Thursday, June 30, 2022
Dragon Tail Gurgler
Wednesday, June 29, 2022
Another Eventful Day at Watkins Mill State Park
Waylon and I had another good day on the water at Watkins Mill State Park yesterday. I threw a tandem wooly bugger rig for largemouth bass on a six weight fly rod. I ended up catching a bass that went two pounds and a few smaller ones. I apologize for the lack of pictures but I only shot video yesterday and this platform doesn't want to cooperate with uploading the video. Feel free to see more details from the day on my Instagram account (@showmeflyguy), TikTok account (@showmeflyguy) or on the YouTube channel (The Show Me Fly Guy).
Link to YouTube video: https://youtu.be/WBfVxXVklr4
Tuesday, June 28, 2022
Black Fly Creations YouTube Channel & Store
YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT4gBy6nA4VJA82U4eea2EA
My buddy Steve, owner of Black Fly Creations, has been retooling and adding new content to his YouTube page. It has a little bit of everything from Euro nymphing, to fly tying, to general fly fishing information. He is a great dude and extremely passionate angler. If you could subscribe to his channel and help him get to 1,000 subscribers (he is SO close right now), I know he would greatly appreciate your support! And if you find yourself in the market for some fly fishing apparel, please check out his store on Amazon. I have a few different shirts that he sells and I absolutely love them!
YouTube Channel Link: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT4gBy6nA4VJA82U4eea2EA
Monday, June 27, 2022
Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass with Ryan Walker- Part 2 of 2
Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance: https://www.facebook.com/Ozarkssmallmouth
Instagram: @ozarkssmallmouthflyco
Instagram: @ozarkssmallmouthallicance
Cell Phone for Guide Service Inquiries: 417-366-3617
Alright, we are going to pick up right from where the last post left off. None of that, "Previously on The Show Me Fly Guy..." nonsense. While Ryan was making the best streamside fajitas I have ever eaten, I did some wet wading and fishing. He strategically placed us along a stretch of water that held some deeper water that typically held fish. While I DID end up catching one, I should have probably caught three but I was happy to catch one independently. It gave me confidence that I could go out on a smallmouth stream and have success on my own.
The afternoon was just as Ryan had predicted! He said the afternoon bite had been better than the morning bite and his prophecy turned out to be exactly right. Not only were the bites more frequent, but the fish got bigger as well. The biggest smallmouth of the day happened with the subtleness of a broken shoelace. While Ryan was helping Cris with something, I spotted a really dark shape in the water. I didn't say anything to anyone in case it turned out to not be a smallmouth or if I screwed things up. It took one cast and three twitches of a fly to get that dude to bite! He ended up being about a 16 inch smallmouth and my biggest fish of the trip. That fish is located at the top of this post.
The second memorable fish came when Cris was playing a fish. As he was bringing in his fish, two other smallmouth bass emerged from the shadows. The bigger of the two actually tried to rip the fly out of the hooked fish's mouth and steal it! I had seen this type of behavior earlier in the day and actually thought I was going to land two smallmouth bass on an articulated streamer that had two hooks. When I saw the bigger fish was in a feeding frenzy, I informed the boat that this fish was going to get hooked and landed. It took three casts but I eventually got the fish to eat my fly and ended up landing it as well. I thanked Cris for the assist.
Aside from the smallmouth bass, this river amazed me in other ways as well. Besides the clear water and beautiful scenery, this river had a diverse ecosystem. We saw a mature bald eagle, an immature bald eagle, and whitetail deer. As far as the fish, we saw red riverhorse suckers, gizzard shad, threadfin shad, common carp, buffalo, and longnose gar. With this being my second trip on a smallmouth river, I am coming to understand that rivers that hold smallmouth are unique. I also managed to catch a spotted bass and two largemouth bass as well. Ryan informed me that one of the largemouth was big for this river system which was a highlight of the day as well.
This was an amazing day on a river with two amazing people that I will never forget. Cris is a heck of an angler and great guy. Ryan is as knowledgeable of a person (not just about fishing either) as I know. He has the perfect mentality and personality for a guide as well. He gets excited about your successes but never gets down about anything. He's quick with a joke or story to keep things light hearted in the boat and just as quick to get a creative picture of you with your catch. If you choose to hire Ryan Walker as your fishing guide, you will not be disappointed in anything! I'm already planning my next trip with him this October with Wendy.
