Thom

Cricket or others in the area: Does anyone know the water conditions at Bennet springs. I am planning on being there Monday for a few hours. I know there is a gage online but it makes no sense to me. Weaver's report is for last week unless they have put up another one since I checked. I stopped by there a couple of weeks ago and did very well considering the week end crowd, chummers and shufflers. Any help would be appreciated. Thom

Eric: If you are interested I live just a few miles from St. Peters and could give you a crash course, loan you a vice to start out and some instruction to get you started tying jigs and wollie buggers, scuds, san Jauns etc. . Check out myl profile and send me a Pm if you are interested and we can get together for a crash course. I have taught some classes in local senior groups in the area but one on one is better. Thom

There didn't seem to be much dry action in the afternoon. I saw three buys throwing to the big tree filled with indicators up from the bridge and he didnt hook up once. good long soft drops to the water but no action. They were gettng some action just below the spring hole before the stone tower on drys though but shoullder to shoulder there Saturday.

I took the above home for lunch sometime this week. Really crowded Saturday afternoon but I did find a few 15 foot gaps in zone 2 and fished about two hours just above the whistle bridge. The key was to change flies often. I caught fish on midges (green, zebra/black/silver, hares ear, multicolored egg flies, small 1/100 jigs white, olive, sculpen and orange as well as small scuds and san jaun brown and cherise. The most rediculious sight I have seen in recent time was some older guys showing some novices how to catch fish. They were circled around facing downstream in knee deep water throwing fish guts in the center of the guys dipping white and pink maribou jigs into fish guts, eggs and corn. They filled a couple of stringers and a couple left and another two would come and take their place. On my way out I stopped by the office and told them what I had observed. They told me they would TRY to get an agent to go out and check on them but wasnt sure anyone was available. Well I still had fun and realize that is the rule instead of exception at Trout parks.

Better late than never. Short trip to taney fishing 2 hours on oct 1 and rained out .... sheets of rain just as the fish were turning on for me. I went through all midge patterns with little success and finally began to hook up with brown san jaun worm at outlet 2 and # 18 hare's ear which was working well .... too well as the crowd kept getting closer and closer toward where I was getting bit. I gave it to them and moverd to outlet 1 and the San jaun worm was working again just around the bend past the overhanging tree drifting just off the grass edge with a 1/80 brown jig under it. I netted a real nice rainbow 18" and full of color, girth and fight. In getting it released I broke off the tail of the san jaun and started to tie on another when it started sprinkle. I move under the tree and thought it might soon stop WRONG ...it began coming down in sheets and I got soaked hearing aids and all. Still worth all of the effort. BTW just on the bend back into the outlet another angler was really doing well with a black wolly bugger throwing straight out and then stripping into the slow water at the end of the outlet. He broke off his last on and I offered to give him one but he was smarter than me and left when the sprinkles started. Fished the next day out of a boat from Phils but the wind was terrible and they were running lots of water so it was a difficult day but I did manage to catch several nice rainbows in the seam behind lookout island. I caught 4 more downstream floating back to the dock but the wind seemed to be blowing me to the side just as I was getting bit. Lost lots of fish that way but landed this nice one on the shallow side near Andy's. The tape is backwards but it measured 18" but I wanted to get him back into the stream asap since it was a hassle landing in the fast current that he kept going to.

I will check and see if you guys are out and about friday night .. I just dont do to good in the dark with my bad knee. I may try to fish Saturday morn if the angler hatch is not to thick below the dam. The last time I was down the week end was crazy with lots of snaggers, shufflers, and bait ... oh this is a restricted area???? aparently cant read guys hovering over everyone who is catching fish. Thom

Thanks Phil I will probably be in early Friday to rent a boat. I figured that would be my best bet to fish most of the day. I wish the midge hatch would be good ... that has been my best fly in recent years in that area but I have a fly box full of other possibilies. I am sure glad that the rain forcast earlier firday was changed but it looks like thunderstorms Thusday but I wont get there until late in the afternoon anyway. Thom

Hey all who fish upper Taney Ideas and suggestions for the next three days. Will get to Taney about 4pm thursday and leave Saturday morning. I will not bring my boat so what do you all suggest? Fly fishing is my choice of methods but I am limited due to bad knee. I can handle some wading but have to be careful or it will be swimming instead of wading Water predictions? May even consider a guide on Friday or renting a boat but that is hard to do alone. Any ideas' appreciated. reply here or PM before tomorrow at 9am Thanks in advance.

I will arrive on October 3 and leave on the 5th to take my own samples. I will be using an orvis flyrod to catch and release the results. I can't wait for the results. Thanks for the info Phil Thom

Is this it?

Never too old to learn. Thanks for the good info guys. Never heard of that before. The only thing that you might have added is a tick fly pattern for a real hard day at Taney.

It seems to be a moot subject to me. Conservationist had nothihg to do with the daming of the streams. It was for flood control and power generation. So what do we do then. Just leave the stream wiht out any fish except suckers and a few smallmouth and crappie . None of these fish do well and are seldom caught in the upper end of Taney. I think it is a good use of the cold water to introduce Trout instead of just leaving it mostly barren of fish. There is no evidence that Trout compete with or destroy the native fish left there. BTW just how prolific is the water downstream where there are no trout in large numbers. Yes there are a few good runs there but not a fishing paradise but a long shot. It seems a no brainer to me. Stock it and use it since we could not do anything to change it anyway. HOweve for those who are true conservationist...... please don't wade into the stream.... boycott it .... dont compromise your conservation morals. The rest of us will wade in up to our bellies and laugh with joy at the absence of the wader hatch in the summer.

