Terry Beeson

Was using explorer at work. Use Mozilla at home. That one is better on Mozilla anyway... Good articles!

Notice how big Dano's head is in that drawing?... Wait... that's to scale.... 20 of these are in the mail... Disco Midge Hook - curved 1X short shank scud hook size 18 Thread - Black 8/0 Body - Mirage Accent - Opal (Krystal Flash) Easy tie... Tie the thread at the eye a few wraps back. Tie in body material. Cover shank and body material to "tail" Wrap body material (rotary vise comes in handy here)to one or two widths behind the eye. Catch and tie off the body, trim tag. Form a head with the thread. Whip finish. Coat with superglue or other glossy adhesive.

Finishing my disco midges tonight... get 'em in the mail tomorrow. Maybe if I put on a little "Bee Gees" it will get the disco midge tying mood going.... "Well you can tell by the way I use my walk I'm a woman's man, no need to talk... Music loud and women warm... I've been kicked around since I was born."

Wayne... I'm thinking of going metric... Those 12 inchers I usually catch sound much bigger at 30 centimeters....

MTB, I should "qualify" my reply. I am not against Boga grips especially on bigger fish as long as you are using them to hold the mouth and holding the tail in your hand. Simply holding them up with a Boga vertically is against my better judgement (as I suspect it is against yours as well.) I don't have to worry about that because I never catch anything over a couple pounds anyway... As far as that goes, unless you are in a tournament that requires a weight (and for trout, I don't think I've seen one...) I don't see the need to weigh a fish... measure the length and girth and go with that. With that, you can estimate the weight if that's important to you.

(How do I say this without sounding like a member of PETA) Any time you handle, touch, brush up against, hook, snag, gig, fight, reel, net, grip, or otherwise take a fish from his given element, there is a potential to harm him. Whatever means you take to limit this should be taken. The "cleanest" is to use some means to unhook him without touching him - such as the Ketchum Release or hemostats or other non-evasive means. There are nets with built in scales available that - IMHO - are much better suited for trout than Boga grips. But BGs are better than putting them in the bottom of a boat and running to the nearest dock with scales... For pictures, keeping them in the net and handling them there is best, but the best pics are those with the fish held with the hands in front of your chest (of course) and in my opinion this is OK as long as you do it as quickly as possible and get the fish back in the stream taking care to make sure he is revived. Terry - member of PETA (People Eating Tasty Animals...)

Phil, Take a look at the html version... The pictures are covering up the text in my version...

Welcome to the forum, Gary. Lots of nice "bronze back" and trout streams around here as well. You'll find them, I'm sure...

GREAT pic, Gary... yes, I enjoyed it... What a find! Yes, very rare to see a bobcat in the daytime... or anytime for that matter... LOL

I'd be game to take that course as well. I know there are a couple of guys on here that build rods. Now all we gotta do is get them to teach us... Harry Boyd has a bamboo class, but that's more involved and you have to go to Louisiana to take it... but Harry makes some very sweet bamboos....

Watching John cast is a blast. He can get out there 80-100 feet and look like he's sitting in his recliner about to take a nap... Smooth...

Well, jeez, Phil... "ONLY" 83 feet... I do good to get 83 INCHES myself... Yeah, the "pros" will go ahead and cast a lot of times just to get their number recorded even though they don't get in the competition. I've watched a couple of guys who are well known casting instructors and guides haul over 100 feet. Yep... that's something to watch for sure... Congrats on the haul you made... When are you giving lessons?

Hey... I know some of the guys who you were competing against... and that was no "lucky" toss... some skill in there somewhere...

Did I read that right, Phil? You took 2nd place in the distance casting at Conclave this year?