Friday, June 24, 2022
Fly Fishing for Smallmouth Bass with Ryan Walker- Part 1 of 2
Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance: https://www.facebook.com/Ozarkssmallmouth
Instagram: @ozarkssmallmouthflyco
Instagram: @ozarkssmallmouthallicance
Cell Phone for Guide Service Inquiries: 417-366-3617
Ryan Walker is the best fisher that I know and that is not hyperbole! He has fished from Alaska to the San Juan River, all the famous rivers out west, and everywhere around the Midwest. He can spin fish, fly fish, and is an amazing fly tyer. He can guide for salmon, walleye, and trout but smallmouth have a special place in his heart. Aside from being so darn knowledgeable, he is as nice as the day is long and is an outstanding teacher! If I were to make a list of all of the best qualities that a fishing guide could have, Ryan would check all of the boxes and then add some more good characteristics to the list. I had the joy to fish with him last summer and had the absolute pleasure to fish with him again this summer.
We met up on Wednesday morning and it was like seeing an old friend in the sense that we just picked up from where we left off even though it had been a year since we saw one another. On this particular trip though, I was also fortunate to bring along a very good friend of mine, Cris Carpenter. Cris is a heck of a fisher as well and runs Carpenter Bros. Fly Rods. The bamboo rods that he makes and graphite rods he builds are of the highest quality and he is a craftsman in every sense of the word. We have gone on a few fishing trips together and he is the perfect guy to fish with. He is passionate about fishing but never gets too up or down and always has a good joke to share.
We got on a southwest Missouri river at about 8:30 that morning and we saw one other boat that day. Ryan told me that I could share the name of the river, but I don't want to exploit his favorite river or give away anything that I shouldn't. I hope that you can respect and understand that. It would break my heart if he started running into folks on his quiet little stretch of water that said they were there because they read about it on some moron's blog post. I'm not trying to be weird about this, but just trying to be respectful.
We started off with poppers around grass and it didn't take long to start getting bites. My first fish came pretty quickly and it was a beautiful, native...bluegill. We all got a pretty good laugh out of that. The next one was a little smallmouth but this was my first smallmouth that I had ever caught on topwater. Ryan said that if the topwater bite wasn't on fire that we would switch to streamers pretty quickly. Since it was a little slow we made the switch and didn't look back.
We threw bigger streamers and articulated streamers the rest of the day. Drunk and Disorderlies, Roamers, and Bangtails got the job done on intermediate sink-tip lines. As the morning went along, the fishing got better and better. Most of the fish in the morning were the smaller ones of the day with the bigger fish making an appearance in the afternoon. The fish did EXACTLY what Ryan said they were going to do as well. The smaller ones were quick to hit and spit the fly so you had to be quick. I missed a lot of fish as a result but the bite was consistent. The bigger ones were more committed to eating and I only missed one of those. Sure, I would have liked to land every fish that bit but getting the bigger ones to the boat was a much higher priority.
I will post more pictures and information about the bigger fish on Monday, so for today, here are some pictures from the morning as well as our outstanding lunch. Ryan cooked chicken fajitas on the riverbank and good gracious was it restaurant quality. While it could have been the appetite that we worked up over the morning, I think it was Ryan's "basic" marinade that included no less than 20 ingredients. Please make sure you come back for part 2 on Monday!
 |
| I wish I could have gotten a better picture of this immature bald eagle! |
Thursday, June 23, 2022
The Chartreuse Caboose is Putting in Work!
Social media is a great thing when it brings nice, like-minded folks together that wouldn't otherwise ever meet. That is exactly what happened with me recently. A very nice young man that goes by @stripping.streamers on Instragram as well as TikTok. Aside from being extremely polite, he's a heck of an angler. We have swapped stories and fishing tips with one another for months now and he seemed like the perfect person to field test the chartreuse caboose. He fishes for a lot of different species so any feedback that he could send my way would help me towards getting a better handle on what this fly can do.
He recently took the fly down to southern Missouri and used to catch smallmouth! I greatly appreciate his desire and efforts to help me out. I am also happy to report that I can officially say that this fly WILL catch both smallmouth and largemouth. I feel really confident that it is going to boat some white bass and hybrid stripers as well and will let everyone know when I make that happen. Thanks again to @stripping.streamers for all of your feedback and help!
Wednesday, June 22, 2022
On the Water Today
Sorry for the lack of content today, but I am fishing with my good friend Cris Carpenter of Carpenter Brothers Fly Rods and Ryan Walker of Ozarks Smallmouth Alliance. There will be some pictures and video to share soon, but for now, I’m going fishing!
