Trout Stocking Kill Creek Lake

I enjoyed seeing the first ever Rainbow Trout stocking at the Kill Creek Lake Park on Wednesday, Feb 20th, 2013. This is a Johnson County lake that has been added to the existing stocking lakes of Heritage Park and Shawnee Mission Park. They did all three parks the same day, and just barely beat the snow storm. I brought along my grandson Carson, who is 2 1/2, who really seemed to enjoy it too. The weather was colder than predicted, at around 23 degrees, so we both got cold pretty fast. They decided to tag 8 fish, so they could be caught later for prizes. The lake was closed to fishing until Saturday, so the fish could get a little acclamated. As the truck was a little late, Carson really enjoyed a playground area in the park that was just his size. See pictures and video below.

Terry

 

Carson getting ready

 

Carson saw the truck coming while playing

 

The truck has arrived!

 

 

Getting 8 fish out to tag

 

Marking fish with plastic tag

 

Releasing the main bunch

 

 

Fly Fishing North Fork & Rockbridge 2-2013

Dan, Chris and I had a great trip down to Rockbridge and the North Fork River. Dan and I fished Rockbridge the first day before Chris got there. It was pretty cold in the early morning at 8 degrees, which kept freezing up the rod eyelets as well as the reels; didn’t take long to warm up though and be fairly decent. It was catch and release fishing all day long and we caught a lot of nice sized rainbow trout. We used a variety of flies, but best seemed to be Woollys and midges.  We only saw one other fisherman all day long, and it was a beautiful setting. Later we all three had a very nice meal at the Rockbridge restaurant.  The second day was all day on the North Fork in boats with guides. We did some nymphing without too much luck but did a little better with streamers. We used very large streamers and double flies with names like Voodoo Squatch, Ice Pick, and Sex Dungeon, mostly stripping and using sink / sink tip lines. Due to the conditions and being able to stand up in the saddle slings, we had pretty good visibility and saw quite a few chasers throughout the day. We each caught around 4 – 6 fish, mostly brown trout. The largest was Dan’s 21 inch brown after lunch. And we had a great, hot shore lunch cooked up by the guides. This is the life! We went from Blair Bridge to James Bridge. What a great time. The last day we fished a little more at Rockbridge and brought some home for some good eating. On the unique side of things, Chris brought his Tenkara rod and fished a little with that (and let us try it too). That’s a whole nother story.

For all the pictures, click here

Terry

Healing Waters for Wounded Vets

I think this is a worthy cause for some of our recent wounded veterans. Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing, Inc. is dedicated to the physical and emotional rehabilitation of disabled active military service personnel and veterans through fly fishing and fly tying education and outings.

The Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing program provides basic fly fishing, fly casting, fly tying and rod building classes, along with clinics participants ranging from beginners who have never fished before, to those with prior fly fishing and tying experience who are adapting their skills to their new abilities. All fly fishing and tying equipment is provided to the participants at no cost. Fishing trips, both one day and multiple days, are also provided free of charge to participants.

Check out their web site for more information as well as the option to donate. Thanks. Terry

http://www.projecthealingwaters.org/

Fall Color Photos

Here are my top 8 picks of the Fall Color Photo contest.

Terry

Winter Fly Fishing Outing Dec 2012

Dan and I had a great time down at the Winter Outing of the Heart of America Fly Fishers held anually at Bennett Spring State Park. We stayed at Sand Spring Resort as usual and fished the park Saturday and Sunday, and then with the awesome 70 degree weather, we canoed the Niangua on Monday. We were on the River from Fort Niangua to Sand Spring. The club outing had their usual stream-side lunch up by the spring on Saturday (chili, hot dogs, etc) and then the banquet that evening up at Ollies. The fishing in the park seemed a little slower than usual to us but we caught quite a few trout, and of course it's catch & release in the winter time. Best flies seemed to be midges along woolleys and some nymphs. The weather was so great that we only needed a light long sleeve shirt from morning to night (not bad for December!). They were also doing construction in the park below the dam to improve access and provide for wheelchair fishing. In the river, we caught a couple of rainbow trout but mostly smallmouth bass. Best fly here was definitely the black woolley. What a great time to be all by ourselves on the river. Here are a few pictures from the trip, or for the complete album, click on this link:

Click here for the complete album

Terry

HOAFF Club Lunch 

 Whistle Bridge

 Rainbow Trout in Park

 Park Bridge and Dam

 Starting Canoe trip at Fort Niangua

 Beautiful Niangua River bluffs

Nice Smallmouth Bass by Dan

Inexpensive Real Christmas Trees

Check out this very inexpensive way to get a real and native Christmas tree through a great Johnson County program. It’s the Kansas City Wildlands annual Red Cedar Christmas Tree Day. For a minimum donation of $15, you can cut down your own Christmas tree out at Shawnee Mission Park. It's on Saturday, December 8th from 10 to 3 up at the Theatre in the Park entrance. These are the local Red Cedar trees that you see out in the woods around town. In addition to that, they are offering free recycling of these and other real trees at the park from December 26th to January 30th. And they use them to improve the fishing habitat (and you know I like that!). Check out more information at:

http://jcprd.com/apps/news/specific_record_enewsletter.cfm?id=2649

Amazing Sportsman Publications

You won't believe the stuff my sportsman friend Bruce Cochran does, including
illustrations, cartoons, and books. He's been published numerous places. Check out his web
site to see what he's done.  And if you're interested, you can even buy an illustraction,
cards, or even humor books on-line. Let me know what you think.

http://cochranscartoons.com/

Terry