A comprehensive and informative fishing report for the Lake Taneycomo Tailwater and other Ozark trout streams. Often imitated, never duplicated... your source of knowledge for Missouri fly fishing.
Shop The Under Armour Outlet With Over 100 Items Added + Save Up To 50% Off
Orvis Weekly Specials - Take additional 20% off already reduced prices! New Deals Every Monday!
I was pretty impressed with this one folks. Some people pick it up sooner than others and I'm sure you could say that about any new venture you decide to delve in to. With fly fishing, it's really pretty easy to learn how to cast and catch fish. Everyone finds that out once they get their feet wet in the river with a rod in their hand. The ones that impress me most are the ones who quickly figure out how and why the fly line follows that rod tip around where ever it goes. From the little pull and flip move to get your line out and ready for casting...maybe hooking then losing a fish but waiting... just long enough for that line to fly back behind you before laying out another soft cast within a couple of seconds of losing the fish...understanding why you mend then making it a habit just a few minutes in to the day...figuring out that a more upright back cast forms a tighter loop to drive your cast through the wind better. Our young jedi apprentice might just become the jedi master of this family before it's all said and done. John and Tracee are both good fly fisherman too so I guess it's in the dna. Kaytlyn was just one of those point and shoot girls. Here's the rod...there's the fish...let me know when you've caught em all.
Three of the nicest folks you'll ever want to meet. How nice you ask?....John was the winner of the Help A Vet drawing we had and he is donating the trip. See above for details but yeah, just one of the good guys.
A great day with these folks. Now our jedi Kaytlyn must take on the sith lord of spin fishing that is her boyfriend..... and turn him from the dark side. May the force be with you.
I know...nerd alert!
OK, a few nice notes have been shared with us during our reporting hiatus. Here are a couple now. Thanks folks.
Brett,
Thanks for the very kind write up that accompanied the Urbas pic's. We had a great time and it was a really fun learning experience. Let me know if you would want to go duck hunting some time.
The Best,
Bernie and Judy ( July 13th)
Brett,
We had a great time fishing with you this morning! Thanks for taking us. We learned a lot and Sam and I are already talking about coming back down for a full day trip (with out the boys), maybe later this summer or this fall!
We look forward to seeing the pictures and will stay in touch!
Thanks again,
Shauna Jones (July 11th)
July 17th (pm) - A big crew this afternoon. Todd brought the boys out so everybody could try a little fly fishing for the first time. Blessed again with more great students as these youngsters were just laying out nice smooth casts and sticking fish in what turned out to be less than advertised conditions.
Water came on right when we were starting. It was promised to be a mild flow and it was early...but it built up and while we got in a solid 4 plus hours, in the end the water had risen to a level that starts making wading more difficult. Not a problem for our crew today as everyone caught several fish with a few double and triple hookups from time to time.
Really good kids on top of their budding fly fishing talents. It's refreshing to see kids these days addressing adults as sir or mr. I'm way too informal to demand such treatment but it just shows that there are good kids (and parents) out there in this twitter/facebook world. We appreciate Todd for thinking of us and we appreciate our friends at K&K up in Kansas City for sending him down this way. A busy day but a great day to share the water with some real good folks.
We've been in a real nice stretch of fishing lately. While the bite overall has been a little tougher than average, the quality has been fantastic and we've been having some great trips. Water generation has been very user friendly to us too. We're in the midst of a 2 - 3 week stretch of mid 90's and for the most part, they've kept the water off for us for the balance of the day coming on anywhere from around noon to 3:00pm. The fish remain very edgy meaning they are hugging the banks and in the very most shallow, warmest water especially early in the day. The bite improves as the day goes on and right about the time when it gets REALLY good...the water comes on. Still. I'm pretty happy about it. If our rainfall totals remain even close to normal, I'm really liking our situation for this late summer/fall fishing season coming up. Something we've been without the last two years and EVERYONE is looking forward to.
Stay tuned! More great trip reports coming up!
A 21" rainbow that took about 10 minutes for her to tame. I don't think we've ever caught a 20" plus fish on the practice run before. Looking back on the day I told Hana that she now held a few unofficial records here at Chartered Waters. It may have happened before but I don't recall a first time fly fisherman on an all day trip never breaking off once...never TANGLING once and catching a 20" plus fish. Pretty impressive and she was a pretty sweet person as well.
Early on it was purple/wine SG-Bugs and WHITE G-Bugs in a #16 as the fly we needed. Boat fishing was our best option today with 2 units flowing early then upping to 3 by the end our time. Then it was the coral Razorback or XG-Soft Shelled Scuds also in coral. The top was really slow. I still haven't figured out how there can be so many fish up there when you wade then then they just kind of disappear when water runs hard. That's how it's been lately anyway. You'll still catch fish like maybe 1/2 a dozen from the cable down to the boat ramp but the lower section is a lot better right now so that's where we spent most of our time.
Michael's done it all with us from sight casting and catching huge browns and rainbows to the Jr Circuit, Deep Drifting....you name we've done it. Hand him a rod and he knows what to do. He can Flat Line Cast our deep rigs out there as far as anybody. With Michael I know he has a base of knowledge that will let him fish any way, anywhere so with him it's adding more of the little things to his game. Casting way out there can be done but it starts adding a little too much maintenance to the act of catching fish. A longer cast requires more line maintenance, it's tougher to mend, you have more of a delay from hook set to hookup...more stuff in the boat to get tangled on etc. You can definitely be too close too but you can also be too far away when fly fishing in general. My general rule of thumb is that you should always get as close to your quarry as you comfortably can. Comfortable meaning you'd be able to move around a little without spooking the fish. From a boat, that comfort zone means far enough away from the boat so as the fish aren't spooked by the boat (big fish are spooked by the boat) but not so far that you can't manage your line well enough.
Don't cry for Michael too much. He caught a ton of fish today (no tangles or break offs for him either) so it was just one of those little things that can help you focus more on setting the hook and less on fumbling with excess line.
Another great day with great individuals. What more can you say.
Wrapping our day up I told them that they did well today. Bernie jokingly commented that "you probably say that to all your customers don't you?" Well, I'm really honest with my guests and I really want them to not only enjoy this sport but to excel at it so...I'm reminding them throughout the day when they need an adjustment here or there. So at the end of the day I usually give a little synopsis about how they did and what they need to work on going forward. When you've never touched a fly rod in your life and in one day you catch a whole bunch of fish (often the most fish you're ever caught in your life, as Judy said today) then you have indeed done very well . Having said that, everyone has areas that they tend to need to improve on (even guide boy here) so I'll remind them on areas to work on when they're out there themselves.
All new fly fisherman tend to rock back a little too far on their back cast. That's probably the biggest hurdle for new fly fisherman to get over but once you get it, everything gets easier. They definitely figured that one out and by days end if they didn't remember on their first false cast they almost always did on the second one.
Bernie and Judy's biggest issue was a fairly minor one really and one that comes from old spin fishing habits and that is dropping the rod tip when battling a fish. When you're pointing your rod at a fish when reeling it in, you'll never feel when the fish makes a run and will almost always snap the line especially on big ones. So you're probably saying...how does a new fly fisherman ever land a big fish? ...easy!....like this.
These are 21" and just shy of 24" rainbows that Judy and Bernie managed to tame today. We'll typically hook several big fish every trip out and when everything goes right, we'll even land a few of them. Even the best fly fisherman have hooked and lost more big fish than they've caught but, if you know what to do when you hook one your big fish hooked to caught ratio goes way up. I was impressed by Bernie instincts to start chasing that fish down when it started getting too much line out. As we walked after the fish I made comment on that fact that he did it w/o any prompting from me. He said it reminded him of an Alaska spin fishing trip he took where they had to do that with the King salmon they caught. Great job obviously and I told him that if he gets in to this sport and starts doing it more often, that 24" rainbow will become a lot more impressive to him in the years to come.
