2022 Flyfishing Pics

[FishnDave]

14 minutes ago, bfishn said:

Thousand Hills SP?

No.  I've eaten at the Thousand Hills Lakeside Dining Lodge a number of times, but haven't fished it.  Have you?

[bfishn]

40 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

No.  I've eaten at the Thousand Hills Lakeside Dining Lodge a number of times, but haven't fished it.  Have you?

Not since around 1974... 😉

[Johnsfolly]

On 12/12/2022 at 10:07 AM, FishnDave said:

 

Bet the Koi are happy that you found the urban trout lake in Kirksville😁

[Johnsfolly]

59 minutes ago, FishnDave said:

No.  I've eaten at the Thousand Hills Lakeside Dining Lodge a number of times, but haven't fished it.  Have you?

Caught some nice crappie and hybrids at Thomas Hill but never fished Thousand Hills lake.

[Johnsfolly]

4 hours ago, FishnDave said:

Stockers caught in Kirksville, MO. 

What Spur lake looked like the last time I fished it. That was in Feb of 2014.

[bfishn]

1 hour ago, Johnsfolly said:

Caught some nice crappie and hybrids at Thomas Hill but never fished Thousand Hills lake.

The  farm I grew up on was ~5 miles north of Thomas Hill Lake. Remember it being built. The flattening/widening of Hwy 3 soon followed, & somebody paid my Dad for new fence and about 5 acres off one edge. Dad decided if he was building new fence on one side, it would be an embarrassment to not do the whole place, so we built fence every spare moment for the next year and a half. Corners were all 4 x 1/2" angle iron set in 3' of concrete, braced w/2" angle also set it concrete. Hired a neighbor named Harry that was a fence-building mofo, he'd spot the t-posts with a couple strokes, and my brother and I drove 'em from there. When the posts were done you could line up your sight with the first 3 posts, and the rest vanished behind them as far as you could see them. Pulled a quarter mile of wire at a time per section with the tractor and finished it with the mechanical stretcher. Harry knew just how tight was right, 'cause too tight would pull the low posts in that NoMo black dirt. We were all pretty proud of that fence.

After typing that story I did a Google Street View of the old place. Poor resolution, but that fence is very much still there. Looks just like it did 50 years ago, or it would if the paint hadn't faded off the posts. (Note to self - add to bucket list - repaint at least the corner posts on that fence.)

Oh yeah, Thomas Hill... maybe next time.

[FishnDave]

Here's Spur Pond now:

 

[Ham]

so what did you catch at Spur Pond?

[Ham]

On 11/9/2022 at 1:13 PM, FishnDave said:

@tjm Many flies will work, some better than others, and some days they want something completely different.  Microjigs, egg patterns, woolly buggers, SJW's, floating flies, nymphs, soft hackle wets,...these all work.  It does seem that bright colors or white get many more strikes than dark or natural colors.

Strike detection is usually the most critical thing.  Some days you can strip flies medium-aggressively, and the fish will chase them down to eat them.  Most days they are attracted to a fly that drops near them, then suspends.  So, most of the time I'm using a strike indicator.  And most of the time I've tied something on a 1/80th oz jighead with a #10 or #8 hook.

The last couple trips, I've wrapped some Semperfli Guard Hair Chenille in Fluoro Sunburst (orange) color on a microjighead.  Looks like a clump of fish eggs to me, but who knows what the fish think it is.  Also a microjighead tied with peach-colored marabou tail and orange microchenille body has been working.  Tied with too much materials, it slows the sink rate of the microjig, and the fish may hit it as its falling, and I won't know I've gotten a strike.  They spit it very quickly.  Best if the fly falls reasonably quick, stops and suspends  (usually 12"-24" below the indicator) and then the fish hits.

see, this would have all been handy for me to know ahead of time, but I caught a few anyway. 

[FishnDave]

On 12/17/2022 at 6:05 AM, Ham said:

so what did you catch at Spur Pond?

Me?  4 trout and a nice bluegill.