Fishing Report From A Guide On Taneycomo

[john19]

I Live up in in St.Louis now and have been fishing Taney alot in the day time while we were down on vacation stop in to Charted waters fly shop and was going to hire him for the day he was booked. I Thought he was a good guy but then I read his report form June 19.

I thought I would share with you all just what he thinks of everyone down there.

I know what I will do I will never go back in his shop or need his service after the slob comment.

June 19th - An early morning wade trip! What Taneycomo is all about as far as I'm concerned. The fog, the birds...the slobs haven't got out of bed yet so you have the place to yourselves...textbook! Tom and his son Scott were with me to enjoy this wonderful Ozarks morning. A couple more first time fly fisherman that I must say, picked it up as well as anyone I've ever taken out.

When we head out at dawn like we have been lately there is one set up that I'm starting out with on Every rod EVERY day. The Bit Scud Shell #20 above a purple/wine SG-Bug also in a #20. It's the Low Light Special. We have the sun just coming up and usually a thick fog. These guys hammered fish ALL DAY LONG and just couldn't believe how much fun and how productive this fly fishing could be. Just to kick things off I got a nice pic of SCott in what might be his new screen saver.

From there on it was just fish after fish, double after double...just ridiculous catching for these guys.

We started our day at the Island and for 3 hours it was non stop for us. Eventually the aforementioned slobs started swarming us. Not before the fog cleared and we transitioned over to the "sunny" fare. Olive, black, gray Bit Scuds...Gray X-Series...then trail the more natural colored G and SG-Bugs like olive, ginger/olive, wine...all in #20's. Doesn't seem to matter too much when it gets sunny out and especially if we get wind. We got some wind today and we were even using "big" #16 Soft Shelled Scuds and not skipping a beat.

In the morning 7x fluorocarbon is a MUST if you want to have a good bite and if it stays calm (no wind) then you'll need to stick with that even later in the day. We switched over to 6x when the chop came on the water and stayed hooked up pretty well. Some people NEVER fish 7x...thats a mistake! That reminds me of a story my buddy Rudy told me a year or two ago. He had wanted a last minute trip with us and I was booked so he went with another service. I know the guide he took. A great guide, good fisherman, good teacher and good person in general. It was one of those tougher than average bites so we switched over to 7x pretty early and had a good day. Rudy's fished with me long enough to know how I think out there so when their day was going pretty slow he suggested maybe they should try 7x tippet? The response was something like..."no. we just need to find the right fly." Well, there's no denying that the right fly makes a difference too but I've done tests myself proving the difference between 7x and 6x. I've fished little runs before where it's a fish a drift (at least a hit a drift) that make a great proving ground. Getting hit every drift with 7x fluorocarbon tippet, I'll then take the exact same flies, weight , float etc and change it all over to 6x. I'll go from a fish a drift to a fish every 4-5 drifts. I've done the same with fluorocarbon tippet and change over to regular monofilament tippet. Same results though usually worse for the mono tippet than just up sizing flouro.

There's no denying it...size matters. And if I was Michael Scott I'd say "that's what she said"...but I'm more mature than that. I hope my wife's not reading this. She would laugh at me using my name and the word "mature" in the same sentence. But she's just a big poppy pants anyway.

Well just another couple of rock solid individuals these two were. Nice as can be and a pleasure to spend a morning with. Worth a note to say we finished our day at The Rock where only one other person was there (briefly). It was pure, catching solitude.

[tippett7]

I think you are reading a little too much into his comment. If you knew him he is a great guy and very friendly to anyone who goes into his shop.

[Leonard]

I like the night fishing report...

Since he walk in just below me (and Randy) and caught 1 fish in about a hour.. and then headed home..

[Kevin B.]

I'm sure Brett doesn't really need anyone defending him and my only experience with him is one guide trip with my daughter (she's the one holding the "Fish of the Week" on his website...guess that doesn't get updated as much as the fishing report), but I wouldn't be so quick to judge by one off-hand comment in a fishing report. When he took us out, he did exactly what we wanted -- put us on a lot of fish, answered all our questions, and taught us a couple things. It was the first time either of us had a fly rod in our hand, so he definitely earned his guide fee and we had a great time.

As for the slob comment, I don't think he was implying that everyone out there that isn't on the water by 6:00 is a slob. However, on any given day I'm pretty sure you can find a couple that fit that description on the water -- especially as it gets busy later in the day. Write a fishing report (or anything) hundreds of times and you are bound to (1) offend someone or (2) write a very dry report.

Kevin

[bigredbirdfan]

Aren't we all slobs? You ought to see my tackle boxes and my boat and my car.

Some of you are worse than others.

Pretty good report as well.

[bigdub]

I know Brett personally and he doesn't need anyone defending him, but I have fished with him on more than one occasion where we were catching fish and people came and stood around, so close that our lines were tangled on one occasion. He brushed it off and said welcome to my world, it happens all the time. Now, those individuals might not be slobs, but they were definately tools and I'm not afraid to say it!! Who does that? i'm not a fly fishing purist by any means, I am a jig fisherman mostly, so I guess I'm a slob to alot of the fly fisherman. I can assure you that he is an incredible guide and a good guy, if you had taken the time to read furthur down in his reports you would have seen that he says a lot of things in jest and jokes around to make the reports more interesting. I'm not speaking for him or trying to pretend I know what he meant, but it is a free country and people can write what they want. And anybody can walk down there and find way MORE than a handfull that fit that description!! I AM A TERRIBLE FLY FISHERMAN, but I do have manners and will do my own thing and stay out of the way LOL!!!

WHEW, is it hot in here LOL!! Have a good day all and good luck out there!!

[tippett7]

Brett did not go home after catching the one. It was a little slow so we went to the big hole and caught quite a few.

[troutchaser]

I still don't like being called a slob. He should be a bit more cautious about the terms he uses to refer to potential customers and referral source. I'm offended, myself. I'll never -- NEVER -- give him a favorable reference until he posts an apology. That was stupid and thoughtless, regardless of his intentions or his "friendly personality".

[Phil Lilley]

Quote from the same page 6/24 -

Mend it once...mend it right! Such a simple thing that gets overlooked by the masses who nymph fish. Most people do dome sort of mend but the right mend may be the single most important thing you can do to catch more fish. I shared how we do it with Tim and Booth and both, I believe found out something new. Whether you're mending upstream (which is probably 90% of the time) or downstream (in a few unique current seams) you want to be mending all of your fly line above (or below) your float. That will give you the longest, most drag free drift you can get and that will catch you more fish.

Very good and detailed information. I like this kind of reporting.