More solid folks to spend a day with again. People tell me that you probably say THAT to everyone you take out too. I'm a pretty patient and easy going guy so I actually do enjoy my job and the people I meet and take out. However...in the 8 years or so that I've been doing this as a full time gig I do have a list. A list of people who aren't invited back. That "list" consists of a whopping 2 names! With 400 - 500 people a year coming through our doors and 8 years in operation (you do the math) that's a pretty small list. And I think those two made it in our first 2 - 3 years of operation. Maybe I wasn't as patient back then and I should give them another chance? I'll save you the details to protect the "innocent" but I think my friends would say that if you can piss ME off??!!!...then you must be a special kind of A-hole.
Ok, I cant end a fishing report with the word A-Hole!...oops, I did it again! ...OK, there you go.
My early morning trip routine lately is to hit The Rock or The Stretch early then move up near the dame when the sun gets high. The fish are still edgy and they're really liking that olive G-BUg #20 swinging it at the end of the drift. They tend to hit the G-Bug on the swing and the Bit Scud on the dead drift. That's the two fly combo we've been paying the bills with lately and it really extends your drift by quite a bite when you fish it that way. Good reports from customers coming in to the shop and experiencing similar patterns than what we're reporting here. We lost some big ones today and when you're starting out in this game you tend to loose a few bigger ones right off the bat. Understanding the pressure point of what 6x and 7x can handle is a learning curve but like everyone, these guys improved all day long and handled some really nice rainbows in the end. We netted some 17" - 18" fish today but with 4 new fly fishermen to take care of we didn't stop for too many pictures.
Real nice folks once again and very good students. The last couple of hours of our trip everyone was pretty self sufficient catching, unhooking and catching again. That seems simple enough but until you've actually taken a #22 hook out of a fishes mouth (or a mesh net) then you know that can be a 10 minute job or (with a few little tricks) a 10 second job. That's going back to my philosophy about teaching ALL aspects of fly fishing so our guests can be able to do it by themselves without too much sideline time. Another nice day for us. Water off...big fish, LOTS of fish!
And with the miracles of modern technology amongst us, here's Shauna with a nice thank you note to share with you.
Brett,
We had a great time fishing with you this morning! Thanks for taking us. We learned a lot and Sam and I are already talking about coming back down for a full day trip maybe later this summer or this fall! We look forward to seeing the pictures and will stay in touch!
Thanks again, Shauna Jones (July 11th)
We had to get "edgy" though to get a good bite going. Everything active was in very shallow water...at least the ones that were feeding and if you were fishing the traditional channels or deeper water you weren't getting squat.
We started at The Stretch as that has been one of the better early am bites going. Slower than we like to see it overall but they all stayed hooked up pretty well considering everyone else seemed to have their heads down in their fly boxes looking for an answer
Our answer was the Bit Scud and G-Bug. #20 olives then browns to be exact. So I guess that would make the question..."what do you need to catch fish right now"? When it's good then a lot of things do well. When it's tough then only a few things will do well. It's a rare day for me when I can find something better at catching trout than a #20 or #22 olive Bit Scud. The G-Bug is usually as good but sometimes they don't like that profile as much as a Bit Scud.
The Stretch kept getting better and better for us as the morning wore on. We didn't leave for lack of catching but I suggested we finish up top near the dam. The bite there is better later in the day and there have been more and bigger fish to cast to when it gets hot. Mission accomplished on all fronts as everyone caught their biggest up there including a stunner of a rainbow by Mark measuring 21".
Up there we were still staying very shallow and most of the time, standing completely out of the water. When we got there it was the same old story. Everybody wading out and fishing the deeper channels. We actually fished behind everyone from shore and stayed hooked up real well catching our biggest fish of the day. Eventually, a handful of those guys out there fishing the channels saw what was happening with us, walked back out of the water and started fishing the edges like we were.
They figured it out and started hooking up pretty well too.
We're in a stretch where the fish will probably stay "edgy" (in the shallows) in the mornings for a while. A lot of HARD water in the afternoon and evening puts them down a bit first thing the next morning. They start moving back in the deeper stuff when the sun gets high and the wind kicks in. That's usually about when they turn the water on around 1:00pm or 2:00pm though so that's a pretty short window to catch a hot bite. My advice would be to start the day with a set up very shallow and stand on the bank fishing the edges. That water is rarely a foot deep but it's the only thing happening for the first part of the day.
My crew today were some great folks and really good students. Early on the boys were giving Karis all kinds of advice on how to catch fish. I don't think she heard them though through all the splashing in her net. I'll say the boys caught up to her a little in the end but you know how it goes...those women know how to get it done. Great folks all of them. A real nice day out there on the water.
Here's a nice note from the mother of one of our recent guests (Garrett) . Even though mom might not be a big fisherman her son certainly is and we appreciate her letting us take care of him for a few hours.
Brett,
Thanks a million for creating such a special experience for Garrett to remember from his childhood. I have a feeling yours was the first fly fishing trip of many he will make in his lifetime. Thank you for teaching him the ropes and for your kind words.
We'll see you again.
Best regards, Julie (Garrett's mom)
(July 2nd)
Now, when I say you're never too old to learn this game it sounds like I'm inferring that Wayne and Garry are old. No, in fact the older I get the younger everyone else seems to be. When you're younger you look at a 30 year old women and think man, I'm WAY too young for that! Now that I'm...um.."older than 30" I look at a 30 year old women and think...Man, I'd never have a chance at that. Youth is wasted on the young may be the most true statement every spoken.
Well, our young men today did great at this game and are already figuring out how to make this a more regular thing. They did great and they were great guys to hang out with too.
A really nice bite pretty much all day especially early on and in a driving rain that lasted literally our entire time out there. Once in a while we would get a light rain but almost always a hard one.
The purples were in full force today as the purple Nitro Scud, the C-Shelled and the purple/wine SG-Bug (probably our best) in a #16 as a trailer was smokin. Deep from beyond the arc came a white #16 G-Bug that was the BEST bug out there for quite a while. Coral C-Shelled were OK...gray though was pretty slow.
Adam stuck a big one early on and we managed to get that one to the net after a classic and lengthy battle.
21 or 22" was that one I believe. Another one of those rock solid river rainbows. Devon had a beautiful 18-19" fish that jumped out during the photo shoot. Lots of 16-18" fish and just a bunch of them.
Real nice guys who STILL wanted to keep fishing even in the driving rain. As far as the weather goes, this is one trip where you can say...chances are, the next time they fish with us can only be better.
Quality was very nice and Daniel (12) handled some very big fish on very light tippet.
VERY edgy fish today!!! When the fish are "edgy" I mean they have essentially all moved to within 10' of the bank. I believe the reason they do that is that the water is warmer there and the bugs are more active. Two things the fish like quite a lot obviously. So when the bite gets tough especially in the morning... gettin' edgy widdit is usually the best answer. Often you can fish behind the masses as they dredge the channels which is the typical strategy here. That's good in the afternoon but usually the shallow water is better early.
While our quantity was a bit below average, our quality was very nice. Daniel managed a couple of fish over the 20" mark and handled things like the budding pro that he is.
At 6' 7"....objects in hands are larger than they appear.
Mom had a real nice feel for things and picked up the stroke quickly and easily. Like a good mom, she would always offer up her spot for Daniel when things got hot for her but when nary a rod was bent around us, they looked pretty good out there today.
Ran in to Chuck and Don, a couple of our customers later on and while they were catching a few too, they agreed it was slower than normal. Chuck was doing it with an olive Bit Scud plus a cream Crown Midge in about a #22.
