XP 590

Rut- It was the first fly I learned to tie and Charlie Reading sold me on the Daiichi 1530. Feather Craft also calls it THE soft hackle hook and I would agree. I started my Dad on soft hackle fishing last fall on this hook and he landed a dozen or so on the Niangua, missing very few. (And he's 89 yrs old!) I think the bumps and misses go along with this type of wet fly fishing. It took me a while to learn to set without breaking off too often.

Agree with above, stick with it. Soft hackles have always produced for me, and the feeling when the fish tugs on that tight line is addictive. I learned about them from a guide on Taney about 8 yrs ago and they are one of my go to flys when all else fails. There is almost no wrong way to fish them, but swinging on a tight line seems the most common. For me, the speed of the stream makes the biggest difference in how I work it. If the stream is pretty fast, I'll throw a few upstream mends to allow the fly to sink a little. Sometimes it's better just skimmed right below the surface, I just try a bunch of different things. One thing I was taught is to keep my rod tip up a little, and follow the line downstream. When the fly gets straight downstream, resist the urge to immediately re cast, one writer even suggested counting to 15 because you often will get good strikes as the fly flails around in the current. Another thing is to keep a little "shock loop" of fly line in your fingers because the hits can be pretty hard in moving current. Hope your luck changes.

Next......someone will blame global warming...I mean climate change. Just kidding, gotta knock the 11pt off of my bucket list onto my "done it" list.

Pictures? I've seen some kids with whoppers caught there.

If you happened to catch the first installment of my "Fishing with Dad" series on the Current River forum a few months ago, you know I'm having a problem with Dad. At 89 years old, I can't get him to stop working, traveling and dancing long enough to go fishing with me more often. I'm lucky to have such a problem. The last ten years or so, I've been exploring the trout rivers here in Missouri alot more than the parks. I love the occasional solitude you can find, if you time your trips right, and I've always had good luck. Lately, I've been trying to get Dad to join me on some of these trips. Our family history includes years of fishing at Bennett Springs, starting as kids, and camping in our old 1959 Shasta Airflite that was parked at Weaver's since 1978. A recent turn of events has led to that old camper being let go, and being replaced with a 1973 Holiday Rambler at Valley View. Of course, that meant a few trips were necessary to get it broken in properly, so we started the first weekend of December. Our hope was for a nice chilly night to try out the heater, but since the low barely got into the 50's, not much luck with that. We headed down to Barclay access early Saturday to start fishing by 7:00 or so, before the sun pops over that hill. I've fished there alot over the last few years and have had pretty good luck swinging woolies through that riffle. I started Dad with a few different woolies that I tied, and told him I was going to be his free guide, not fishing unitl he caught a few. It should go without saying that he was happy with that arrangement, never touching a fly or a fish. As we worked through about 3/4 of that nice riffle with no luck, I noticed lots of fish jumping and splashing, not a common sight for me on that river. I decided to put on a big size 10, Orange & Partridge soft hackle, showing him how I swing those across the current and it was on! He was hooking up cast after cast as I snapped a few pictures with my new phone. Dad's fairly new to that wet fly type of fishing and couldn't believe the tug on the line as the fish chase those flies. Like they say--The tug is the Drug! He really liked the isolated area and the scenery where we were, and every time he'd hook into one, he look at me and hollar "Hell Dave, this couldn't be much nicer if we were in Wyoming!". A slight exaggeration maybe, but his spirits were high, and I was really happy to have gotten him into some fish. We didn't hook any super whoppers that morning, but did get a few nice browns, the biggest about 16". With his busy social calendar, he needed to leave by 11:00 and head back to Columbia, but I stayed and fished that afternoon. I went upstream and hit the Bennett Access, fishing the long stretch below the concrete boat ramp. I usually fish above that ramp but the water was so low, I thought I'd hit this area for the first time. Now, I do consider myself pretty good with a woolybugger on the river, but I'm pretty sure I was the beneficiary of a recent visit from the stocking truck. I was getting bites on almost every cast and fished until my arm and hand was too sore to go on, only making it about half way down to the island. The numbers were too high to count, the temperature was about 65 degrees, but my morning fishing with Dad was the highlight of this trip.

