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Pat and I hit our favorite pond today. After three Windy warm days the wind gave up some but changed to out of the north eastern direction. Not a good fishing direction IMO but we went anyway. Walking the bank we fancasted covering water from each spot we tried leapfrogging each other. While we each caught lots of fish Pat caught way more and with the biggest bass. I caught the two biggest crappie and bluegill. We both used the same basic fly. The rust colored Grinch bug. We wore hip boots and walked out a few feet to knee deep. This let us cast to the drop offs on the pond although we caught fish from a foot deep to six feet. We kept five bass and two crappie. The two smaller bass and crappie were sprinkled with Old Bay and sauteed in butter. Reminded me of boiled butter shrimp. Pat's biggest bass we did not weigh but I'm thinking 3.5 to 4 pounds. Nothing as pretty to me than a hip boosted gal working a fly rod. VID_20251119_122231762.mp4

We were in Nevada for thanksgiving and ready to come home this morning. I got up just a few minutes before 6:00 to walk dogs. It was still pitch dark with just the lightest tinge of pink in the east. Whilst out with the dogs I heard a big wad of snow geese riding that north wind to Texas. I looked up and was amazed. The geese were high enough to catch the rising sun on their bellies - every one fully silhouetted in bright white flying across the dark starlit sky. Had to just stand and watch until they were gone. Thankful for that happening when I could see it, I surely am.

Started at Roundhouse Shoals on Saturday morning around 8AM....I fished an area less than 200 yards long and had 14 rainbows & 1 very small brown (7 or 8 inches long). The biggest rainbow at Roundhouse 14 inches. Moved up to the Cotter walk in access and caught my personal best rainbow 17/18 incher. 18 fish total between both locations. Needless to say, it was an amazing day on the White River. All fish were caught on an olive green Wooly Bugger.

I was literally about 10 minutes from hooking up my boat and heading over to Beaver when Joe Lane called and asked me to go fishing with him, as he had a last minute cancellation. Took me about 10 seconds to say heck yeah! Joe has been on the fish, so had some locations to check, he won't fish unless he sees evidence the fish are there, as in lots of shad. He also looks for predator activity around the shad, holes in the shad balls, curve shapes in the shad and of course seeing fish around the shad. He's really got his FFS dialed in, very clear images, you can easily see your lure, he can also make a call on whether he's seeing good sized bass, usually largemouth and the smaller fish which are usually spots. We had a good day, somewhere around 50-60 bass, plus a couple of whites, and a large channel cat. Joe caught some great fish - a 4.3 largemouth, 3.75 white bass, a cat that we estimated in the 12-15 lb.range and another 4 LM in the 3 lb. range. Myself - Well I caught half the fish, had at least a half dozen keepers, but no pic worthy fish. Joe caught his mainly on a spoon or a Damiki rig, myself dragging a 3.3 Keitech on the bottom. As you've no doubt heard, not all the fish you see on the scope bite, and not only that but they are constantly moving around. It's funny how many fish will come up and look at your lure and turn away. I don't have a scope myself, but sure learned a lot fishing with Joe. Forgot to look at the water temp, I'm guessing upper 50's.

I decided to float the Norfork in my kayak hoping for a Cutthroat Trout. It was gonna be low water all day and mild temps and “mild” wind. I had expected the sun to burn off the clouds, but they hung around all day pretty much. And the wind was very annoying. You see signs of trout everywhere, but the numbers are clearly down. It’s not the end of the world. I would say if you put in a FULL Hard say of fishing that you could scare catching 50 instead of a 100 + + So, I brought three fly rods. 5 wt, 4 wt, and 8 ft Bug Launcher. As it turns out I could have just brought one. All my fish came on a 1/32 oz Zig Jig fished like a streamer. I tried a Crackle back in multiple riffle areas to not effect. I had an egg with a tiny nymph behind it and I broke off the nymph on the only sure thing bite I had #bassfisherman I caught my first fish in the pool with Gene’s trout dock. I missed a couple before I caught one and lost a couple that I hooked. It was difficult enough that I changed my goal from 20 with a Cutty to 10 with a Cutty. Dropped out of that pool and got another on a hard current seam. Missed another one. Paddled back up and added one. Then I got a solid take from a heavy fish. I could see Brown. Good sign. Fished pulled back down in a spot with a lot of current. I managed the boat and took my time. I got another look at the fish and it wasn’t a Brown Trout maybe it was a Big Cutty. Still playing the fish carefully. I got my little net ready and managed to secure the fish. It was a Big Redhorse. Because it was so large I thought it had to be a Golden Redhorse. that would have helped me on the species for the year, but it’s looking like it was a MONSTER Black Redhorse. I really wish I could get them to eat flys more often. Great Fight! Well, I worked my way down river and figured out a couple things. I needed 2 foot of water or so for what I was doing to work. Transition areas from shallow to deep or deep to shallow held fish. If you missed the first bite, you could often put it back on them and get a second chance.The fish seemed to be more colorful than usual. I did not find them to be larger and sadly I did not catch a Cutty. I had the river to myself and if I am able to make that trip again this year, I will concentrate on a few areas and paddle through some others. I finished with 21 fish to hand. I missed a bunch of bites and lost a good number of fish. I have a love / hate relationship with barbless hooks. The Jigfest folks should be encouraged. River traffic will be low and the fish will bite.

