Great way to start the summer

[Ray Cover]

I was down at one of my favorite fishing holes over the weekend. I promised a friend that I would do a fishing expo he was putting on over the weekend. I went down a few days earlier to get some fishing and camping in.

I finally got all the gear put away and I have my studio put back together.

I don't usually go fishing on holiday weekends but I promised my friend I would do his fishing expo.

These pics were shot at Bennet Springs State Park outside Lebanon, MO. It feeds into the Niangua River.

The first pic is of the Spring mouth. There is a group of Mennenite boys tossing pebbles at the far end of the hole. This hole is usually very productive early in the morning and late in the evening. During the hot day sun the bigger fish tend to go somehwere into the 600ft deep cavern.

The second pic is just down from the mouth of the spring where a lookout tower overlooks the river. There is another Mennenite boy on his bike in the pic.

The third pic is a run just down from a big stone bridge. This is one of my favorite holes on this stretch of water. I sight fish a lot and this is very well suited for my type of fishing. Not much in the way of pretty casting with all the cover on both banks but good drifts with tiny scuds slaughter fish here.

The fourth pic is the same run from the bridge.

These pics were taken Thursday evening. Now you all know why I usually fish weekdays instead of weekends. Friday there were a few people on the river. By Sunday it was crowded with very impolite and unethical weekend fishermen. If I did not have a conscience for God to keep me in line with, there would be a few "fishermen" floating belly up. I had one guy see me catch fish and he moved in and started fishing 3 feet in front of me while I was tying on a new tippet and fly, twice he did this. I don't mean he was casting in front of me but litterally stood in front of me.

Anyway here is the fishing report.

Friday morning I got to that little run about 6:30 and had 28 rainbows by noon. There were not any big ones but a bunch in the 1-1.5 # range. Lots of fun on a 3wt rod. Friday's hot flys were light colored scuds size 16 and under , (especially cream, pink, tan, burnt orange and light grey), San Juan worm patterns (pink, bright red, and burnt orange), I have a few generic tan colored mayfly nymph patterns that were also producing pretty good.

I did my duty at the expo on Saturday and hit the water again with my friend David on Sunday. We started out about 8:30 and fished most of the day. I had a forty fish day Sunday. Again, a lot of those were hooked below the bridge but I fished a lot up by the spring too. Sunday's hot flys were the same scuds again, the sun got high and bright Sunday afternoon and bead head scuds tied with chamois bodies and a gold rib tore em up pretty good. I even caught a few on the san juans when the fish were educated on the scuds. Fox squirell nymphs also did ok after the fish were onto the scuds.

This morning I broke camp and hit the river. It was a little slower today and I was tired. I pretty much went looking for bigger fish. there were not a lot of them in the fly zone and the ones that were there were feeding off the bottom rather than catching drifts. I did land one brown about 2.5# buy drifting a san juan worm fly so it landed about 4" in front of him. He looked at it for a few seconds then went and picked it up. I caught 4-5 other fish but I had to work a lot harder for them today. About noon I went to Charlies fly shop and talked to him for an hour or so and then headed home.

Then I got home and found out I won a raffle for a new Quinn Stallion classic recurve bow built to my specs. Dang! summer is starting off really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ray

[Steve Lindsay]

Ray, What a great looking fishing hole. It sounds like a super weekend. Good deal on the recurve bow raffle. I found a recurve on ebay that I it picked up for my son last Christmas. I've had one since I was a kid that we shoot in the backyard once in a while. In 1985 or so I tried sculpting some leaves on it. It is okay, but it looks like kindergarden carving compared to what Janel is doing.

Where was the raffle for the recurve? Thanks for sharing Ray.
Steve

[Ray Cover]

The raffle was on one of the archery forums I participate on. They had two bows they were raffling off and I won the second one. I'm going to set it up as a dedicated bowfishing bow. I'll see if I can get a few large carp and gar on an arrow this summer.

