Simple Flies Box

[fshndoug]

blue holographic tinsel by UTC ,Veevus . I have caught plenty of trout on all colors.I did really well on red last Saturday with a 9 foot flourocarbon furled leader I twisted up my self used a # 5 tiny split shot 12 inches from the fly. Bennett blue  is really just blue tinsel by Utc. Brown hackle countered wrapped with small copper wire through the hackle and over the tinsel.

[mic]

35 minutes ago, fshndoug said:

blue holographic tinsel by UTC ,Veevus . I have caught plenty of trout on all colors.I did really well on red last Saturday with a 9 foot flourocarbon furled leader I twisted up my self used a # 5 tiny split shot 12 inches from the fly. Bennett blue  is really just blue tinsel by Utc. Brown hackle countered wrapped with small copper wire through the hackle and over the tinsel.

Thanks.  I'll give it a try.

[Flysmallie]

When it's been tough I have done pretty good on soft hackles. 

[tjm]

23 hours ago, mic said:

Agree... probably the biggest difference is a strong spring creek and freestones.  Water temp pretty constant in the trout parks.  

On other forums I've had people tell me that Henry's  and Madison ect were "spring creeks" and these Ozark creeks emanating from a spring were not, I'm not exactly clear on it, but apparently a "spring creek" is a slow moving, low fall rate, very fertile stream fed by several springs rather than emerging full grown from a rock hole and flowing fast over relatively sterile gravel. Definition may be from a book or books?

Pictures of Henry's fork always remind me of a pond or lake. But it seems that's what is needed to create huge hatches of mayflies, I know that in over sixty years of being on streams at all times of the year, I have never witnessed a hatch that was in any way memorable. Usually a hundred or so insects over twenty minutes or an hour is what I've seen, here or in the north east, where again all the brooks are spring fed but are not "spring creeks".

So do y'all define Bennett Spring as a "spring creek" or a free stone stream" ? Have any of you  seen a huge hatch on an Ozark creek?

edit; in thinking about this it occurs to me that in all world any streams not made up of snow/glacier melt must originate from springs?

[fishinwrench]

31 minutes ago, tjm said:

So do y'all define Bennett Spring as a "spring creek" or a free stone stream" ? Have any of you  seen a huge hatch on an Ozark creek?

To me it is definitely a spring branch, as is Montauk and Meramec. 

I've seen and participated in many significant aquatic insect hatches at Bennett and on the upper Current.  Typically the closer to the spring the smaller the bug, and it's always been in the late-afternoon/evening......whereas further down river the hatches come a few hours earlier in the day, and then the larger bugs (Drake's, Dobsonflys, stoneflys, ect.) in the middle of the night.

I bet you've witnessed large hatches on spring creeks, you just have a preconceived notion that the bugs are sizable.....but they are often teeny-tiny (midges), #22-24 celery fly's, Trico's, or the almost always present little black Caddis.   Clouds of midges are an everyday occurrence at Bennett and Montauk, even during the coldest days of winter. Leave your truck window cracked open and when you get ready to leave you'll have plenty of passengers. 😁

[fishinwrench]

On 10/7/2022 at 11:01 AM, mic said:

I have bunch of cracklebacks, but not blue.  Are you using blue thread or tensile.  I want to go out with a really good woolly fisherman.  I've tried and not had any luck.  Everyone says it is easy, but I must be doing something wrong.    

It's a "trout park technique" for recent stockers.   The outlandish colors are attention grabbers.  Swing it, twitch it, strip it, or just let it hang in the current.....the biggest ding-a-ling in the pool will usually take a swipe at it.   😅 

If you were fishing with ME, I would urge you to use your trout park time to hone your real-world skills.... instead of trying to bring 50-100 fish to hand.  🙂

[tjm]

2 hours ago, fishinwrench said:

To me it is definitely a spring branch, as is Montauk and Meramec. 