SWPA is finally giving us some minimum flows which leads to some great wading opportunities. I fished Rim Shoals yesterday morning and had a good day. I walked down the new trail to an area with some shallow shoal water. Ended the morning with lots of rainbows, a couple browns and 1 small cuttie. I hooked a really nice rainbow that looked to be around the 20" mark but lost him to a pulled hook after a good fight. Best flies were a purple crackleback, eggs and scuds. Here's a couple of the better ones.

Gotta love the minimum flows for some great wading opportunities. Went back to Rim Shoals this morning and hiked down the trail to try some different water. The fishing was good with some nice rainbows and a few browns. Best flies this morning was a tandem soft hackle setup swung across stream and stripped back. Only saw one other fisherman and one guide boat. As I have said before, the average size of the fish seems to be better and they appear to be eating well. Here's some pics...

Hey y’all been a bit since I’ve posted, for me my fishing season is in full swing being slowed down here at the farm. After harvest got on some spotted bass on lower black river, the fishing was fantastic for several weeks throwing a spinnerbait. With deer season in full swing at that time had the river to myself usually. Got to meet up with Ham one day and we spanked them all day on a variety of baits. It’s always good to catch up with Ham we always have the best time and usually the fish cooperate to. As my daughter says I’ve created a monster in my son in law, he’s seen here in the video netting some bass from the Norfork winter series tournament we have fished twice this year. Spinnerbait was once again the ticket this weekend. Last month it was topwater! Been nice being able to fish without having to scope so much! My son is pretty busy these days and for those who have followed him and watched him grow up on this forum he is now 17. That’s hard to believe, he’s busy these days and doesn’t fish as much with me as he did but we still get together when we can. He is still also fishing high school tournaments with his best bud, I still enjoy being the boat captain, we have made some fun memories. Next up gonna start chasing a few walleye on the lower current and black rivers. I’m still filming for my own project now called Casting Forward Outdoors it airs here locally and I put them on YouTube It’s basically a local fishing program with a devotional type segment in every show. I felt led to do that a few years ago. Anyhow gonna post more on here when I can, life just gets busy. Have enjoyed this forum for years and am looking forward to jigfest! Bret Project 12-07_Full HD 1080p.mp4 Project 11-19_Full HD 1080p.mp4 Project 11-30_Full HD 1080p.mp4 247E2C3E-C25A-4DFE-9E3D-A4D083C446D6.mp4

Waded at Roundhouse this morning and had a good outing. Saw some BWO's coming up early and caught a few on top, which is always fun. Switched to a tandem soft hackle rig and that worked better. Ended the morning with lots of rainbows and a couple browns. I have noticed the average size of the trout seems to be better since the closure and the fish are fatter. Nothing big today, but still a fun day. Here's a couple of the better ones.