Carolyn and Daniel were as nice as they come and we had a real nice morning together. Fun stuff for sure!
Here's a note from Tony after the trip. His reference to Bernie is friend of his who's taking a trip with us next week?
Brett,
Thanks again for your efforts with Carolyn and Daniel. They had a great time fishing with you. Tell Bernie Urbas the heat is on after Jr. duck hunter caught 2-20" fish.
Tony (July 5th)
July 5th (pm) - Lou, Mike and Chad were my afternoon crew. Lou had done a little fly fishing before while his son Chad and Mike were first timers. We had no water running to start off our first two hours. The regular fare of Bit Scuds and G-Bugs with a splash of olive flavoring did the trick. The bite wasn't too bad once we fine tuned our areas. Slower than normal but improving as we fished. Then they turned on some water so we went to a certain little spot that fishes real well with a little water moving and we made some hay there.
Real good stuff in there with doubles and triples all afternoon long. We got an extra unit right about quitting time and we fished it as long as we safely could before moving on to higher ground.
Real nice folks who genuinely had a blast out there. A few old "spin fishing" habits needed breaking but they all improved as the day went on and finished quite strong. Chad may have struggled with it most early on but in the end he picked up the casting timing and rhythm better than everyone. His success at the end of his line was the result of that.
I so often say that it's the little things that make this sport so much easier. I've learned that through trial and error as much as anything else but you cant just jump to the "catching" part without understanding how to get there.
As a guide, it would probably be easier to just cast FOR someone sometimes but they wont learn anything from that. Learning those little things keeps you in the water and off the bank (sitting on a log...undoing tangles) when you're out there by yourself. The right flies, the right set up...presentation..yes, it's all important but if you can't get it to the water w/o a tangle it's not going to do you much good. I cant tell you how many times I've had experienced fly fisherman say...."man, that's a cool little trick!" LOTS and lots of those little tricks to learn and they're all good to have stored away in the gray matter.
Well, these guys improved nicely as they went along and they had things in hand quite well at the end of the day. Another nice afternoon with some good folks.
Scott also got in to the act with lots of fish to the net but alas, Zach did land the biggest. Another great couple of guys too. You see the rain gear. We've had some showers now and then but overall, weather has been pretty tolerable.
Super nice folks and very good students of the game as well. It took them no time at all to get our Flatline Casting down and once you have that , the catching is the easy part.
Coral and gray Soft Shelled or C-Shelled Scuds. Up to #12's when it runs hard and down to #16's when it's at 1 or 2 units. Great fishing! Taneycomo is in a stretch right now where the fish are falling early, often, heavy and hard. Great time to be here!
July 4th (pm) - Three more first timers joined me in the afternoon today also on the boat. Chad, Tanner and Wesely were my new friends and once again, stellar individuals to spend an afternoon with. I must say, I never met this many nice folks in the corporate world. Maybe that's because people look forward to seeing me out here...back then, when people saw me it was usually about a problem. The only problems we have now are things like...how do you double haul...or why do you use that fly over another one. Easy problems to answer and solve.
Everyone caught lots of fish and really nice ones too. Wesely had the bruiser of the day up boatside but your captain has to take blame for the loss. A rainbow upwards of 28" or so was being handled quite nicely by Wesley. We had the fish close enough that the leader was up in the rod guides. A new leader that I had just put on had a tag of line that wasn't clipped well enough at the factory. When the big fish ran again the tag on the loop got caught in a guide and snap went the line. Very disheartening and completely my fault. I usually don't assume those things are done at the pre packaging stage but I did today and it cost us a nice one. Sorry Wesely...again!
It didn't slow their fun down much though as they still hooked up with a ton and did it all day long. I think Wesely had something like the mid 20's in fish caught. Times that by 3 and not a bad afternoon of fly fishing for your first time.
Brett
We really enjoyed the trip Friday. My daughter couldn't stop talking about how many fish she caught.
Thanks
Brian Lane (June 25th)
July 2nd - Today, our friend Brian Spence brought his nephew Garrett along for his first time at fly fishing. We take a lot of kids out for their maiden voyage with the long stick and once again, we had a winner with Garrett.
Brian has hit it with us before and we certainly appreciate him thinking of us again. It was Garret's first time and he was eagerly anticipating the day. Well, the young man did a great job today and he was a great kid to hang out with as well. Garrett is just the kind of kid you want to introduce to fly fishing. He loves to fish and was very eager to learn something new. I'll repeat the old mantra for fly fishing with kids...if they WANT to do it, they will do great. Well, garrett had a lot of "want to" and his results were very positive.
All this praise on Garret but we can't leave out Brian. He caught some great fish today too. If I recall we had a couple in the 20" class. So many big river fish up here right now. The ones that migrate from down below when it gets too warm downstream. SOOOO fat and healthy, every fin a perfect example of rainbow trout. The boys put the hurt on them early and often and we never had any time that was very slow.
Overall I'd say an average bite with the disclaimer that it was a "taneycomo average" day. Slower early and as is par for the course for this fishery, it gets better the latter in the day and the higher the sun gets. In the end it was just hooked up insane a times.
While lots more fish were hooked and lost I'd guess they had a 60 - 70 fish day. Olive Bit Scuds and Olive G-Bugs. We never needed anything else but black Bits Scuds and Molted Bit Scud Shells have also been good. G-Bugs in brown, wine and sometimes white catches fish. Ginger/olive, olive/brown and wine/ginger SG-Bugs also perform on parr with the olive G too.
They hit the Bit Scuds on the drift and the G-BUgs on the swing. If you like swinging/stripping Soft Hackles...you should try swinging a G-Bug. A #18 or #20 in all the aforementioned colors....about 2' above the fly I'll put a #6 weight, a #8 weight or no weight at all (depending on depth and current speed)...a straight out to 3/4 downstream cast with no mend and just swing it down below you. Follow it with your rod and be patient at the end. Most of your hits will come when your line completely straightens out below you. Fun stuff and great guys to hang with. Here's Brian anxious to say thanks about his day with us.
Brett,
Thanks so much for the trip, Garrett and I had a blast. According to Garrett, he netted 19 fish, with many others that broke off, and countless misses. I didn't keep track of the numbers, but I know I was wore out by the end of the day. I really appreciate the time you spent with Garrett instructing him, he really enjoyed it.
Thanks again,
Brian (July 2nd)
June 30th - Mr Bob (Koogler) joined me for the second time on his vacation these last two weeks. The boys are gone so it was just he and I out there on what I'd call an average bite overall.
Same old story on what and where. Coral or gray C-Shelled Scuds from #16 to #12. We actually found something pretty good later in the trip when we went way down in size to that #16 gray Soft Shelled Scud when the bite was a little less that hot. That little trailer picked things up real well for us and we stayed in the lower section for the last 3- 4 drifts and caught them really well.
Bob has caught some big fish with us before. A big 28" male rainbow is his best to date which acts as a constant reminder to his boys who the real boss is when it comes to fishing. Nothing he's caught with us though compares to the battle we had today at the end of our trip.
I'm on the phone with Marlin as we were drifting just above Fall Creek when Bob's reel starts screaming. The kind of initial run that smacks of a foul hooked fish so I wasn't too excited about it just yet...then it jumps about 30 yards away and still keeps ripping out line...."gotta go" was all Marlin heard from me as I started the motor and gave chase.
