What they keep saying about the Miracle Fly – A True Testimonial

Dave touches on the fly that is exactly what it’s called, “the Miracle fly”.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

December 8, 2011
Hello Jeremy.

I would like to share last weeks success story and thank you for introducing me to fly tying a few years ago. I especially want to say thanks for teaching me to tie the “Hunts Miracle Fly“ egg pattern. You have taught me many patterns but the “Miracle Fly” is the heart of this story.

There are a lot of egg patterns out there that I have tied and tried a lot of them.
All of the patterns will elicited hits and catch fish however, the “Miracle Fly” and the hooks you now use and that I now tie with in the “Miracle Fly” pattern seems to have increase my hook up rate. I would like to say I am getting better as a fisherman and maybe that has a little to do with it, but having a hook that will hold in the fish and not bend or break is not due to my improving. It’s nice to know that at least one part of your rig isn’t going to “ give up”. I feel the shape of this hook is also a bit different, accounting for the improved hook up rate.

I hope this is not sounding like a TV infomercial. That’s not my intent.

Any Way:

We all have heard of “big fish flies” and most have tried a few. The problem I have experienced with these flies is that they don’t catch very many smaller fish; you know those between twelve and seventeen inches. Little bass will hit a lure larger than themselves, in my limited experience, not trout.

Most fishermen soon become bored (self included) when we are not catching fish. Like most who are somewhat new to the sport. I like to catch lots of fish and hope to luck into a big one now and then. There are the “Tim’s” that can fish all day for one big fish, not me.

Unfortunately, big fish don’t just happen unless you are a twelve year old fishing with a french fry. You just don’t happen into big fish on a regular basis. It takes a combination of a lot of things. One of the things that I like about an egg pattern is that, when tied and fished right, it performs as a “big fish” pattern that will also catch a lot of smaller fish making for a great day on the water.

Bragging but not bragging (“If you done it, it ain’t bragging.”) In my last five fishing days at Roaring River State Park I have hooked and landed about ninety or so fish with four fish over twenty-three inches. Good fish by any standard. I have enclosed a photo of the largest of the group’ It was just over twenty-seven inches. Not all of the ninety fish were hooked on the Miracle pattern but all of the bigger ones including several in the fifteen to seventeen range involved this fly as either the primary or attractor fly on my rig. That should say something. It does for me.

By the way, all the fish caught were released to be enjoyed on another day.

It was good seeing you on the stream the other day and taking part in your fly tying classes Saturday. I always learn something new that I can use. Your work and creativity is appreciated.

Weather permitting I will see you on December 17.

Thanks again

Dave

Also, if you haven’t checked out the video we put together fishing this fly click here to watch it!!

Norfork Tailwater – This river as changed in a big way, and I think for the better, “as far as structure goes”.

I’ve been over to Norfolk a few times since AGFC has made changes to the river. If you read my latest fishing report I touched a little on the upper part having some changes, but there are also some changes down at Cook’s hole, the last island in the trophy area, as well.  Because of the heavy winds the last few times I’ve been over there, we only waded and used the boat for a shuttle. During this last go around it worked well even though we had heavy winds blowing upstream.  However, I do like wind because of the chop.  I always use this to my advantage and it usually produces good results.  We didn’t put in until 11 or so because I wanted the water to drop out from the water they ran until 10am. I like it to be good and ready so the fish have adjusted to the falling water. Normally if you are fishing in these types of conditions the bite can be slow so I just wait it out.  It’s the patient thing this sport is teaching me the longer I’m learning it.

Cloud cover was the norm for the day and I guess I like that for streamer fishing, but we didn’t have the right conditions for that.  I always like sight casting when fishing an indicator rig in the sun. Dries were out because it was too windy, so we fished hard on the bottom and covered every inch of the half mile we decided to fish.  We had roughly five hours and it went by fast. We still could’ve fished spots longer. The good thing we had on our side was the weather.  It kept everyone off the river but us and two other people.  We almost had the entire river to ourselves and that is always a positive sign for what is to come.  As soon as we put in I actually rowed up to the first shoal.  This current is some of the best for this whole upper part and it gets pressured like crazy.  Using the boat to stay on the drift helps for staying on longer drifts, which is crucial when searching out bigger fish.  Nobody really fishes the far side and that is where I like to fish the slack water where I think the potential fish is holding in the particular pool. We weren’t surprised pulling out two fish on the first drift. We continued down the river fishing the far bank from the boat ramp. Our third fish was a solid brown that Will from this date as a fly fisherman as never caught.  So this day was a good day for him.  His first brown being quality is something you will always cherish.

