Pond Flop 7-15-2011

Ray and I tried fishing a couple of ponds today without any luck. One was over by Holmes and 435 and the one near his house. Both were very muddy and it was also very hot. Anyway, it was still a fun morning.

Terry

Bennett Spring 7/06/2011

Report from Jim:

Ray and I just got back from a overnite trip to Bennetts.  We arrived about noon on Weds. ate our box lunches and proceeded to fish.  There were more people fishing than our last trip a month ago.  The stream was almost in perfect condition, the cfs flow was still a fairly swift 190.  Well above the 45 year averg.  The island again produced trout mainly on the peach glow ball.  We broke to go back to room about 3:oopm had a cold one and then hit it ,again this time below the bridge, Ray hit pay dirt in the swift water using green soft hackles.  He landed a nice brown and several rainbows, this without any net which he left in the car.  I managed to pick up several rainbows using #16 black caddis below the bridge, the caddis was hovering over the water but not landing.

Today fishing was really hot on the island on the glow ball, a storm came up and washed us out around nine, Ray had several on soft hackle below bridge.  All in all a good trip.  I got the grill fired up tonight to grill two nice tasty trout.

Black Swan Lake 6/24/2011

I really enjoyed Friday morning, 6/24/2011, at my friend's private lake, and what a gorgeous day! It was perfect weather for fishing or really anything. I used my kickboat and Ray used his float tube. The water was pretty murky and thought it might be tough fishing but ended up being another great day for little poppers. We caught a large number of fish; the usual fare of blue gill, green sunfish, and largemouth bass. We also used woolleys, grasshoppers, and a unique fly that Ray tied up with deer hair which worked really well too.

Terry

Ray in his float tube

My kick boat

Lake of the Forest HOAFF outing 6-18-2011

It was a great Saturday morning for fishing with perfect weather and friends. The club outing was a lot of fun and most of the group had kickboats / float tubes. The fish really cooperated too. Everyone was catching loads of fish. Many good sized blue gill and sunfish as well as quite a few largemouth. My biggest bass was about 14 inches and a fat one. I heard someone caught a 21 inch largemouth but didn't see it. The water was very murky, and so I thought poppers wouldn't work. After catching just a couple with a Jacomo, I switched to a small white popper and used it the rest of the time. Probably caught 60 - 70 fish or so and missed a lot. We had a nice lunch on the shore and then split up.

Lake of the Forest

Gary

Ron

Jim & Son

Eric

Ray

My kick boat

Fly Fishing Lessons 6-11-2011

I enjoyed giving some beginning fly fishing lessons to 5 of my clients and friends out at Shawnee Mission Park Lake Saturday, June 11th. It's always fun to see someone who is truly curious and interested in checking things out. What a beautiful day it was too!

Terry

I had to throw this Grandson picture in !

Bennett Spring 6-08-2011

1 night Bennett trip by Jim and Ray, June 6 - 7:

Water was still up a little and really swift, crossing stream below bridge was real iffy.  Color of water was good a green tint.  Ray tried everything and had some hits but was a struggle.  Fishing was slow however glo balls produced better than anything.  Tried bedspreads but no luck.

New hatchery is almost completed.  No top water action, however it was the 15 year return of cicadas (large brown ones)  they were making quite a racket, when one would land in water it sounded like a chain saw.  I didn't see any trout taking them.  Fished the island and across from gage house.  Had a number of hits just above gage house about 10' from  bank, missed most of them.   It was good to get away even if only for a one night trip. It got fairly hot in the afternoons, but a nice breeze made it quite pleasant. Brought some trout back to grill outside, they were really tasty!

Gardner Pond Fishing 6-09-2011

I enjoyed a couple hours of fly fishing out at a private pond in Gardner. The pond was pretty murky and fishing was tough, but managed to land a couple of blue gill and couple of largemouth. The last catch was a VERY nice largemout at about 19 inches and pretty fat. Gave a good fight. Caught all the fish on a Jacomo fly (tied by Ray). No luck on poppers. Great weather too.

Terry

Fish Lake Lenexa 5-30-2011

Enjoyed this  morning out at Lake Lenexa by myself on a nice warm but windy Monday morning. Didn't have any luck on the main lake; casting was difficult. Only a few bumps on a woolly. Went down below the dam with same results on Jacomo and Woolly. After bass attached my little indicator at one time, I switched to a popper and caught quite a few blue Gill and a few largemouth. Biggest was about 10 - 11 inches, under a pound. Also tried the small stream below that area and caught quite a few small sunfish. Especially enjoyed the little run-off area below the wetlands.

New Shelter going up

Bennett Spring Washout 5-18-2011

Well, this wasn't one of our best trips to Bennett Spring but it was good to get away. Jim, Ray, and I went down Wednesday morning and were optimistic, as the water levels were almost down to normal and pretty good color was returning to the water. However fishing Wednesday afternoon seemed really tough, and we only caught a few fish. The weather was pretty decent. Then when we woke up early Thursday, the storm came in quicker than they thought and it was heavy rain starting around 5:00 in the morning. It let up around 7:15 so Jim and I fished for a while, with still conditions and the fish were biting pretty good (although small rainbows, probably stockers). The lower part of the part stream was fairly muddy but up by the island was only about 20% milkier and not bad, so we fished there. After about 20 minutes, that nasty lightning started getting closer and we high tailed it to the car. When we got back to the room, it started coming down very hard, and even a little bit of hail. They were now predicting rain all day, so we packed it in.I suppose the best flies we used were a dry mayfly, black woolly, soft hackle, bedspread, and of course Jim's ole Glo Balls. Check out a couple of pictures outside our room at Sand Spring Resort (where we had room 51 on the south side of the house). There was a stream between our room and the car, and even saw a board float by!. On the ride home the first 45 minutes, we saw all the creeks flooding. Just what they needed down there after all their recent high water!



Kill Creek 5-06-2011

Ray and I checked out Kill Creek Friday, 5/06/2011 in the morning. The weather was nice, although a little windy. The water was still a little cool. I think we caught about 4 blue gill and 4 largemouth, largest being about 11 inches or so by Ray. Mostly fished the south shore. Only fly that worked was a woolly bugger.