Lake of the Ozarks, MO. help...

I am just starting out in flyfishing and need some help with my fly buying. I will be fishing around the Lake of the Ozarks/Branson area of South/West Missouri. Any suggestions which patters to get? Thanks...

I live in SW MO. What type of fishing did you have in mind? I fish fairly regularly all the trout areas in the region. Taneycomo, roaring river, montauk, crane creek, etc. If that's what you mean I could help.

Greg

That would be good. River, lake and stream trout & river smallmouth...

I'm not much of a smallmouth fisherman. But my favorite trout patterns for the area are: zebra midges, scuds, mohair leeches, wooly buggers, cracklebacks, and Y2K.

You might look at this forum. It has a ton of info for the area:

http://www.ozarkanglers.com/forums/

Good luck,

Greg

If you want to fish for trout at some of the State Parks, like Bennett Springs, a little depends on the time of year. I am getting ready to head down there some time in May. I would recommend Cracklebacks in sizes #10 through #14 in several different colors including green and blue holograph. Bead head woolyburgers in black, olive, brown, and maybe white and purple also work well. You can always use scuds, pheasant tails, egg flies, mohair leeches, and hares ears. Other dry flies include PMDs, BWOs, Renegades, creme and black midges, Griffith Gnats, and Adams in sizes #18 through #22. Don't forget some of the other things like San Juan worms, chamois flies, and some of the mini jigs like the John Deere and the Bedspread. A good cross section variety of these will catch trout and pan fish as well as bass in the lake or in the rivers about any where down there, so just get started and see which ones you like the best and get fishin!:D