Late start today, started about 10 AM and fished until 4 PM. Fished the banks, caught 20 bass, mostly spots, on the ned rig. Fish were in 5 - 20 FOW. Around wood and rocks. This is the time of year the fat spots are biting, one of my favorite times to get them. No one on the water today, I saw 2 other boats. I can't remember the last time I was on this lake and only saw 2 boats. WT 54

Local news reported people were lined up at 4 AM at the Rogers BPS for the Black Friday sale. The heck with that, I went fishing! Started around 0830 as I wasn't going to go out at daylight as it was a bit too cold early for my delicate constitution. Spent the day bank beating throwing the ned, small jig, and Rock Crawler. Lots of nothing banks, but a few that held fish. Some main lake banks and one back of cove that had some shad. I caught 17 bass, 3 were barely keepers spots. Checked a couple of deep water places where Dutch and I killed them last November but right now they are barren wastelands. A little slow I guess, but I still enjoy getting out. Not too many fishermen out, rec boats are gone. WT 60, but that sure will drop with the cold coming in.

Hope ya'll have a good one!

I was headed out to Portland Oregon for a business conference. I was able to tack on a couple of days in front of the conference to fish. I have never been to Oregon. This would allow me to catch a fish in the state of OR and maybe a trout or salmon. Looking at the weather, there were high winds, waves, rain on the coast on Friday and light rains on the east side of the mountains. I decided to fish freshwater sites on Friday and the coast on Saturday. I had hopes to fish coastal tidepools for micros particularly marine sculpin species. Unfortunately, the tides and the weather didn't allow me to fish them safely or at all during my fishing days. Channeling @Devan S. if picked out a couple of creeks/rivers to try for coastal rainbow trout subspecies, aka steelhead and coastal cutthroat trout. My fish spot was an access on Gales Creek in Forest Grove, OR. It was a pretty little creek with a deep hole. I fished Zig jigs and got some bites but no hook ups. Finally got lucky on downsizing to microjigs and landed a couple of coastal rainbows my first fish caught in OR! They even slipped thru the holes in my net😉. OR is my 33rd state that I have caught fish. I endured light and moderate rains. I didn't think that I would be able to catch a cutthroat here and moved to the next location which was further downstream on Gales creek. I looked over that spot and went to another river system to get out of the rain. I ended up on Tualatin River near Dilley OR. The targets are prickly sculpin and pikeminnows. I was using a #16 hook with bit of worm and a 1/8 oz split shot about 4 inches above the hook. The idea was to bounce the bait along the bottom and hope for aggessive sculpin. I fished the downstream side of the bridge and got a couple of solid bites but no hook ups. I tried the upstream side and cast such that my bait would go next to a brush pile. I did get a bite and landed a prickly sculpin, another Lifer! I fished the upstream side for a while longer but no longer got any other sculpin. I went back to fishing the downstream side and cast towards a laydown log. I fished the bounces a bit faster hoping for a pikeminnow. On the third cast I hooked up with a posible pikeminnow, but it turned out to be a coastal Cutthroat trout! Another Lifer! With the short days, I had one other spot on the Willamette river about an hour further south to try for peamouth and pikeminnows. Also if I stayed late enough I might headlamp reticulate or another prickly sculpin. Again I was fishing worms on #10 circle hooks and 2-3 oz weights. I got only one solid bite, then broke off four rigs. I was too frustrated (also tired from the long travel time the day before) to stay until after dark to try for sculpin. Day two plan was to go to Garibaldi OR to fish Tillamook Bay. I was hoping for one or two surfperch species and my first marine sculpin species on this trip. I drove thru light to moderate rains thru the mountains. The rain eased off some as I got to the public fishing pier. I fished pieces of sand shrimp first on a bottom rig with a #10 J hook and a 2 oz weight. These are very soft baits. I got bites and lost more bait than I caught fish. I dropped the hook size and added a piece of worm and caught my first shiner surfperch. Seeing the size of their mouths I went with the same #16 hook that I used for the sculpin. For bait I cut small pieces of bloodworm scented fishbites. Using that rig, I ended up catching 5 more shiner surfperch. A lounging harbor seal, very likely full after eating the crabbers by-catch from the pier. I decided to try for marine sculpin. I cut off the heavy weight and put a 1/8 oz split shot above the hook like I used for the prickly sculpin. I put a small piece of worm on the hook. I fished the pier close to the bank. I went to a spot where I thought was the end of the rip rap/boulder bank in about 4 to 5 feet of water. I bounced the bait along the bottom and quickly caught a cabezon, my first marine sculpin! The second one. (rains were back🙄) These were all juveniles. Cabezon can get up to three or more pounds. Even with the rain, I made one more cast and got a strong bite. This fish put some strain on my UL travel rod and 4# test line. Turned out to be a decent sized striped surfperch! I had hoped to catch one but thought that I would need to fish the heavy surf near the mouth of the inlet. So a very happy surprise! Hoping to get out of the rain, I headed down another 90 mins to Newport OR to fish the Yaquina bay for other sculpin species and possible greenlings. I got to the first public pier were Pacific staghorn sculpin have been caught, it was completely dry due to the low tide 😒. The next spot had a little bit of water but little to no structure. I ended up at the sea lion pier aka fishing pier. My first good bite was a keeper Dungeness crab that tried to break my 4# line. I made several casts with no bites. I decided to fish the gap between the fishing and commercial piers. I ended up catching two kelp greenlings that finished my OR fishing days. I didn't catch a lot of fish but ended the trip with seven lifers! I cannot and am not upset about my OR fishing trip. I still need to catch a WA fish, which could be close enough for a second chance at some more OR lifers. Maybe a sturgeon!!