As we continued through the day, we floated downstream and fished as we made our way down to the tailout before entering the next group of shoals. This new stretch has become deeper with a lot more deeper pools for big fish to stack up in; and because it’s on a hillside top it makes for shady cover for half the day… all positive signs in my book.  So I guess you could say we spent the majority of the day fishing this new spot that looked intriguing. Brad was able to hook a brown too, but Will got him today.  All in all they both had a good day spending time as friends over the Thanksgiving holidays. So check this spot out next time you plan on fishing Norfork tailwater, but always be safe and plan an escape route if they decide to generate water.

Cook’s Island

Some people I’ve heard like the new structure, but others don’t.  It’s always a catch “22” when rivers change.  I always think for the better in the long run and I would believe this to be the case for all rivers. We’ve had a lot of flooding over the last four years and each time they open the flood gates we can expect change. We guides have to learn new holes (which are the best part) and learn how to navigate the whole river all over again. One thing I have notice on Taneycomo is that there are more areas to fish downstream than ever before. It’s still hard to access and can be done from a boat, but this new stretch in low water can find yourself lost like you do fishing the shoals at Wildcat on the White.  Same with Norfork.  Lot’s more to do as if we didn’t have a lot of shoals already. To me, this is hands down the best fly water that actually makes you feel like only fly fisherman belong on this body of water.  NFOW would be second on my list.

The main thing I see as far as what AGFC has to do is keep these banks from eroding during the higher water floods.  Around the island are tons of boulders that change the way trout hold. There are a few other spots around that created sick holding lies. You have to float to see what I’m talking about.  I think the main thing that has to happen to all rivers that made the most significant changes will be pebble rock piling up and changing the shape of the rivers.  Along with fill in, this has made navigation a challenge big time, but not that bad for drift boats, hehe.

End Results

No cutthroat or brookies to the net on this day, but plenty of rainbows are still choked in this river.  I really wish in my own little world this would be an all catch-n-release river before the good Lord takes me.  I know wishful thinking, but I can. Thanks to Brad and Will, I had a great time and what a way to spend it on a river I always like to go back to.

Snap Shots of My Thoughts

If rivers could talk…….

2011 Lake Taneycomo fall colors. The entrance to the old KOA hole, which is now called Trophy Run.

The bluff located right below Point Royale. The start of Lookout Hole.

The bluff right across Bull Shoals State Park looking downstream. Around the bend is the start of Cane Island and just below that is Gaston's.

2011 fall colors on the Niangua River.

The rules and regulations at Lake Taneycomo. Please pay attention to the signs before you go fish any body of water.

Did you know that?

Why is there trout stamps?

Jet Ski's...What? I think you got the wrong lake.

This is a typical "brown" run now days on Lake Taneycomo. This is chute two and this is where the majority of the big browns are caught at. It's really a shame that these outlets exist.

Getting ready to stock more fish. This is the new Hatchery where they store mostly all the browns.

Get you a drink of water little birdy!

Marcus is serious about getting his flies back.

The new Didymo cleaning station at Taneycomo. Way to go Missouri!!

2011 September Trip to the Little Red River

Along with fishing the the White River on the way back home……

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I must say it wasn’t the same trip as I had the previous year. Everything was right for hitting the “good” water, or so I thought it was. We spent the weekend at Lobo Landing, which if you haven’t stayed here I would highly recommend it. It’s centrally located for great put and take out points if you have a drift boat.

The plan was to fish streamers in the falling water in the morning that they ran during the night. It was great water for streamers and from what I remember, this river is chocked full of brown trout. It was a good combination for what we wanted to do. We put in at Dripping and floated to Ramsey. It was probably a four hour float with no rowing time, but we made it to Ramsey in two hours because we burned through the frog water and only fished the faster shoal water with good oxygen. Reason being is we tried for the first mile to fish all the water and with little success, so we made the decision to hurry up and get this float done so we could put back in at Swinging Bridge and float to Lobo Landing.

We only managed to turn a few browns and to me that was odd. In all my streamer fishing on the White we always turn browns with little time to wait one out. My thoughts on the Little Red is they lost a lot of their brown trout population during the flood last year. Also, I have never done that well in falling water anywhere I go, so that could have also been some of the reason why we didn’t catch more fish. Either way I think this river is in bad shape and might take some time to bounce back.

