Seth

Cabelas has these rods in their sale paper that I got in the mail last week. The rods look decent and for almost half off, I went ahead and picked one up along with some new fly line and backing. Anybody use these rods and have an opinion on them?

I have tried tying up some make shift "G-bugs" like Brett ties for my personal use. The reason I did my own was because I have never had a chance to make it down to his shop. Next time I get the chance to go down there, I will drop by his shop and buy a handful of his flies because the ones I tie are nothing like his creations. Every fly I have tied is a copy from something I have seen so I didn't worry about any laws or whatever. I told him in some emails I sent him that I had good luck on some make shift G-bugs and he appreciated the report. Brett has given me fishing tips over the email and I met him the last time I was down there and shook hands and he seems to me like a great person and an amazing fishing guide. I find it kind of pathetic that a fly shop would start copying his exact flies and then even call them the same thing pretty much. Hopefully Brett can get some sort of a patent on those great flies of his because they work so well, others are going to try and steal them and make a profit off of them

I believe you can gig up to Fall Creek. Gigging is not allowed in the Trophy Area on Taneycomo. A person would have blast up in the trophy area gigging because the suckers up there are THICK.

We used to always go down at the buzzer, but I never get down there before noon anymore. I can usually still do pretty good in the afternoon hours on my fly rod and a beadhead or san juan. You just have to move around to the different holes and find fish that are feeding.

Just add another section on the current forum for hunting. Most of us here are probably hunters also. For hunting related stuff, I always get on Mathews and Archery Talk forums. I'm addicted to bow hunting as well as trout fishing.

I landed 7 fish total and my girlfriend got skunked. Caught most of my fish down at the bridge hole. Green/white rubber legged jigs, rainbow powerbait, orange worms, and Secret Bait are what I used to catch my fish. You had to keep switching baits becuase you would get a few bites on one thing and then they wouldn't look at it. It was tough fishing for the most part, but I would guess that if I had kept a stringer of fish yesterday, I could easily have left with 8 pounds of fish. There are loads of nice fish in the stream right now.

We had some of him fried up yesterday for lunch along with some hush puppies and macaroni and cheese. Was delicious.

Yea it was a blue. I was flopping out becuase I wasn't sure if it was a blue or a channel since they only stock channel in that lake. The state record for channel is only 34-10, so had it been a channel it would of crushed the record hehe. But still, that's a fish of a life time for her....and thats only like her 5th catfish she's caught in her life LOL.

Well me and my girlfriend decided to go catfishing last night to get her dad some to eat. We went to the local park lake with a tub of turkey livers and our "light" catfish tackle. We got there and I baited up the rods and threw both of them out. I was cleaning up my mess I made with the livers and my rod bout went into the water, and this is less than a minute after I threw out. I grabbed the rod and set the hook then handed the rod to my girlfriend becuase I was still cleaning my mess. I figured it was a nice fish the way it hit, but then when it stripped off probably 75 yards of line I was like, DANG!! I thought we had one of the big ol grass carp the lake has. We'll she played it for a while and I realized that I had NO NET and my rod only had 14 pound test on it so I was wondering if I would be able to get it in. Then the thing came up to the surface and I seen it was a monster catfish. I didn't know what to do, so I stripped down to just my shorts on and waded out into the water with this monster. This fish was getting if I have to wrestle him up the bank I decided. I was hollering at some kids we knew on the other side of the lake and to everybody if they had a net for us. One kid came over with a little trout net and I was like "NO NO NO that won't work". Then he seen the fish boil and seen its head and started flippin out too. By now the other kids we knew started coming over towards us. Just as they got close, my girlfriend got the fish's head turned and got him close enough for me to grab. I grabbed his head with all my might and wrestled his flopping body up the bank, just in time for them kids to see it. Everybody was hoopin and hollering. One of the kids mom works for the paper, so she came and took pictures of her fish. She will be in the paper this week with her big fish. We went up and weighed it at the bait shop and the scale tipped down to 45 pounds and it measured 47" long and 27" around its belly. Here's a pic....

