Back in the Water Again

Man, its been awhile, both trout fishing and posting.  I did go with the MSU class in May, but that was mainly helping the students.  Fished Rex's pond and caught some fantastic blue gills.  Helped the boys at Good Samaritan Boys Ranch, but again, that was mainly helping.  Took Rowan fishing a couple of days last week; he's casting a Zebco pretty well and he caught a few blue gill.

I did try a new fly by Terry, he's calling it a Bug-Z.  I caught blue gill and bass on it at the boys ranch and a nice crappie when fishing with Rowan.  Should have tried it today at Taney, but I never.

Fishing buddy Russ and I wanted to fish a tail water the last two days, but everyone was running water.  Today, Russ couldn't go, but the generators were off this morning at Taney, so off I went.  As I approached the 248/165 intersection I saw eight deer standing on and near the shoulder of the road,  Slowed way down, didn't want to collide with one, much less eight.  Fortunately, they saw me, turned and ran back into the woods. Drove down to the parking lot by the outlets and geared up.  Realized my net was back in the garage.  Not a big deal unless I hooked a really large fish...no suspense, I did not. 

As I approached the water I noticed that the spot I like to fish was available, so I was happy to get it.  On about my third cast I got a snag and broke my hook, I was fishing an extra fine one.  Tied on another, just a little heavier and on the first cast I found the same snag.  I can be a slow learner.  This time the tippet broke.  Retied, slightly adjusted my approach and got a beautifully colored trout about 14 inches long.  This guy must have thought he was a wild one as he jumped at least 7 or 8 times.  Brought him to hand an released him.  This trout and all of the other brightly colored ones were very slender,  The duller ones actually seemed fatter and healthier. One bad experience from not having my net.  If you are  fishing a dropped be sure you are clear of the lead hook when you release the fish on the other.  I wasn't and the fish really set the hook well in my finger.  Sure glad I fish barbless hooks. This one was in deep enough that it still took some effort to remove. The blood on the fly may have helped because I started catching fish on that fly.

There was a father and son fishing just downstream.  They had just one rod and the father was trying to help his young son how to fly fish. I could tell the boy was getting bored, he wasn't getting any hits, so I told his dad about Mountain Spring.  He said they may try it before they head back to Tulsa.

Not too many fish, but standing in the cool water with the fog surrounding me really felt good.  I finished a good day by visiting Dana's for lunch and then buying a 2013 Silverado Crew Cab.