Warm-Water offseason

[Charley Hart]

Warm Rodders out there...

Well right now we are about as far away from spring as possible, but like a good scout we have to be prepared. Sitting here tying up some damphsel-fly nymphs I decided to start this off early. I am not near any trout parks, which I would say is unfortunate, but after having my best day ever last spring hitting the trout (25+ fish) I realized that while it was great, it was no better then pulling gills and crappe out of the ponds/lakes in KC (sorry purists, but sometimes I have to work pretty hard to catch them, just like at the parks). Throw in a rogue bass or even a catfish and it doesn't get much better then that!

Right now I got huge off-season needs. Need more flies (don't know why have boxes of them tied up!) need a new vest, tried to salvage old faithful, but holes are appearing in the pockets, so I will save it for the museum, need a pontoon, need some new waders... the old rubber ones can't be patched much more...

Crappie season starts in mid-Feb and I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday then fishing...even if most of it is practicing.

[drew03cmc]

I have to agree! I would almost rather spend a day catching bass, gills, crappie, and catfish on woollies and small dries than driving three hours each way to catch trout. What lakes and ponds in the KC area do you fish? I live in Independence, and was just wondering. You can reply through PMs if you would like to not post your ponds and lakes on here.

[Stuartwp]

I agree. Fly fishing a pond is lots of fun, but it also get high marks in the relaxation catagory. I like going to Tannycomo, but its a long way from K.C. and I can only go when I have a two or three days with out anything else scheduled. With ponds I can still get away if I only have a couple of hours.

Of course this time of the year is the time for planning and preperation. Hope springs eternal in the eyes of a fisherman. There are places to reserch, trips and outings to plan and in my case, plenty of stuff to clean, sort, repair and organize from last seasons fishing. There are also buck tails and other varous parts to process to turn into fly tying materials. And I can't forget to bake those cookies for the people who let my fish their ponds last year.

[Charley Hart]

I have to agree! I would almost rather spend a day catching bass, gills, crappie, and catfish on woollies and small dries than driving three hours each way to catch trout. What lakes and ponds in the KC area do you fish? I live in Independence, and was just wondering. You can reply through PMs if you would like to not post your ponds and lakes on here.

Well quite a few places. Hartell in Plattsburg with the catch and release regulations was good last year. Reed can be good, but the pressure is immense for even fly tackle.

There are some ponds south of Liberty, MO that I frequent. Watkins Mill Kearney.

Warm Rodders out there...

Well right now we are about as far away from spring as possible, but like a good scout we have to be prepared. Sitting here tying up some damphsel-fly nymphs I decided to start this off early. I am not near any trout parks, which I would say is unfortunate, but after having my best day ever last spring hitting the trout (25+ fish) I realized that while it was great, it was no better then pulling gills and crappe out of the ponds/lakes in KC (sorry purists, but sometimes I have to work pretty hard to catch them, just like at the parks). Throw in a rogue bass or even a catfish and it doesn't get much better then that!

Right now I got huge off-season needs. Need more flies (don't know why have boxes of them tied up!) need a new vest, tried to salvage old faithful, but holes are appearing in the pockets, so I will save it for the museum, need a pontoon, need some new waders... the old rubber ones can't be patched much more...

Crappie season starts in mid-Feb and I can't think of a better way to spend my birthday then fishing...even if most of it is practicing.

Been a while, but here is the update. Got some gear, but you know when I went to dismantle old faithful (fly vest) I just could not do it. It is too small since it shrunk a bit and I grew (the wrong way) and it is pretty beat up. But still my vest. I am going to be returning the new one back to Cabelas.

Been planning and plotting though. I think this year I plan on fishing a lot more different spots, like I have in the past. Last year just got stuck on a few.

I agree ponds are great places for practice and relaxation...

[damselfly]

i like fishing warm water too and find it very relaxing. one of my best days was catching blue gill in a float tube using a wooly bugger. by the end of the day i'd caught so many my arm was tired! a great day with good friends...here is a link with some good warm water patterns. i met this man at the '05 southern council conclave. he tied and gave me a 'panfish polecat' and this last fall i caught a nice smallmouth on it.

warm water fly tyer