Niangua Dry Flies

[dennis boatman]

I have had little to no success with dries on the Niangua. I have caught a few small browns, but never a rainbow. I'm not even sure I've seen any trout rising to the surface to feed. I have caught them near the surface on soft hackles or cracklebacks. So, I guess my question is, has anyone ever had any success on dries on the Niangua?

[mic]

I've caught a bunch on Royal Wulff's. I use them mainly as an indicator so I base size on dropper so anything from 10 to 14. I had most of my luck in riffles and the scruffier the better.

[Greasy B]

Niagua has been a spaghetti and meatballs river for me. Not pretty but you can cover a lot of water.

[fishinwrench]

Absolutely. Coachman trude, X-caddis, Cracklebacks, foam beetles, and my most recent favorite; Mercer's missing link are all really good on the Ni.

I'll leave sizes and colors out so as not to take all the fun out of it for ya, and to avoid assuming that the ones I like are the "best choice" there is.

The presence of any kind of "hatch" is irrelevant, and it does seem like the days when you can't keep the chubs off your drys is the perfect time to cut the dry off and throw a tan and brown muddler.

[mic]

Beetles work in the winter????

[fishinwrench]

LOL yep. Imagine that.....thankfully for us fish are stupid.

What do you see on the water in Winter that looks like a Royal Wulff? Those big cream cahills are gone after August too.

[Wayne SW/MO]

I've had some good days on H&L Variant's over the years. Generally fishing the head of a riffled just to see if there is any interest.