That fish jumped 3 - 4 times just so we knew we weren't dealing with an amateur. Big fish on light line means you need to be a little creative to increase your chances of landing them. We had buoys and docks on one side of us...docks and submerged trees on the other side. The only safe place to be was in the middle and the fish knew the only safe place to be was anywhere but the middle. Early on we'd get fairly close to the fish to the point of seeing our pink float...then it would just bust out another 40-50 yd run that we would have to make up again. Eventually we got to the point where we could get fairly close without the accompanying long run . The fish was always trying to work towards the safety of cover and when he did that I would back the boat around so it (the boat) would be between the snag and the fish. That would make the fish avoid the boat and go back out in to the deeper and safer (for us) middle where it was snag free. We did that several times with a couple of spots bringing us dangerously close to a submerged stump or area dock. Each time we were able to move the fish away from a hazard and back in to the game.
From my vantage I could clearly see the fish below us. He was hooked well to stay on that long and hooked fair of course which allowed us to turn his head now and then but MAN....this was one of those disproportionately large fish that has grown faster than it should have with a deep, thick body shaped more like a white bass than a trout. He liked to hug the bottom trying to pull in behind any rock of structure along the way to find safety. At one point I saw another fish the same size pull up next to ours for a few either trying to take his "food" or maybe just giving him some moral support like..."come on man...you've beat those mysterious, super strong shrimp thingys before".
You do this gig long enough you never get too excited until the big fish hits the net. Like I tell everyone who looses a big fish...I've lost a whole lot more big fish than I've caught... and I think everyone could say that. Bob though, is as good as anybody I fish with when it comes to handling big fish. He never gets too excited and he always puts just the right amount of pressure to get the fish in as soon as possible without stressing the equipment too much.
Alas, our worthy opponent turned up and headed towards the surface long enough for me to slip the net around him (her as it turns out) accompanied by a couple of whoops from the gallery. We had a couple of boats politely steer clear of us while one floated along and watched the event take place. A perfect specimen of a rainbow trout measuring 25" long and built like a brick @#*% house.
I would have guessed that
fish to be in the 10 pd range. Just as fat and firm as a fish can be.
Like a piece of hammered steel, it looked and felt like a little steelhead.
We kept her in the net after subduing her
to let her catch her breath...took a couple of quick photos...revived
her again and off
she went. Lots of energy left as she went straight back down to the bottom.
One of the most epic battles I've ever been involved with. Pound for
pound one of the strongest fish I've ever seen. Just a blast to have fun
with and
Bob did a masterful job doing everything he needed to do to win the battle.
Doesn't get much better than that.
The fly that caught the big one was a new Razorback color scheme I tied
this morning. A #12 coral body with a wine "razorback" down the back.
It didn't catch the most fish today (it was our lead fly) but it certainly
caught
the biggest.
Beaver has been consistently running water for a few now and Table Rock is keeping up with them running anywhere from 2 to a mild 4 units all day long. Very good boat fishing water if you will. Anything below a 709' tailwater level is very manageable and that 705 to 707' mark is about perfect in my book. That's the range we were in today and we had a pretty good one. Some areas were VERY hot while others were more spotty. In the end we stayed in the hot spots and stayed hooked up very well.
We turned a couple of thumpers but were never able to get them all the way in. Kirk is new to the game but did very well at our FlatLine casting and the Deep Drifting techniques we use when the water runs.
The upper mile was pretty solid the whole time out today. Typically that area gets slower once the fog clears and the best bite is the lower mile of the Trophy Area. It stayed solid today up top so we made a few more passes up there than normal. Nice fish are swimming around out here for us plus... it seems like the upcoming holiday weekend may have generated a significant "stocker spawn". Lots of little ones out there to keep things busy between the big boys.
Kirk was a great guy and did real well out there today. He was able to refuel the soul for a few hours with us before going back to corporate America. I'm glad we could help.
They're making good progress. Nothing short of engineering genius seeing how you build a bridge in a quickly moving river.
I may be on carp hiatus for a while (until someone tells me they've seen a bunch somewhere). Each trip down gets a little less successful so my "want to" isn't quite as great as it once was. I'll keep you posted.
June
26th - Water off this am for our old buddy Bruce and Jonathon.
Just a half day outing for us so we started out down at The Rock which
is usually
a good early morning bite. Just OK there. We stayed hooked
up pretty well early and our first timer Jonathon landed a beautiful 19" fish
that jumped away during the photo shoot. That was one of the first fish
he caught with a fly rod and he tamed him pretty well. After that it was
both
men catching more fish in the 14 - 16" range with a few going bigger than
that.
After it slowed for us there throwing mainly #20 and #22 olive
Bit Scuds,
we tried the Quiet Hole which was very slow. Only a couple of fish
hooked and landed there so we made short work of that place and we
moved on. We went
up to the Upper South Pool for what has become a very reliable spot for
big,
cruising
and scudding rainbows. We found them again today and we had a pretty
good time plucking out quite a few.
We had a front coming in that kept
things slower than normal and we
got dumped
on for about 10 minutes towards the end of our trip.
It was warm rain so not too bad and our boys stayed hooked up (doubled
up in the photo) in spite of our obstacles. I'd definitely rate this
as a slow day for Taneycomo. Jonathon thought we caught a ton
but for
here, we had to work harder today.
Nothing at all was happening in
the deeper runs on the big river. You had to fish small and find some really
shallow,
quiet water to find eager takers. What I call the"flyover" water.
Water that basically gets ignored by the masses as they walk right
through
the
most active
fish, out
to dredge the deeper runs of the popular holes. You need a different
set up and a sharp eye to fish these fish but they are pretty much
the ONLY fish
who stay at least a little active when it's tough out.
These guys managed
them pretty well and while we didn't catch any huge fish (17-18" tops)
we stayed hooked up and entertained. Nice guys. Bruce has graced us
more
than once
and Jonathon was also a great guy to teach the sport to.
In general, it helps to have a good attention span when fly fishing so you're ready for those super quick taking fish. BUT... if you like to fish then you probably like to CATCH fish and if you like to catch fish then you're ready to learn a new way to do it and that's where that attention span will come in. If you like to do something you generally pay attention more to what you're doing and that goes a long way in fly fishing.
Well, our new fly fisherman today had all that and more. She was giving that float the 1000 yard stare and was usually ready for the hookset when one came calling. They came calling a lot today and Chloe (like Dad and Grandpa) were ready for the task at hand. That young lady was just a beast out there today catching the biggest fish of the trip and maybe even the most fish. A real nice bite going for us as well as we caught a ton of them our whole time out. Doubles, even a few triples made the net and they kept me busy with a whole lot of catching.
Doubles (triples) only count if they all make the net. We get a whole lot more of those temporary doubles and triples throughout the day which are just as fun (as long as you don't lose a big one). I told you Chloe caught the big one right? How about this 19" rainbow she caught all by herself.
Chloe wasn't always excited about holding her fish but she wanted to pet everyone she caught and even kissed one once I think. She was a sweetheart of a kid and a very fine fly fisherman too. Mom and dad (and grandpa) are doing a fine job with that one.
June 25th (PM) - Cindy and Colby were my guests this afternoon. Again in the boat as we have fairly mild generation in the am followed by all 4 units in the afternoon. Not a crazy high level (usually around the 708' plus mark) which is still pretty manageable with the long stick.
Cindy is new to fly fishing but picked it up real well and on a tougher than average bite, she caught quite a few.
Colby did a great job too. He's a competitive bass fisherman up in the KC area so he knew how to handle a fish.
Cindy managed to get hooked up with a fly fishing club (HOAFF ) in KC and she won our trip in a raffle they did. We're glad she won and I think she'll do real well with the port if she continues to pursue it.
The coral C-Shelled Scuds are the scud of choice lately. When it drops out we'll go smaller and often gray of the same pattern but the coral is constantly #1 right now.