Tuesday, June 21, 2022
A Dream Finally Came True
There was an interesting fact that was left out of yesterday's post about my Father's Day fishing report from Watkin's Mill State Park. I left it out because I felt that it was deserving of it's own, dedicated post.
I have been throwing a tandem wooly bugger rig for a few years now. It seems to make more sense to have two flies in the water rather than one. At first, I was apprehensive about throwing two flies because of the tangles I thought that would occur, but even with my average (at best) casting, I really don't end up with many issues.
I feel like there is a natural inclination that comes along with throwing two flies. Who wouldn't want to catch two fish at the same time. Well, until last Sunday, I had never pulled that feat off but I can check that box now.
After getting one fly hit by one fish, I really never felt the second one hit or even notice that I had two fish on at once until I got the fish to the boat that hit the lead fly. I noticed something felt "off" when I tried to pick it up out of the water. It felt heavier that it should have and that's when I looked down and noticed the second fish. This was something that I have always wanted to accomplish and it was just as cool as I thought it would be. It seemed apropos that this occurred on Father's Day. Maybe it was some sort of divine intervention that decided to give me a gift I had always wanted.
Monday, June 20, 2022
The Most Epic Morning I Have Ever Had AT Watkins Mill State Park
First of all, happy belated Father's Day to all of you dads out there! Hopefully everyone was able to spend some time with friends and family yesterday and have some fun along the way. I had a wonderful day and it started at about 7:00 AM at Watkins Mill State Park. I have fished this lake for a few years now and while I have had some good days on the water, nothing compares to what happened yesterday.
My idea for the morning was to hit the eastern side of the lake pretty hard because that's where the shade was going to be. It has bee really hot here over the last couple of weeks and I was guessing that the fish would be looking for shade and slightly lower water temps but still feeding at the same time. When I reached the eastern bank, I found some shad breaking the surface so I started casting around them with the hope that something was chasing them to the surface. It didn't take long to surmise that the shad were just acting like shad and not being pursued by predators. I also made a few casts at a four foot long grass carp that had a tail the size of my head. As usual, that was an unsuccessful pursuit.
From there, I focused on my game plan of hitting the shade. This instantly became tricky as the shade was only being cast on extremely shallow water that had a lot of vegetation. I almost jetted over to the other side of the lake to fish structure because of this but I sure am glad that I did not. Instead, I remembered back to last summer when I fished this same bank one morning. On that particular morning, I ran my boat parallel to the bank and cast out to the main lake. I managed to catch a few hybrid striped bass that day so before I abandoned this spot, I decided to give that a try.
While casting out to the main lake didn't produce any strikes, I did find the pattern that would rule the morning. I ended up casting parallel to the bank but about 10-15 yards off the bank. I was fishing deeper water with no shade and less vegetation. I was hoping to lure something out of the depths and thinking that maybe fish would be holding in this spot. Well they were doing exactly that. Every fish I caught was doing exactly that!
I threw a tandem wooly bugger rig with one fly being all white and the other having a white body, olive hackle, and an olive tail. It was about 50/50 on which one got hit, but they both caught fish. In terms of fish, here are the stats from my epic morning. I ended up boating 2 bluegill, 1 redear sunfish, 4 channel cats and about 15 bass! I have never had a morning like that before because I have NEVER caught that many bass OR catfish in one morning or evening at Watkins Mill. Now admittedly, none of these fish were what I would call big. The catfish were between 2-3 pounds and the biggest bass was 13 inches. However, the sheer number of strikes and the aggressiveness of the takes made the action pretty much nonstop for about 2 hours. I bet I only missed 3-4 fish total, which was good for me, but the fish helped me out a lot by hitting hard and holding on to the flies.
Yesterday was a lesson learned for me about where and how to fish this lake. I had never done what I did before on this lake with the technique that I was employing. What makes yesterday even sweeter was the fact that now I have that information to use in the future along with other things that I already knew about the lake. I hope that you can use this information too and I hope it gives you even more success than it gave me yesterday!
 |
| I thought Waylon was about to have a dust-up with this raccoon that was foraging along the bank. |
Friday, June 17, 2022
Free Two-Day Fly Fishing Class
Link: https://mdc.mo.gov/newsroom/mdc-offers-free-fly-fishing-basics-classes-june-29-30-kansas-city-area
Thursday, June 16, 2022
I Didn't Realize I was Out of Practice!
