Cochran's Cartoons

Category: Fishing

  • Heart of America Fly Fishers winter outing

    As usual the Heart Of America Fly Fishers annual winter outing at Bennett Spring State Park near Lebanon, MO December 5th through 8th was a big success. Everyone enjoyed the picnic Saturday and the dinner that night at Ollie’s. Some trout were caught and released and this time the weather even cooperated (if you didn’t mind a little light rain). Upcoming club events include a January 16th outing at Rockbridge, MO and the spring program February 21st with Rick Hafele.

    Whether you’re a beginner or an old pro you’re always welcome at HOAFF meetings the third Monday each month (except for December), 7 PM, at Community of Christ Church, 7842 Mission Rd. Prairie Village, KS. Check us out at  http://www.hoaff.org .

     

    A motley crew Bennett Spring State Park Don Grundy playing the canjo Highway 64A bridge

  • Two days on Arkansas’ White River

    Two days on Arkansas’ White river with outfitter Miles Riley of Riley’s Station is like two days in trout fishing heaven. On a recent two-day float I caught Lots of rainbows, one brown and a couple of cutthroats. No monsters but fast and furious  action and no crowds. To top it all off we saw two bald eagles and several ospreys.

     

    If you want to go, check out the Riley’s Station website http://www.rileysstation.com .

     

     

  • You won’t find this in fly shops

    You won’t find anything like this in fly shops. It’s a variation of my conehead bunnybou, the bass fly that catches channel cat. Notice the tail material is not a bunny strip. But what is it? Looks like squirrel tail only smaller. Give up? It’s a chipmunk tail. How do you get a chipmunk tail? You’ve gotta be very quick.

     

    I think this will be a productive bass fly but of course the bass will have the final say.

    Chipmunk fly

     

  • Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing

    PHWFF logo
    Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing began in 2005 serving wounded military personnel at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who were returning from combat in Iraq and Afghanistan. Since then it has expanded nationwide, establishing its highly successful program in Dept. of Defense hospitals, Warrior Transition Units, and Veterans Affairs Medical Centers and clinics across the country.

    The PHWFF program provides basic fly fishing, casting, fly tying and rod building classes to participants ranging from beginners to those with prior fly fishing and tying experience who are adapting their skills to their new abilities.

    Where do I fit in to all this? I teach fly tying to -and am sometimes taught by – a small group of vets on Monday nights.

    Last Monday we had requests for tying instructions on a traditional trout fly, the gold ribbed hare’s ear nymph. I chose a relatively large hook (#12 3X long) because a big hook is easier for beginners to learn on– and because I could see it better.

    This fly can be tied weighted or unweighted, in many colors, with or without a bead. It looks exactly like nothing but suggests everything from a mayfly nymph to a scud or sow bug. It gets its name from the original body material: the short fur on the ears of rabbits. They still sell real rabbit ears in fly shops for the purists but I prefer packaged dubbing material.
    Nymphs

  • Fly rodding for bass at Riss Lake

    Thanks to my buddy Brent Frazee I had the opportunity to fish Riss Lake in Parkville, MO this morning. Got up at 4 AM to fish early and neither of us caught a decent fish ’til 10 o’clock. We could have slept in!

    The fly that did this three pounder in was a #2 black sparkle grub. After he (or she) was released he probably told his buddies, “Don’t bite one of those black things! I bit one and the damn thing drug me away by the lip!”

    Brent is outdoor editor of the Kansas City Star ,  a newly elected board member of the Outdoor Writers Association Of America, and is  as pathologically crazy about fishing as anyone I’ve ever met.Riss Lake bass

     

     

     

     

  • Home water

    Jason Lucas wrote it, right there in black and white. Would he lie to a fourteen year old kid?”Cast your popping bug so it lands softly between the lily pads, let it sit for as long as you can stand it, then twitch it a little and hang on to your hat”

    That was 1949 and I was soaking up every bit of bass fishing info I could get from the three major outdoor magazines.

    Forty-five years later I’m still practicing what Jason taught me, staring at my homemade popping bug and twitching it on the calm surface of Kill Creek Lake. This beautiful little body of water near De Soto, KS has become my home water by default. Even though I ‘ve yet to catch a bass over a half pound I love this place. It’s twenty-four miles from my home, small enough to fish comfortably with my fourteen-foot johnboat and electric motor, and… well… it just looks bassy. Lots of standing timber, lush weed beds, everything but lily pads.

    The fact that it’s yet to yeild a bass weighing over a half pound isn’t important. In the twilight after sundown when I’m staring at my homemade popping bug, letting it sit for as long as I can stand it, then twitching it a little, I’m still hanging on to my hat… and waiting. There’s got to be some big bass in a place that looks this good.

    Kill Creek bass_edited-1

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • You know you need to fish more when…

    You know you need to fish more when your boat becomes a tree nursery. I recently had to harvest my boat. Got a good crop of little maple trees. Now all I need to do is fish more before it fills up with snow.

  • Mildale Farm

     

     

     

    Mildale Farm, located at 35250 W. 199th St. Edgerton, KS, is a Johnson County Parks & Recreation event facility featuring 22 rolling acres adjoining 600 acres of future parkland. A huge equestrian-style barn serves as the main building and is surrounded by several smaller buildings. The barn is available for weddings, reunions, corporate retreats, etc. If you have reservations about holding a primary event of your life in a barn you needn’t worry. The barn has never been used to stable horses and is very nice.

    Nine ponds scattered across the area are only open to public fishing on Community Day, which takes place once in the spring and again in the fall. Being as how the place is owned by Johnson County Parks & Rec. it seems odd to me that public fishing is only allowed twice a year. But what do I know?  Maybe you can get married in the barn, grab your rod and fish a while, then go back into the barn for your divorce.

    My friend Terry Robbins and I joined several other anglers Saturday, April 26th to sample the ponds. Fly fishing into a brisk breeze we caught and released a mixture of bass, bluegill and crappie. Maybe Parks & Rec. has a good reason for the catch-and-release regulations but it seems odd considering the light fishing pressure. Such restrictive regulations can only result in an overpopulation of stunted fish.

     

  • A little trout fishing history

    Cutthroat Cahill

  • Catch More Trout

    barometer_edited-1