Charley Hart

Guys once again thanks for the advice. I am going to do it, just have to decide when. Thanks!

Thanks to all! I am going to try that. I was told of an access near bennett. Lake the Ozarks would be ideal.....I live in KC. I assume you don't want to divulge. I just need a place with preferrably a lot of tiny fish. I just need one! :-) I have a great story about me driving around With Chuk Tryon's book and trying to find the spots he talked about. very hard to drive and look at a non-accurate map. I did fish, but no luck... I tried Hooten, but it was too deep for me right there. :-) I am going to give it another try Thanks!

Been a while since I posted, won't happen again. I live in KC and have it on my bucket list to catch a smally, it has been there for longer than I can admit. I did attempt to get it off last year, but no luck. If you had one spot for someone with zero knowledge to try. Where would it be? I need water I can wade fish in also some place that if I drive 3 hours I at least know I have a chance to see or catch 1 fish. Please help and thanks! Charley

Perfection Loop Nailess Nail knot (not as necessary unless the welded loop wears out) Surgeons knot to attach line Improved Clinch (I actually make two passes through the 2nd hole) or more recently the Davy Knot, Davy Watton's supposed creation. Note: I have only used the Davy Knot once and it seemed to fair well, but that day I only caught one fish, a nice 1lb white bass that tested the knot well. It works great at my desk in the office and seems to have good strength. I am excited about it because I can change flies in less than 10 seconds now! We will see if I switch from the Improved Clinch or not (no pun intended).

Yo!

I primarily fish warm-water since the nearest trout water is 4 hours away (and I have 2 kids under 3!) Those will definitely work. Nice looking too. I have tied similiar patterns based on others. Think small in the until the end of May is my advice.

I agree a small jig works well... I have found this time of the year find a steep bank where the water drops off quickly. Cast in a diagonal cast a 1/100-1/80 ounce jig but with no float! Strip it in in slow 1 foot strips. Watch for any hesitation in line or if you feel a leaf like tug you got one. Just drag them in. No giant hook set needed as it tends to pull the jig out. I have discovered that crappie of all sizes will hit the small jigs.

As they say SLOW. Just when you think it is slow enough, go slower. I started in mid-February last year and had a blast. Understand a good day then fishing was like 1-2 fish an HOUR. So you had to be real patient. There was a pro there and I call him a pro cause of his gear. All designed for crappie. He had his drag so light that when he set the hook on small crappie you could hear it engage. Well he out fished me, but I was right behind him. Got some looks from the frustrated guys. They were just NOT going slow enough.

I know this is old, but being that the season is upon us I thought I would share. I agree a marabou micro jig can be killer either 80s or 100s. I like to use those or a sinking nymph of some kind. And contrary to what people say the smaller jigs/flies can catch rather large crappies. Here is my secret. Fish when the sun sets on a bank with access to deeper water. Something with a drop off. Or something with rocks is even better. The lunkers come in just about the time the sun drops below the trees to feed on shad. They hit really hard (for crappie) and also fight well (for crappie). On a clear day I can see them make their run on the fly. Very cool. I can't tell you how many days 99% of the people just left literally RIGHT BEFORE they big ones came out. And I am talking big crappies. Patience is the key IMO with crappie. What fly, what color (not as important IMO at dusk) what size, what depth, what type of retrieve and how LONG TO STAY! The one thing that makes them also hard is their delicate hits. If you feel like you are dragging a small leaf. You probably have a crappie. This helped me a ton when trout fishing. Did a ton of crappie, hit the trout and I was really sensitive to any twitch in my line or float when using one.

Used to use a ton of foam when I first started, now I use other things. I have a version of that poppper that I tie and I agree it can be a blast. Soon the crappie will be biting...

Well quite a few places. Hartell in Plattsburg with the catch and release regulations was good last year. Reed can be good, but the pressure is immense for even fly tackle. There are some ponds south of Liberty, MO that I frequent. Watkins Mill Kearney. Been a while, but here is the update. Got some gear, but you know when I went to dismantle old faithful (fly vest) I just could not do it. It is too small since it shrunk a bit and I grew (the wrong way) and it is pretty beat up. But still my vest. I am going to be returning the new one back to Cabelas. Been planning and plotting though. I think this year I plan on fishing a lot more different spots, like I have in the past. Last year just got stuck on a few. I agree ponds are great places for practice and relaxation...

