fishing Report

[Jeremy Hunt]

August 5th 2006

Bill Badley gave me a call and said he wanted to give a shot again on the Big Dry. I told him to meet at the boat ramp at 10am in the morning. I had a feeling that they might leave the water off a little longer than they have been because it was a Saturday. We immediately went to lookout hole where he had a ten pounder on last week fishing this dry tied in a size 4. I went ahead and set him up while I had to retie me a leader, tippet, etc. While I was in the process of rigging up he caught about five rainbows right of the gate. We didn’t catch anything over twenty inches like we were hoping, but nothing under sixteen inches either. Now once I got set up we went looking for any shadow we could fine that we thought a trout would likely be entice into eating a big bug that happens to fall out of a tree which would be our bug. I did throw in this one spot that looked prime and I really wanted to hook up with a nice brown so I made a cast and guess what, the he was on the end of my line. I couldn’t get a look to see the size because he darted off like a rocket. I could tell he had some size and the fact that he was digging down gave me the impression that I actually did have a brown. The fish didn’t get into my backing and he only made one good run before he gave up. He was about nineteen inches and a brown of that size his a lot stronger than a rainbow in the same size in our river.

Later on that day they turned two units on so we decided to head up stream and fish a brown San Juan worm. When the water was rising we caught fish after fish for about an hour. Once the water settled I saw this one stretch that looked deeper and I adjusted my depth about two more feet than I had it set originally. So now I was fishing about six feet to the fly. I knew I was plenty deep enough to be on the bottom for sure. The funny part was Dave’s guide service was beside me with a boat full of client’s. I know Dave and we’re friends so it was all in fun when I say this. I hooked one of my biggest fish this summer in front of him. And one thing I will never forget is to hear what those people said when the fished jump out of the water. I could hear almost all of them say, “that is a big fish”. It took me about fifteen minutes to land this rainbow. We measured the fish and it was 26 inches. The only thing that was bad is I forgot my camera and the only camera I had was the one on my phone. I was heart broken that I forgot my camera. I’m sure all of you have been in my shoes.

Now what I’m about to say is kind of crazy and some of you won’t believe what I did, but here it goes. While we were handling this fish and I was posing for a picture and the fish did his little shacking around and flew out of my hands into the water and sank to the bottom on his side. I was worried that if I don’t revive him that he would be another one of those trout you see on the bottom bellied up when you go by in your boat wondering how this one died. I was not going to let that happen so the crazy thing I did was jump in and net the fish to get him back to life. It was so hot that I forgot how cold that water really is when you’re in it. I lost my breath a little bit and to be honest with you I don’t ever want to do that one again. I’m sure anybody that saw this had a good laugh and at the same time was wondering what I was doing in the first place. I did hear Dave tell me that I needed a bigger net and he is right because if I had a bigger net I think I would have done things a little different when handling this fish. What a story for the summer of 2006. Tight lines!!!

August 2nd 2006

Decided to go fishing with a few friends. We called the dam and they were running one unit, but by the time we got there and loaded the boat it looked like they had all four units going. I thought to myself we should just go back home because I knew that it would be a little difficult. We went ahead and gave it a shot. I did know a few places that could have some fish holding so we went down to the stretch at KOA campground. There is a shallow spot right when that stretch gets skinnier that seems to always have a few trout waiting for San Juan worms. There is a lot of grass under water when the water comes up and washes some of them away. I knew that it would only be good for a few drifts so we really had to make them count. I would say we caught about five before we decided to head up stream to another place that was probably good for few more trout. This particular spot that I’m talking about is the flat water right passed chute (outlet) two closest to the bank. If you don’t know the area I’m talking about, just look for the grass under water. This is another good stretch of water if your throwing flies. I usually always catch a few, but not enough to keep me in the game that day. We only caught a few there and I was really getting tired of practicing my cast so we decided to give this up because it was a slow bite. I didn’t want to stop fishing so I had this bright idea to go try out “BIG MO” on Table Rock with the fly rods.

Fly Fishing on Table Rock Lake.

We put in at the public boat ramp right across from the State Park Marina. I thought we could work some coves and catch something. I was aiming to catch blue gill. I knew my friend was still learning how to do this whole fly fishing thing and thought this would be a good way to practice casting and setting the hook. I don’t mean to put my friend out there so I want say any names. I knew when we were on Taneycomo earlier that day he had about six hits and didn’t land any of them so I knew he might want to learn how to do that more. And the fact that he still didn’t believe that we could catch fish in a lake on a fly rod was something I had to prove to him. He grew up fishing the conventional way like myself. He laughed when I said we could catch warm water fish on the fly rod. So I had to prove him wrong.

The lake had some high waves from all the activity and I wanted to test my little riverboat with a 15hp motor. I know that sounds funny in a way and let me tell you it sure looked funny putting in my boat next to these big boats. I’m sure some people got some laughs, but I didn’t care because at least I’m fishing and to me that’s all I need to worry about. We went across the lake to the first coves we saw. All I can say is I’m glad we went because as soon as we threw in we caught fish after fish. It didn’t matter what cove we went in they were there. We had more luck in the places that had rock ledges. And another thing I notice is if we got right up to the bank with the fly they would hit it as soon as it landed, but if we would throw it a foot or longer away from the bank they wanted nothing to do with it. The majority of the fish we caught were goggle eye and few bluegill. No bass because I got to excited catching these that I didn’t want to waste anytime waiting for a hit when they were steady hitting the “BIG MO”. Another thing that was great about the day is my friend had no problems setting the hook now. I would say he got both his wishes and I got to prove to him that fish do hit flies in a lake.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Were you fishing dry on TR?

[Jeremy Hunt]

Yes I was. The Big Mo. They seem to like this everywhere I use it. It is a must have fly if you know what I mean. If you want I can send you one in the mail for a sample fly. You will catch big fish on this fly.

jh

[Phil Lilley]

Jeremy- Wayne meant Table Rock I think (TR).

He was fishing from a boat on Taneycomo. Forgive me if I'm incorrect on Wayne's post.

[Jeremy Hunt]

I used it in both places and had alot of luck at Table Rock.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I was indeed wondering about what was used on Table Rock. Jeremy whats the pattern for the Big Mo?

[Jeremy Hunt]

Wayne,

The pattern is on the forum. Go to the recipe page and you will see how to tie it.

[Wayne SW/MO]

Thanks Jeremy, found it this time.

For anyone looking through the index its The Big Dry.