Erbie To Pruitt 6-4-11

[Ham]

I floated Erbie to Pruitt with my wife on Saturday. We used Buffalo River Canoes to shuttle our vehicle. I missed Bobber, but Carson did a great job with the crowd that was there. The road in to Erbie seems endless, but it was only 5 dusty miles.

We had lots of company on the river, but it was all friendly folks out enjoying the river.

I decided to try a flyrod only trip hoping to take advantage of the cicada hatch. I caught 33, but there was very little size to them. Blue bird skies didn't help a lot. I missed a fair number of smallie strikes. Why?

the fishing from Ozark to the Pruitt takeout was nearly worthless. That is the second time I have all but zeroed on that stretch.no real interest in fishing that again.

I had a great trip with my wife and the fishing I did was just a bonus.

I only tried popping bugs. Streamers may have been the ticket.

Low water but minimal dragging.

[flytyer57]

I missed a fair number of smallie strikes. Why?

May have been panfish strikes instead of smallies. I've had that happen a lot. You'll be catching a mess of smallmouth, then start missing fish. Go to a smaller fly and you'll start catching the panfish.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I missed a fair number of smallie strikes. Why?

My guess Ham would be that you were too quick.

[Ham]

I actually went to a bigger fly to try to get some attention from the smallies. Panfish still pulled the bigger fly under, but I didn't hook them very often. I actually saw the smallies eat the flly, I'd set and get a head shake or two and then see the fly pop out of their mouth. Sucked.

[flytyer57]

Then all I can suggest is sharpen your hooks and get all the slack out of the line before setting.

What fly were you using? Sometimes materials can get in the way of the hook point and cause this too.

[Ham]

The hook on the fly felt tacky sharp. I considered going barbless to get an easier set. THe fly was a Betts popper with a number 6 hook.

I need more practice. Or at least I want more practice.

Extra slack could have been a big part of the problem. I did all my fishing from the yak with a constant flow pushing me towards my fly.

I fish better standing up with a solid surface under my feet.

[flytyer57]

I fish a lot better staning on terra firma too. Only problem is, a lot of the fish are in deeper water where standing on firm ground means standing with water up to your chin or higher. Long casts are out too due the the vegetation growth behind you. Kinda makes it hard to get a decent backcast. I've been wanting to learn single handed spey casting just for that purpose. Also to avoid idiots walking behind me as in another post on this forum.

[Ham]

If I have to go to a spey rod, I'll just use spinning gear.

[flytyer57]

There is a way to cast a regular fly rod using spey methods. Just helps keep the backcast out of the trees. Wish I could find someone to teach me. I've seen it in magazines and in videos, but still seems kinda hard to learn that way. I'd be better off learning first hand from an instructor.

I did a Google search for "single handed spey casting" and came up with a lot of hits if you're interested.