Terry Beeson

Welcome to the "nut hou..." I mean the forum... You're taking a great first steps in fly fishing... join a forum and join a club. You will find 99% of fly fishermen more than anxious to share information and help you learn about this new addiction you have... I would certainly recommend joining a club associated with the Federation of Fly Fishers (FFF) some of which are listed on the link that russ posted. And, as he said... If you need someone to go with you to Taney, Bull Shoals TW, or Norfork, there will be plenty of volunteers... (My MIL lives in Mt Home... so I visit her frequently... )

Boy, have I got YOU fooled!... (Dano... na-na-na-na-boo-boo... I beat you to it... )

Sump'in like this, Dano?

Comes from years of breathing fumes of PVC, nylon, polyester, urethane, and polypropylene from extruders, injection molding machines, and blow molders...

Some fish have very strong jaws - such as bass - and there is not problem with lipping them.... Other fish - crappie, trout, and others - have a fragile mouths and jaws and lipping them and holding them like a bass can cause damage/injury. Plus, after you've lipped several trout, you will find your thumb turning into hamburger...

Now that it's out of my system.... It takes cajones to admit you tried to cast backing... not to mention the fact that you actually achieved some kind of cast and caught fish... (BTW... first rule of C&R... Don't "lip" the trout...) Advice? Keep trying... keep learning... practice practice practice... join a fly fishing club and/or get around guys who know what they are doing. They will be eager to share information and help you. That's one thing I have found that beats my bait casting days to heck... The commradery of fly fishermen. There is no "right or wrong"... Just... "let me show you how I do it..." One last piece of advice.... Learn to tie you own flies... Quoting almost every fly fisherman I've been around including me..."There ain't NUTHIN' like the feeling of catching a big trout (or fish) on a fly you have tied yourself..." WAY true... Oh... and one more thing... don't use "WalMart" bobbers on your leader... (That one is for Davy Wotton...)

OK... the old plastics guy is gonna come out in me now... Very good article, Dano... And it made me think about looking at some "hybrids" for making leaders. Specific Gravity and Density go hand in hand... just different ASTM methods to obtain numbers. Monofilament, being made of nylon, has a Specific Gravity (SG) of just over 1 (around 1.03 to 1.05) which means at its given state, it is "slightly" heavier than water and should "slowly" sink. However, the fact that nylon absorbs moisture makes the "leader" have a SG closer to 1.0. This, along with factors such as surface tension (think of a drop of water "hanging" on the lip of a glass) and dynamics (think of dropping two pieces of paper from 5 feet up. One in sheet form, one wadded up... Which one will hit the floor first?) will keep the mono leader "afloat"... especially if it has had any kind of surface treatment. However, because it is close to a 1.0 SG, mono can be used to nymph fish with the use of a little bit of more dense material pulling it under.... say... lead (11.4)/ brass (8.5)/ copper (8.75) / tungsten (19.6) weighted fly or shot. The lower the SG for the leader, the "harder" it would be for the weight to pull it down under the surface. So... mono could be considered a great "all around" leader material. Flourocarbon, on the other hand, is made of a very dense material called polyvinylidene fluoride or PVDF. Its SG is around 1.8-1.9 which means it is almost twice as dense as water. Its density is compared to that of sand or clay. Another factor is that it does not absorb water. Surface tension and dynamics still come into play here, but long story short, a flourocarbon leader will, indeed, sink without any help. With only that in mind, flouro is "better" for nymph type fishing and no good for dry fly fishing. Now, there are several other factors to consider: Light refraction Knot strength Suppleness - memory Stretch (elongation) Tensile strength Bottom line, in my opinion, is that dry fly fishing is best done with mono leader and tippet. For nymphing, it is a choice you have to make for yourself based on personal taste and situation. Now... one last thought... Has anyone tried to develop a propylene or ethylene (0.9 - 0.96 SG) type leader for dry fly fishing? If not, I wonder why not? By the way, this is why propylene yarn is good for indicators and parachutes... Just my opinion, for what it's worth... and that ain't much...

My, Larry... what little itty bitty hands you have.... as compared to my and Randall and ColdWater.... just kiddin'... Nice fish... great "welcome back to Taney" gift, huh?

Is there any trout water that it DOESN'T work on...? Don't know if it would be my favorite, but I do like the Disco Midge... you can find it under the '06 midge fly swap thread...

