Quick Trip 7-19-12, Flyrod Bows And Smallies

[Jump n Fish]

Busted out the flyrod for a float below dam 3. Figured a weekday would be a little quieter. Well I'm not sure what the standard is for quiet there as it was anything but that, but still had a good time. Fishing was pretty tough though, and only caught 3 rainbows and 2 smallies. Really didn't see many fish either. Probably could've done better if I was a better flyrodder, and actually knew what they wanted.

The trout were holding pretty tight to mardi gras beads and all the smallies came off piles of bud light cans, just a helpful tip for anybody heading that way. Miller lite can piles were unproductive all day.

Black wooly bugger is pretty much all I know how to catch fish on.

[Justin Spencer]

The trout were holding pretty tight to mardi gras beads and all the smallies came off piles of bud light cans, just a helpful tip for anybody heading that way. Miller lite can piles were unproductive all day.

I guess those smallies are faithful to the breweries closer to home.

[ozark trout fisher]

The trout fishing hasn't exactly been easy for anyone this summer given the weather...Looks like you did fine, and got some nice pics.

[Ham]

Maybe y2k's with something trailing behind it would have worked a little better. The fish are (usually) there with some oversized ones in the mix. Smallies are there too, but I always catch mine on bottom bouncing stuff.

[Jump n Fish]

I saw a handful of other trout hitting bugs on the surface that appeared to be mayflies. Didn't see any brutes, but I did tie on a mayfly for awhile and got less interest in it than I did the wooly bugger, so I switched back. Its really tough to float and flyfish when you have to control the boat as well. Its a miracle in and of itself that this gear fisher made it to the takeout with the original leader I had tied on without adding tippet. If I took the time to get out and wadefish a few areas more thoroughly I probably could've done better as well, but I got late start that morning because I spent hours trying to find my lost credit card that I eventually had to cancel. So I had to keep moving to make it to the takeout at a reasonable time which I did just before some nasty storms moved in. Really wish I could give it another shot, but its gonna be a long time before that happens.

[ozark trout fisher]

I saw a handful of other trout hitting bugs on the surface that appeared to be mayflies. Didn't see any brutes, but I did tie on a mayfly for awhile and got less interest in it than I did the wooly bugger, so I switched back. Its really tough to float and flyfish when you have to control the boat as well. Its a miracle in and of itself that this gear fisher made it to the takeout with the original leader I had tied on without adding tippet. If I took the time to get out and wadefish a few areas more thoroughly I probably could've done better as well, but I got late start that morning because I spent hours trying to find my lost credit card that I eventually had to cancel. So I had to keep moving to make it to the takeout at a reasonable time which I did just before some nasty storms moved in. Really wish I could give it another shot, but its gonna be a long time before that happens.

Yeah, you learned the same lesson that I also learned the hard way-trying to control a canoe/kayak on moving water and fly casting at the same time is a losing battle for most of us. When I float-fish by myself, I use the spinning rod when I'm in the boat and only fly fish when I get out to wade. It's just too much trouble to be worth it any other way, in my opinion. It's a lot better if you can get a buddy to go with you, so each can spend half the day controlling the boat while the other focuses on fishing.