Click here to see pictures of the youth conclave. Well, guys, if you didn’t make it to the Youth Conclave this year, you really missed the REAL conclave. The tying session was a bit of organized chaos, but each kid did manage to tie a couple of flies. There is a lot of potential in those kids and I’m sure we’ll be seeing a couple of them showing off their talents in the big room in a few years. Entomology, tying, casting and other basics made up the morning session. But the real fun began Saturday afternoon on Dry Run Creek. It’s a lot of fun standing up on one of the decks or the trail looking down at the trout lined up waiting for a meal to drift by. When you see one of those big hawgs show themselves, it’s all you can do keep from grabbing a rod from one of the kids and cast to them. But it’s about the kids… not you. So I resisted and watched kids who had never fished or never fly fished catch nice size trout. The big smiles on their faces are priceless and make the hard work that goes into this day worthwhile. I guess the most fun is hearing the dads whimper when they see their son or daughter casting to a big 24 inch brown and they just can’t get the drift right to get the fly in front of the monster’s nose. I took a few pictures and I hope that the other guys with cameras will share their images as well. Take a look at the images and check out a few of the ones on the www.southerncouncilfff.org website. And a BIG pat on the back goes to Ol’ Al… Allen Crise. Al did a wonderful job organizing this, keeping the kids interested, and making this a very rewarding experience for me, the kids, the parents, and I dare say anyone who saw what was going on. And for those of you who have not helped in the youth conclave… Make an effort to do it next year. You will be rewarded…. I know you will.

type in this URL... http://www.westernbass.com/utah/library/view.html?id=2527

Click here for a good article and resource for "fizzing" a bass...

If anyone is still looking for the green, apparently it wasn't a very popular color in Nixa, so it is now in the clearance aisle for $3 a skeen. Only one left when I was there... Well... there WERE two... now only one since one of them followed me home... I browse that aisle from time to time. You'd be surprised what fly tying and fishing stuff winds up there...

I was in Wally World the other night and happened down the "bargain" aisle to see if there was anything on clearance that might be used in my fly tying or fly fishing "stuff"... Low and behold, there on the eye-level shelf was a seat/shoulder belt cover made to velcro over your seat belt strap and releive some of that discomfort the belt puts on your shoulder. When I first saw it, I thought it was a fly patch, since it was made from faux lambs wool material. Well, for a couple of bucks, I thought why not? You can put this on your wading belt, wader strap, or anywhere else you might think to put a fly patch. I put a few flies on it and it works as well as any fly patch. As much as I change flies at times and as much as I hate opening fly boxes in the middle of the stream, I'm sure I'll use this "handy dandy" device a lot....

Suurrrrreee you thought it started today... I've used that "mistake" myself on my wife. That's a pretty doggone familiar picture there, Phil. You went to some good water. If you go DOWNstream, there is a pretty good hole just below a small "fall." Just don't tell anyone I told you that.... sssshhhhhh...

HEY!!!!... Where's that trademark see-gar?

A lot of folks will still be around Sunday, Greg. You might hook up with someone and fish down there Sunday. Liable to run into a few folks from this board. I have to come back to Nixa Sunday morning or I'd fish with ya...

Better yet, just leave 'em in the hatchery pits and save all that frustration of looking for those deep holes. Just walk up to the pit, put a ball of power bait on your hook, and pull 'em in... saves time and effort... In case you didn't get my sarcasm there, dredging is not the answer. Dredging should only be CONSIDERED if there is some "man-made" problem in the river... emphasis on CONSIDERED....

I guess that means I should get busy and start tying? Dang...

INDICATOR?! Wee don' needs no steenkin' indicators.... I'll let Leonard and a few others key you in on the flies and maybe you can talk him into going fishing at night when you're here... (like it's a chore to get Leonard to go fishin' at night... ) Some guys do use "glow-worm" indicators, but fishing streamers and keeping the fly in touch with the fly line is the way to go in my opinion. You can feel the strike... believe me... As for equipment... a good light. Not too bright, but just bright enough. Hard to see those knee bustin' boulders underwater without them... not to mention getting around on the banks. A good bit of advice from a safety standpoint. Don't go at night alone the first few times - on ANY river. That river looks and feels a WHOLE lot different at night than it does during the day. And it's hard for anyone to notice if you're in trouble from a hundred yards away at night. You just sound like a big brown or a squawkin' heron thrashing the water to them...