The second float we did we got to fish low water. I was glad because it would really give us a chance to see what was left as far as big fish in this river. I did see a few big browns, but not the numbers. If you want cookie cutter rainbow those are everywhere, but I can fish those in my home water and they are actually way bigger for average size at Taneycomo. With saying that, it still was a awesome trip and I got to spend it with some great friends.

White River and Norfork

On the way down to the Little Red we made a float down the Norfork, and on the way back we fished the White. This whole trip was going to be a streamer trip with no indicators and that was the plan. The Norfork was fishing well, but everything we turned missed the fly all together. Some of the areas where these browns were holding on this particular river was in fast seams and that didn’t make for real good hook ups. They were running one unit, so the fly was in the strike zone for the majority of the time, so what happen….I don’t know. We should’ve had a few more hits, but it was getting dark so who knows what the problem was. I guess it’s just fishing.

Sunday we decided to skip fishing the Little Red and head over to the White to make up for some of this uneventful journey for big fish. We drifted from Wildcat to Cotter in seven units. We managed to hook a lot of browns, but nothing really big. But this made the trip complete and we all felt better about the week. To me if you are looking for brown trout then go the White, if you are after big rainbows go to Taney. I think out of all the tailwaters we have in the Ozark’s these two are fishing the best and are in the best shape right now!

Michigan Trip

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photos courtesy by Dustin Brewer

Michigan Photography- Pere Marquette – Baldwin MI

 

 

 

 

 

 

A gorgeous brown released from the Pierre Marquette River, located on the northwest side of the state’s lower peninsula.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rigging our Ross Reels up for a day on this unique and truly special river.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is doubtful that this is the first, hot spring these oars have seen on the Pierre Marquette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Lower Peninsula Michigan trout fisheries are all about floating amongst the birches and enjoying the beauty of the area just that has remained virtually unchanged for eternity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Simm’s wading boot that could likely tell some amazing stories of season’s past on the Pierre Marquette.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you don’t rig up properly on the PM, it’s going to be a long day because of the nature of this river with all the rocks and overhangs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Pierre Marquette is truly a mystical river that is most-enjoyed by those who are smitten with classic trout streams more than with fisheries where raking in numbers of fish is the primary objective.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

photos courtesy by Dustin Brewer

Lake Taneycomo 2011 Flood

Check out these pictures that we took while boating out on Lake Taneycomo when all five floodgates were opened up at Table Rock Dam. The sheer power of Mother Nature is impressive, but keep in mind that it is very uncommon for the water to get this high. On this day when we were out there, the water was roughly 12-14 feet higher than it would be when the gates are closed and zero generators are operating.

Norfork Grand Slam in 2011

Norfork Update 4/22/11

This Arkansas Tailwater is the place to be for variety and big fish

I just wanted to post a brief rundown of two trips I did on the Norork over the last week. For those of you unfamiliar with this fishery, the ‘Fork is a short tailwater (4.8 miles) located below Norfork Dam, 25 road miles from Bull Shoals Dam. It was considered the White River’s “little brother” until the late 1990’s when it started to get attention, primarily as a big fish river that is perfect for fly fishing. In 2008, the entire area was subjected to two 100-year floods in a matter of two months, and the flood gates had to be opened wide at Norfork Dam – the emergency release crested at 80,000 cubic feet per second. This massive influx of water changed the Norfork significantly, and if you haven’t fished there in a few years, you will notice that it is a completely different place. After the floods, the fishing on the ‘Fork was quite inconsistent, but in 2011, the river appears to be back in a big way with respect to the number of fish and the size of the fish.

The trip I did over on the Norfork four days ago was remarkable. My client had fly fished before, but he was still in the learning process. We floated the river in low water (either fishing from the boat in deep areas or wading some of the better shoals) and he caught three big browns – they were all over 18 inches. He’ll be spoiled for life, but it just goes to show that anything is possible on the White River Basin tailwaters.

Then three days ago, I was part of a four man group trip with Tom Rogers taking two guys and I had two guys. The pressure was on me, as I had the two younger members of the party in my boat, and the father and grandpa really wanted them to catch some big fish. In the back of my mind I’m thinking, “how many times can this river produce trophy fish, especially for those new to the sport?” Still, I was up for the challenge. Well, one of the young men caught a grand slam, which means he landed four species of trout in one day; the Norfork brook trout numbers are increasing, but the fish are still pretty small. Still, the best cutthroat, rainbow and brown trout he caught were all nice fish for that river. As we approached the lower third of the river, we still hadn’t hooked into anything really big, and I was starting to wonder if it was in the cards for us. As we approached a very shallow gravel area near the bank, I was asked if it was worth casting over there by the guy who didn’t catch the grand slam.