More really nice folks I had the pleasure of meeting today. They kept a few small ones to try at the dinner table and we didn't have much of a problem getting them in the boat. Thanks to Randy at Trout Hollow for cleaning those fish for them.
Another nice day of fishing on another hot day BUT...it isn't slowing down our fishing at all!
A few more nice notes have come in from our recent trips. I like to share those with our guests and readers as well as potentially new customers checking things out. Every type of industry has it's share of posers out there, self promoting themselves telling you how great they are and why you should pick them for whatever you need.
Anyone can say anything on the internet so it's always a bit of a leap of faith when you choose a fly fishing guide based on what you see on a web site. Yes, I think we're good at what we do also but I'll also share with you some of what our customers are saying so you can have a better assurance that we are, who we say we are.
Thanks for tuning in everyone! Here are some of the aforementioned.
Brett,
Thanks again for a great time fishing on the 15th. We always enjoy our time with you. Kevin can't speak more highly of you. Thanks also for helping teach Avry the joys of fly fishing. He's always had a love of fishing, but thanks for taking the time and patience on helping him learn how to fly fish right. When you get a chance, I'd appreciate it if you could email me the photos you took during our trip. Also, let me know when you get another shipment in of your red hats. Mine is about ready to fall apart!
Thanks again for everything. Look forward to seeing you again when we are back in Branson.
Jeff Sieh ( June 15th)
Hey Brett,
This is Chuck Herron from Paris, MO. I came down and fished with you on May 22 with Jeff Ragsdale. Thanks for a great time and for putting up with my lack of knowledge of trout fishing. Hope I wasn't too much trouble.
Chuck Herron (May 22nd)
Brett,
It used to be a trip to Branson would not have been complete without a day of fishing with you, now it seems I think more about fishing with you than I do planning what to do in Branson. Linda and I had another wonderful day on the water thanks to you. Over my 50 years of fly fishing, I have fished with a lot of different guides, and I can honestly say you are among the very best. I have always believed “it is all about the bugs”. You have come up with some of the most unique and effective flies I have fished with. Good Job! I always enhance my skills, learning your techniques and approaches. Linda always catches the biggest and the most fish under your guidance. Though we are both winners fishing with you, I would “put my money on Linda”, also.
Michael Rock (June 13th)
PS: Thanks also for the tying lessen. I figure it will take tying two dozen more Bit Scuds before they begin to look like yours. And it is worth it!
It was The boys who started our day off with 2 units running starting off...then water off...then two mild units back on again....then 4 hard units. All in the course of our half day outing. The fish were a little flaky through it all but we kept hooked up (when it was off) with Bit Scuds and Razorback Scuds in #18 and #20. When it ran it was ever increasing sizes of C-Shelled, Soft Shelled and Razorback Scuds in coral and gray's mostly. Biggest fish of the day was from Eric catching a 22" brown.....sucker.
I respect a man who's not ashamed to get his picture taken with a sucker.
In the afternoon it was just that hard water all day long and that was actually a better bite. It was consistent if not slightly rising during our time out there which the fish always like. Everyone but Warren was new to the fly fishing game and everyone did very well. Same old story when the wives try fly fishing with their husbands...they typically kick their butt.
Warren gave her a pretty good run but I don't know??...if I had to bet???
Real nice bunch of folks from New Mexico. We usually see these guys a couple of times a year and it's always a pleasure.
A pretty nice bite for us overall. While I typically pay the bills with that ginger/olive BaitFish when the water's off in the boat, it was the small stuff that seemed to be doing the yeoman's work. We caught them on the BFJ but only after I clipped the collar off (which represents the pectorals of the sculpin). I think the collar is a positive element most of the time but it wasn't until we fished with one (sans the collar) that it started working well for us.
Tim was the big fish winner with his biggest around the 19" mark. Everyone caught nice fish and quite a few overall.
If you wanted to have a lot of friends around you we could have hooked a few more. There was about a 100 yd stretch where there were about 500 fish swirling around and it was just crazy time when you drifted through there. There were usually 3 - 4 boats anchored around that spot most of the time though so we drifted around the edges of it and still stayed hooked up pretty well.
It may have been a location thing or a time of day thing too but I changed a lot today and it was a #18 olive/ginger Razorback Scud above a #20 standard Bit Scud that caught most of the fish. Everything outside of that little spot was pretty good while the little spot was like a hatchery raceway. It seemed to be a big group of fresh stockers anyway as most of the fish we caught around that area were smaller.
A great day with the Koogler boys. Always fun with these guys. We'll be doing it with them again next week.
June
22nd - Well...the water is OFF as I write this around 9:00am today. This
is a really nice stretch of wadeable water we've been in for quite some time.
Even with this heat wave we're in, it's great fishing and what better place
to be
on a 90 degree day than in 45 degree water. The last day of my 3 day off
mini
vacation. Serviced the truck...did some dock repair...caught up on fishing
reports as you can see and caught up (a little bit) on fly tying. Thanks
to Gary Hollowell
for his contribution to the fly box. He does a great job. I'm working with
a young man stationed over in Iraq on doing some tying for us too.
The big lake continues to stay around the 917' mark. No long and significant
spells of generation is keeping it at that level. Water is either off or
running very lightly (tailwater around the 703' mark) every day then coming
on and up to 4 units around
the 3:00pm mark. Good stuff for wading or boating.
Another big stretch of trips
coming up but I'll try to do better with keeping up with
reports.
We're pretty busy from March through December and every day will eventually
get booked up. If you're looking for a specific date try to give us at least
2 - 3 weeks notice. Any stray days here and there are usually taken last
minute
by the summer vacation crowd so plan ahead. We appreciate all those who think
of us for their fly fishing adventures.
For now, here are a couple
of
nice
notes
from
recent
trips. Thanks for the notes everyone.
Good
Day Brett,
Jason Chapman here... I hope all is well.
I want to let you know we decided you were one of the best captains
we have ever had on a guided trip. I will definitely recommend your service
if I ever know anyone that's going to visit Branson. Bob and I are talking
about planning a strictly fishing trip when the brown trout are big. By then
I promise our skill level will be much better :)
We will be in touch,
Jason
(June 11th)
Hello Brett...
want to thank you for a wonderful time and fantastic fishing (we
had a blast). I was wondering if you could send the picture or pictures of
Aimee's monster trout.
Thank you once again really appreciate it...
take care
and have a wonderful day.
Kim Winder
(June 1st)
Brett,
it was great to see you yesterday. Thank you
for helping me net that rainbow and taking my picture. I you could please
send
that
picture and the others you took on our trip in may to me.
Thanks. dj
P.S. I will be getting back to you on a trip in the fall for the
big browns.
(June 13th)
hi Brett
This is Colby Bentley. Just wanted to thank you again for the great trip
on Friday. My father and I had a Blast!!!!!!!!!!!! I also wanted to you
to know that there were some really big carp hanging out around our dock
this
this weekend. I counted 7 at one time.
Thanks again for the great trip!!!!
Have a great summer!!!!
Colby Bently - THE WEBB CORPORATION (June 18th)
Brett,
Had a great time fishing with you on Saturday.
Thanks,
David Shannon (June 19th)
Bit Scud still in tow. I knew Princess would be getting up soon so I scrambled back to see what she had in store for me. And she wanted to go...what else..FISHING!!! What a girl! We did the boat thing for an hour or so. She caught one before deciding kicking her feet in the water would be more fun. I can appreciate that!
After that it was off to the golf course to play a round with Marlin. Starting at 3:00pm sounds really hot right? You get used to it pretty quick and it wasn't bad at all. We only saw two other people on the entire course and we finished in about 3 & 1/2 hours. That's a quick round.
