duck box.

The book about MO trout parks is here on the website missouritrout.com. http://www.missouritrout.com/book.html It says it is being expanded into a full length book, yeha. I picked it up one time while waiting to pay for lunch at Montauk. It is more of a short guide than a book. Maybe you could get together with MDC for publicity.

Chuck Tryon's book "Fly Fishing for Trout in Missouri" is still in print I think. It mentions trout parks but includes all of the trout water in the state.

I use dubbing wax and dubbing loops also. It depends on the type of body you want. I use wax and Uni thread for tight bodies on drys and tapered nymph bodies. I use the loop to spin a buggy nymph or scud body, leaves longer pieces of material to look like legs.

What part did you go on? Did you take a boat or fish the bank. I crossed it yesterday at Patterson Black Bridge and it was up about a foot and murky. Pretty good rain Tues night.

I thought maybe the chips were to soak up the beer while grilling a steak or a burger. Yuk, nasty trout, let them go to grow!

Troutfearme, have you read the book that is already out there on fishing the trout parks? You could be beating a dead horse. But if you have extra cash around burning a hole in your pocket, why not buy a new rod?

I finally got to show my dad something today. While we were down at the creek that runs through our land today, Dad found something he had never saw before. He had been there a while before I arrived and had to show me what he had found attached to a log in the creek. He reached down and picked one up and thought he had found a alien creature. I explained to him the life cycle of the caddis and this was one form. It is a little worm like critter that attaches rocks to itself for a home till it transforms into an insect like a moth. 70 years old and I tought him something today. He was never much for fishing but was a great hunter. I have learned alot from him and it felt good to give some back....

The Water Wisp is basically a parachute fly tied at the bend of a hook instead of at the eye. As far as the special hook, a straight eye should work as long as the bend is open enough. It never hurts to experiment with a pattern.

The Orvis Zero G is a sweet dam rod, but money is not everything. I traded services for one last summer, I would not have shelled out the dough for it. Orvis has several other rods that are cheaper and cast perfectly. A few years back, I decided to buy a beater 4wt travel rod. Something to carry around in the truck. I could not touch a Orvis rod for less than $300, so I bought a 5 pc combo from Cabela's and loved it. It was the first rod I had fished other than Orvis in 15 years. I spent $120 for a 5 pc rod, disc reel, line, backing, leader and travel case. It is a slower action rod and I tossed the free fly line, it was junk, but the rest was a good deal and I use it alot. I own 7 Orvis rods also, all the upper end quality. I agree with the others, try before you buy..............

So is there going to be a revised second edition?

I carry a hand held GPS with me in any boat. I use it to mark access points, boat ramps, hot spots, and to trace routes back on lakes. When I float a stream for the first time, I mark the takeout and take readings along the way to gauge my progress. That way I am not paddling by flashlight. I also mark points of interest and download into my National Geographic TOPO software for future reference. I have also scouted out caves and such on the topo program and uploaded them into the GPS for the daily float to check out along the way. I use a older Magellan 315, but it still performs well.

I thought someone already did one.

I have tried tying that style several years back. An article came out with an inverted hook style that I liked better but never used either to any extent. Basically you tyed the extended body fly upside down and the point of the hook rides up above the water line. Waterwisp flies are tyed in that style but the hackle is in back like the Herter style. Waterwisp flies are available thru several vendors.

Cool, I saw that this morning on Fly Anglers online. I remember when you used to go into offices and see a marlin on the wall. Funny, you hardly ever see them any more.

I have noticed that faster action rods tend to be harder to roll cast. I have better luck with medium to slow action rods.

Trying to send pm with brochure, can't post file on forum.

Less pressure on the end caps, reel is farther up to keep from dinging it when you stand it up on a car. Uplocking is a more positive and stable way of mounting with the fitting on one side embedded in the cork. It is protected by the cork so it does not get damaged easily.