Might consider Goggle Eyes Goggle Eyes?!?- Don't be so hard on youself oneshot. It looks like those prescription lenses straightened you right out! Just kiddin', met you at Barclay last year. Dave

Agree with all above. I'm mainly a wooly bugger guy, they work so well it's hard for me to switch. 90% of the fish I've caught on the Niangua the last 5 yrs have been on sculpin colored wooly, with a green flashy body. Sculpin color is like a muddy olive and it kills for me. I've used a variety of wooly colors on the Current and and also done well. I work them differently on different rivers. On most sections of the upper Current, the flow is slow to moderate and I strip them or twitch them. On a river like the Niangua with faster flow in most areas, I pretty much fish them on the swing, throwing across at different angles, mending for different depths, and holding on. The tug when they slam those things on the swing in addictive. I've had to learn a lighter set to avoid breaking them off, and I learned to always let that swing dangle straight downstream for 10-15 seconds. There is a good chance a fish has been eyeballing it and is waiting for a twitch to strike.

I've been wanting to get my Dad down to the upper Current for while and finally got to last month. At 89 year old, I wasn't concerned about his ability to navigate a mile or two in the river, he's pretty spry. The problem was getting him to take a few days off work at his consulting business so we could hit a Monday/Tuesday on the stream. Dad started all of us trout fishing in the parks as little kids. We have pictures of my brothers and I standing on the dam at Bennett in 1973, in our cheap plastic waders and Converse high top tennis shoes for our boots. Those were good times. He also took us out west a few times after high school, hiking, riding horses in, and floating on some great water. The last 10 years or so, I've been moving from the trout parks to the streams, and have been wanting to get him out there with me. With four months planning, (for him to take off work), we got a trip in the 2nd week of October and had a blast. The weather was great and the fishing was good. We got our litle cabin at Reeds midday on Sunday, then drove down to Parker to poke around and sight see while the sun went down. I took him across the stream and hiked upstream a few hundred yards, catching a few on the way back down. Then we hiked down the lower road to the big curve and huge boulders where I pulled out a few in the last minutes of sunlight. I've never seen the brownies so beautifully colored. Monday morning, we met a guy named Mike (from this forum) who was nice enough to shuttle us so we could get in at Tan Van and hike down to Baptist. Dad loved it, he didn't realize what beautiful waters we had here. As you probably know, the water was still down low from the drought but we managed a few fish anyway. After lunch at Baptist, we hiked down a little and I hooked up with a few nice browns. The next day, we parked near the cabins and headed down to Tan Vat. The fishing was tough with the low, clear water, but we still managed to catch fish. I'm going to have to learn about dry flies, I'm strictly a nymph guy, but the hatch both mornings was so thick, we nearly choked on the bugs. Strangely though, the fish weren't hitting them as hard as I thought they would. Late in the afternoon, it looked like there were two completely different hatches going on, one with little teeny bugs and another much larger. I was lost but it was a beautiful sight to sit back and watch.

Mike, looks like a nice trip. Gotta love Indian Summer in October. Thanks again for the shuttle a few weeks ago, Dad and I had a great trip. Dave

" And that was on water where rainbows will collect around your boots to scoop up scuds and sowbugs dislodged from the stones every time you move your feet."---Wow, the observant writer makes a comment based on his fist time fishing this tailwater, and now it's being implied that he's shuffler! Believe me, I dislike the unethical practice of shuffling as much as anyone, but to bring up shuffling based on that observation is a bit of a stretch to me. Maybe he's talking about while walking, or simply re-adjusting your feet so you don't stand lock-kneed in one uncomfortable position too log.

Any ideas on who to call for a car shuttle in the upper section next Monday or Tuesday? We're wanting to leave a car at Baptist and get carried up to Tanvat and fish downstream. I called Dave at Eagle Park, and the lady at Reed's Cabins, where we are staying and am striking out. Any ideas would be a big help. Thanks

There should be a special place in hell for people who steal fishing gear

LOW WATER?!? What planet are you on? When Dad and I were there at the end of March we fished at 1400 CFS! Of course that was two weeks after the ONLY good storm in March. We really had a blast and are planning on seeing you again this fall or next spring for sure. Since it was our first time there, we don't have much to compare it to, but we thought we had stupid #s that day. When you start out catching two at the falls on the first and second cast, we figured we were off to a good start, but with my "face made for radio", wish you had gotten the old man in the video Dave

Glad to hear about the revival efforts. Hope she makes it for some other lucky kid to catch. What a beauty!