Warm Rodders out there... Well right now we are about as far away from spring as possible, but like a good scout we have to be prepared. Sitting here tying up some damphsel-fly nymphs I decided to start this off early. I am not near any trout parks, which I would say is unfortunate, but after having my best day ever last spring hitting the trout (25+ fish) I realized that while it was great, it was no better then pulling gills and crappe out of the ponds/lakes in KC (sorry purists, but sometimes I have to work pretty hard to catch them, just like at the parks). Throw in a rogue bass or even a catfish and it doesn't get much better then that! Right now I got huge off-season needs. Need more flies (don't know why have boxes of them tied up!) need a new vest, tried to salvage old faithful, but holes are appearing in the pockets, so I will save it for the museum, need a pontoon, need some new waders... the old rubber ones can't be patched much more... Crappie season starts in mid-Feb and I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday then fishing...even if most of it is practicing.

Well that fish on some days IMO is a trophy. Many of a bad day have I spent just practicing my casting and pulling in 3 inch blue gills. But you know on some of those "slow" days I would hook into ONE fish that would make it all worth while. I take a lot of flak up in KC fishing for warmwater species, but as I always tell people "Got to catch the big with the small..." Usually if they pay attention enough, they stop laughing...

Been a while since I posted. Spending too much time working. I think all the advice people are giving is right. Many factors to consider, but you will figure it out with practice. I can only comment on what helped me. I did a TON of warmwater fly fishing before I hit the trout parks. Not because I wanted to, but my distance 3+ hours from trout water just necessitated it. I learned the casting basics and just general fly fishing stuff that you pick up along the way. Also fishing for some warmwater species gave me some practice in strike detection. Crappies IMO helped me the most. They strike very softly and gave me the ability to see more strikes on stream. I still miss like anyone, but I think I am better because of practice. About mid-Feb I start hitting the crappie, and the takes then are so soft I would say out of 100 strikes, I might land 10. Still fun as heck. Stream fishing is a whole different ball game, but many of the basic techniques casting, line control..etc I learned in many ponds/lakes in the KC region.

Don't know about the other responses I was always told that the temperature never gets quite cold enough for the spawn to naturally occur.

Well seems like I am different. Said this on another post. I have foul hooked two trout at Taney that I can remember. Purely a mistake. One was near the eye and one was toward the dorsal. Now in ponds I have foul hooked more then I can remember. Mostly I think it occurs while putting action on the fly at the moment the fish strikes. Usually getting it near but not in the mouth. I did foul hook a trout in a pond (urban fishs stocking) by jigging a wooly bugger up and down. Yes it did take me a while to get her in, but I am fairly sure she was fine. At least until spring and then she ended up on someones plate! That said I agree if it DOES happen then I think you should try to get the fly and line out. No one should be happy about a foul hooked fish. Snagging is something totally different...

Yep great site. I don't mind reading through the other discussions. If I only wanted fishing reports I could rely on MDC and other sites. Those are nice, but I want that "on the stream" feeling I get from this forum. An occasional discussion/argument is healthy. I say as long as you get hits and people for the MOST part are cordial then don't change a thing!

I tried to read through all of the posts, so if someone mentioned this forgive me. As others have said it varies. Based on fly, water and other factors such as what you are fishing for. For trout most keep a long leader/tippet combo. Not sure what the ratio is as I tie my own tapered leader / tippet. Kind of a pain but I have got it down to where if I have to I can take off the leader/tippet and tie on a new one fairly quickly depending on my mindset. For warmwater I never use a tippet usually about 7 feet of 4lb test mono is good to go for all panfish species including bass! Good luck and welcome to the sport!

