Fly Fishing & Star Wars

As the release of the new Star Wars movie (The Force Awakens) approaches, it got me thinking about the two things in my life that I find absolutely fascinating, and how they could possibly be blended together.  I started to do a little searching online and found the funny meme at the top of the page as well as the picture below.  I also realized that if you can dream up some sort of idea, chances are, someone else has also had the idea and already started a Facebook page for it.

So in an effort to merge two things that make me incredibly happy, here are the fruits of my labors.

Return of the Jedi Fly Box.  

I ran across one of my lunch boxes from elementary school and it felt like a shame for it to just sit and collect dust in my parents basement.  So I did the only thing that seemed to make sense...I turned it into a fly box.

Star Wars streamside box.  

I found this small tin box at Target the other day and decided it needed to cross over to the dark side and become a fly box for my son.

Star Wars inspired flies.  

While I was kicking around some things that might improve this post, I decided to attempt to tie some flies that could relate to some Star Wars characters.  These are the best I could come up with but would really like to see other ideas if anyone feels inspired.  I think most of these are actually fishable too and not to far out there in terms of color combinations.

Stormtrooper Gurgler

Yoda Wooly Bugger

Darth Vader Wooly Bugger

Chewbacca Easy Peasy

Kylo Ren Gurgler  (Kylo Ren is one of the new villains in The Force Awakens).

Captain Phasma Gurgler  (Captain Phasma is one of the new villains in The Force Awakens).

Boba Fett Gag Fly 

The Whole Gang

Hook Shots: Texas Gator Gar Redemption

A new episode of "Hook Shots" got posted the other day and I had to share  it. The title made me interested and the video made me laugh hysterically. I might be saving up some money to go fish the Trinity. I wonder if an alligator gar would take a fly?

Urban Trout Stocking in Missouri

While I don't look forward to urban trout fishing as much as say the opening day of deer season or a trip to Roaring River, it is a welcome reprieve from the bass fishing that becomes nonexistent and a nice way to make winter pass while still being able to fish.  I am so glad that the state of Missouri does this and it has helped me keep my sanity during a few winters that seem to linger on longer than I would like.  For what it is worth, I have had the most luck catching these imported trout using a super duper on an ultra light outfit or on a jig under a float with a fly rod.  John Deere's work well in this case but don't be scared to throw out some crazy colors.  My best day of catching these trout came on a day where I threw a black jig with chartreuse head about 6 feet under a strike indicator on a 9 foot, 6 weight fly rod.  Good luck and I hope you get the chance to catch a few trout in some places that don't naturally produce them.

The following was taken from mdc.mo.gov and I believe it was also part of a press release.

MDC stocks urban lakes for winter trout fishing

More than 70,000 cold-water-loving fish in 31 urban-area lakes around the state are available.

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – The Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) is stocking more than 70,000 rainbow trout in 31 urban-area lakes around the state for winter trout fishing beginning Nov. 1.

In addition to catch-and-release fishing through Jan. 31, many of these areas allow anglers to harvest trout as soon as they are stocked. Others allow catch-and-keep fishing as early as Feb. 1.

The daily limit for catch-and-keep at these locations is four trout with no length limit. All Missouri residents over age 15 and under 65 must have a valid fishing permit, and all non-residents over age 15 must have a fishing permit. To keep trout, all anglers of all ages must have a Missouri trout permit.

"Trout are typically found in the cold, spring-fed, streams of southern Missouri," MDC Fisheries Programs Specialist Andrew Branson said. "Stocking selected lakes and ponds around the state during the winter months provides close-to-home trout fishing opportunities in parts of Missouri that you normally won't find trout."

For a list of urban-area lakes stocked for winter trout fishing, visit http://on.mo.gov/1k87SOk. Conservation makes Missouri a great place to fish. For more information trout fishing in Missouri visit mdc.mo.gov.

MDC is stocking more than 70,000 rainbow trout in 31 urban-area lakes around the state for winter trout fishing beginning Nov. 1. (NOTE: High-res image is available herehttp://mdc.mo.gov/node/31721).

Observations from the weekend

First off, I apologize for the lapse in posts.  Last week was incredibly busy and the next two weeks look like more of the same but I am working on some posts today while there is a lull in the action.  I am also working on a post that should go up Thursday that...let's just say will be bigger than a Jawa but not as big as a Death Star.  So let's get to some fishing observations that were made over the weekend.