YOu might want to tweak your power options: Go to my computer from the start menu, then select power options, when you get to power options in the first settings set hibrenate to never by clicking on the drop down menum, then go to the hybernate tab and make sure that hibernate does not have a check in the box. Also try degausing your screen next time it does that. there should be a button on your moniter that is marked degauss. I have had screens scrambled after downloads and just degaused the screen and it solved the problem.

Yes ... in fact that day TJ hit the grand slam and landed a rainfow, Brown, cut, and brookie He got some kind of shirt or patch for doing that.

TJ had a good day and landed and released several at Dry Run Creek. Mom was handy to snap a picture of Dad Tom helping land and release this 21 " beauty. What a memory for father and son. Good job TJ. Grandpa Thom

Bill: Just a few comments on my guided trip this thursday.. I spent 1/2 day with a guide which I won't mention but you will probably figure it out. He did his job well and Zach and I learned some new things. I paid around $220 tip included for the service and think is is ridiculous that anyone would follow a guide and expect the service for nothing. The guide that we used stopped several times as we played tag with the wistle and the core but He did not hesitate to greet the other boaters and offer advice as to what to use ... we helped one boater get his boat off the Island since he had not noticed that the water was turned off ... our guide got out of the boat and helped them as well as tell them what was working. Our guide also offered advice and gave some flies to one wader as we left the water at the condo's. It has been my experience that most of the guides are nice guys and are willing to help anyone with a little advice. To me someone who follows a guided trip and shadows them for very long is no better than a shoplifter at walmart.. Thanks for all of the info that you so willing share and I hope some day to use you for a trip. Thom

Thanks Phil and Bman: I just booked a trip with Riverrun for my grandson and me on wednesday morning. The last time I fished out of a klack boat was on the San Jaun and it was a blast. Perhaps we can shake out the good stuff for the rest of the week. We both have fished taney for some time but another set of plan B's never hurts and I am wanting to get some instruction for using dry fly at Taney. Phil: We will be in and out of your tackle shop during the week may get to at least say "hey" and pick up what is hot if it is not in the fky boxes. I do know that I will need tippet and leader. Thom

I am going to be at Taney this week for 4 days starting Tuesday. What are the current water conditions and what seems to be the best method of fishing either below the dam or from the boat. I will have my Son in Law and Grandson with me and we will be fishing with flyrods mostly although Zach and Dave will probally fish with either fly rods or spinning rods at night below the dam. If the forcast doesnt predict too much rain I will probabally bring my boat. I haven't been down for a while due to my wife's illness but am going to attempt a trip and hope for the best.

qulllback I put water crysatals mixed in the potting soil and slow release fertilizer. It has really made them grow. I talke a water soluable tomato fertilizer and add about a gallon mixed every t\wo weeks. it is basically a low nigrogen high potash and phosporus llike 6-12-12 or 6-24-24. I am picking 6-8 tomatoes every couple of days. Keeps me with plenty of fresh fruit all summeer and just out on the deck. When i started them early in the spring I planted abut 10 bub lettuce plants around the outside edge and had lettuce until it bolted in early june. loads of fun watching them grow. The deer here have made it almost impossible to raise much gardern in the yard without a 8 foiot fence. They jump anything shorter and it is gone overnight. Thom excuse all the tpos. my main computer craashed and i am working on my laptop.... what a drag.... small pring and different keyboard.

Anyone having much success with their gardens this year? With no new post I would say most are like mine, last year I was picking 50-75 tomatoes a day ......" F2F I have had the same results with my garden. Too much rain early to get them in and going. The ones on my deck have been doing great though. I am picking 3 or 4 a day. I planted them in pots and staked them .... one pot with earlygirl and Roma's and another with Better boys. I usually put time release fertilizer and water crystals to keep the going all season. below is the results of two of my deck tomatoes. I also have a picture of a thief that was raiding them earlier in the year. MMMM .... MMMMM good baked for 4 hours in the convection oven .... not the tomatoes either.

I am taking some teen agers fishing at Lake 34 tomorrow. Water clear and not too hot.I prefished it today and caught nice size bluegill in the lilyPads and brush almost everywhere I tried. Nice Slabbers and good fighters. I dug out an old trolling motor and battery and wanted to make sure it worked as well as checking out the area. I will post report tomorrow on how well it went with Pics if there are any. Always fun to share a day with kids fishing.

Terry: Got to be frustrating. I will be sure to remember you and your family at Devotions times to pray that the Lord will send something your way. Thom

I hesitate to make this comment because I know that lots of nice folks make their living based upon the great Ozark wilderness and streams but .... I hope the story of this great Ozark heaven on earth doesn't get too much publicity. It is by far one of the greatest places to fish, hunt and vacation. I have been to many of the Eastern and Western streams and there are few that equal in quality and accessability as do the areas in MO and ARk that we have the priviledge to enjoy with great access and quality management. I wonder if some of the writers of Field and Stream have ever had much experience other than reading "A river runs through it" in their journalism class. Some of the greatest residents and people friendly guides and Lodge owners make this area far above the standards that I have found elsewhere. Thom

Oneshot: Can she clean squirrels???????? Fried squirrel, mashed potatoes, Biscuits, gravy .... MMMMMMMMMMMMM GOOD. Thom