ChadO

I was at Eleven poitn 2 weeks ago and the Current(Tan Vat) and Little Piney (near Lane Spring) last weekend for three days. EPR was the lowest I've seen it, but was doing well, of course. The fishing up from Tan Vat was awesome last week early in the morning the hatches were great for Tricos, and others (I'm by far no expert). I caught all on a small (18) blue winged olive dry fly. Sorry no pics this time. At Lane Spring the water seemed cool enough, but it was pretty low. I stayed at Lane Springs campgroung, which was beautiful and quiet, and did not see anyone fishing at all. A few waders/swimmers was it. I'm fairly familiar with Millcreek, although I did not fish it this time. I'd be surprised if it was all but dry unfortunately. It is one of my favorite spots, but fishes much better in higher water. I'd have to agree with everyone above, as they are all probably better suggestions. I'm actually planning a family trip to Little Piney next week. I'll be sure to post a report. I may go andhit some smallies, but have never fished for them on Little Piney before. Does anyone know where some good spots are? I fly fish only and C&R everything.

Excellent comments Siverside! I, like you am in higher educationand really, really, really value the sources/references that you cited. Very professional, and reliable. But, just like how many licks it really takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop, the world may never know about the Crane "McClouds". Beautiful fish though, no matter how you fell about it.

Great report. I love fishing Mill Creek. To me if fishes like a wild fishery should. I'd like more size, but those littel guys make trout fishing look easy sometimes. Welcome to the fly fishing world. I started almost 5 years ago and have not picked up another rod since. It's a huge addiction, and there is a ton of awesome water to fish with it. tight lines!

Thanks for the report. I love this river, and am looking to buy a pontoon to fish it better. How did the "Swamp Donkey" do? That is one of the boats that I'm going to be looking at. It is the Colorado isn't it?

Glad it was a good trip. Great report! I've done the EPR many, many times mostly from Greer to Turner, and a lot of wading and hiking in. It is by far my favorte river, a lot of it having to do with less traffic, and Brian is an excellent guy and runs a top notch business. We've never gotten poor advise from him, and I've never heard him say anything negetive about anyone, including competitors. He gets our business everytime. Once a year my buddy and I book a guide trip with him and have an absolute blast! It is WELL worth the money it costs. Beautiful drift boat, good lunch provided, and (knock on wood) each year is better and better. I took my wife down there two weeks ago, rented a 17' from Brian and did Greer to Turner overnight on the river, and then camped at Greer Springs the second night. It was her first time on the river, and could not believe how beautiful it was. She strted planning our next trip together as soon as we left for home. We are truly blessed to live in a stse with so many natural resources and beautiful scenery. BTW: Thanks to all of those of you that contribute to this forum. I've run into several of you on the rivers, and both here and out there, everyone has been excellent. Tight lines to all!

Great report. Mill is actually one of my favorites. I find that the little ones are hungry and the big ones are very spooky. My fishing buddy and I do REALLY well fishing side by side if he fishes dries and I fish small nymphs through the same pools. Our numbers are about the same at the end of the day. It fishes more like a Western trout stream than most others that I've fished here in MO. Tight lines to all ChadO

I was actually on that trip with Max as well and I second everything he said. It was an amazing weekend. Friday was pleasant and we did so well fishing that we decided to go on Saturday even though it was much colder and windy. I don't think that there was one minute on Saturday that I was not cold, but it was totally worth it. Kris was excellent and provided all of the flies even though we had brought our own with us. Leaders, tippet, etc. all provided. If we had problem, he handed us a backup rod while he fixed ours up again. We never were empty handed. You know that you're having a good day when it has been five minutes with no fish and you start to complain a little! It was really easy to get spoiled. Like Max said, we lost count of all of the doubles and triple that we had on. At one point we went 7 or 8 fish on before the last one was released, it was spectacular. We talked to several people on the water that were having an "OK" day catching a few between several of them. This was my first trip to Taney, and I was very pleased. The water was beautiful, scenery was great, and the fishing was fabulous. Above all was Kris' hospitality. His cabins were comfortable, and his company was very good. I could go on and on and not say enough about him or the services that he provided. I'd even have no problems taking my wife who is a very novice fly fisher, and be confident that she'd be on fish. He can definitely count on our business on a regular basis. Chad

The Maries is a blast for Bass (all kinds) as well as panfish. It is a fun stream, quiet and the people are pretty friendly. The fishing is really good, and the water is very wadable, as well as easily accessed from a lot of locations. It isn't trout, but stills rocks. The upper is clear and the lower is off color and deeper. A lot of fun. Don't be too bummed out. School will start again soon, but then you have less time to fish.

