Welcome to the Ozark Fly Fishers
Founded 1971
A Missouri 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation
Another Fine Barbecue
Our Bar-B-Que at Tillis park, prepared food for 90 people and 52 attended. We grilled 36 hamburgers with only 1 left, 54 bratwurst and only had 3 left.
This was a nice event, and we saved hundreds of dollars by doing the cooking ourselves compared to the vendor in previous years.
Casting lessions on the pond were great as always - Thank you Brian Ellis!
Also, Chris Bohigian thank you for getting your husband George, a long time member to get out and attend. We are very grateful.
IMPORTANT! Our meeting is a week earlier than usual, and on Thursday, July 21st.
Still Casting for a Leader
Fellow club members,
As the seasons shift and we enjoy the long evenings on the water, it’s time to turn our thoughts toward one of the highlights of our club’s year-the Annual Banquet. It’s an evening we all look forward to: great food, fine company, raffles, live auctions, fish tales, and maybe even a few lies about the one that got away.
But, here’s the thing- we need someone to help make all this happen.
We’re currently seeking a volunteer to step into the role Banquet Chair. This position isn’t about doing everything yourself; It’s about helping guide a team of willing hands to bring the banquet together. If you’ve ever enjoyed an evening of laughter, raffles, and community thanks to this event, you know how important it is to our club culture.
The Banquet Chair is responsible for:
Helping organizing the raffle, auctions and donations. The venue, food and bar options are taken care by other volunteers. Between all the other help, it promises to be a smooth, fun, and memorable evening.
You’ll have plenty of support-past chairs are happy to share their wisdom, and the board is ready to help every step of the way. Whether you’re a seasoned organizer or just someone with a passion for the club and a knack for getting things done, this is a great opportunity to make a big impact.
If you’re interested or even just curious, please reach out to me. Stepping up for a role like this is how we keep our club strong, connected, and thriving.
Steve Antonic
President. Ozark Fly Fishers
314-401-8874
sjantonic@charter.net
BANQUET REMINDER
Dear Members
The time has come to mark your calendars, saving the date for our annual fundraising banquet.
As you know, our annual fundraising banquet is our clubs largest fundraising eventof the year, providing us the opportunity to sponsor our many events throughout the entire year.
Next year’s banquet and silent auction is on Saturday, January 17th, 2026.
The banquet will be held at the same location as years past. Andre’s at Sunset Hills 13366 West Watson Road Sunset Hill, Missouri 63127
This year’s cost will remain the same as last year, $40.00 per person which includes a nice meal, desert, and open bar. The event will include raffles, silent auction as well as a live auction.
We encourage all of you to bring your spouse, guest and even friends, who might not be club members, to join us for a great night out.
Please mark your calendars, make plans to attend and support your club. Reservation forms will be made available in the near future.
Thank you and hope to see you there.
Lane Springs for a day
Some pictures from Lane Spring, near the campground. Fishing was ok, caught a 5 inch lunker, though. Stream was pretty. Paul Jackson and Dave Haas.
Bennet Springs Update
Hatchery project completion date is now estimated to be January 2026
The list of upcoming events:
Aug 21 - Logan Huff, Morgan Guss of The Diamond State Fly Co Arkansas
Sept 25 - Jeff Mace, Feather Craft
October 9-12 Taneycomo Outing
October 23 - Joe Oelke - Urban fishing in St. Louis
November - Catch & Release Outing
December 11 - Christmas Party
January 17 - Banquet
February 21 - All Day meeting with Son Tau
Thanks,
Paul Jackson
CONSERVATION EVENTS AND OPPORTUNITIES
If you have questions about the following events,
contact Scott Darrough at: 314-560-1335 or swdarrough@yahoo.com
ATTENTION! – OZARK FLY FISHERS NEEDS YOU!
CONSERVATION RELATED POSITIONS THAT NEED TO BE FILLED.
LOWG – LEAGUE OF WATERSHED GUARDUANS BOARD MEMBER TO REPRESENT FOR OZARK FLY FISHERS.
- Dan Rasch resigned from this position after holding for several years.
MISSOURI STREAM TEAM CAPTAIN FOR BLUE SPRINGS CREEK, BOURBON, MO
- Glenn Bish dedicated many years of monitoring to this location.
MISSOURI STREAM TEAM CAPTAIN FOR MILL CREEK, NEWBURG, MO
- Bill Leslie dedicated many years of monitoring to this location
August 23, 2025: 58th Annual Operation Clean Stream –
Byrnes Mill City Park - by invitation from the Trashmanian Devils Stream Team 3797
Ozark members are invited to attend this clean-up of the Meramec watershed. Details will follow in the months to come.