Neighbor and I launched at Viola at 0700 to surface temps of 61 degrees. Found but a smattering of shad and less than a smattering of fish. We basically couldn’t catch a cold in an Elementary School. Fished the Kings till 11 am and ended with less than a dozen with one solid keep. All out of piles. Where in the Beggebers 10 million shad went I have no idea. He had to go in and I was not about taking defeat lightly so I relaunched at H. Took about an hour but I lucked into the mama load of pig K’s. Just wolf pack after wolf pack. Top of the water column right under shad schools. Yep I found the buffet and it was open. Don’t know that I had over 1/2 dozen shorts and to many keeps to count without a clicker. 1/2 oz. Dixie Jet and 2.8” Keitech did the deed. Biggest at a modest 2.29 but action was Smokin Hot. Thumb took a real beating. Surface temps at Baxter to Campbell Pt. 63.5.

Every dish in the house is dirty here 👍🦃 Thankful beyond belief. 😊

SWPA ran water yesterday until 11 am, so I made an afternoon trip to the Narrows after the water went down. Fishing was good with lots of rainbows, 2 browns and a few small cutts. There was a small hatch of what appeared to be BWO's, so I tied on a size 18 BWO and caught a few on top. Other than that, the best flies were orange eggs and scuds under an indicator. I saw the rainbow in the attached picture come up to investigate the BWO but didn't take it. I switched back to the egg and after a few casts, got it to take the egg. That turned out to be the best one of the day at 19".

We have some big things lined up for 2026 that has required us to upgrade our gear. The three of us had recently bought new waders and boots and were anxious to get on the water and see how things performed. We also have added a bunch of new flies to our arsenal and wanted to see how they did as well. But as usual, all of that was just an excuse to get together and fish. The getting together was great. The fishing? Not so much. We started at Barclay and covered a bunch of water. Then we went to the Gravel Bar to see how our waders and boots performd in a restaurant. And then we spent a couple hours in the park. Not a bunch of fish, but it was a bunch of fun.

Beaver Tailwater 2025 Sampling The Trout Management Program recently completed the annual sample of Beaver Tailwater. The 2025 sample was comprised of 43% Brown Trout, 54% Rainbow Trout, and a large (16 inch) Cutthroat Trout, a fish accidentally stocked by the Norfork National Fish Hatchery. The largest trout collected was a 30-inch, 15-pound Brown Trout! Several large Rainbows were also collected, with the largest measuring 19 inches. Visit our website for more information about fishing Beaver Tailwater. Large Beaver Tailwater Brown Trout A beautiful Beaver Tailwater Rainbow Trout! Cutthroat Trout Brown Trout

The wife and I got a chance to get away again, so we bolted to Hochatown. Had a fun day on the river and caught 10 or so. This one chose the iron lotus over the prince nymph on a double nymph rig. Actually got to wet wade today… in November.😎

Well I fished ollie fest today and get the stream cred. I was the o n ly human down there lol. Caught a lot of fish. 10 rainbows of varying size and a dozen browns all the smallest little things you've ever seen. Wooly bugger in tan and olive got it done today with a barely legal getting the best fish a 12 in rainbow. Did see two enormous browns one about 22 and one that weighed probably 5 pounds didn't catch either. Man I finally get streamcred and no noses to rub it in lol 😂 mo

Had a light breakfast anticipating some heavy duty chowing down this afternoon. Spent one winter in Osawatomie Kansas working on the railroad. First trip West was to Council Grove Kansas Thanksgiving morning. Got there in the late afternoon and they had 8-10" of snow on the ground. Only place to eat in walking distance was an old pool hall that served 3.2% beer, Landshire sandwiches and chips. Celebrated Thanksgiving with a turkey sandwich watching the Cowboys on tv.