When fishing from the boat on a small river like the Norfork during low water, I stress to my clients that it pays to cast downstream at least forty feet so that spooky fish in that area will see the fly before they see the shadow of the boat. Since he was all ready to cast, I told him to give it a try; I wasn’t expecting much, but you never know. All of a sudden, there’s an explosion on the surface and he’s hooked into a 20-inch brown. We both jumped out of the boat – my client had to chase the brown down because it made a long first run. After a pretty lengthy battle, this beauty was brought to hand, and the day was officially a great success. The fathers were happy, my clients were happy and I was amazed at how productive the Norfork has become once again.

The biggest downside to fishing the Norfork is that there are only two good accesses: one is at the dam and one is near the bottom of the river where the catch and release area ends. This means that the majority of water on this amazing fishery cannot be accessed on foot, even if the water is low. Because a boat is needed to get into the best areas, most of the guides don’t mess with the Norfork and its logistical challenges, but a little bit of work can pay off in a big way. If you do walk in, be sure not to stray too far from your access because it’s easy to get stuck on the wrong side of the river if the water comes up. Because Norfork Lake is steadily rising and is currently a foot over power pool, flow conditions will be inconsistent, but there will still be some low water opportunities. Once the reservoir gets three to five feet above power pool, heavy releases will likely occur until the lake drops back to normal levels – the Corp can drop the lake a foot every 24 hours, so high-water periods can be relatively brief. If you get the chance, the next few weeks should be amazing, as long as we don’t get any really heavy rains, and the Norfork tends to fish well through the summer and into early October. Give me a call if you want to discuss this amazing fishery any further, and I would be happy to point you in the right direction.

Fly Fishing 3 Rivers in 3 Days – North Fork of the White, White River & Taneycomo

From the Field – by Randall Barron

I had the opportunity over the weekend to take a few days and fish with Jeremy Hunt and Tom Rogers.  I’ve known and fished with Jeremy for several years now but only had the opportunity to meet Tom during this trip.  Between the two of them, I spent three days getting an education in humility and maybe added a few tricks to the bag too.

We spent the first day floating the North Fork of the White River from Blair to Dawt Mill.  The water is really low right now so it made it a little tougher of a bite than normal.  Jeremy had done really well streamer fishing the past four days so we dedicated ourselves to the thundersticks and Kelly Galloup patterns.  The combination of the incoming front and the fact that the fish had been hit pretty hard for the better part of a week kept us to only three browns in the 16-18 inch range, all landed by Tom, along with a half-dozen or so spotted bass and a few chubs, all on articulated streamers.  I’m sure my performance didn’t help the situation any either, but by the midway point the rust was pretty much shaken off.

We slept in Saturday because Jeremy had a tying class that afternoon and the bite on Taney hasn’t really picked up until late morning to mid-day recently now that the water is generally off.  Tom and I decided to fish the boat ramp to KOA to avoid the crowds and capitalize on the midge bite.  It didn’t take long for the bead head midges to start fooling the recently stocked Neosho hatchery rainbows.  Not too long after we started, Tom hooked into a nicely colored, thick rainbow in the neighborhood of 18 inches.  After taking a few pictures I turned around to find that I had a three inch sculpin attached to my fly.  A couple more shots of my trophy and we were back to it.

Conditions were tough on Taneycomo all day but we caught enough fish to keep us interested, finally giving in to hunger sometime around 5:00.  Toward the end of the day, Tom started fishing dry flies in a way that I’ve never seen before.  He can create explosive topwater takes that remind me of bass fishing with a popper.  I won’t get into the details of his technique but I will strongly suggest seeing it first-hand.

We finished the weekend on Sunday with a trip down to Rim Shoals on the White.  Jeremy had a trip so Tom and I waded.  The shoals were pretty crowded so we fished the often ignored water above them until they cleared out.  Jeremy followed a similar pattern in his drift boat, but with much better success.  His clients claimed a triple-digit day and he confirmed later.  The main advantage they had was the boat: their drifts could go for days and they could fish water we couldn’t get to.