I was able to hit a couple of farm ponds this weekend and caught about 15 bass.  4 of them came at the trophy pond (no Momo sightings) and the rest were caught Sunday morning.  While these two ponds are very different, all of the bass were behaving in a similar way in terms of patterns.  Every fish I caught was in shallow water near the bank and hiding in grass.  Now I will be the first to admit that I am not well versed when it comes to fall fishing.  In the past, I have typically hung up the fishing tackle around early October and started to scout whitetails for the November firearms deer season.  For whatever reason this year, I'm just not as fired up about deer season but I'm still wanting to land one more big fish for the year.  My wife supports such efforts and is quick to remind me that I am a fisherman that hunts, and not a hunter the fishes.

Another observation that I made was that the fish seemed more interested in hitting a spinnerbait than a fly.  Now maybe this had something to do with the fact that the ponds I was fishing had scattered pockets of grass and a strategic and accurate cast was required to run a lure between the patches.  A cast with a fly rod either had to be right on the money, an incredibly long cast, or both.  For the sake of making the most of my time and in an effort of efficiency, I opted to run a spinnerbait near the bank and between the patches.  It paid off really well and I landed a lot more fish as a result as well as a beautiful three pounder.

There was a second interesting observation about the spinnerbait versus fly conundrum.  I decided to try and catch one more fish on a fly.  I found a spot that I hadn't worked yet and it looked JUST LIKE the other spots that had held fish.  I got into a position there I could run a streamer along the edge of the grass, but there was no strike.  I made another cast and same result.  I made five more casts and didn't get a reaction.  While I was starting to think that maybe there just wasn't a fish there, my "fishy" sense was still saying otherwise.  I decided to see if switching to a spinnerbait would make a difference. While I didn't get a hit on the first pass, the second cast produced a pretty 1 and 1/2 pound bass.  It was interesting to see bass in a pond that receives next to no pressure get picky and want one lure over a fly.  I guess I just saw farm pond bass as opportunistic eating machines that were senseless killers.  Of course I have seem them respond to slower baits in the summer, but the fact that they wouldn't hit a streamer but would hit a spinnerbait of similar size and color was new to me.

Here's an even bigger head scratcher.  My dad owns some land that has a pond on it.  I remember fishing the pond when I was little but haven't fished it in years.  It is surrounded by trees and there's lots of submerged branches and brush to contend with.  After hearing the third person tell me, "Now there used to be some nice bass in that pond" I decided to see if I could get something to bite last fall.  I used a John Deere under a float on an ultralite spinning rod combo.  I figured if there was anything in the pond, it would hit a John Deere.  I didn't catch a single fish but saw some bluegill in the shallows that were about 1-2 inches long and not big enough to hit even the smallest jig I could throw.  Since I was catching a few bass Sunday morning, I decided throw a spinnerbait around the pond.  Nothin!  My buddy Pat even threw a casting net with only 3-4 fish getting caught and you guessed it, they were all little bitty bluegill about 1-2 inches long.  So here's where I am confused; how is it that this pond had fish years ago, but doesn't seem to now with the only exception being bluegill in the 1-2 inch range?  There have to be bigger bluegill that are making small bluegill.  I've also seen ponds overrun with bluegill, but when that happens they seem to be everywhere and easy to catch.  This story isn't over and I will post future findings.  I and going to run a trot line this fall or next spring and maybe even see if I can borrow a seine net from someone.  Also, if you have any thoughts or ideas, please don't hesitate to share.

My Missouri Declaration

I love Missouri with all my heart.  I was born here, I will die here, and I will live out the best days of my life here.  I was lucky enough to grow up in the mix of prairie and woods of western and northern Missouri.  I can’t think of a better way to learn about the outdoors than seeing deer prints on top of turkey tracks on my way to a farm pond that is stocked full of bass.  I discovered the beauty and diversity of southern Missouri after college when one of my best friends took me to Bennett Spring State Park to trout fish.  I didn’t know that water could be so clear and cold!  I have had the fortune to travel to other parts of this state and I am never disappointed by the mixture of landscape as well as fishing.  We have bowfin and alligator gar in the southeast for Pete’s sake!  If you can’t find something to fish for in Missouri or you can’t get excited about all the fishing opportunities we have, well then as my uncle Joe of Stockton, Missouri, would put it, “You’re just a sour puss.”  This is home and growing up I was taught that you should be grateful for what you have.  By God, I AM grateful to be a citizen of the great state of Missouri and if you live here, then you should be too.