I more often than not always hook the fish in the corner of the mouth or sometimes the very top of it. I don't know if it's in the way I set the hook or what, but I never really have had a problem losing many fish. Sure here and there I have a few pull out but not many, even with #22's

Well I posted in the newest night fishing thread thanking Leonard for the flies and tips, but I will say it again in this one. Thanks Leonard, Was a pleasure meeting you Leonard and I look forward to getting down there again hopefully this August to try out night fishing again. Definetly will have to get some tying supplies for making some white woolies and squirrel leeches.

I just got back from a four day vacation down there. I got to meet Leonard Thursday night as I was getting ready to leave. He was a great fella and gave me about a half a dozen flies to try. Right before I left I was catching quite a few on a #8 olive wooly by outlet 2 and throwing across the river. I went night fishing again on Friday night from 9-11 and was using an unweighted squirrel or bunny leech in black that Leonard gave me the night before. I was swinging it in the current and stripping it back and the trout were blowing up on it. I caught one brownie that came almost out of the water like a bass and gave me an awesome fight, he was about 17". Thanks a lot Leonard, you got me hooked on night time fly fishing. That was awesome seeing those trout smoke that fly off the surface in the moonlight. I can't wait to come down in the fall when the browns are up and try stripping some big unweighted streamers on the surface and see what I can dredge up.

GRRRR....don't even mention the cardinals right now....they are ticking me off

funny guy lol

I seen this boil last year also. I thought it was a monster trout flopping on the surface at first, but then when I got closer I didn't know what the heck it was. Micro jigs are just really tiny jigs on jigheads 1/80 down to 1/265 or something. The microjigs you buy that come in the little plastic tubes are put together with a shrink wrap process to hold the marabou. I just tie up my own and use thread, they still work pretty good when the water is running. I have had my best luck on pink usually.

I tied up some last night and I left out toe copper wire ribbing. I will give them a try this weekend when I get down to Taneycomo and see if the fish care. JoRob, have you fish with Brett before or stopped in his shop?

My first one was 18 lbs with a 10.5" and 4" beard and my second one was about 18 lbs with an 11" beard. It was tough this year to get the bird to work in than in years past, except for one bird that my girlfriend should of killed the last two Saturdays. He came in both days but she couldn't get a shot from where she was sitting.

I would probably say a #18/20 ginger g-bug becuase I have caught more fish on it than anything else I have tied up.

I've just stood on the bank before and cleaned my trout and tossed the guts in the lake again for the trout and suckers to eat. When your done, just swish the fillets around in the water a little bit and clean them up better when you get home.

His scuds are great also. His soft shelled scud is another pattern I try to copper but they never turn out anywhere near the quality of his. I say and hope I get to stop in at his shop everytime I get down to Taneycomo, but some reason or another I never get a chance too. Probably becuase I am too busy fishing the whole time hehe.

Hmm i thought there was copper wire for ribbing on that G-Bug. I have been putting copper wire over my ostrich herl but I guess I will stop doing that. I guess I shouldn't ask for a pattern that hasnt been published, I dont want to upset Brett, he is one of heck of a trout fisherman and guide.

It is sad that these family resorts are vanishing. We have always stayed at Lazy Valley Resort a time or two every year since I was a little boy (sorry Phil for not staying at your place). It is so beautiful and relaxing down there and everybody is really nice. Hopefully things looks up for place like yours soon.

I can wade in Maramec Springs without waders, but oh boy is that Taneycomo water cold. My legs can't take water that cold.

Thanks alot guys. I will mostly be fly fishing up at the dam, but later in the evening or really early in the morning if I am at the resort then I thought about motoring across the lake and throwing something like that around those big logs. I also thought about gettings ome chicken livers and throwing out around there too since I have seen and heard of quite a few big browns being caught on chicken livers before too. I guess anything thats meaty and an easy meal would attract the pig browns.

We are heading down to stay at Lazy Valley Resort next Thursday and do some trout fishing on Taneycomo....woohoo!!!. Anyhow, I have a couple big rogues and rapalas ( like 6 or 7" long) that I used for bass quite a bit and I was thinking about trying them out on the banks across from Lilleys and see if anything big would come out and take a peek. What kind of tackle would you recommend using for these kind of baits? I was thinking about just using my regular bass rod with 14 lbs stren. I figured that if a big trout wanted to eat it bad enough then the line wouldn't make that much difference. Let me know your opinions.