I was telling Marlin while playing that I feel as comfortable playing golf now as I ever did when I played a LOT back in corporate USA. I got down to about a 4 hdcp back in the day but looking back, it seemed more like work back then. I don't always score as well now but I feel comfortable over every shot and usually don't screw it up too bad. Today, I lipped out a 4' putt on #18 that would have given me a 69. Even though it's only a par 64 course (1000 Hills) I've never shot in the 60's before. My best score to date was an even par 70 at one of the Overland Park courses in KC. Yeah, I was real happy with that one. Marlin had 3 holes that killed his best round ever too. Other than that he played pretty well. I'm just glad I have one sport left where I can still beat him. He's just a beast in bowling and I cant even come close anymore. Whiffle Ball...I can still give him a go now and then.
I want to say happy Fathers Day to my dad. I know he reads the report every day and we're trying to call each other more these days. He lives in California now near one of my sisters (Kathy). We lost my mom a few months ago and it's been real hard on all of us. I didn't want to mention it at the time. I know we have great friends and customers out there who would want to give their condolences but I just wasn't ready for that at the time. No need for notes of the same now. I know your thoughts are there for us and that's enough. Everybody goes through it sooner or later I guess. We're a pretty close family and it has brought us even a little closer.
I'll be seeing my dad soon and he's going to try to get out here and try fly fishing again for only the second time in his life. Make sure you call your dads (and mom's) on Fathers Day. You don't need a reason to do it and they don't need a reason to talk to you. Your family is always there for you. Don't take it for granted.
June
19th - More new fly fisherman joined the ranks today as David
and Vern joined me for a morning in the boat. Hot stuff!!!...weather AND
the fishing.
Another
mild one unit flowing when it was projected to again, be off until 2:00pm
I believe. Perhaps it's just the heat and the weekend that requires a little
power so they're trickling a little water out to keep up with demand. Pure
speculation on my part but I'm sure there's some generation nerd out there
that knows
why. Regardless, we take what we get and go with it.
It's great boat fishing with this mild flow, Wading isn't bad either but
the areas available are limited. This slower flow means quicker and more
subtle takes from the fish so be ready and even if you are...you'll still
come
up blank
more often that not. The good news is you're getting hit (with the right
set up) ALL THE TIME so you have lots of chances and you'll catch plenty
of fish.
With a calm sky you can actually see the fish take your bugs as we lazily
drift along. The river bottom looks like a big HD TV and with the gin clear
water you can see everything going on below you...which is a lot of fun.
You can at least get yourself ready when you see the fish
turn around and start chasing your flies downstream. They almost ALWAYS
take it when that happens so when you see the 180 degree turn from the
fish, you can get just
a little bit more ready and usually be a little quicker on the take. Here
are our boys showing off a few of their first fish on a fly rod.
Before our last drift down, David had counted around 25 fish caught for
just himself so these guys probably boated around 60-70 fish for their
half day efforts. Nice, nice bite out there folks and not big crowds either.
Very nice guys to spend a morning with and they picked up the fly rod
very well. A nice touch and good feel for what it's all about. I'm sure
they'll prosper if they decide to go further with the game.
The lower section of the Trophy Area is definitely the best bite though we did one drift down the whole stretch and caught fish just about everywhere. Definitely more active down low though so after that first drift we stayed down in the lower mile and a half. A good bite with the #12's but a really good bite once we got small fishing a new Razorback Scud color combo. I tied a few of these up since they combined the best of the two best colors, coral and gray. I used a gray body with a coral "razorback" and they were loving that thing. Down to #14's and #16's was key and we even went down to a 6x trailer in that low flow and that too seemed to make a difference.
Here are the kids showing off a few they caught including a really fat 18" fish for Colby
Colby gave me the 411 on some carp water down his way and ironically I have seen fish there myself. He kind of fine tuned it for me though so I have some new stuff to go look at here soon. I'm nearing the end of a long stretch of trips. I took fathers day off and the next two to do some repair work around here so I hope to make it down to establish the "Blue Collar" tour a little more.
These two had a real nice feel for the fly rod and they both did great. Too many doubles to count....lots of fish and they turned a few really big boys. They few people that do count on trips are coming up with around 20 - 40 fish per person on 1/2 day trips so the bite continues to be very solid. These were some real nice guys and I enjoyed meeting them quite a bit. Now I have some more friends/neighbors on my home waters.
June
17th - My buddy Merl brought his buddy Jim down to play
around in the water with us for a few hours this morning. Water off was
the promise
and
once again it was that very mild 1 unit flow.
All things being equal...it's
always better fishing from a boat when the water runs BUT...all things
are not always equal. With one or a mild two units going you can find 1/2
a dozen good
places to wade up by the dam when the water runs. There's another dozen
places that fish OK to good sans the outlets. There
are ALWAYS
fish
hanging
in the outlets regardless of water flow. The more water the better
usually but at those outlets you usually have a big crowd joining you on
most days. It's not exactly challenging
fishing either but I understand that if you're on vaction...water is running...you
dont have a boat and your options are limited so wetting a line in an
outlet may be the only option
you have. I digress.
With our water today it was very manageable to wade plus the crowds have
been very light so I wasn't too concerned about finding others in the spots
that tend to fish well. I probably wouldn't have suggested wading if it
were a weekend as the spots I mentioned aren't exactly secrets but it wasn't
a weekend so
we had some fun.
The boys were definitely up for some wading over the boat fishing so
we hit a couple of
very
solid
spots
and did
quite
well on
another
foggy
river
outing.
We fished a couple of pretty contrasting areas using contrasting
techniques and stayed hooked up very well. It was slow, shallow and small
in the early am as we sight casted to cruising fish in more or less slack
water. Brown G-Bugs in a #20 were really good behind a #20 or #22 olive
Bit Scud. Throw it 3-5' in front of cruising fish and you would get hit...you
just had to be ready.
Notice how Merl was barely standing (or crouching) in barely any water
at all. I'm probably the biggest proponent of staying out of the water
as much
as
possible
when
fishing
here.
We all know how the trout like to follow us around as we inadvertently
disturb the bottom and dislodge scuds as we walk around. You cant always
stay in the shallow stuff but
when possible, it helps your fishing substantially. Stay out of the water
and let the fish go back to their normal feeding lanes and you'll have
a lot
more active targets to cast to.
Our boys made short work of some great
fish in our early am spot and the bite
never
really
slowed
for
us at
all.
I looked
across
the
river
and
one
of my other favorite spots was vacant so we jumped in the truck and
hit that area to cap off our day.
Over there
we were going deeper in that
faster water with
a size or two bigger on flies (along with our small stuff), a couple
of #4 -
#6 weights and fishing 7' - 9' deep. Our early am spot required fishing
around 2' deep and no weight to maybe a little #8 to #10. 7X Fluoro was
a must there too.
Hard to say which spot was best. Our afternoon
bite was
easier to detect strikes. Faster water usually is easier to see takes
in but these guys were still quick. Merl hooked in to a horse that jumped
3 -
4 times before breaking off on a #18 X-Series Bit Scud.
That fish was a mid 20's inch rainbow and just a toad
for girth but alas, he got the best of us.
We netted some 18" class fish
and just had a nice time out there with no crowds and some great takes.
Jim was a pleasure to meet and Merl was great as always. Both guys are
very good fly fisherman and you can tell each have a genuine love for
the sport.
A lot of nice water to play in right now. Very diverse and a lot
of good options.
We're
getting
no
water
running to
4 units
in the course
of any
given
day. It's all good...just choose your poison.
