Fly Fishing Winter Outing - Bennett Spring 12-2014

Dan and I went to the Heart of America Fly Fishers annual winter outing December 6^th through the 8^th. Enjoyed a nice lunch on the spring branch Saturday with the club and then banquet that night. Weather really wasn’t bad at all for that time of year. We stayed up at Sand Spring Resort. We caught quite a few rainbows in the park, although maybe not as many as usual. Best flies seemed to be the Wooly, copper john, soft hackle, crackle back, egg pattern, and a few on an Adams. Twice we went out to the river at Barclay, the first time fished above the canoe takeout and the second time at the Winchester Gap area. Caught about a half dozen browns and rainbows there, which was good for us. A very nice trip overall. I haven’t really been able to fish  much this year.

More pictures at:

https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=B39C3ED8614A9863!192&authkey=!ABurXmfl7h_aQRE&ithint=folder%2cJPG

 

 

 

Colorado Trip 10-2014

Wow, I was lucky enough to have a great vacation trip to Colorado with my 2 brothers. We went from Tulsa, through Texas and New Mexico (stopping at Los Alamos), and mainly staying in the Durango and Purgatory area. I got to ride the Durango / Silverton railroad for the first time, and was I impressed!  We also went to Mesa Verde and saw all the dwellings there. We rode bikes down the Animas River in Durango, and did a lot of sight seeing. Got to see a tremendous double rainbow, and walk some of the Colorado Trail.

For additional Pictures:

http://s1189.photobucket.com/user/flyfishkc/library/Colorado%20Brothers%20Trip%2010-2014

Stip Pit Kicking

Dan and I took a morning and tried the strip pits down south, and used out kick boats. Weather was about perfect as it had cooled off. As far as catching fish, I caught a number of medium to small blue gill, no bass, and a 21" channel cat. Dan had a little more luck with the bass with several decent sized. Nice to get away, as I haven't been able to fish much this year.

10 Moving Tips

I came across this list of 10 moving tips and thought some of you might be interested.


10 Moving Tips to Share

Arkansas Trip

Dan and Chris got to go on a trip to Arkansas last week, and this is their report.

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Chris and I took a June trip to Northern Arkansas.  With the warm weather we had quite a few options.  On the first day we did a float trip on kickboats on the Norfork tailwater.  In the morning, the hot fly was the tan scud.  The globall also provided some action.  We knew they would run water sometime that day but were surprised when they started about noon, about 2 or 3 hours early.  Shortly after the water was on I hooked a big brown on a woolie, but with all the water etc, I could only get him within a foot of the net before losing him.  We had the good fortune of running into a fellow fisherman who talked to us for quite a while about high water techniques using san juan worms.  Even though the flow was at 3000 cfs we were able to fish, mostly wading, all afternoon.  Chris was able to hook an land a memorable 19 inch brown.

The next day we canoed Crooked Creek for smallmouth and did real well.  The best fly was a rubber legged crawfish pattern that I tie.  We also caught some on woolies and crayfish pattern.  We learned that 150cfs is perfect for floating.

We ended the trip on the third day with morning fishing at the Handicap Access on Norfork.  No giants this time, but we did real well on tan scuds, globalls, and san juan worm patterns.

 

 

Friday Night Lights

Enjoyed fishing 2 private ponds this week, one around sunset. The first in south Olathe and the other in western Shawnee. Weather was nice both times, and enjoyed ourselves.

 

Lone Jack Lake

Ray and I decided to check out Lone Jack Lake Wednesday morning. I hadn't been out there for a number of years. I brought the kick boat to fish more of the shore, which worked out well. The water temperature had warmed up some, and felt good to the feet. Fishing was a little tough for the most part, but I found a couple of good pockets of blue gill, and caught around 20 or so (up to about 9 inches, and fairly fat). What a great day to be out there and hardly anyone else out there.  For a little more information about the park, click here.

Lone Jack Lake info

Have we talked sump pumps lately?

Sump pumps aren't an exciting topic of conversation, but it's good to review best practices from time to time. I came across this article about sump pumps from my inspector and thought I would pass it on. Let me know if you have any questions.

Sump Pump article

Mildale Farm Open House & Fishing

The six of us enjoyed the morning out at the Spring Open House down at the Johnson County Mildale Farm on Saturday, 4-26-2014. The bad weather had passed by 8:30 in the morning and the rest of the day was pretty nice. Between us, we fished most of the ponds. Three of them were most productive I would say, and we caught a fair number of crappie, largemouth, and blue gill. The water had warmed up a little recently.

Ozark Fly Fishing trip 4-2014

WOW, we had a great trip fly fishing down in the Ozarks last week. We started with our usual trek down to the Spring River just outside of Mammoth Springs Arkansas. We hit it at a great time again this year and caught tons of fish. We caught all rainbow trout with the exception of one brown trout. The weather was just perfect. Then we had planned to go down to the Little Red River farther south but it seemed too risky that the water would be high and we wouldn't be able to wade fish. So it was a gamble as to where to go next and decided to scoot over to the Norfork River tail water. We got some good time there but they turned on the water sooner than predicted, so we got chased out of there (after catching some nice ones). Next we decided the safest place to go for sure fishing was Montauk State Park back in Missouri on the way back and did that the last day. We fished half a day in the park and the other half in the river (Current River below the park). Did okay there catching a number of rainbows. The last full day was almost 80 degrees and then the next morning was windy and wind chills in the 20's! We fished for a little while and then called it a trip, a successful trip with good friends - Dan, Jim, Rocky, Ron and me.

Here is a link to all the pictures:

Complete Set of Photos

5 Suggestions for First Time Homebuyers

I like to spend time tracking down some information I think will be helpful for first time home buyers as they begin their home search. I came across an article that explains five smart moves home buyers can make to have a successful home buying experience. As an Accredited Buyer’s Representative (ABR®), my business is built around helping my buyers and keeping them educated. Here is the article:

Click here for article

Bennett Spring Trout Season Opener 3/01/14

I enjoyed the traditional Trout Season Opener on March 1st down at Bennett Spring. We saw Milt Barr (next to Gov. Nixon) blow the whistle on his 50th opening day there (what a feat, huh?). I think there were about 1,500 tags sold; down from most years. Here's a short (not too well done) video too I did at the opening whistle, and also added a link to a professional video done that day (24 minutes long) which I'm in at about minute 10 watching Milt and then taking pictures.

http://youtu.be/Svf9594CFZg 

http://youtu.be/1NZL94YzSNU