That sounds like my typical tying session... You should see some of my San Juan Worms.... I would hate to be in a contest like this with someone like Earl Stanek... the "MacGiver" of fly tying... I swear, you could give that guy some staples, a discarded soup can top, a bread bag, and some dust bunnies from under your bed and 30 minutes later you would swear there was a live dragonfly in his vice...

You gotta be kiddin' me... When you figure that out, Rusty, you'll be a rich man... Although, I do have a theory. I think they have hidden cameras all around a 10 mile radius and when they see my li'l Ranger PU headed toward the dam, they turn 'em on... Honestly, fishing a tailwater on the White system just below any dam is a crap shoot as far as generation. I've seen days where there was generation when none was scheduled and when it made no sense to me. Then I've seen days when I stayed home because they were planning to generate and there was no generation... in the middle of 105 degree weather... normal lake level... I called the generation number at BSD five times on a trip from Jonesboro and they kept saying they were generating 3 units. So my fishing buddy and I decided to detour to the Spring. We had a good day, but found out later there was not one generator on all day at BSD... But calling the number and looking at the schedule is still the BEST predictor/guide we have...

Dang... now the freakin' internet knows how old I am...

Yep... you're right... Riverside... My step-daughter works at Riverbend Restaurant in Mammoth. Guess I had that on my brain. RiverSIDE is the camp we were at.

Brian, More than you realize... I'm tellin' ya.... he's got that "trout whistle" he keeps in his pocket...

The only way to reduce their numbers would be to introduce a predator fish to the waters or to do something to prevent the eggs from hatching or the ammocetes from growing. Neither being an easy task. They spawn in the spring and early summer when water temps reach 50 deg F. Sounds like some other familiar species... But the adults tend to die after spawning... I guess passing out little lamprey prophylactics is not feasable...

Ron, When you do come down... leave that cold stuff back there!!! Well... OK... you can bring some with you for the ducks...

OK... so questions for the two of you - Davy and MTM... 1. What is the "reasoning" behind the tapered leader? In effect, why not just tie a 12 ft length of ?X tippet material directly to the fly line or why not use a 9 ft length of 4 lb mono (good ol' stren or similar) then 18-24 inches of tippet? 2. Davy - AM = Amnesia line, FC = Flourocarbon, but what is the "bs" you refer to when you said "you can tie 6X to 10 lb bs..." 3. MTM - What is the "formula" you use for the 4X tapered leader you refer to? And what knot do you prefer for tying the sections together? As a "bait fisherman" for the first 40 years of my life, the concept of leaders will intrigue me for a while to come... I'm sure I'll have more questions... huh, Davy? Thanks....

I'm hope no "non-fishermen" read that post... Wasn't that an article in "Cosmo" a couple years ago?

I've had both and my next one will definately be a camper trailer, not a pop-up. I had the pop-up first and was pleased with it until I got the trailer. Then I found out how much better off I was with the trailer. I'm with the other guys, MTM. I don't know what kind of pop-up you had, but mine had water proof canvass and never once tried to leak. Advantages of Pop-up: Easy to pull. Less expensive price. Disadvantages: You have to take time to set them up once you get there. Some are pretty easy, but still not as easy as a trailer. Storage is more limited. Advantages of a trailer: You can keep most everything you need in the camper and just back up to it when you're ready to go. Once you get to the campsite, you unhook, level, and relax. Once you get ready to leave, you hook up and leave... When you get home, you can unhook it and relax... unload what you have to later. Disadvantages: More expensive up front. One piece of advice for either one... get a dual axle. Single axles are a 8!7#& to maneuver.... For six people, I think I'd consider either a 40 foot 5th wheel with pull outs or a motel...

Hey Russ... just tell here you were holding them for me... Then bring them over to my house... I'll hold them here until the air clears... after I've put a few thousand casts on each of them....

Don't know if this is too late, but go to www.itenerantangler.com and you'll find a host of info on fishing the smokey's....

Sounds familiar...

As many times as I have "slipped" with felts on, I would hate to think what would have happened without them.... Felt soles are essential for wading any rock bed river... I need to add the screws to mine...

Does it happen to have a mouse attached to it? The things you can tie using deer hair... I wonder how effective the Nemo fly would be? There was a guy at the Spring River in AR that tied a "fish food" pattern that looked just like the fish food they feed the fish at the hatchery... It was very effective at the right time below Dam 3... wonder why?

They don't? Hey RR... NEVER tell my wife that... OK?