Greetings everyone. I've observed for awhile however this is my first post. I would like to thank the members of this forum for all the great information that has been shared. I'm in Starkville, MS and this site has enabled me to learn a lot about the LRR from my couch.
I'm originally from Jefferson City, Missouri. A 24 yr old grad student at MSU in MS. Got my first fly rod about 4 years ago and have been obsessed ever since. Learned the art at Bennett Springs State Park in Lebanon, Mo. When I'm not eating, sleeping, studying or drinking, I'm usually fly fishing, or thinking about fly fishing while tying flies. The distance here in MS to any decent trout water leaves the latter of that statement occurring more often than not.
I wet waded Cow shoals Saturday (9/3) starting about 7am. Caught the finest fish of the weekend on my first cast, a 14" brown on a soft hackle pheasant tail nymph. Alot of fun to catch on my new 4wt G2 . Landed several, 10 or so rainbows and a small brook the size of my middle finger near the end of the shoals where the houses and downed trees start. Pheasant tail nymphs with or without hackle seemed to be working the best for me. Size 14 or so. Had some luck in deeper pools with 14 tan sowbugs using a fairly short sinking leader. Red %@! soft hackles in 14 or 16 also were getting their attention. Caught the majority of fish in the early hours, seeming to slow down at about 11 am for the rest of the day. Finished around 3. They began running generators at approx 2 pm.
Sunday was an off day on the Red for me. I'm not sure the reason for this. It was an overcast day and generally not as 'good' as weather as Saturday. I again began at Cow around the same time. Landed and released a few stocker size rainbows on some small red asses. At about the same time they turned off the day before I decided to go to JFK with less luck than at Cow. A recent unsuccessful bonefishing trip in Hawaii left my guide saying "must be the bonefish gods" as he walked away with my $400 check. I attributed this day to the trout gods. They again ran generators at 2 so rather than run around to access points trying to beat the river levels, I decided to have a fish fry at camp. I'm getting hungry now just thinking about that.
I fished Monday morning at Barnett access having some action at the beginning of the shoals near the bridge. Red %@! and pheasant tail soft hackles, again in size 12-16 were working the best for me. But I'll also highlight here my fondness of the soft hackled pheasant tail and red %@! soft hackle. They are by far my favorite fly for this river. I tie them in all shapes and sizes and variations. I recently got some red pheasant tails from Feather-Craft and can't wait to try a red soft-hackeled pheasant tail.
P.S. I'd like to encourage all members who frequently fish the LRR to do fishing reports whenever conveniently possible and thank those of you who do. I can't stress enough how helpful it is for the rest of us who can't get out to the river as often, as well as allowing us to live vicariously through your words.