I'm wanting to go trout hunting this weekend, but the forecast calls for spotty rain all week through the weekend. Is there some good water when it is high and fast? Any recommendations are greatly appreciated. Also access points as well. Me and my buddies are strictly catch and release and are very conservation minded if that is a concern for anyone in sharing there secret spots. Thanks, Chad

I'm on the trip too, and second what Max is saying. We love the fish and our first priority is to make sure that there are more to catch next trip. We're looking forward to christening the North Fork and just hope to get into some good fishing. Brian, looks like from the your last report it was pretty good on the 5th. I also was reading about the reds and the spawn. Is there a place in particular to avoid? Also, if you do post the pattern or source of your Stonefly, can you also do the Psycho nymph? i'm new to tying, so it is bound to be a bit different, but any help is surely appreciated. chadO

Update!! Got my rod back and it was a total replacement. Total time elapsed was 5 working days, and 3 of those was the shipping on MY end. This means that it took longer for me to get it to them than it did for me to get it back! Excellent service!! I have since bought a TFO reel to replace my damaged one. I have absolutely nothing but positive things to day about them. My wife is thinking about getting started, and I may get her a TFO casting for a cure (breast cancer) rod. She thinks it is "cute" because it has the pink accents on it. Whatever gets her involved works for me!! Thanks for the replies everyone. I'm new to the forum and have had nothing but good feedback and friendly folks to hear from. Good to know that we've got friends out there. ChadO

I'm fairly new to fly fishing, but am very familiar with quality rods of other forms. As I entered the sport I started with a White River setup from BPS 8.5' 6wt 4 piece. The first one I owned would not stay together, and the replacement snapped the tip on the first trip out. I know other with those rods and they have no complaints, so it may have been an anomaly. BPS was very good about taking them back and exchanging them. So instead of grabbing another BPS rod and paying $20 for a 1yr unconditional warranty, I opted to put another $25 with my original credit and get the TFO Lefty Kreh Signature Series rod that comes with a lifetime no-fault unconditional warranty. This past weekend I put that to the test! After a long couple of great days on the Little Piney, we unloaded the car and went our seperate ways. About 1 hour later I realized that amongst all of my equipment, my rod and reel were missing. After a long search, I realized that it had been left on the top of my buddies car when he left. I went searching for it and found it down the street from my house. By then it had been run over a few times and was pretty flat. Needless to say I was very disappointed to keep the post clean. I remembered then that I had never filled out the registration for the rod. I looked up the sight on Saturday night and registered the rod over the web, and immediately sent them an email. This morning I contacted them by phone and talked to a lady and explained the whole story. She was VERY nice!! With every question I had about repair or replacement, she answered of course. I even jokingly asked her if she'd replace the reel to and she said "of course" until I explained that it wasn't one of theirs. She let me know that the have a 1 business day turn around, so depending on how fast I get it to them, I may have it back for the weekend. The policy is to send all of the rod pieces, $25 check, and a return address and they'll handle the rest. It is going out tomorrow morning with joy. Not only do I really like the rod, but the warranty and the customer service are TOP NOTCH!! I highly recommend the company and plan to own more of there products in the future. Especially since my specific rod only cost less than $100 bucks!! You can't beat it in my opinion. I also own a St. Croix and love it too, but I'd gladly purchase another TFO in years to come. Most certainly as my kids get older and into the sport, I'm sure they'll be tough on the equipment so we'll check out the warranty again in the future. Thanks for letting me bend your ear. Had to let everyone know about great experiences! Tight Lines and good luck on the water. ChadO

I saw Max go for the ride. Since he was OK I can say that it was pretty funny. Too bad, because the water there looked beautiful. The fish were small, but plenty of them. Gorgeous day of fishing, and the trip was a blast. I wish there was a bit more size to the, but for a 75 degree day of fishing in November you can't complain about too much. ChadO

Here.

Hey all. I'm new to the forum, but have heard that this place is the greatest. I'm pretty new to the fly game, but have been fishing my whole life. I,m coming to you from Columbia, MO moved here from So. Texas, but was born and raised in So Cal. I've been around a lot of bass fishing and love it, the trout are new to me but have been awesome!! I appreciate all of the help and advise in advance and look forward to great posts. Chad