Ray

[Otto]

I love bowfishing. It has been totally addicting to me. I used to bowfish most every day during the summer. I guess I like it because; I like archery, I like hunting, I like fishing. This is all of those in one. I have nuked tons of gar, buffalo, and carp. Some were real monsters. I even hammered a 6" bass at about 20 yards. (there were no game wardens around).

[Ray Cover]

Are you the same Otto I see posting every now and then on Leatherwall and Tradtalk?

Ray

[Peter]

I haven't done any bowfishing but i've had bows most of my life too. Back in the 80's bought a compound bow. What a difference from the recurve! I haven't shot in a couple of years but this talk about archery has got me thinking about shooting. Congrats Ray.

Peter

[Ray Cover]

Peter,

You would probably like bowfishing. Otto is right it is a blast. I started back when I was in college and Living in Cape Giraurdeau on the Mississippi River. They had a lot of back water sloughs, small ponds and a diversion channel down there that were full of carp and gar. I am just getting back into it after a long lay off.

When I had kids my archery days ended (no time or money for it). Ironicly my kids interest in archery has gotten me back into it. Between the four of us we have a house full of bows

I decided to go with bare bow recurves rather than the compound with all the bells and whistles I used to shoot. Its like learning to shoot all over again.:yesnod: I really like Asian horsebows. I have a Hwarang Korean bow made by the Park family in Korea and a modern replica of an Assyrian horsebow by Grozer in Hungary. I have a few modern recurves I like to shoot as well.

Ray

[Peter]

Sounds like you have quite a quiver there Ray. I didn't go with the bells and whistles as my compound bows have adjustable pin sights and are basically hunting types. The fancy target bows have LOTS of bells and whistles such as telescopic sights, stabilizer bars, etc. I originally thought I would do some bowhunting but then realized I like shooting better than hunting and preferred to spend my limited vacation time skiing as opposed to hunting.

Not far from where I live, the Hall family had an indoor archery range where I did a fair amount of shooting some years back. I started with dept store fiberglass bows in my youth then graduated to some pretty nice wood recurved bows. The first time I used a compound bow, I was able to shoot better than my best ever with a recurved bow! That got me hooked on the compound. At the time I bought my first, the Jennings was tops. The letoff was 40 percent. On the newer compounds, the letoff is 80 percent. The trajectory of the arrow is radically different too. From what i've seen on this web site it seems like Steve L has an interest in archery too.

I'm not familiar with Asian horse bows. I'll have to do some searching in the net.

Peter

[Ray Cover]

Peter,

Here are some links. The first is to an archery museum located about three hours from me at the University of Missouri at Columbia. They have a very nice collection of asian and middle eastern archery equipment. The other two are links to bow sources that have some nice pics of functional modern repros of the anceint bows.

Those Korean archers are impressive. They shoot at a basketball sized target at 159 yards in competition ( using those little 48" strung horsebows and thumb rings.) No wonder they do so well in the olympics. The Koreans take their archery seriously and they can shoot.

I sort of went the opposite direction in my archery. I started with a compound with sights and a mechnical release. I did not want to spend as much money this time replacing arrows so I decided to go a more traditional route in my archery this time around. I shoot well enough to hunt with them but I have not had to buy a single replacement arrow from stacking them. Saves money for more bows. I just enjoy it more. Its more simple and takes more consitent form when its just you the bow and the string. My dad shoots a bare bow compound and does very well with. He says hes getting to old to shoot without the let off.

http://anthromuseum.missouri.edu/gra...archery2.shtml

http://www.grozerarchery.com/index_b.htm

http://www.koreanarchery.org/model25.html

Ray

[Peter]

Thanks for the links Ray. Some interesting sites there.

It is amazing how good people can be at given activities...like many of you are with engraving!

I got good enough with my compound bows to get robin hoods but not good enough to space the arrows like the shooters with sophisticated target equipment.

I seperated my shoulder a while ago so the compound is a big help for that.

Peter