Lake Taneycomo Outing
October 9th, 10th and 11th 2025
Ozark Fly Fishers fall outing will be held at beautiful Lake Taneycomo the second weekend of October. Lodging has been arranged at Lilley’s Landing Resort. This has always been an enjoyable outing with the chance to catch some really large fish. We have reserved four cabins for Thursday, Friday and Saturday night October 9-11, 2025.
Lilley’s Landing has its own trout dock with jon boats that can be rented by the day. For those interested in renting boats or guide services, you can reach out to:
For those interested in renting boats or guide services, you can reach out to:
River Run Outfitters
Historic Hwy 165
Branson. MO 65616
1-417-332-0460
https://www.riverrunoutfitters.com
Lilley’s Landing
367 River Ln 2626
Branson, MO. 65616
1-(417)-334-6380
https://www.lilleyslanding.com /
Thanks, Ed!
Fly Casting Tip August 2025
Continuing a discussion of Lefty Kreh’s principles of fly casting. As a reminder the principles are:
1) “You must get the end of the fly line moving before you can make a back or forward cast.”
2) “Once the line is moving, the only way to load the rod is to move the casting hand at an ever-increasing
speed and then bring it to a quick stop.”
3) “The line will go in the direction the rod tip speeds up and stops—more specifically. It goes in the
direction that the rod straightens when the rod hand stops.”
4) “The longer the rod travels on the back and forward casting strokes, the less effort required to make the cast.
Regarding principle #3 – This pertains to making an accurate and safe cast. I will always remember the first time I saw Lefty Kreh demonstrate this principle. After his rod straightened and stopped, he threw the rod down and off to his right. The fly landed in the direction of the stop, the dropping of the rod did not affect the direction in which the fly landed. Try this and you will see it is a fact.
What is the practical implication and application? This principle is the reason snake casts, curve casts and reach casts all work and accuracy can be maintained. This principle also explains why stopping the rod in a downward arc causes open loops, and why casting with the stop in a straight line path will result in a tighter loop.
Does your fly ever hit you? Maybe you stopped and the rod straightened in an incorrect direction?
Keep this principle in mind when you practice casting and your casting will improve faster.
Bill Armon
August Fly Pattern
Under Cover Hopper ————————————
It’s that time of year when all the fish are looking up. Looking for anything buggy that might fall into the water and make an easy meal. There are so many terrestrial patterns out there, it’s really hard to find anything new, but I’m really excited about this one. It’s small, compact, looks like anything a fish wants it to, and is easy to tie. It’s kind of a small hopper, maybe a big beetle, or maybe a stonefly. It could be anything you want.
Hook: Ahrex FW530 Size 12 (or Fulling Mills FM5025 for smaller bugs)
Thread: Veevus 10/0 Tan
Under-Body: Tan or Cinnamon Dry Fly Dubbing
Wing/Body: 2MM Tan Foam
Over-Wing: Brown or Tan Z-Lon or Polypropylene Yarn
Thorax: Dry Fly Dubbing
Legs: Olive or Brown Round Rubber Legs
Sighter: Fluorescent Yellow Polypropylene Yarn
Secure the hook in vise and start thread behind the hook eye. Advance thread to hook bend covering the hook shank.
Dub a tapered body up to the 2/3 point on the hook.
Cut a section of foam about the same width as the hook gap and taper the rear end.
Tie the foam in on top of the hook shank just forward of the body extending just past the hook bend. Continue to tie down the foam to just behind the hook eye making it very compact leaving it stick out over the hook eye. We’ll use this later.
Cover this portion of the foam with dubbing back toward the end of the body forming a solid, smooth body/thorax.
Tie in the Poly Yarn at this point and trim it just to the length of the fosm (or slightly longer). Then fold the foam back over the head and tie in at this point covering the tie-in point of the poly yarn. Trim the foam close.
Tie in a section of rubber leg on each side of the thorax and then add a small piece of the sighter poly yarn right on top and trim to length.
You could add some dubbing to hide all that thread, but I don’t think it matters.
Whip finish the thread and trim excess.
Trim legs to length.
I fish this really close to stream banks, especially undercut banks or where grass meets the water. It also works drifted along any current break or in the foam line. It will work as a hopper in a hopper-dropper rig, but it will not float a very heavy nymph. It’s a much better “sniper” fly fished alone right in the film. It can be tied in black, brown, yellow, or purple.
Tie some in pink/tan if you are going to the driftless area. They love pink hoppers up there!
Mike Ott