Ham

I tend to fish until the surface temp is 40' degrees AND the fish stop biting well. There's always one trip too many where you do all the right things and get a handful of bites.

I have a lot of patience, but nothing close to that of "He who counts rocks". I'm still treading the path although sometimes it seems more like dreading water.

Lol. It is actually the first time the three of us have all fished together. You had fished with Cody, I had fished with Cody, I had fished with you, but this was the first time the three of had fished together. Just nit picking a little bit. I look forward to seeing the video when I get home.

"STAYING PUT WORKS" IF you know your fishing area well enough to know the fish its holding. Fishing a spot for 5 hours that isn't holding many fish isnt going to draw them to you. I don't know any of those areas that have 5 hours worth of fish on them.

He has buddies at the NSA.

I knew how lucky we were with the weather we got. I went out last night with dogs and the weather was rough. High wind would have reduced JigFest to GabFest. Count your blessings boys.

Cody, you ought to sell that Loomis while you can. Fate apparently doesn't want you to have one. Lol.

You're Welcome Rick.

That's a nice looking rig. I have a coworker that is looking for a used trout boat. I will show this post to them. Good Luck.

We are a tiny bit under 654 right now, but even at 660 it wasn't too bad as long as you watch where you throw and stay aware of whats happening.

Most of my fishing is done on BSL and various creeks. It really hasnt been an issue. I will go thru 2 or 3 heads a day on a bad day, but some days I don't lose any.

While I truly prefer a weedless head, I can do a lot of fishing with a non weedless head without hanging up too bad.

He (Fish 24/7) fishes shorter trips than many folks because he has ready access AND he knows his fishing spots very well. I can't, don't, and won't spend that much time on any one spot.

There are several ice fishing jigs on the market that are styled like the Rapala one. Northland has a cheaper one, but they are elongated lead bodies with single hook points on both ends. A treble hook in the middle. A hard plastic fin on one end that makes the bait swing in a circle on the drop.

All sorts of possibilities, one thing is that the jig works best at < 10,000 CFS IMO and I probably am at my best with the jig in < 3000 CFS. It some areas the relative flow rate increases as the water gets shallower. The absolute CFS may be dressing but flow rates in certain areas increases. The fish move around because of the changing water levels and maybe we stumbled into a pile of them. The main thing though is don't despair because water is falling. Just keep fishing.

Those sure are some pretty fish. I love the sucker.

The Skinny Bear Finesse Wacky Heads at TW work also. They are a little less expensive. With help from friends, I've been getting CHEAP non weedless heads online. less than 20 cents each. I've all been able to get some weedless ones from a friend that is pouring them up. They are about 40 cents each.

Last year was so great that I was a little worried that this year would feel a little flat. Nothing could have been further from the truth. Despite Quillback and Hoglaw having to miss the shindig, it was an amazing time. Despite erratic water releases and wildly unreliable reporting of those water releases, we managed to catch a lot of fish and some really good quality fish. I'm hoping that everyone will chime in with their trip details and their opinions on the food. Friday, I pushed Bret to take Cody and I Up to White Hole. We would have high water and clouds and I hoped he would get that big brown he'd been thinking about. He had a big one take a look at a jerk bait right after we started, but I caught the only brown that day and it was healthy, but not large. We caught em, but not great. Things improved as water fell from >10000 to min flow. There was a period where the bite was really good, but at min flow the fish moved or shut down and our bite died. Cody and I decided to relocate to Cotter. The highest water would be gone, but we would still have flow and a little while to fish. good move. We whacked em. Cody (Got Muddy) was a rockstar with a little crankbait. Oddly enough, I stuck with a jig. I ended up with 55. The boat caught way over 100. 150 ish? Saturday, predictions for minimal amounts of water being released pushed us down river to fish the water we knew we would have even if they shut down BSL completely due to maintainence work. It was good and bad. It was a slow morning for almost everyone except for Little Red Fisherman. He flat wore out the Brown trout on a Megabass Yardstick Jr., but that's his story to tell. We had Lane with us who is Terrierman's grandson and quite the outdoorsman at 19. He did very well despite having like 40 feet of line on his spinning reel. Shame on me for noticing that at 4 PM. If I had be given a little head's up, I would have re-spooled him. I have enough mono to circle the globe. I was low man on the totem pole stuck at the front of the boat. I did get a beautiful chub with my first cast of the day, but I was sitting at a very unimpressive 17 fish at 1430, but we moved down river to another few spots I knew. The sunshine broke out finally and maybe that helped, because we found the fish. I finished with 79. We had three triples and lots of doubles. We all caught really nice Browns. We all also caught nice Smallies. lane caught our only Cutty. We had eight different species for the day. Bret caught a misplaced Largemouth Bass. Boat must have gotten real close to 200 fish. There are pics and video. The two other boats relocated further up river after a slow morning and they got well in the afternoon. Look for those reports. The food and fellowship both Friday and Saturday nights was outstanding. Kudos to all involved. Cody's chicken quarters that he did with his Redneck Magic cooker were so good. the fish that Phil provided from Alaska was devoured with gusto. the deer loin was awesome. I've been missing out. Hey Griz, Cowboy Caviar is so good. Why am I just now learning of it? Salad and cake and pie, Oh my. Drinks where BYOB or in my BYOB Diet Coke. Bret was BYOIBC, but others celebrated a little harder. The accommodations at Riley's Station are excellent. I live 25 minutes away, but even I am considering gathering a crew up and staying there. I would strongly recommend them if you are looking to rent accommodations on the river. I prefer the lower river and you are mere minutes from some awesome water. I enjoyed getting to meet SinO3, Lane, and Bob. I enjoyed spending time with everybody. You guys are a hoot. It's awesome to be amongst such fine men and such fine fishermen. I opted not to fish this morning and it's just as well. My wife is under the weather and I would have had to cancel this morning. Griz I owe you a trip. I hate that I didnt get to fish with you. FTR, Les was the only guy that entertained the idea of yakking with me. I know I could have crushed them from my Tarpon 120. we will make the yak thing happen sometime.

I choose not to fish >40 FOW because of that problem.

I'll try to start taking some pictures of colored up Bows. There are about 8 strains of Bows they put in the White below BSL. So there are various colors to be seen. There are a fair number of silver bullets to be sure. I truly believe minimum flow has helped a bunch. As the winter comes on, fishing pressure decreases and thousands of trout get extra time in the river.

Sounds like a good day. Glad things worked out.

Everyone ought to be in a Bass Cat anyway. This just makes the decision easier for y'all.

Terrierman's boat is full. I'll be glad to offer advice if desired, but his boat and crew go where ever they go. LRF has a boat. (plus 2 seats) Gris has a boat (plus 2 seats) Phil is going to fish part of a day. I might suggest they do Norfork if they only plan on fishing a part day anyway. He has an open seat, but that's a partial day trip. I'd suggest we decide who's going in what boat and have that boat caption pick his poisin and have the boat crews meet on access site, but that's just me. I'm all about the meet and greet, but fishing wise we would be better served if some of the handshakes happened later rather than sooner.