When the shoals cleared out around mid-day Tom and I had them to ourselves but couldn’t make anything happen.  Toward mid-afternoon, Tom started hooking up on the miracle fly and ended up bringing in two nice browns.  I didn’t fare so well and found myself at the butt of some good-spirited humor when it was all said and done in the parking lot that evening.

In all I had as much fun as I’ve had in a long time.  I got to see old friends, meet new ones, and catch a trout, not to mention that I fished three rivers in three days which isn’t an opportunity that manifests itself very often.  The ghosts of good days past also decided to collect their dues.  It happens like that sometimes and there just isn’t anything you can do but enjoy yourself and remember that if it was always easy it’d just be plain boring.

 

Trinity River Steelhead Fishing in California

From the Field – By Darren Taylor

I wrapped up the year making a trip to California to do some steelhead fishing and spend time with family. I arrived in Sacramento December 30, got my rental car and headed north on I-5 for a two and a half hour drive. On my way up I spoke with my fishing buddy Nick, we set our plans for the next day to meet up on the west side of Redding and then head up to the Trinity River. I made it up to my mom’s house where I grew up. It was great seeing her; I hadn’t seen her for a year. We ate one of her great home cooked meals, had some desert visited for awhile and then I was ready for some sleep.

The next morning I woke at 5a.m. to meet Nick on the other side of town for a day on the Trinity, we jumped in his truck and 45 minutes later we arrived. There was a beautiful dusting of snow from the night before. We got our waders on, geared up and started up the river.

California had been getting slammed with rain, so I wasn’t sure if it was going to be blown out or not. Our plan was to fish the upper end where there is more controlled water. Being closer to the dam there would be less run off and other creeks adding to it. The area we went didn’t look too bad. We decided to head up river and work our way back down. After walking for a while we were getting anxious to get in the water, so we stopped at one of Nicks favorite holes and I’m glad we did. Nick set me up in the right spot and we started making our drifts. After about five drifts I moved out a little farther in the water. There was a pretty good current going and the water was a little stained, so it made walking tough. Falling is always a possibility, especially with all the big rocks and ledges. I almost went for a swim quite a few times. I’m sure glad I didn’t, that water was down in the forties.

I made my way out to a shelf in the middle of the river, so I could get a little higher vantage point and I was also able to get a drift over towards the other side in a good seam. It all paid off, my indicator went down and this time there was a solid hook up. The fish came towards me and I started moving back to help catch up with the line, luckily when I started back I didn’t step off into a hole. I didn’t get any jumps out of this fish but he did put up a great fight. Nick helped me land it and I heard him say it was a native steelhead. By the way I caught it on Jeremy Hunt’s Miracle Fly.

It was really cool catching a native steelhead. The fish have not been thriving in California Rivers for quite some time. There have been many factors that have damaged the rivers and depleted the supply of fish. I do believe there are some hatcheries working hard to restore the rivers. So many of the fish you will see in the Trinity have the rear dorsal fin cut off, which tells me their hatchery is doing a great job of replenishing the fish.

We took a few pics and then Nick hooked a nice fish, it was pulling and stripping out line, then it made a b-line towards the trees along the shore. Nick finally got it in and it was a good one. It was the first nice sized brown he had caught while steelhead fishing on the Trinity. We sat and discussed whether or not it was a sea run brown. Some say that they are sea run browns, but Nick mentioned that he doesn’t know of anyone that has caught one closer to the ocean, so it may just be that the browns are in there year round. It would be nice if they could implement a brown hatchery to increase fishing all year round, it is definitely a beautiful river.

We decided to walk up farther and fish some other holes and had no luck, so we went back down to the honey hole. The water had gone up a little, but I didn’t find out until I started going out to the shelf I was on before. I quickly found out that it was too high. I started moving my way back but struggled due to the current, so I quickly started bouncing down stream towards the shore. Luckily it didn’t drop off. I started to cast again and my line got tangled up, while I was working on that Nick hooked into a nice steelhead.

We decided to head down river about ten miles to a place we fished last year. After getting down there the water was too high, so we headed up to Lewiston which is closer to the dam. We worked our way down below the steel bridge. Nick started fishing the first hole and I went on down to the next. I just started to fish and I heard Nick yell. I ran back up stream and Nick had hooked another steelhead, so I got some video footage and a few good pictures. We fished our way down a little farther then we started to make the long walk back. We had covered quite a few miles and fished a lot of water, what a great way to spend the last day of 2010.

Well I had planned on fishing some more that week, but I ended up getting really sick, so I was not able to. I did get a lot of quality time with my mom and it was great spending time with my family.