I guess it's my turn now...

[KRflyfisher]

Well since I feel so guilty now, I guess I’ll introduce myself. I just turned 28 and live in Olathe KS, just south of Kansas City. I have been married for 5.5 years and have 2 kids my boy is 2.5 and my girl turns 1 next week. My wife is drop dead gorgeous (I hope she reads this!) and my family is my life. I am a youth and family pastor up here and have been at the same church since September of 2000, and I do some concrete work on the side as well. I will finish a Masters in Counseling this fall and am planning to go on to a doctoral program in 2007. So as you can imagine time is at a premium.

I love to hunt and fish any way you can do it, but if I have to get specific I love bow hunting for anything (I shoot compounds, but really love traditional equipment), water fowl, and fly fishing and tying. If I had to lay it all down but one I would keep the fly rod and part with the rest, but that would be a pretty dark day.

I particularly enjoy making my own stuff. And while I haven’t yet made my own rod, I do tie my flies, and I have even made a take down recurve bow. I am making my son a kids bow for his next birthday. It is a lot of work but it is a blast to make something that is so doublely beautiful and deadly. You can tell I love bow hunting because I have been doing it pretty hard for the last few years and haven’t killed anything yet!

As far as fish I usually catch mostly bass (smallmouth are my favorite fish of all), but love trout and anything that bites, just the same. I consider a bad day fishing to be better than a good day of just about anything else, but still complain about not enough time outdoors. Guys God has blessed us with many gifts, but if you want the best gift of all, one that colors all the rest, I suggest you take some time to get to know Him. I would love to talk to anyone with any questions about spiritual issues, or any of the other things in this post.

I’m making my first real trip to Taney in a few weeks, hope to bring back a great report!

That’s my line-

KR

[diamond dave]

Hey, I liked your report.

Was going to ask do you use a fly rod for smallies.

I've never used a fly rod for smallies, but would love to learn how to do it.

I'm from Branson, any chance there are good places around here to find some smallmouth with a fly rod?

[Brian K. Shaffer]

Hey Dave - check the other pages on this site.

There are plenty of decent smallmouth locations in your, and my backyard.

Roark Creek.. James River.. etc etc etc

best fishes - Brian

[KRflyfisher]

Hey, I liked your report.

Was going to ask do you use a fly rod for smallies.

I've never used a fly rod for smallies, but would love to learn how to do it.

I'm from Branson, any chance there are good places around here to find some smallmouth with a fly rod?

Yeah I chase smallies with the big stick, and Brian is right you are in some of the best stream smallie fishing in the country right where your at. I have used a 6wt. for most of my fly fishing, I picked up a Cabelas LST 9ft. 9wt. last year to toss some big bugs on a sinking line/leader out fit and never got around to using the sinking part. But to be honest I would think that most Ozark stream smallmouth fishing could be done well with anything in the 4-7wt range.

KR