This has been the best rifle season in a long time for us. Dad and I harvested the two bucks we were hoping to see opening weekend. I took off work Tuesday and Wednesday to hunt with a buddy up north and took another large doe a good sized button head. He ended up shooting two does and a nice 8 pointer himself. We even worked in a couple limits of crappie Wednesday morning.

Took a friend down to Rim this morning and we had a good day. Fish were a bit picky, but we ended up with some nice ones. Lots of rainbows and a few browns. He caught his Personal Best brown on an orange slush egg. Eggs and midges worked best today. Here is his best one.

Waded at the walk-in access this morning and had a good trip. Best flies today were ruby midges, soft hackles and a few on eggs. It seems to me that the average size of the rainbows has increased since the closure. Ended the morning with lots of rainbows and a couple browns. Nothing huge, but lots of fat 14-15" rainbows. Here are a few of the better ones.

I'm sure that this was posted before but still makes me laugh🤣

Very thankful for faith, family and friends including the ones I have met through this platform. Several meals procured this morning and skin and inside fat for rendering. VID_20251127_084453857.mp4

Thank you. I genuinely am thankful for the friendships I've gained by hanging out here. Happy Thanksgiving OAF.

I can tell you that shaking a minnow on a 3/8 demiki head is catching a lot of fish for me and my buddy in the James. Main lake points in 20’ also finding them in standing timber in arms at the same depth. Lots of numbers with lots of line burners. I have started to catch a little better fish on a blade bait when you find them pinned to the bottom on roll off points. If you find large balls of Shad - there will be bass underneath them that are catchable - 1/2 oz jig head is better because those fish are deeper, closer to 30’ over 80’ of water in the guts of the arms. If you beat the banks - a jerk bait has been good for me on 45 degree banks or bluff walls. My buddy is hitting the same banks with an A rig and has been catching them on it. Hope that helps. Good luck to her!!

I have fished several mornings this November and the deep bite is pretty good. I normally keep the boat in 30-60 FOW and the best baits have been a 2.75 Damiki style bait and a 2.8 Keitech. I look for areas with trees and shad. The fish do not seem to be interested in a spoon or ice jig, but the water temperature probably needs to drop several degrees (currently 60-62). Right at daylight, the main activity is near the surface (3-15ft down) and once the sun gets high the bite is closer to the bottom. The fish suspended halfway down the water column are tough to catch because they do not seem to be interested in feeding. The Damiki and Keitech can both be worked horizontal and vertical, one of my best trips involved jigging the Keitech with 3/8oz jig head in 30-40ft where large schools were postured near the bottom. Drop speed can be the ticket that triggers bites, so I use jig heads in 3/8 to 5/8 range. There is an abundance of 8-13" fish so that looks good for the future keeper stock. Most trips produce a high percentage of K's but this morning included a few good LM.

Got on the water early, very little wind, a little chilly to start, around 50 degrees. Did some bank beating to start, threw a Rock Crawler, dragged a jig - caught 4 smallmouth, one was a keeper. Decided to go up Indian, but on the way there saw some stripers breaking and ended up pursuing them. They were all around, but finicky. Got one that went around 8 lbs. on a 3.3 Keitech, had one other on briefly. There were a few smallmouth that were near the stripers except closer to the bank, and I also caught 4 more of them, 3 were keepers. The stripers were chasing small shad, I did not have anything to match those little one inch shad and they were ignoring anything else I threw at them. I might go back for them this weekend and I'll be a little better prepared - small spoons ought to work. Might bring some marabou jigs too. WT 62-64