Mark was pretty new to it all but managed things really well out there on another HOT and sunny day. We kept with 7x and little #22's fishing the seams and shallow stuff when we waded in the am. Pretty good but after a 1/2 day of that we took a nice air conditioned break back at the shop before heading out and finishing our day in the boat. Out there we had to downsize from our big water #12's C-Shelled Scuds down to #16's even #18's in the VERY slow flow we had going out there. Real nice water to fish in either wading or drifting. Very manageable from the boat and the bite, although quicker and more subtle than heavier water was often and action packed. I'm liking our Razorback Scuds in a #18 - #16 with this mild flow. You'll catch fish on the bigger stuff but not quite as well as going small. Of course you always have the catch 22 when you fish small. Do you want a better hookup percentage or do you want more hits? I always opt for the latter fishing small and ultimately, you always CATCH more fishing small around here.
More really nice new friends we got to meet today. Hopefully we'll hook up again and Mark can expand the repertoire a bit more.
Don't be afraid of the heat! Yeah, it's hot out but we have ways to beat it and make our fishing day a cool breeze. First, we'll start early to beat the hottest part of the day plus get in more wading time. BUT!...we are unique in that our shop is literally ON THE WATER no more than 1 mile below the start of the Trophy Trout area where we fish. We'll typically take a lunch break back at the shop where we can sit down and have lunch at a dining table in air conditioning while perusing the latest issue of Fly Rod & Reel. We're never more than a 10 minute drive or boat ride from the shop so we stay cool when we need to then go out and typically catch more fish than you can count. Sounds like fun huh?
I guess it was the Jeff and Avery show as Bob and Kevin never made the camera. Yes, they caught a bunch too but we like to get the new guys a little more press time and Jeff managed a couple of nice ones in the 20" class.
Lots of fish made our nets today. These guys are about as easy going as they come and when I suggest some new water or places to go just to mix it up they're like...whatever you think. We covered a good mile of water (more or less) and found pretty willing participants everywhere we went. Young Avery was a beast with the fly rod and caught too many to count. That picture above was his first fish but he caught much bigger later in the day.
The fish are keying more and more on smaller Bit Scuds. #22's are definitely better early but if you get some sun and wind later then the #20's are just as good. A #18 or bigger is definitely a slow down on the bite sans running water from the boat.
Avery was just having a blast with the fly rod. One of those fishing fanatics who has been fishing at Kevin's place every waking moment of their vacation down here. Now that he's tried fly fishing he already says it's his favorite way to fish. A great kid and I had a good time showing him a new way to catch a trout. The whole group is a great bunch of folks and I always enjoy my time with them.
June
14th - Jim Kingery and the boys (Rick and Randy) from Iowa joined
us again for their second time ever fly fishing. We made a bunch of tracks
this
morning/early
afternoon
while we waded the upper couple of miles looking for and hitting new water
along the way. Pretty good out there for us even participating in a few
triple hookups among the fellas.
HOT!!! Fishing, yes but I'm talking weather mostly. Mid 90's consistently
every day with near record breaking days now and then. The rest of my family
would take a cold day in January over this every day but given the choice...I'll
still take this over cold. The fish don't care either way though this stretch
of hot will prompt our summer run of big rainbows sooner than normal. Maybe
that's what we're seeing right now as I cant recall seeing so many big river
fish being up here so early in the summer.
This is my theory (though I guess if it's a fact it's no longer a theory)
but I say theory as I've never heard it stated by an MDC authority
but when summer comes and it gets really hot out, rainbows (and browns)
start
moving up towards the Trophy Section of the river. The lower pat of the
river can get VERY warm to the point of being out of the trout's comfort
zone so they start searching for colder water. It's a great time and 18-22"
rainbows are a dime a dozen.
We got some really nice fish today in that slot and while the heat was
a little more than we would have liked, our fishing stayed pretty good
for us.
Hardly anybody out there today as we actually wet a line in the Rebar hole
today. I think that's the first time I've fished there all year. It's kind
of become an "outlet" crowd down there with elbow to elbow fishing at times.
It's always a good place to catch fish but there are limits to what a fly
fishing experience should be and when there's that many people in there,
it's not my bag.
Real nice folks to take fishing for sure. Jim is definitely
the hard core fisherman
of the
group
who has
been
coming
down
here many
years
but
just
recently with us got in to the fly fishing thing. They all do a pretty
good job at it even though they probably wont do it again for another
year. That's ok though. You don't have to be an expert to catch a lot of
fish,
just the ability to have a good time.
Here's the ride home.
I guess he got over it.
June 13th - Our buddy Mike Rock and his wife Linda from up north joined me all day on the water wading. We are in a HOT, HOT, HOT stretch of weather with no relief in site. I'm not complaining! If it's JUne...and it aint rain...Im not complaining.
Fishing was a lot of fun today. A nice high sun with calm winds. The best fish were still shallow and we hit some of my favorite water when it's like this. Early in the am you just HAVE to hit that shallow stuff to catch good fish. We did and it was doubles, doubles, doubles with a couple of really nice ones thrown in.
The two from Linda were both 19" plus fish. Now I could have said 20" fish and nobody would be none the wiser but I'll say it again, we are honest to a fault here on our fishing reports and our biggest today (19 & 7/8ths) just didn't quite hit the holy grail of 20 inches.
Shallow when it's tough? You hear me beat the drum quite often. Mike was just loving the small presentation and sight casting to these subtle, subtle fish. We found some big numbers in these rarely fished areas. I even took a moment to take a pic of one particular group of fish following in every fish we would catch.
Not a group of stockers either but some of these fish were over the 20" mark with many, many 16-18" fish. Way too much fun and sometimes...maybe even a bit TOO easy. No complaints here though. I like catching stupid fish as much as the next guy.
We had a great day today. Nice folks I get to see once a year. Mike's trying to work in a fall trip as he has never gone after the big browns before. They'd both be good at it. Mike's a good fisherman but I'm putting my money on Linda.
One more big fish to share. We ended up fishing near one of our customers Domenic. He was the only one plucking out fish after fish in the area and I didn't recognize him at first. He looks up and says "hey Brett...killing them on your olive Bit Scud over here". Always good to hear those words from our friends. Well, before he left he hooks up with this 21" hawg.
He didn't bring a net so I offered my services plus photography "expertise". Nice one Domenic!
That first fish was a 20" plus rainbow on the olive Bit Scud #20. Lots of really nice fish made the net on what might have been a slower day than what we've been experiencing. Unlike most trout water, these Taneycomo fish perform best with a high sun and light winds. Anytime you get foggy/overcast conditions with no wind the bite tends to be tougher. We found them by looking towards the edges in water rarely more than 8" deep.
This may sound ridiculous to some but if you're out there fishing the "channels" or deeper runs (like almost everyone does) and you find the bite to be tough....turn around 180 degrees, fish about 1/2 as deep as you were and I can promise you that your day will get better. These fish look for warmer water where the bugs are more active when it's early, overcast or foggy out and that usually means the edges. You can set your clock to that one so hey, if you're having a tough time out there give it a try. And oh yeah, go to 7x fluorocarbon tippet and one to two sizes smaller on your flies too.
We did most of that today too and improved our bite along the way. These guys were very new to fly fishing and did a great job dealing with fish that were a bit tougher than usual. We actual found an area where they were taking a brown X-Series Bit Scud better than anything else. I haven't pulled that one out in a long time! Another nice day with some real nice folks.
One of those clean out the box days by the time we were done but it's an old tried and true bug that was king once again. I used to fish the ginger G-Bug A LOT!!! I rarely fish it now to be honest with you. It's a better brown fly than a rainbow fly now and for what ever reason over the years, these fish have turned more to an olive preference than the pure ginger. In the last 5 years I'd say it's safe to say that I've caught more fish over 20" (and more fish in general) on a #20 olive Bit Scud than any other fly. When it gets a little tougher you can drop to a #22 and keep the same pace going. Well it was dropping em for us today too although we caught them on RD Midges, G-Bugs, BZ Midges, Molted Scud Shells....just about anything.
