We spent Friday playing miniature golf and visiting the Ripley’s Believe It or Not museum in Branson, when it started to rain. We headed back to the hotel to get out of the rain, and I convinced Karen to let me stop by River Run Outfitters. Well, the shop was not very busy and Stan and Carolyn were on vacation, so I didn’t hang around there long. Back to the hotel we went, when my saint of a wife offered to take the kids to the indoor pool and give me the car to take to the dam and fish for a bit. I told her I would be back by 8pm and was off. Unfortunately, I must have had some bad karma as the generation gods seemed to be playing with the water levels (up and down) and I couldn’t seem to get any drift right. I hooked up with 2 fish in 3 hours and then decided to put the rod away and shoot photos of other fisherman and of the outlets……I can only take so much of being surrounded by a ton of fish at your feet only to not catch anything (and I refused to shuffle).
Monthly Archives: May 2005
Lake Taneycomo (Branson, MO) — May 26, 2005
After spending a full day at Silver Dollar City with my wife and kids, on the drive back to the hotel I just had to stop by the dam and check on the lake level, much to the dismay of my wife and kids. She must have seen my mouth drooling as we pulled up and there was little generation. She offered to take the kids back to the hotel to get ready for dinner and leave me here to fish for a little bit. Well, I jumped at the opportunity. I rigged up my 4wt rod and headed down from the top parking lot, near outlet # 1. It was one of those short times on the river when I could do no wrong. A #20 bh zebra midge under a palsa indicator about 4ft deep was the ticket, and I was rewarded with a nice 17″ rainbow and a 16″ brown on back to back casts. The rest of my short time on the water was filled with landing fish, snapping off fish, and missing a ton of fish. I have made an effort to fish with nymphs and indicators more since my Trout Bum adventure and I am really enjoying it. It wasn’t more than an hour and a half and my oldest daughter came down to the river to get me, just as I snapped off a fish near the mouth of the outlet (come on, everyone has to give a shot at some of the monster fish in there at least once)…..
Lower Mountain Fork River (Beavers Bend, OK) — May 23, 2005
What a family vacation. We headed to Dallas, Texas to visit some friends (David Stinnett and his wife and new child) for a few days before backtracking and heading towards Branson, MO for a day or two at Silver Dollar City. Picture, National Lampoon’s Tucker Vacation. It was a really great time, as I love road trips with my wife. One of the benefits was that I got to fish a little more than anticipated. The trip to the Lower Mountain Fork was planned hower as an escape from Texas for David and I for a day (to leave our wives hang out), as I had always wanted to catch a trout in a new state I visit. However, looks like I will need to head back there. First a little something about Oklahoma………….there is nothing there. This will be a short report, due to some laptop issues I am writing this chronicle more than a month after the trip. Some of the highlights including paying $33 for a ONE DAY trout permit to fish the waters. Having my buddy Dave foul hook a fish to think it was the greatest fish in the world (he foul hooked it on accident, after that he was ribbing me for not catching a fish). And lastly David teasing me with some of the most beautiful water on a little side stream as we were driving out. The tailwater section didn’t impress me that much — although we did see some fish and I did believe I missed some fish but didn’t have any photos to show for it. I am told that David is writing a more detailed humorous look at our fishing trip. I will post it……if he ever sends it…….