For years I have tried to understand why others don’t feel pride in Missouri.  Besides the fishing, we have a lot going for us.  The St. Louis Cardinals are an iconic team and historically one of the best baseball franchises in Major League Baseball.  The Kansas City Chiefs are home to the loudest stadium in the NFL.  We have rich history that has roots beyond the Civil War and we were the outpost for westward expansion.  The University of Missouri is home to one of the best journalism programs in the country and used to whoop up on the University of Kansas regularly…in football that is.  Now we just dash Arkansas’s SEC West dreams and show the University of Illinois who is boss when they have the guts to play us in the sport of their choosing.  Sorry about that.  I just realized I let my inner Tiger out.  It won’t happen again.  It probably won’t happen again.  It might happen again.  I’m sorry in advance.

We are home to The Big Muddy, Johnson’s Shut-In’s, and the birthplace of Jesse James.   We are the Cave State, The Show Me State, the home of Throwed Roles, and where Harry S. Truman was born.  We hosted a World’s Fair, World Series, and the largest earthquake in United States history.  We have more fountains in Kansas City than Paris, the oldest University west of the Mississippi (Saint Louis University), and the Hollywood of the Midwest (aka Branson).  We’ve got bluebirds, black bears, mules and mountain lions.  We have the largest brewery in the nation, countless wineries, and I know we still have moonshiners.  We raise cattle, hogs, chickens, horses, sheep, goats, and I even saw a camel farm once.  Heck, there was a crazy old lady that had a couple male lions outside of Warrensburg for a while.  (By the way, if I left your region or claim to fame out, let me know and I will post about it, I promise).

I don’t ever have to go to another state to fish!  We’ve got it all.  We have muddy rivers on our east and west borders that grow some of the largest catfish in the country.  There are pristine rivers and streams in the south that hold big populations and hearty trophies of rainbow and brown trout.  We have reservoirs that offer bass fishing that is good enough to draw B.A.S.S. tournaments.  There are lakes in the state that hold trophy walleye like Bull Shoals and Stockton Lake.  If you want to catch wipers/hybrids, head to the Lake of the Ozarks or Truman Lake.  If the sweet taste of crappie is what you want then you can’t beat Table Rock Lake or Mark Twain Lake.  What more do you want?  Sure you could spend thousands of dollars travelling to Alaska for salmon or the Amazon for Peacock Bass, but for that price you could go on numerous trips around Missouri with or without guides and never cover all the water we have.

But maybe we need to keep this to ourselves.  Maybe we are the best kept secret in the U.S.  I guess we can say that since we don’t know the secrets of other states…because they are secrets.  Regardless, while I want to shout it from the top of Taum Sauk Mountain that Missouri is a diamond in the rough, a part of me wants to let people just keep passing through.    Let us be the gateway to the west or even the east for that matter depending on perspective.  True Missourians know that we aren’t a gateway, we are the destination.

Fly Fishing For Wipers

I am always interested in learning how to fly fish for species of fish other than trout.  These are some excellent videos to help get you started fishing for a species that gets pretty big and has a bigger attitude!



Here's a link to another detailed video...even it is from Kansas:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S2WbVbUf8o 

Hank Patterson Video Collection #2

As promised, the final installment of Hank Patterson, World's Greatest Fly Fishing Guide.

Trophy Pond

If you fish long enough, then you eventually find a secret spot.  This is a place where you catch a lot of fish, catch big fish, or a lot of big fish.  Regardless, you keep your spot to yourself and if you DO ever take someone to your spot, then they might be sworn to secrecy and there might even be blindfolds involved.  That's not a joke.  I know true stories that involve people being blindfolded on the way to a honey hole.

My spot is simply called, The Trophy Pond.  It resides in...oh come on, you didn't think I was going to tell did you?  Let me put it to you this way, you keep your spots to yourself, and I will keep this one to myself.  If you ever feel the need to exchange spots, email me.  I will not be holding my breathe for health reasons.

My dad.

Anyway, the pond is located somewhere in rural Missouri and sits in the middle of a field that sometimes grows soybeans and sometimes corn.  The landowners are some of the nicest folks you have ever met and they know they have a goldmine.  They know that they grow big fish and don't need to see pictures of my catches to prove it.  I first found the pond one day while prospecting with my dad and let me put it to you this way; I caught five fish in less than an hour, put them on a stringer, weighed the stringer, and the stringer weighed over 20 pounds.  All fish were returned to the water because this is a pretty small pond and killing those fish would probably have long-lasting effects.  Since then I have taken a few of my out of town friends to the pond.  I am confident that they could never find the pond again without my help, and if you ever mention the phrase "Trophy Pond" around them, they automatically recount the memories without any prodding.