If you are looking for a nice campgroung at Bennett, check out Wild Oaks. It's fairly small and homey and sports a real community, family atmosphere. They have a large community fire ring, nice pool and apparently show family movies on an outdoor movie screen. They also have a smokehouse with chuckwagon dinner and a little diner. The owners are very friendly and accomodating. It is right on the highway so there is a little road noise, but for me, that is far outweighed by one of my other priorities at a campground-NICE BATHROOMS! The one bathroom IS brand new, and the other one is kept looking brand new. There's probably a reason the place seems full during prime season, but I'm more of an off season camper. They told me they are open through the winter with the main bathroom open and heated, this will be my new winter season pop up destination. **** PS: I'm not the owner! I just like to let people know when I find something I like.

AMEN! Having fished with you two weeks ago, and with it being my first time on the North Fork, AND with water running at 1450 CFS, I was very impressed with your use of tungsten putty. Like any good obsessed fly fisherman, I ran out and bought some right away and can't "weight" to try it out! --I know, that was pretty bad. It also hadn't ocurred to me to place it so close to the fly, but with that current, and the good fortune we had, that was definitely the ticket.

Who you callin' stoooooooopid?!?

Leonard, How come your link doesn't go anywhere? I wanted to see your site. *** Love night fishing by the way.

Don't know you personally Wrench, and I really wondered if I should reply. At the risk of starting an argument, I'm going to anyway because I feel strongly about the statements you made. The "problem" you refer to is called the Missouri Depertment of Conservation Regulations. While I may not understand or agree with all of them, I understand their purpose is to provide an enjoyable, sustainable resource for OUR recreation....yours AND mine. If the regulation states no commercial guiding on MDC property, then I view that in the same light as all other hunting and fishing regulations including tackle and bait restrictions, creel limits, bag limits, etc. When I'm hunting or fishing on MDC land, whether I like it or not, it IS someone else's business, for lots of obvious reasons: my actions affect others. In my experience, anyone willing to disregard one regulation is likely to disregard all regulations, and that has an impact on me. The minute everyone starts to "do whatever you want"..........well, that should be easy enough to figure out.

?? Must be an inside joke.

I have a Water Skeeter River Tamer. Think I paid @$600 but it's pretty heavy duty with 400 LB capacity, 9 ft, double chamber pontoons. came with trolling motor mount and pully system for anchor. Also had a stripping basket apron and two very handy "saddle bags" that sit on top of the pontoons. I haven't tried with a motor yet but I can tell you this: rowing these things is no fun. The first few tries on the Niangua river when the water was up were pretty fun, but at lower levels where I had to row through long flat stretches, it was a drag. Same with lakes. I'm thinking about getting a trolling motor this spring to try some local bass lakes. In looking into that, I discovered those deep cycle batteries weigh a ton so that needs to be figured in when looking.

I guess it was a waste of time to click this thread hoping to find intelligent discussion of the actual topic. Wow-4 full pages of Nanny-Nanny-Boo-Boo, that's a new record I think. When I get a chance, I'll listen to the podcast.

You already IZ Da Site, Philshizzle!

I used my new Simms Freestone's for the first time last weekend. Up until now, I've been wearing bootfoot felt soled waders, so wearing seperate boots and waders is new to me. The nice thing is that now I actually have a good solid boot and ankle support which makes the whole experience better. When it comes to grip, the vibram sole was ok in Taneycomo which is mostly a loose gravely bottom. Since I wanted to see how they do on really slick surfaces, I stopped by the Niangua River on the way home and hit the access area below Bennett which has lots of big slick, flat rocky areas. The grip was somewhat disappointing there, I'm sure it will take some getting used to. I bought a good set of cleats to put in the Simm's soles that will surely make a difference but I wanted to try the boots as is first. I'm definitely going to try it with the cleats next time I hit that area of the Niangua.

No closing that closet door now that you've kicked it open. ** Didn't expect this thread to take this turn but now that it did, I couldn't resist.