Thanks to all who replied I still haven't decided, but the advice does help. This reminds me of a situation I had a few years back when I was wanting to purchase a new rifle. Both were nice. I just could not decide. So I finally turned to my buddies for advice. One my good friends said something I will never forget. "Hart does it really matter which gun you buy?" "Huh? What do you mean?" "What I mean is, it DOES NOT MATTER since you will buy them both eventually!" I thought for a moment then smiled. darn it if he wasn't right!

Oh this topic could spawn WWIII. I spent about 5 years trying to find the right not. Nothing worse then seeing that darn curly cue and a fish swimming away with the magical fly that has caught dozens of fish before. I switched to the Orvise knot last summer and love it. Easy for me to tie and it never fails unless I fail to tie it properly! (Usually laziness sets in and you just tie the hook on even though you know you need to do it again! Being human stinks!) I know that others might disagree, but when I hooked into a giant snapper and started dragging him around until the line NOT the knot broke I knew the Orvis knot was what I was looking for. Good luck!

Well long story. I have been trying to get the right boat for years. I have built two (uh midlife crisis or loss of sanity?) one is a small punt and the other a larger john-boat style 16 footer. I still want a small personal fishing boat for hitting the ponds up in northern MO when I am alone and maybe don't want to fish from the shore. I did have a bad experience with a pontoon. Before I even got it into the water the darn thing had a leak. Took it back to the conglomo outdoors store in KC, which will remain nameless, and traded it on another toy. My question for you fly-rodders out there is should I get a pontoon or a kayak. Been researching and it seems like they both have advantages. Pontoons might be more stable and anchorable, whereas kayaks can cover large distances with minimal effort. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.

Yep I hear you. BTW Love your signature pic! I remember the first banner day I had down at Taney... It was great 30-40 fish! In April. I remember heading back to KC and thinking with a smile on my face. (some will cringe sorry) You know I had just as much fun catching those 30-40 bluegill, crappie and redears at the pond. My trout fishing buddy was kind of mad at first I was really on to the suttle strikes. I did not tell him I was pulling crappie out left and right the day before but the take was so suttle you almost could not feel it! Got love the panfish... Back to C&R as long as it is legal I have no problem with it.

I simply drifted one underneath a small foam indicator. I tried the tandem rigs but stuck mostly with a single fly. I do change my indicator to a foam spider if I see any takes. But seems like once I do they stop hitting the indicator. Mostly caught them on a near bottom drift, but did catch a few like you would with a wet. Heck caught one when the darn thing was dangling and I was trying to release a fish. Almost lost my rod and it scared the $#@$#Q out of me pretty funny... Good luck and happy fishing!

Fly tying itself seems to be such a large hobby how would one know if your fly is something special or just a copy?0 I know I create many flies for the warmwater stuff I do up north, there is probably something out there like the ones I create, but trust me I am the worst at copying. I usually just come up with something close and hope it catches fish. (personal use only I only give away flies) For personal use we probably have all said "That is what they are hitting on, I could tie up a few of those." Nothing wrong with that. Got a buddy who ties some jigs up and sells them quite nicely at St. James. They are nothing special, any yahoo with a vise could make them, but they sell the crud out of them, my guess is to the people that don't have the time or patience to learn. Hmmm tough one... I think it stinks but don't know that he can stop it.

I have fished the outlets many times. I don't get to hit Taney like I would like to. Spend a lot of time pulling panfish out of ponds up north. But I hope no one thought I was snagging just because I was fishing an outlet. I have only caught a few that weren't hooking in the mouth and those were like you said accidents. Heck one of the worst hooked trout I ever caught was in a pond! I know it made a run at my wooly and it must have been right before I jigged it up! I thought I caught Moby... but was very disappointed to have hooked it in the dorsal fin. I was in no way trying to harm a fish. I let him/her go after a long fight. Hopefully he/she lived long enough to get harvested in the spring. Like I said I think too many people get upset about fish they think should be released. I think all of the guys who come and net the blue gills I fish for (near Liberty, MO) should let them go! But that is cause I like catching the hand sized slabs (which take years to mature). It really steams me, but perfectly legal. Ethical? Well if you are a catfisherman you will say yes. If you are like me you hate it. As long as you are NOT a poacher...