Yesterday, I received a request to tie up some cracklebacks for a very nice customer. While I have tied many of these in my life, it has been over a year since I tied my last one. I tie my cracklebacks and Griffith's gnats on a size 14 hook. In Missouri, they are my favorite dry flies and nothing else comes close to getting into the top 2! Back to my point that it had been quite some time since I tied one of these and the fact that I have been tying a lot of big streamers, well that just means that I had lost my perspective as well as my practice.
The first one that I tied was...less than acceptable. I'm not sharing that picture with you. By number two, I got the proportions right and the head smaller. It was up to the standards. The next few looked just like the second one and I was back.
It dawned on me after the last one that I finished that it's funny how if the human mind doesn't use something that it stores it away in the deep recesses of your brain. From there, it is either lost forever or really hard to access again. For example, I can't remember the name of my first grade teacher anymore because I haven't accessed that information in so long that it has gotten lost somewhere. It must be the same with fly fishing, fly casting, and fly tying then. Once you establish that muscle memory and pattern, you're back! The point is that you better keep fly fishing and fly tying or else you are going to lose your skills, at least temporarily. Now you have a scientific excuse to keep you on the water.
Wednesday, June 15, 2022
Where are the Fish and What are They Biting On?
Isn't this a question almost as old as the sport of fishing itself? After returning from vacation to hot temperatures and a week of not having my pulse on fish habits, I am wondering the same thing. To answer the aforementioned question though, the first thing we need to do is wonder, how do we go about answering this question. In my opinion, you have a few options.
Your first option is to get on the water and attempt to answer the question yourself. This will probably take time and patience but could be extremely rewarding. I rarely fish with a fish finder on my boat but with all of the advancements in technology, I'm thinking about buying a unit to help me dissect things a little faster and maybe lead to more fishing success. Regardless of whether you decide to use tech or not, it will be a grind and you might get skunked but at least you did it on your terms and you either get all the credit or all of the blame. This is high risk and high reward.
Option two is to talk to locals and I literally mean talk. Fly shops, tackle shops, and complete strangers can be a wealth of knowledge. They can give you vague info or really specific info. The info could have been obtained within the last few hours or the last few days. Regardless, this is a great starting point but be aware that what worked for them, might not necessarily work for you. The advice is free but you still have to put in the work.
Then there is the option of using social media. This is a double edged sword if I have ever seen one. You might get great advice from seasoned veterans or you might get told to "put in the time yourself" or that "the fish are in the water". Just be prepared for answers that aren't helpful and opinionated keyboard warriors.
Finally, as with many things, maybe the answer is somewhere in the middle. Using all of this info as a sort of playbook might be the way to go. The more ideas and options that you have on the water, the more well-rounded and prepared you will be. Having spots that have traditionally caught fish is great, but hearing an old timer tell you about how bass suspend in the summer on a certain lake or reading about timber that crappie are hanging out in is a nice backup plan as well. In the end, most roads lead back to option one, put in the time. Just remember that while you are struggling to find fish, taking in the beauty around you is a nice distraction as well. You can also be proud of every fish you catch because YOU fooled that fish into biting and YOU earned it!
Tuesday, June 14, 2022
Sad Events Unfolding at Yellowstone
If you haven't been keeping up with the historical flooding that is taking place in and around Yellowstone National Park, it is worth a google. Rivers are flooding at levels that they never reached and at flows that have never been recorded for them. Roads are getting washed away, iconic bridges are being carried downstream, and entrance to the park is closed. The good news is that all of those things can be fixed with money, time, and work. What cannot be fixed so easily is livelihoods.
This is the busy season for fly fishing guides and fly shops. This is what they rely on to make a living and they are dependent on rivers, fish, and customers. None of those are available right now. I am sure that there will be ways to donate to help and we can all keep our eyes open for ways to help these folks. If I run across something that looks trustworthy and helpful, I will pass it along. If you run across something, please send it to me at showmeflyguy@gmail.com. Until then, please keep these folks in your thoughts and prayers if you are of a religious persuasion.
Monday, June 13, 2022
Headed Home
As I type this, I am in a minivan that smells like farts, soda, and saltwater somewhere in Alabama. Posts will become more consistent now and the online fly shop will be open again soon. I will spare you all of the details from the vacation but will include a few interesting, water related pictures from Destin, Florida.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)