Bennett Spring Winter Outing 12-03-16

Had a great winter outing with the Heart of America Fly Fishers group down at Bennett Spring.  Weather was a little cold but not too bad.  Fishing was some of the best we've ever had at a winter outing. Our first outing without Ray Zook. 

Terry

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Trip to Bryson City NC / Smokey Mountains 10-23-16

Flew with Dan Zimmerman to Charlotte NC where Rocky Stewart drove us to Bryson City.  Stayed at Comfort Mountain Getaway VRBO. Did raft / fly fishing trip on lower Nantahala, lots of fun, mostly small, wild trout, caught about 14.  Later fished upper Nantahala and caught several scrambling down hills and rocks, pretty rough. Fished Tuckasegee with no luck for a few hours.  Walked up to Deep Creek and caught a few.  Weather was perfect, and many trees changing.

Terry

Back Yard Wildlife - October 2016

Enjoyed the deer and turkey this month.

Mildale Open House 4-30-2016

Dan and I enjoyed the Mildale Open House, along with my friend Bill DeHoff. The weather had just been pretty stormy, but was actually pretty nice during the morning hours.  We fished several of the ponds, with the one I call the East pond being the most productive. We caught a ton of Largemouth Bass and many blue gill and sunfish. Over at the west pond where we started, we caught a fair number of fish as well.  Bill and Dan caught a number of crappie there as well.  I was fishing mostly all topwater, so I didn't get any Crappie.  All in all, one of the most productive fishing days I've ever had out there, especially on topwater.  They had a small display about the new and upcoming Big Bull Creek, but really it was only a map of the area (which is about 2,000 acres).  And it wasn't crowded; only saw about 6 or 7 other fishermen the whole time.

Terry

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White & Spring River 4-03-2016

The 5 of us, Dan, Ron, Rocky, Jim, and myself had a good fly fishing trip to the White & Spring Rivers.  The 3 dam tail waters (Bull Shoals, Norfork, Table Rock) were running high so no wade fishng. So our car with Ron & I decided to fish Crane Creek on the way down (first time for either of us).  I miraculously caught as my first fish there a 22 inch rainbow on a size 20 zebra midge size 6x tippet & also caught 3 others small ones, I believe they were McCloud Rainbows (?). Ron also caught a couple, all in park area downtown. Then we all stayed the first night at the White River Trout Lodge on the upper portion of the White River.  So we used guides that next day around Rim Shoals and up by the dam (running about 3 generators).  Dan & Rocky and I were in one boat and I believe all caught over 20 or so rainbows. Jim & Ron had another guide and caught a few as well. Since there still wasn't any good wade fishing the next day, we drove over to the Spring River the next day (the flow was maybe 1400 cfs down at Hardy).  Fishing there was definitely slower than past years, but we caught a rainbow or 2 or 3 that morning.  Then we split up and went down stream and the Bayou access, and did better there.  While at the Spring River, we stayed down at the Hardy Spring River Lodge, which is the first time we stayed there; it was pretty nice. The next morning our car fished the Spring River up at Dam 3 and caught about a dozen rainbows or so, while the other group headed up to Montauk where they did pretty well.  Rain came in later that day as we started driving home. We got lucky on this trip and both the red buds and dogwoods were blooming beautifully!

Terry

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North Fork Float Trip & Rockbridge 2-10-16

Dan and I had an enjoyable trip down to the North Fork River and also nearby Rockbridge in southern Missouri.  The river trip was with a guide, Shelby, who we both really liked. We caught a number of relatively small to medium fish, but it was nice that each of us caught a very nice sized fish as well, all were rainbow trout except one small brown. Best flies were the wolly bugger, rubber legged prince nymph, and I experimented with a chartroose glo ball for a while and caught 4 or 5 on that.  We went from Rainbow Springs to Blair bridge, which has some really nice water, and beautiful scenery, about 6 miles.   I was really impressed with how many cabins that Myron has finished there at River of Life. Shelby had a ClackaCraft boat with anchor spots on front and back to stand and cast; very nice. Even the lunch was very nice. A very enjoyable day trip all around. We decided to take a few big fish home from Rockbridge trout park. The water was running just a little high, and also impacted by a recent flood which put a lot of small rainbows in the park. And some areas had a muddy coating which made some areas EXTREMELY slippery to walk.  Each of us caught 10 – 12 nice sized ones, all in the 1 – 3 pound range, averaging a little over 2 pounds.  Their restaurant food was also very good as usual. The spring creek that runs through their park runs into the Bryant Creek, which eventually runs into the North Fork above the lake. While fishing the first day, one of my boot soles came half off, so I’m very glad I brought a backup pair with me. Weather was a little cold, but warmed up decently during the day with some sun (teens & 20's in the morning, then mostly 40’s). The best flies I think overall were the woolly buggers and then especially the rubber legged princes that Dan brought. I even caught a couple of fish on a small purple fly that Shelby’s son made, and caught several in the river on a chartreuse glo ball.

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