Bad fishing karma may manifest in bad knots.

[Smallfry]

Hey all, I think it's been a while, hope everyone is doing well!! Came by to purge some guilt and beg for forgiveness from the fishing spirits. So here's a mini report (confession) from Sunday 06/14/2020.

After a horrible adventure gone wrong we (the kid and I) made it to EH. Seems like the easiest spot for me to let the kid run around and I can keep an eye on her. I was torn between a big EHC and stimi so I went with the stimi plus a few droppers. I had a few hits on the dry, all of which were lost. No one was interested in the droppers as far as I could tell, one was a super flashy PT and the other was a little soft hackle. Soon after a group of about 6 or 7 women showed up with an adorable corg puppy and I knew it was over for me. As I was debating on our next move one of the ladies who was super sweet and friendly started bombarding me with questions as the rest of her group were getting their gear ready, splashing, and throwing sticks for the puppy. I was kinda short and grouchy with her and I felt pretty bad about it after we escaped from their fun in the sun commotion. That's not the worst of it.

We moved on and I crowded out some guy, but I figured he had already fished through the area so it wouldn't be a big deal. Who knows, either way I should have been more considerate. Eventually I decided I'd switch my set up to an indicator and add an egg to the mix. First cast and some little ding dong came up and gnawed on the indicator thought about it and gnawed again before giving up. Got a nice little chunk on that flashy PT but it broke me off. Managed to LDR several more before we started making our way back. The lady group had left so I visited some of the spots that had been disturbed. Pulled one decent little rainbow out from beside a rock and the kid had a blast netting and releasing. I was using 4x for the main flies and 5x on smaller droppers btw. Even with an wobbly net kid we still managed to hook, land, release in under 2 minutes. Loads of grasshoppers and mayflies (don't ask what kind, I suck at mayflies). Smaller trout were jumping for emergers every now and then.

I hope confessing to my fishing sins can help me unload some of that bad karma. Yesterday I went out to the lake for some popper action and my blood knot came apart after a few dinks, but it just had to fail on the big bass. I haven't had a knot failure like that in a long time and I don't know when, if ever, my self esteem will recover from this latest blow. Luckily I got to watch that bass make two jumps before it finally dislodged my popper, which I did retrieve after a while. I waited for it to float to shore, it didn't but I got that little trooper back anyway.

[Fenwick]

Seems as long as you didn't go all Villanelle on anyone you had an otherwise ordinary day. The fish are gonna do what the fish are gonna do. People too. My worst was a weekend when the Evening Hole was already crowded and then several vehicles arrived to unload several dozen Lady Flyfishers and their spouses who, lead by guides proceeded to march single file down the Evening Hole footpath ( I stopped counting at 40 heads) and then broke up into packs of six to ten for entomology and fishing lessons thus taking up all the Evening Hole and Bluffs. A real horrorshow. 

Hello Zone 2!

[darrelln09]

It's always good to see your reports, Smallfry , even if this one was a confession! I think we just have to be prepared for all the craziness that comes with the warm summer weather especially after families have been locked down for far too long. I can't imagine how much chaos is at Beavers Bend these days.

I was at the Roaring River recently and I could hardly believe my eyes with all the swimmers, rock skippers, tube floaters, azz grabbers, sunbathers (!), and barking dogs that were scattered throughout the Catch-And-Release Zone! It was something else. I'm proud to say that I didn't let it get to me though, and I even helped a group of kids retrieve a runaway flipflop that floated past me.

In spite of all that, the fishing was very good. Maybe that's why I didn't let it get to me. And maybe I'm just getting soft in my old age ...

[Smallfry]

@darelln09 Good to know you're getting out there too!! I'm not crowd averse unless I'm actually trying to find solitude. Can't fault anyone for having the same idea as me to get out and fish, that's why I felt so bad being mean to that innocent lady!!! Trust me that when I had the kid with me we were just as loud and rowdy as anyone else.

Fenwick, wasn't trying to complain about people, I wanted to point out that I knew I had to move to another spot although it could have been worded differently maybe. Also, "That's not the worst of it." should have been "That's not the worst of MY behavior." because I really feel like I was in the wrong on all accounts Sunday.

[jonbo]

You're a good egg, Smallfry! Darrell, Fenwick, you'se too, although you both may be a little more "scrambled". So, Darrell, you hitting your whachamacallit creek on the 4th weekend? Good for you! Wifey just booked us into a cabin at Beaver's Bend. We were going to take our little camper to a local campground until the extended forecast started looking really poor. I told her then to find us a cabin somewhere, anywhere. She couldn't find one anywhere. This AM she looked again and one at BBSP had just opened up. She said, "I don't know. What do you...". I said, "Get it! Put it in your 'cart' and 'check out'!" I'll probably try to hit Spillway Creek once or twice right at daylight. I'm thinking fishing streamers, my WB's, Zonkers, etc.

[stephenl]

All that happens to me most of the time. I just do my best to fish through it and get out before I get mad or worse, hook someone.

My father in law and I will be up there next Monday for a few days. It's been a couple years.

We plan on fishing the lake some as well.

[darrelln09]

Jun 27, 2020 16:41:30 GMT -6 jonbo said:

You're a good egg, Smallfry! Darrell, Fenwick, you'se too, although you both may be a little more "scrambled". So, Darrell, you hitting your whachamacallit creek on the 4th weekend? Good for you! Wifey just booked us into a cabin at Beaver's Bend. We were going to take our little camper to a local campground until the extended forecast started looking really poor. I told her then to find us a cabin somewhere, anywhere. She couldn't find one anywhere. This AM she looked again and one at BBSP had just opened up. She said, "I don't know. What do you...". I said, "Get it! Put it in your 'cart' and 'check out'!" I'll probably try to hit Spillway Creek once or twice right at daylight. I'm thinking fishing streamers, my WB's, Zonkers, etc.

I definitely made it to Crane Creek in Missouri over the July 4th weekend. The water was lower and slower than usual but that seems to be typical for spring-fed streams in the summer. In those conditions you can very easily spot fish but, unfortunately, they spot you very easily as well. I still managed to catch quite a few medium sized fish on a black jig nymph called, believe it or not, a Skinny Nelson and also a few on a Brown Stonefly nymph. I was really surprised at how many "large" fish I saw but they are so skittish when the water is low so I didn't manage to hook one. I hope your weekend went as well as mine did.