Susie and I left out Thursday morning for our annual opening of the winter C&R trout park fishing. We started with a quick stop at Maramec Springs figuring we'd take a quick stroll thru the park to check if they had stocked . The lady collecting at the front gate said they hadn't stocked since the derby which would have been the last Saturday in October. Not sure if she was accurate as that meant people fished the last 6 days of October with nothing stocked. So off to Bennett Springs to check their water and fish stocked. We went to zone 1 across form the rest room and saw tons of fish. And it would take 2000 fish to weigh that ton. We headed down to zone 2 and didn't see as many in our short walk there. Our next stop and planned first day of fishing Friday was Roaring River. Again we saw lots of fish but we also saw a half a dozen " lunkers". We started in the deep pool with the two outlets we call the "Twin Falls " Friday morning and it was pretty much non stop for the first couple hours or so. Did manage to catch one during that morning rush that would have weighed in the 3.5# range. Saw some old friends and visited almost as much as we fished for a while. Back to fishing and it was getting mid afternoon and finally connected on a 6.5-7# rainbow on a size 18 peach fur bug. Fish fought well and swam away after some reviving . We were meeting the youngest daughter and her family in Branson so we headed East to meet the kids. Fishing was on hold Saturday with shopping and a not so wonderful trip to SDC. There was way to many people which we expected ahead of time but our daughter and husband could only get off on the weekend. After breakfast on Sunday, we headed back East to Bennett. All those little fish were still swimming and still hungry so we pounded them for several hours. Most were in the 10-12" range with most on the smaller size. Susie did see a couple fish see figured were 17-18'. We left after catching all we wanted to catch and drove to Salem to finish our trip at Montauk. We got a late start as my fishing buddy was tired and didn't get started till 09:30. We started in the campground and again caught stockers in the size stocked at Bennett and Roaring. As we got down near the 200 campsites we started picking up a few 13-14" fish. I did misfire on a 20" rainbow and saw another brown trout near that size. It was a lot of driving and I wished we had found better sized fish but that's the "state of our state trout parks". The water was clear and the weather was beautiful and the fish fought hard for the most part on the little 6'6" 3 weights we were using. And there was the bonus of those 2 big fish at Roaring.

I do use livescope, but 2D is excellent option for deep fall/winter fishing. I started to take a 2D picture this morning to prove the point....here is the scoop. I normally go to spots where I keep my boat in a 1 or 2 acre boundary. I will move around and eventually almost every 'deep' fish in the area will be seen under the boat because they are also attracted to boat. The fish near the surface are chasing shad so I see those without the need for any graph. If your in an area with lots of fish you have a better chance of triggering a bite fishing vertical under the boat because fish like to be triggered with up/down bait movement and a group of fish will react to aggressive vertical jigging and one of those fish will normally grab the bait. This morning I was probably around a few hundred fish. If you want to fish deep in the fall/winter and you have 2D, then consider thinking about the spawn. From November thru March, the deep fish will setup in areas that are tailored made for staging for the spawn.....just keep in mind you need food, trees, and spawning habitat.

I couldn't not see anything wirh the naked eye. This was what my phone produced.

We went on a river cruise on the Seine River from Paris to Normandy a few years ago during the Veteran's Day holiday. We visited the Normandy American Cemetery, and it was pretty impressive and moving to imagine the bravery of our troops. Also visited the Omaha beach landing site and the WW2 Museum in Caen. I would recommend this trip to anyone interested in the history of WW2. Here's a few pics... One is from the inside of a Nazi bunker at Omaha beach.

By chance, do you remember (back in the day) when I used to piss & moan about an old buddy that I fished with frequently......and how long it took him to get suited-up & rigged ? I'd like to take all that smack talk back now, JFTR 🙄

Lost one, then landed my first-ever Paddlefish (aka Spoonbill). My microjig was right in the very tip of its bill (rostrum?) Bighead Carp (not hooked in the mouth): It's been a number of years since I last caught a Yellow Bass, so I was happy to land this little fella: Also caught a Freshwater Drum or two.

Our Thanksgiving dinner is Saturday. That gave me time to make one of my childhood favorites. The recipe is in my mom’s handwriting. I remember the day she wrote it down for me. We thought we had lost it but my wife took the kitchen apart to find it. And I cooked it in my wife’s Grandmother’s pan. I hope nothing bad happens to it and a gallon of milk before morning. It’s the gooiest, stickiest, sweetest thing you ever put under ice cream. Delicious cold. And healthy too!

I’m 64 and have only been checked once back was I was 17-18 on Charette Creek. I wish they would check the hell out of everyone.

