How's the Fish'in

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Just curious if someone (Tim maybe) can give some insight to what this weekend may hold. I'm planning a "get out of town" weekend and looking at some places to go. Considering Taney, but with the recent rain I'm not sure about generation. Bennett is way up, fast and murky according to Weaver's sight. So, what does Roaring River look like? Thanks in advance.

John

[chub minnow]

I was up there last night and the river is up and a little cloudy but it should still be fishable, and you can probably get away with a little bit heavier leader and tippet due to the coloration and current. Tim can surely better tell you what to use and where, but it looks like a good weekend to me.

[Steve Smith]

John; Chub is right on the water and with showers last night and this morning, it will probably stay a little colored. Even at that, I wouldn’t go much above 6X in fluorocarbon tippet. It shouldn’t get murky unless we get a heavy downpour before the weekend that washes out Dry Hollow. Right now, they are forecasting thunderstorms for Friday evening but you know how that can change. I fished last night too in the fly zone, and the evening hatches have been great at turning on the dry fly bite. The size 12 ginger and golden straw hackled crackerbacks were hot – hot, but they wanted them floating high and dry. I caught fish until I was bored with the catching, but it was a real blast. They would come out of nowhere and some even cut a V in the water charging the fly. That is exciting dry fly fishing and tough not to pull the trigger too soon on the set. What was really nice is after 6PM, we pretty much had the fly zone to ourselves. I imagine any light colored caddis pattern would also work well too like a natural EHC. Several of the wet fly folks did very well with dark nymph patterns such as the prince early in the afternoon. Some of them fished with indicators and some not so I don’t really know if it made a difference. The luck I was having with leech patterns has gone stone cold for me the past two weeks. The trout are really healthy and scrapers right now. I had a 15” bow that thought it was a smallmouth, as it must have cleared the water twice by at least two body lengths. It should be a great weekend, but most likely a little crowded if it is pretty weather at all. Tim can probably add his two cents too.

[timsfly]

I fished an hour this morning at the park, fishing was very good. Caught 7 fish all on a black zebra midge, fishing in the riffles. The water was in very good shape, just a bit above normal and clear enough you could see bottom in 5 or 6 feet of water, should be very good fishing this weekend. I think all we are supposed to get today are light showers, I think all the heavy stuff is gone. I talked to one guy today that was catching several fish, he was getting them on # 14 olive woolybuggers(beadheads) and he said he had done well on a #16 pheasant tail the day before.

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Thanks for all the info. It looks like a trip to Roaring River is the best bet so far. Steve - I hope the dry bite is still on! That sounds like some awesome fishing. You can't beat a good dry fly take!

John

[Steve Smith]

I hope you are right John on the dry flys. Last night there was a good hatch of caddis [i think] in size 12 and smaller. They were somewhere between a ginger and straw color. The leading edge of the cold front and thunderstorm were rolling through the park about 5:30 and the trout went crazy. I don't know if it was the hatch or the front, but I'd have two and three fish boiling under my fly at a time. Maybe a combination of the two. Good luck and I'll probably see you down there.

[Kansas Fly Fisher]

Steve, looking forward to it. I work tomorrow and won't get off until 8:00 a.m. on Saturday. A quick trip home and pack for the weekend should get me down there in the early afternoon. I hope to stay overnight and fish again on Sunday before heading back home. I'll be in my black Nissian Frontier w/ the camo stripe on the bottom. It also has the OAF sticker on the back bumper.

John