Little Missouri Fly Fishing

In one of his reports, Mike, I think, mentioned having success with something called a "slider". I hadn't heard of a "slider". So I googled around. It seems like there's different versions. In fact one looks more like a bass popper than anything. Most of them however look something like a muddler minnow, sort of, with a craft fur tail, but several variations they're calling "sliders". I call them muddler-like because they incorporate a spun deer hair head and they're a kind of streamer after that. The main difference is that the slider incorporates dumbbell eyes within the deerhair head. (That is, if I have the right "slider".)

So I tried tying one of my own. Being as I'm constitutionally incapable of following instructions exactly, I used marabou for the tail instead of craft fur. That seemed to be fine. The hen saddle that you're supposed to palmer forward I struggled with. I couldn't get the fibers to stand up but lean to the rear. They wanted to lay flat on the hook shank, some forward and some rearward. I fought with them and ended up with them mostly standing up, but clumpy.

The spun deerhair collar and head was really an adventure. You have to work spinning the deerhair around the dumbbell eyes, behind the eyes and in front of them. The behind part was fairly straight-forward. That first big clump you tie in and spin, the ends facing back are going to be the collar. That's easy. The forward facing butts I just trim with scissors near the end of the whole process while making sure I don't cut the collar deer-hairs off.

Then my problems started. When I spun the big clump you need in front of the dumbbells it turned out I hadn't left enough space. I completely buried the eye, completely. Well I just pretended I hadn't for awhile. I whip finished as far back as I could mash a whip finish down. I trimmed the deerhair with razor blade and scissors. The head and collar turned out pretty decent looking after all! But the eye was still buried. I took my razor blade and scissors and trimmed and trimmed around the eye. I finally unburied the eye, nearly. My whip finished tying thread though, in this process I've shaved and shredded it till it's barely holding anything together. It could come loose at any moment and the whole thing begin to come apart.

But now, the place where a whip finish is supposed to go is pretty exposed with my shredded whip finish thread just on top of bare hook, barely hanging on. So I restarted the tying thread there and mashed a big  old triple whip finish over all of that, but where it's supposed to have gone in the first place. Then I applied some UV cement and UV light hardened it for a nice hard finish over my messed up part. I had to dig UV cement out of the eye with my bodkin. Now the eye is clear, just barely, but clear.

Maybe it will hold together to fish. If not, at least now I know to tie in the dumbbell eyes further back so I can maybe avoid these "issues". I'll try some more in the next few days. If no one minds I'll substitute UV Polar Chenille for the palmered saddle hackle. Easier for me. Should work fine, I think.

But anyway, besides all the unwanted adventures, is what I describe tying here a "slider"? I tie a muddler-ish thingy. It has a spun deerhair head without dumbbell eyes but with a marabou or bunny tail. It works pretty good! I'm anxious to try my "slider" concoction out.

Yes, thank you for the excellent reports! I'll probably be up there at the end of next week.

Mike, it was good seeing you Friday!  Your input and info is a blessing, thanks for taking your time to inform of river conditions.  We all appreciate you.

I was there earlier with my son.  They were definitely active, probably because water temps are rising. 

We C&R about 20 until a 5' gar swam within 3 feet of me and started chasing our catches.  Once that happened, we packed up and left.  I didn't want to feed the gar with a hooked trout.

At 5:00 on Saturday morning, just for all you weekenders, they are not running any water on the Lil' Mo'. It's now 23 days with no flow!!  It's a little scary because the water temperature at Hinds Bluff and River Ridge is 72 degreese!!  It's still 63 at the park because of the seepage from the dam. A little hot rain runoff into the river and we could start to lose some fish. That's the major problem with the condition of the generators, no regular flow means no cold water thus no trout!! 😬😬.

Still a lot of fish at the park but they have really been run over and pounded for the past week. They must all have the sore mouth. That much pressure all day long really slows the bite. I am however sure they are still there, I've only run off 2 sets of poachers since the catch and keep season ended. Of course I'm not at the park that often, fishing is still good all down river. Again I urge you, if you see people breaking the rules, TELL THEM!!

The lake is up to 541.70. Again I say the Corp could open a bunger valve at any time. Be vigilant!! 

Thanks for the updates Hen.  Hope to see you on the water again soon.

Hi Mark, thanks for all your efforts in getting information out to us.  I'd like to know more about the "Slider" you mentioned.  Not sure I understand what it is or how to tie it.  You mentioned the cut off for keeping fish, are there any park ranger or warden efforts to monitor this?  Thanks again!

MARK, you don't have to reply to this as I saw in Jeff's fly section he'd added two 'sliders'.  Good looking flies.

It's now 12 days of no bunger valves running. I checked the water temperatures this morning: Riverside = 60 degrees, Hinds Bluff = 64 degrees and Old Factory = 66 degrees.  Long shut down periods could give us water temperature problems in the future. The lake is currently at 539.68, only up one foot  since they shut down 12 days ago. That's good, considering how much rain we have had.

Today catch and keep ended from the dam to the pipeline!!👏👏. I feel there are more fish in the wall hole than I can ever remember at this time of year. Some nice strong ones too!!  I caught fish, one right after the other, on a Slider. It was fast and furious. Also caught fish at River Ridge and Hinds Bluff on my brown flies and my biscuit . Didn't try the slider there because the water was murky. I think they stocked sometime in the past 2 weeks, most likely on high water. I did fish up thru the skinny water toward the dam and it was slow, nothing like the deep hole at the wall.

If we can keep the poachers off the wall at the park, it could shape up to be a good summer of fishing, unless the problems with the trash racks at the dam give us water problems on the river.

‼️ 7 May 2024:  nothing really new to report. Still haven't run a bunger. Lake is up to 541, not bad considering the rains we have had. Fishing is still really good at the park and down river too. Slider is still producing well. Again, if I'm here, I'll post as soon as the water runs past my house!!  😱😱.

Drove up yesterday morning, fished till about 1:30.  Fish are really strong and feisty. Lots of fish, 10-14 in size! Was wet all day from slight drizzle to heavy rain till about the time I left. Saw no fishermen at other sites.  Was a great day of fishing!  Also a token of thanks to HEN for so much information! RR

As of 5:00 am this morning they are still not "bungering". I looked at River Gages but it shows all "M"s, so don't know where the lake is at, so who knows when they might start considering all the rain we've had.

I've been fishing the Norfork River for the past week so don't know what the situation is here on the LIL' MO". Plan on checking it out today, weather permitting!!  I've had reports of some bad catch rates!!😬😬.

No new information from the Corp on the repairs at the dam. I'm sure we will see another week or so of the bunger valves running in the near future!! 

Now that I'm home, will try and post as soon as they crank up the flow.