"There aren't any fish in this (expletive removed) river! What the....I mean, Fish On!" Russell seconds before hooking the first fish of the day!

Russell and I headed to the Illinois Sunday to see how all this high water has affected the river and hopefully hook-up with a few stripers. The Illinois is very high—backed up by the Arkansas River—and basically the color of chocolate milk, but the stripers are definitely in the river!



We had to cover a lot of water before we found any fish, but we boated four stripers and lost two or three more. Two of the fish we boated were small schoolies, but Russell and I both hooked a bruiser that ripped drag and put a serious bend in our eight-weight rods! Both fish weighed exactly eight pounds on the Boga-Grip—a pair of eights! Not a bad way to spend a Sunday evening!

Michael

The high-water fly fishing has been very good below most of our tailwaters this spring and early summer, and Taneycomo was no exception this week! Theresa and I only fished for five hours on Wednesday, and we boated plenty of fat, healthy, reel-screaming rainbows!



Set deep below a large strike indicator and a AAA split shot, Hunchback Scuds, San Juan Worms and egg patterns were all working well when fished in the current seams along the edges of the heavier flows.



Fly fishing in high water is one of our favorite ways to catch trout, so if you’ve never done it before, be sure to try it out this summer for some fast and furious action!

This fat smallie smashed a Clouser Minnow on a slow retrieve!

With all of the high water this spring and early summer, the smallmouth fishing and floating has been extremely good all over the Ozarks! Wiggle Minnows, Clouser Minnows, Gummy Minnows and various crawdad patterns have all been working well especially when fished on sink-tip lines in the higher flows. If you’ve never fly fished for smallmouth before, be sure to stop by the shop and let us point you in the right direction.

Michael

Russell with a very nice Kings River smallmouth!

The smallmouth fishing on the Kings has been spectacular over the past couple of weeks, with lots of good-sized smallies smashing our Wiggle Minnows and Clousers!


Dave with another nice Kings smallie!


Russell with another quality Kings River smallie!


Hooked up on the Kings!


This two-and-a-quarter-pound smallie just couldn't resist my Clouser Minnow!


Russell with a dark Kings River trophy!


Another trophy smallmouth released back into the river!

Over the next week or so, the top-water action should really start heating up as well, so make sure you have plenty of poppers if you head to the river!

The Smallmouth fishing on the Kings is absolutely on fire right now! In both the pools and the shoals, we hooked almost all of our fish on Wiggle Minnows, Gummy Minnows, and Clouser Minnows.


Rob with a fat 17" smallmouth!


Mike celebrating another FAT Kings River smallmouth!


Steve with another bad-ass smallmouth bass!


Greg with a big, beautiful bronzeback!


Mike with another fattie!


Bryan with a fat largemouth!


Mike with another tiger-striped smallie!


Rob with a nice Kentucky!


Greg with another nice smallmouth!


Paul with a twenty-plus inch absolute TOAD of a smallmouth!

If you've never fished the Kings with a fly rod before, be sure to stop by the shop and we'll be happy to show you how to rig up for smallies, our favorite flies, and our favorite stretches to float and fish.

With all of the water this spring, it looks like 2008 is going to be a spectacular smallmouth year!

Cody Smith finally got to go fishing the other day:

What do you do when the rivers are blown out? Go to the pond to catch largemouth of course.



I think a wiggle minnow will catch anything.

Thanks for the report, Cody-- when do we get to fish this pond?

--Todd

Jason Ryburn landed this monster grass carp on a 7 weight and a looooong leader. It ate a size 10 brown Woolly Bugger-- he landed it right next to his ear and 'couldn't do a thing but hold on' when it wanted to run.




Way to go, Jason. Thanks for the report!

--Todd

Gnarly Rock Bass

No secret creek here, just fished a few this weekend and am posting it all at once. Taught some kiddos how to fly fish at the West Fork Fishing Derby on Friday, then hopped down on the West Fork of the White for a bit. No smallmouth, but got a few monster Green Sunfish.


Nice Smallmouth

Sunday, Amanda and I drove around to a couple of bridges on the Illinois River and caught some very nice smallmouth and various other fishes; biggest was about 15 inches. Didn't have time to float (levels were perfect!), but didn't do half-bad for an impromptu trip. Water was still a little chilly, but is heating up by the minute.


Baby Snapping Turtle

We're coming up on Prime Time for our smallmouth creeks. Get a float trip together as soon as you can. If you don't have access to (or don't want to rent) a canoe, there are plenty of places to wade fish; but at these levels, it would be a crime not to go floating!

--Todd

We received some kind words and another amusing fishing report from our friend Scott Diel in Estonia:

Thanks for McFlyshop mailings. I believe you are the only fly shop in the
country who writes a good sentence and knows where the commas go. Hats off. You ought to add illustrations, bind the reports in leather, and sell 'em.
Get a free pipe or fifth with every ten-volume set purchased.

While you're waiting on the smallmouth, we're all sitting around waiting on
the mayfly hatch, which will come off in a couple of weeks and last through
most of June. A few guys have been out to the rivers and thrown streamers
and done fairly well (fish up to 5 lbs.--see photo; that ain't me).



It's also sea trout and salmon season, and those who like to fish in the sea are
doing fairly well. I've gone a couple of times in front of my house (about
300 yards to the sea), but haven't caught anything. But supposedly they're
out there. Last year was one of our better years for mayflies, and while I
didn't catch any monsters, there was exciting action all season. Nothing
better than to hear that giant sucking sound and then scramble up the bank
to go chase him down and cast to him. Used to share the fun with my dog,
Mondo (you probably remember him, the Siberian Husky), but he killed
somebody's lamb and now has to stay home. He also killed a chicken. Two of
'em, actually. But who knows what those chickens said to him? I don't think
he would have attacked them just for the hell of it.

Scott moved to Estonia a few years ago and we instantly missed his irreverent wit on our website forum. That forum is now defunct, but we miss him all the same. We assume that, along with the fishing, he's also up to no good.

--Todd

Went to Twin Bridges Wednesday. The whites are there. They are deep, and most were caught crawling the fly along the bottom. Crawdad patterns were working well. The strikes are subtle, but they can be caught.

Matt

Thanks for the report, Matt! Sounds like a good day. We've also had a couple reports of some bigger hybrids finally showing up. When that happens, the fish count might go down, but the average fish size goes way up!