Jeff House

For someone who seems to know everything your above qoute is fairly laughable. Surely you don't believe that a little high water actually washed the brown trout out of Taney! Those fish only left the area if they chose to due to availability of food (which with the high water there is no lack of). If anything this high water is good for the fish, it just isn't so good for the fishermen. Maybe it's just a reality check and you're not quite as good as you thought you were.

PC - I fished Zone 1 from the spring down to the handicap ramp to start with. Then moved down to between the 2nd and third handicap ramps. Finished the day between the hatchery outlet and the whistle bridge. Two best areas for me were the cut in the bank between the spring and handicap ramp (right where it gets too deep to wade) and anywhere between the hatchery outlet and the whistle. I know most everyone you see in that area is fishing the far bank but I was working the fish on the close edge and middle. It was great fun as I could see them coming from 2 feet away. Tried several foam patterns but the fish preferred a black dubbing ant with ginger hackle in a size 16. My buddy just ripped them on scuds of various colors and copper johns if you tire of the dry fly bite.

If you're heading to the park anytime soon make sure and have some ants with you. Fished Friday and caught 20-25 fish almost all on an ant pattern (caught a few on a griffiths gnat). My buddy mostly nymph fished and caught 2-3 times as many as I did but I bet I had more fun! Also fished the river for an hour or so before heading back to KC that evening and couldn't even get a hit. Tried nymphs and some streamer patterns but couldn't locate any fish.

Mike - I have made them before but there really isn't a pattern. Just buy the color of glue you want and get a wide gap egg hook. With a little practice you can form a good looking egg by putting just the right amount of glue on the hook shank and rotating it in your vice to form a uniform ball. I don't use eggs much but I made quite a few for a buddy and his son to use and he said they worked great (trout parks). I suppose if you wanted to get fancy you could lay a piece of egg veil on the shank before you started your glue and let it trail back behind the egg. Hope this helps ............Jeff

Thanks for the info guys. Got some ideas to sit down at the vise with now.

I've been out walleye fishing on my local lake here the last few weeks and have noticed large schools of medium to large sized carp out on the flats roaming around. They are in 6-8 ft of water but are cruising the surface most of the time. Have never fished for carp on the fly but this just looks like too good of an opportunity not to try it. Plan on throwing the flyrod in the boat next time and was wondering if anyone had any suggestions as to what flies to throw at them? Any suggestions ?

Headed to Montauk early Friday morning hoping that the river gauges were correct and it would be fishable. Got down there from KC about 10:00 and found the stream and lower river looking very good. As it was my first time down I don't have anything to compare to but I thought the water looked great - good strong flow and clear. Fished mostly in the fly area and C&R areas on Friday with good luck in both sections. Saturday I started off in the fly area but then moved down out of the park about mid-morning as I was interested in looking at the river to see about floating it in my pontoon boat (I had it with me this weekend but to be honest 2 days wasn't long enough to figure out shuttles or put-ins and all the other particulars involved). As it was I found plenty of good wadeable water without getting the boat wet. Met several great guys who I visited and fished with that gave me some good information on different spots.... Chris and Ryan who had just come from the Eleven Point with their driftboat - Steve who was planning on floating the river in his kayak on Saturday and offered me to go along (I had to take a raincheck as I had a friend meeting me on Saturday to fish for a while) and Mike I think, I'm terrible with names, from Crane Creek area who I visited with for a while on Saturday morning. I headed out Saturday afternoon just before the storms rolled in and drove through rain and hail all the way to KC. A great trip with some new friends made and a few fish caught, what more can you ask for? By the way the hot fly for me was a version of the Super Midge I tye with wine thread and a plum colored marabou tail. Most anything I tried in the park did well but that fly seemed to be the best for me. Can't wait to get back down........next time I'm going to have to float the river for sure.

To the gentleman that stated Brett's clients catch fish due to his shuffling technique, I think you should refrain from making statements based on rumors instead of fact. You may be jealous of his fishing skills ( I sure am ) and try and tell yourself that he has to be shuffling to catch that many more fish than you do, but believe me he doesn't! If you fish Taney at all you have probably seen Brett below the dam with clients and 90% of the time he and his clients are not even in the water. One of Brett's biggest peeves is shufflers and he will tell you so. I have fished with Brett twice in the time that I've known him and I can tell you from experience he does not use any method of shuffling to assist his clients in catching fish. Brett is one hell of a fisherman who will use every bit of his knowledge to make sure his clients have a good trip (as I'm sure all of the other guides on the lake do) and this is why his clients catch so many fish.

My guess - March 23rd 2007

I'm not referring to those who are still learning as I am definitely in that group. Everyone has to start somewhere and I'm more than willing to pass on my limited knowledge to anyone interested. The people I refer to seem to know exactly what they are doing, which is standing in prime lies and snagging fish. I personally saw more unethical fishing practices this past weekend during 3 days of fishing at Taney than I've seen the rest of the year. If I had had the local wardens phone # with me I would have called him on several occasions this past weekend. The fishery at Taney is great and it really makes me sick to see what I would call no better than poachers taking advantage of it.

I have never personally fished powersite, but I know a guy up here in KC that loves to fish it all year long. I have heard him say that the fall fishing is good down there, not sure about numbers of big fish? From what I saw this last weekend you won't find a place with more shots at big fish than Taney. If you can put up with the crowd of wannabe trophy hunters that filters in every weekend.

I am good friends with Brett and happen to know the situation that brought on his comments on his website because I was the one that pointed the issue out to him. Brett most definitely does not have a problem with individuals tying his proven fish catching patterns, as a matter of fact he will sit down with you after a guide trip and show you how to tye the flies that you used that day if you're interested. On the other hand when a competitors fly shop tries to imitate one of his most popular flies (poorly I might add) and even goes so far as to use "almost" the same name (they changed one letter) you can see why he might get upset. For any of you who have not seen his wide variety of scud patterns , he definitely does some things that are different from what you normally see. It was very obvious that the other fly shop was trying to capitalize on the popularity of a proven fly with a well recognized name. Illegal or not to me it just didn't seem right.

Thanks for the info guys. I'm going to head to wal-mart after work and see if I can't find one of those Mr Coffee grinders. That's what makes this forum so great, quality information from good people who've been there and done that. Although hopefully Terry's finger comment didn't come from experience!!

Up until now I have just blended different dubbings by hand (scissors and fingers)but have heard in fly tying circles about using coffee grinders? I don't drink coffee so I'm not sure what styles are used or what works best for blending dubbing? Does anyone out there use the coffee grinder method or is there something that works better? I've tried the wifes food processor and wasn't impressed (neither was she!). Any info would be greatly appreciated.

Up until now I have just blended different dubbings by hand (scissors and fingers)but have heard in fly tying circles about using coffee grinders? I don't drink coffee so I'm not sure what styles are used or what works best for blending dubbing? Does anyone out there use the coffee grinder method or is there something that works better? I've tried the wifes food processor and wasn't impressed (neither was she!). Any info would be greatly appreciated.