Flies for whites?

[fishinwrench]

1 hour ago, grizwilson said:

OMG just as well post GPS coordinates...... just as well post google earth spots ...Just looked think I can see your dog...I hate fly rods in the bass boat...but sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do. 

How dare you call that a "bass boat".   Of all the audacity!  

That is (was....I sold that one) a fly fishing flats boat.   A spinning or casting rod never once crossed the gunnels.   

You're right about one thing though, fly rods and bass boats are a lousy combination.   It don't work.

[snagged in outlet 3]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

I went from cute to stud, then from stud to "handsome".  

Hate to say it, but I think I'm working my way back to cute again.   

You're pretty cute!  

Okay you’re wearing me slick. 

[fishinwrench]

7 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

Okay you’re wearing me slick. 

You got it bro.   All the respect in the world for ya.  

[slothman]

3 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

 

 

Wow! How cute he was. I barely even recognize that little pup. Seems like he has been a pretty good dog. I know a little girl that was pretty impressed with him. 😁

[BillT]

13 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

Deer Cr. and the Buffalo's all get good runs.   Wanna hook up and launch an attack ?

 

 

Yes, I'd like to do that. Thanks

[Walleye13]

Ran into several of these Wed & Thurs bass fishing in Lick Branch & Raccoon Hollow. Most were 14-16" but this one was almost 18". They fight much harder than a largemouth in this cold water. Getting these scrappers on a fly rod would be wild!

[kjackson]

13 hours ago, slothman said:

Wow! How cute he was. I barely even recognize that little pup. Seems like he has been a pretty good dog. I know a little girl that was pretty impressed with him. 😁

Few things are better than a yellow lab pup...

Thanks for the ideas and info; now I have to sort through the boxes to find the materials.  I'll be adding the Miyawaki Beach Popper to the mix as I already have a few and a few minimalist Gurglers as well as some other foam-backed floating efforts.  

We didn't get our lake place until August, so I don't have a good idea of what spring will bring or of what I can expect for the water color in our creek.  So far, it's been fairly stained with visibility less than a foot most of the time.  I hope the spring run is better than last fall's supposed-to-be-great run that didn't materialize from what I saw.  

[fishinwrench]

 

5 hours ago, kjackson said:

I hope the spring run is better than last fall's supposed-to-be-great run that didn't materialize from what I saw.  

Me too!  It is all water level dependant.  Ameren hosed up the Fall white run by dropping the lake 2.5' almost overnight during the first week of October.  No idea why they did that, but we never got any precip to bring it back up and the White's reverted back to their typical summertime haunts...and are apparently still there as evidenced by Walleye13's post.  

Once conditions are right this spring it will be water level dependant again, and I'll attempt to explain why.... When the lake is at normal full pool levels the silt and gravel that washes down the creeks settles and builds a hump on the flats, so when they suck the lake down it creates a 75-100 yard ankle deep hump that separates the lake from the tributary creeks. The Whites will not make that jump.  A few might try but there are eagles and ospreys sitting there waiting for them to, so darn few actually make it.  

In the Gravois, Glaize, Little Niangua, and the Buffalo's the magic number is 657.7

Regardless of how perfect the conditions are this spring you will not find a good number of Whites up in the creeks until the lake level gets up to that level.   What typically happens is the weather and water temperature will be absolutely perfect, but the lake will still be down around 657-657.2, so there won't be anything worthwhile moving up in the creeks except for maybe a few walleye.  But then we'll get a big gully washer and the lake will jump up 6-10".  That opens the gate and finally the fun can begin.    

If the rain event resulted in a full out flood, then as soon as things settle down enough that it is safe to get in the water you'll want to start at the 3rd riffle above the lake and work your way downstream.  If it didn't really blow the creek out that bad then start just below the last riffle and work your way up.  

Evenings, for whatever reason, are always best. From 4:pm until almost dark.  

For the first week and a half to 2 weeks you'll catch mostly males, after that the girls will start showing up.  When you start seeing alot of splashing around and fish waking just below the surface that is when the peak of the actual spawn is going on and you'll have several days when the fish are EVERYWHERE but you can't catch them worth a crap, and that'll drive you crazy.  But that only lasts about 4-5 days, and after that little period they kinda spread out more, so instead of being able to stand in one spot and catch a limit in 30 minutes you'll have to move around and pick up 3-4 here and 2-3 there.  They'll also start crushing topwater flys around that time.   

The only other tip I can think to share right now is to strip those flys FAST.  Slower retrieves hardly ever work as well as stripping it almost as fast and erratic as you can with very short pauses.  If your stripping arm doesn't require a periodic rest every 15 minutes or so, and your wrist isn't aching, then you are fishing too slow.

I think that's all I got.    Nothing to do now except tie fly's and wait.  

[Flysmallie]

Don’t forget about the wiggle minnow. 

[Walleye13]

Great explanation Wrench....and beautiful pics! Interesting similarity between speed stripping with the fly, and the jerkbait I was catching em on. The ones I caught this week were on wind blown, rocky, secondary points. They were only in 6-8ft of water.