Water came on for us late so we did lunch...let the water come up and clear out then hit the boat for a couple. How about this guy we saw motoring up to the top?
He was right in front of our place sitting that low on the water and yes, we really got that close to him. I dont have telephoto on here so object on fishing report is closer than it appears. I've seen them in zoos that close but never in the wild. They have a look in their eyes that is down right intimidating. It's as if they're saying..dont even THINK about *&%$-ing with me or I'll fly over there and rip your face off! I could have got closer but I really didn't want to. It was COOL!!!!
So in the boat the guys learned all new tactics and techniques and they shined just like the wade fishing. Good enough in fact for Michael to catch this 21" thumper on the coral C-Shelled Scud #12.
Great fish swim in the upper section right now. Browns are showing up even "jumping" now and then like you see when it's spawning time. We're catching a few small ones now and then but those numbers should start increasing.
I had a real nice time with our guests today. Great guys who picked things up really well. I think we have some new converts to share the water with.
I always keep on one "money maker" (ie: C-Shelled Scuds at the moment) but will put something else on just to see if there's something out there I'm missing. I have friends and customers coming in or calling me all the time saying I was killing them on this or that. Usually our stuff but occasionally something different. I'll usually catch something on that stuff but it always comes back to that fact that one mans good bite is another mans...eh, not that great.
We've done it all with Scott at one time or another. We usually hook up 3 -4 times a year and while the trout were good, he had a little interest in looking for those carp with me so we set out to look for some. We found some really big fish stacked up in downed tree limbs and I'm talking 20pd plus fish. The problem was, It was nearly impossible to get a cast in to that mess and if you ever did manage to hook one, it would probably last a total of about 3 seconds as they were staying in just the nastiest kind of tangle you can imagine. Every now and then one would venture out from the thick stuff but we probably only got 3 or 4 casts over fish that had any kind of chance at all. We had one really quick take on a fish and that was all I could physically see. In between that though we found more spawning bluegill and we had a ball with that. Look at the color of this fish.
I think "technically" those are Longear Sunfish?...but I call all those fish Bluegill...tomato to(mah)to. We caught Bluegill too but these things were gorgeous. It looked like one of those "grunts" we used to catch ocean fishing. Vibrant colors and we plucked out several bigger than our hands. I never get tired of those things. Dave Whitlock calls it the perfect fly rod fish. If he's talking about being easy to catch on a lot of different things then yeah, I have to agree. Scott and I had a good time like we always do. He's a great guy and has been a great customer of ours for a long time. We always appreciate it.
The second one was this big, flat length of sky that had these little holes being sucked out of it by what looked like upside down mini tornadoes. You could actually see rotation in each little hole. Later on the news I heard that this weather had never been seen before and will probably require a new name for the cloud type. Cool looking but a bit ominous with a whole end of days buzz to it.
We decided to reschedule later in the week and for now, get out while the gettin was good.
Some more nice notes from recent trips. Thanks folks. One of the highlights of my day is when I get emails from our new friends telling me how much fun they had or how some one fell in love with fly fishing. Great stuff and thanks for sharing it.
Hi Brett
Thanks for a great morning fishing! When you get a chance. I hope to come back to Lake Taneycomo and do some more fishing with Chartered Waters in the future. I think my friend Barb got "hooked" on fly fishing from our morning out.
Have a good summer.
Thanks again
Nancy Lewis
Omaha, NE (May 28th)
Brett,
Thanks again for another great trip. Everyone had a really good experience and of course you put us on the fish all day as usual. I think the trip put Mackenzie over the top, from really liking fishing, to loving fishing (her words not mine). We look forward to seeing you again the next time were in town, hopefully the generation gods will be on our side next time so we can get a little wading in.
P.S. The one that got away is nearly a world record now!
Thanks again,
Jay (June 6th)
Our bite was good with these guys (probably that typical 50 - 60 fish 1/2 day) but better in the afternoon. They PM crew probably topped 100 out there with doubles and triples and just lousy with fish. They were just dropping all day long for those guys and the kids were pretty good at it.
Coral has been #1 with gray a close second. I'm going more #12 coral C-Shelled Scud as the lead then dropping an XG coral #14 behind that. They're liking coral. Great folks to fish with. Always happy and laid back and good fishermen too. It was Bill and MacKenzie's first time with the fly rod and they both did great. Of course the women shine in this sport and I think dad may have himself a fly fishing buddy now.
June
5th - My old friend David Godfry came down to say hi and throw
it around a few times with me today. David had fly fished one time before.
That
was
with us and he developed a love and a true knack for it. ANYBODY who can
fish 7x all day...catch about 40 fish up to 21" and never break off....is
some sort of guru right? I fished a little with him today and I broke off
TWICE myself if that tells you anything.
Water off again today...3 days in
a row!
The bite today was a little tougher. We actually had to be picking the right
fly to make it work. The best was the Bit Scud Shell (molted) followed by
the olive Bit Scud and the sculpin/brown SG-Bug. EverythinG in a #20 and
our drifts and mends and everything had to be a little bit better. Here's
David
with a few shots to show off to his buddy back at work who thinks you cant
catch fish with a fly rod.
A stellar day of weather. We've been in
a good stretch lately. June is typically the wettest month in Missouri
and so far...(knocking hard on wood here) ...we've avoided big rains and
consequently,
flood
gates.
It was great fishing with David again. He was one of my first bowling buddies
back in the day. I used to think, Man!!...I'll never be that good!...and
I'm still not!
Another nice note from a recent customer of ours. These guys were a couple
of great individuals and great students of the sport too.
Brett,
This is Derrick
Joe. We really had a great time
and look forward to doing it again. It truly surpassed my expectations.
Thank
you. (June 1st)
Lil Captain got us there safe and sound and they fed some ducks and played with their feet in the water as I slunk around the shorelines w/the trolling motor looking for fish. I found a decent area at first...good enough to look at again someday but it was later in the day where I hit the jackpot. I found big bunches of big fish and I had 5 - 6 distinct takes from these bruisers.
All you trout bums out there who talk about how quick a trout take is (of which I am one of) let me tell you something...these things are bordering unbelievable. I think I'm pretty quick on the take but I came up blank literally every time I set the hook. I felt a couple of very slight pulls but rarely enough to even spook them with my week and a half late reaction.
I get more respect for these things every time I throw a line at them. They are very sensitive fish and you need to be ready and then some. I think the best fly is one that feels good in the fishes mouth. I was using a ginger/olive Baitfish. I think they'll suck about any thing in (insert Paris Hilton joke here) but ultimately having them keep it in their mouth a fraction of a second longer would go a long ways in hooking up with them. (Now I wasn't even trying on that one). I have some good ideas for flies. Well...good in my world, we'll see if the carp agree.
McKenna wanted to fish and since those targets are a little too tough we found a bed of spawning bluegills and went to town.
McKenna insisted we keep some to have for dinner so we did. Nothing more fun than filleting a 4" bluegill but that's' what we did and of course...princess passed on them at the dinner table. I've never been a big fan of bluegill anyway...weird texture.
So there goes another chapter of what is becoming a mini obsession with me. I need to go out by myself now and target these things uninterrupted. I have some fly ideas to try so stay tuned. Anybody interested in chasing these things to mix up your trout fishing day with us just let me know. It aint easy but it is fun and oh so challenging. I'm not going to resort to bait of scented flies. We're doing this pure fly so the reward will be that much greater.
We have the Jr Circuit...maybe we'll call this the Blue Collar Tour. Kind of like freshwater permit where as they seem to feed as much by osmosis as anything. I'm learning as I go.