I've seen and participated in many significant aquatic insect hatches at Bennett and on the upper Current.  Typically the closer to the spring the smaller the bug, and it's always been in the late-afternoon/evening......whereas further down river the hatches come a few hours earlier in the day, and then the larger bugs (Drake's, Dobsonflys, stoneflys, ect.) in the middle of the night.

I bet you've witnessed large hatches on spring creeks, you just have a preconceived notion that the bugs are sizable.....but they are often teeny-tiny (midges), #22-24 celery fly's, Trico's, or the almost always present little black Caddis.   Clouds of midges are an everyday occurrence at Bennett and Montauk, even during the coldest days of winter. Leave your truck window cracked open and when you get ready to leave you'll have plenty of passengers. 😁

Apparently in the trout circles "Spring Creek" is entirely different than "spring branch". I'd agree with spring branch describing any of the springs down to the confluence with another stream. I'd also class every Ozark creek as a spring creek because other than seasonal runoff in the flood season,  springs are the source that keeps all our permanent waters flowing. I'd also class every stream I've ever seen as free stone because I've never seen a stream that was solid rock from end to end, my trouble is understanding what others mean when they speak or write about such things.

Yes, Ive seen the daily cycle of baetis and tricos, although I call them little gray bugs, but those are not significant enough to plan you vacation around and travel hundreds of miles to fish.   I have seen a huge hatch of some large insects on about 15 miles of US63 a ways south of Jonesboro and I've seen a few times that there were clouds of dragonflies. But, never any large number of larger sailboat winged mayflies.

Is there a hatch at Bennett that happens on almost the same day every year that is significant enough to skip work for? 

[fishinwrench]

50 minutes ago, tjm said:

 

Is there a hatch at Bennett that happens on almost the same day every year that is significant enough to skip work for?

There are several, but you can't really pin it down to the exact day/week. 

#18-22 Baetis (PED's) start popping off from the Dam up to the first handicap area around late May-early June on warm late afternoons, and that goes on until mid-Summer.  Some days just a few scattered.....other days you can't open your mouth without eating them.  I put up a really good pattern on this site for that a few years ago (9mm Wrench) that should come up on a search.  They also emerge from the weed beds below the hatchery outlet in Z2, and the weedbeds in Z3.  I called it "9mm Wrench" because that's what size the mayfly is.

#22-26 Celery fly's start popping off in late June, from just above the guage house to the first bend past Holland dam, and that lasts until mid Summer.....then again, to a lesser degree, on mild winter days.  Just a cream hackle and tail tied with lt.olive thread on a #22 hook will get rises, as will a tiny pinch of blond deer hair over a pale olive body (EHC style). 

Hottest part of the Summer.....Ants & Beetles rule.  Plop it down, let it drift 3-4 feet.....and if you don't get bit, pick it up and plop it down somewhere else.

Late August- early September you can add Hoppers under the overhanging trees at the High bank hole.  Fish them the same way as the beetles/ants.

Late Fall/Winter after all the leaves are all gone......#22-26 with a thin white thread body and a tiny tuft of CDC will get rises from the midging fish in the slow/slick areas from the spring down to the whistle bridge.   

There's a couple more, but I've reached my typing quota for the day. 😅 

You're unlikely to see a giant blanket hatch that encompasses the ENTIRE stream at once.   That just doesn't happen.   There aren't squirrels in EVERY tree, ya know.

[tjm]

5 minutes ago, fishinwrench said:

I've reached my typing quota for the day

maybe tomorrow, with a new quota, you will tell me what a ''#22-26 Celery fly" is aka. It's one I never heard of. One I'll never use either. my next size smaller than #18 is #10. Or #12, 3XL. It's just too hard to palmer a hackle on those smaller hooks.

[fishinwrench]

4 minutes ago, tjm said:

maybe tomorrow, with a new quota, you will tell me what a ''#22-26 Celery fly" is aka. It's one I never heard of. One I'll never use either. my next size smaller than #18 is #10. Or #12, 3XL. It's just too hard to palmer a hackle on those smaller hooks.

It's a teeny tiny mayfly the color of a stalk of fresh celery. They hatch out of the giant beds of milfoil.