A buddy of mine with a product of the Trophy Pond.

Aside from these VERY close friends, I have also taken my good buddy Pat.  Pat might just be the single nicest and most helpful guy I have ever met.  He is a very smart (literally, a genius IQ) and is always there when I need him.  When I have a toilet problem, I call Pat.  When I have small engine questions, I call Pat.  When I need a sprinkler system dug up because some moron installed it over a manhole cover in my front yard, I call Pat.  He's always there at a moment's notice and treats me like I was his son.  For all of those reasons and more, Pat is Trophy Pond worthy.

We have fished the Trophy Pond a couple of times and done fairly well both times.  Obviously, there are lots of big fish in the pond, but it is not without its limitations.  The bank of the pond is completely surrounded by trees which makes casting difficult.  When the water is up, there are about five spots to cast from without getting into water and mud up to your knees.  There is plenty of poison ivy intermingled between the trees and you have to cross a fairly large field to reach the pond.  Most of the time, I only fish the pond in the spring and the fall because of the crops and my desire to stay out of tick infested areas.

Last spring, while Pat and I were fishing the pond, we caught a number of bass in the 1 and 1/2 pound to 2 and 1/2 pound range.  They were healthy, parasite free, and had beautiful color.  Since I knew that the water level would be above normal due to recent rains, I decided to go to extreme measures.  I slapped on a pair of waders so I could get away from the bank so I could fish more spots and cast easier.  To make a long story short...it worked.  I think I caught more fish than I ever had at the trophy pond and hooked the biggest fish I have ever seen at the trophy pond.  By my estimations, it was well over 20 inches long and probably in the 6 pound range.  I lost the beast when she jumped and tossed my spinnerbait like a rag doll.  But I saw her and since it's a small pond, she isn't going anywhere!

So last Sunday, Pat and I headed back to the trophy pond in search for the bass that my son has helped name "Momo".  My buddy Luke from the Midwest Drift actually made me aware of the term in a post last spring so I adopted to term as a moniker for this behemoth.  Momo is an mythical beast that is believed to live in southern Missouri and is alleged to be very similar in form to Sasquatch a.k.a Bigfoot.  It's sort of an acronym that loosely translates to Missouri monster.  Get it?  If not, email me.  I will make a diagram for you.

Pat on his way to the Trophy Pond.

To make a long story longer, we arrived at the Trophy Pond with a new set of ordinance to deploy.  I bought my float tube with the sole intent to use it at this pond.  I figured that if I was able to position myself in the middle of the pond, then I could cast a fly to these big bass and maybe even land a five plus pounder on a fly rod.  To date, I have caught 2 bass that went 6 pounds with both of them coming during spring prespawn and both being landed on spinning tackle.  I have also caught 2 bass that tipped the scales at 4 pounds on flies, and both of them were more or less "accidentally" caught.  This time, I would be targeting one large bass on a fly rod while happily picking up some smaller bass as well.

Pumping up the float tube.

The last bass I caught for the day.

We started off hiking through a bean field.  Thankfully most of the plants were losing their leaves which made the walk easier.  Then I unpacked my float tube at the water's edge and pumped it up.  Before long I was kicking around the pond and casting a fly to some fishy looking places.  Pat was the first to score a bass using a rat-l-trap.  To be honest, I didn't get the reaction I was hoping for with a fly.  I thought it would be one of those "catch a fish every cast" situations with the water temperature dropping and the bass being on a fall pattern.  After about 10-15 casts, I got my first bite.  It was a very healthy bass in the 2 pound range.  I caught it on a brave and it put up a tremendous fight.  Pat picked up a few more from the bank and I ended up putting 5 or 6 more bass on my float tube apron.  After my arm got sore casting my 8 weight, I switched to a spinning rod and a spinnerbait.  My catch rate went WAY up and I caught 5 or 6 more bass in about half an hour. Out of the 10-12 bass I caught, only 2 of them were under 16 inches with a few bass being in the 18-19 inch range.  It was a beautiful day, the fish were biting, we were in the middle of nowhere, and it was a great day.  However, no Momo sightings.  But this story isn't over.  I still have time this fall and of course next spring to get Momo on a fly.  I haven't had a fish to obsess over in a while.  I now look forward to dreams about Momo.  I will probably tie flies that might get Momo to bite.  I also anticipate having my wive tell me that she is tired of hearing about Momo.  And of course, there will be more Momo posts...for the better or worse.

The ruler on the apron goes to 18 inches so this bass is a solid 17 inches.