Forecast was for a cool, windy, and cloudy day and that is what it was. Based on that forecast I decided I was going to roll with a Rock Crawler all day. I did, and in 7.5 hours of mostly cranking I caught 15 bass with 4 of them being decent keepers. Smallest keeper was a 16" smallmouth, largest a 3.5 lb. largemouth. For those of you that fish the lower end of the lake, you know there are miles of good looking bank structure to fish a crank bait. I covered a lot of ground throwing the Crawler, lots of no bite bank, but when I did catch one there were usually one or two other bites to be had in close proximity. I had fun, but made a lot of casts and my 68 year old shoulders are barking at me this morning. With the wind, there was very little top water striper activity. I fished a few places with a Ned, but other than a couple of 4 inch smallmouth, nothing seemed interested in the Ned. WT 61-62

Good job Man! Those stinkin bass got grilled today. Yummy. F VID_20251122_133152301.mp4

First, I have not been out. Going tomorrow but from what I’m hearing from folks that are out everyday there are several good ways to capture them. Most reports on surface temps in the mid to upper White River are running from lows of 63 to highs of 67 degrees. The lake is so full of forage ie shad its incredible. Flutter spoon, jigging spoon, 2.8” Keitech and of course the dreaded jighead minnow for the deep fish. Dock totally nailed it in his report. There is bait in the main lake and also at the mouth of the major creeks. The shad have not moved into the backs of the creek guts yet. Dock nailed it with his pre and post spawn locations along with the channels. Crappie fishing seems to be very good around docks and over the tops of piles. Eric Olliverson is pounding them along with bass. That dude has been on them all year. Lots of happy clients. Neighbor is just hammering the bass up the King’s near the surface early and then 30’ on the big run outs. His best bait by far has been a spin bait early or the white 1/2 oz. Dixie Jet jigging spoon later or just to throw at chasers. Last year the guides at the dam were using a Berkley Finisher. It was the first strong year here for that bait. From what I’m hearing they are on it again. I’ll try it tomorrow if I get out. I just totally hammered them at Eagle Rock last Winter on this bait. It’s bad the bone. My neighbor is extremely conservative on his fish counts and he is catching 50 plus a morning from 7 till noon. Mostly K’s. There is however a jig bite shallow if you want to go that route. On the jig he has been catching LM not big but solid 2 plus pounders. He is like me and prefers looking at them so he is staying out off the bank with the deep junk. Hope to have a first hand report soon.

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Seems about right🤔😅

Ryan is out of SWMO. He lives in Billings and fishes the James and others around there. Ryan is a great guide. I have fished with him multiple times for stories and for fun. Highly recommend him. He would put you and your daughter onto them and have a great time doing so. Another is Michael Collins of Misty Mountain Guiding Service. He fishes out of a River Rat like Ryan. I have not fished with him, but I know him, and he is a great dude. If you don't want to do a drift boat, Billy Smith of Eminence is A+. He has a jet boat and fishes the Current, Black and Jacks Fork. I have fished with and known Billy for years. He is just an awesome person. Hope that helps!

Had plans change the night before so my Saturday was free. I hooked the boat up early and headed to Norfork for a few hours. Had not been on the lake since surface temps were 88 so I was either going to get lucky or skunked. Got to Redbank at 5:45 first boat to unload, but a couple right behind me. Headed south to my first stop and had a flock of turkeys fly out of their roast after I got setup, even gobble a few times. Lots of surface action in the middle of the channels, but never could pin point a cast. The whites/hybrid's were feeding on shad, I'm sure some bass were mixed in just way to random. I had lots of shad on the graph from surface to 15' deep with some bigger marks around them just could not connect. Finally after sun got up I began to catch a few on small bait fished near the surface fast!! Ended decent, but no pictures as it was to rainy. Best area was on the main lake channel with a deep flat . Also had 6 decent spots come up off the bottom and inhale a hair jig only just one little area. Could not reproduce it, but that was fun. Ended my day at 2pm headed home with a couple fish for supper, the wife likes to eat fish so that is my excuse to go 🤣😂. Not much to report but finally got out on the water water had some success. Water color had a tint of stain, surface temp was 62ish, small swimbaits/ hair jig, speed was your friend today (faster the better) good luck have a happy thanksgiving to all my OA crew

YEA! Pat's Kinda worried about being the first woman to attend. WARNING and DISCLAIMER if you throw crap her way be prepared to get it back tenfold. I have been on that side of things. 🤪

Great pictures^^^^ Here's mine.😀