Ham

I'll be there all day Friday and Saturday. I may fish some Sunday if OK weather and company are available. I'll be there for both meals. I was planning on bringing a pie and a cake for each meal.

Rick is sneaky good. He's all quiet and stuff winding his fish in. Sometimes, you won't know he's had a bite until he swings the fish in the boat. Happy to hear you'll be joining us. I was going to text & PM to inquire.

Jerkbaits work too, but Jig Fest sounds so much better than Jerk Fest.

I'd dearly love to see one in the wild. QB, I doubt they were ever in the Buffalo. It seems like cool water is required for them. If I remember correctly, they only absorb oxygen through their skin. Cooler water can carry more oxygen than warm. They are also very likely to absorb any toxins in the water into their body. They need CLEAN, cool, heavily oxygenated water. Ultimately, they may have to restrict access to certain areas of the upper parts of these spring fed systems. I think it would also help if they put some reasonable restrictions on streamside land owners. Ie you can't let you cattle beat down the banks. You cant plow to withing feet of the stream bank, you can't gravel mine and ruin the stream. You would think owning land along some of the magical rivers we have in our area would make you value you them more than some ppl apparently do. I hate that folks chase the almighty dollar to the detriment of the creeks and rivers.

Wow, that's cool. I hope you handled it gently. I'm guessing mud puppy.

I won't be able to help myself. I will look at the 10 day outlook, but I trust it a lot more about 3 days out.

I fish Bull a lot more than I do Norfork, but I've never caught a walleye at Norfork. I catch a few walleye at Bull while bass fishing. Maybe the Norfork Wally is just too smart for me and maybe you'll catch a tin from shore, but I don't think the odds are in your corner.

I was throwing Miss Pinky in the shallower stuff with higher flow. Ginger/ Orange , Oliver/Ginger, Brown/Orange , and some funky brown with a chenille body in deeper stuff. I seriously expect a bite every cast and start to wonder if I go 1/2 dozen casts without some sort of bite or follow. If you're in the right place, that isn't as unreasonable as it might seem.

Are you doing 1/32 then 1/16 and then 1/8 all in a row of the same color?

Lol, my Zig Jigs stay ready. I do have to restock from time to time. KOKO Bret.

The trout are biting just fine. I banged out 58 in three hours this morning. No monsters, but plenty of good chunky fish. Every color I tried caught em.

Working for a living. It sure gets in the way of us having a good time.

I catch zero fish on originals and rapala's version if that helps you any.

Awesome! Love the Beasties! Great video!

Ohh, I have definitely caught walleye on jerkbaits, but I've caught way more than I would expect on tubes. At this point, I expect to catch everything that swims on the Ned.

It is surprizing to me how many walleye eat a tube or hula grub.

What combination of water color and available light to like to use TR Shad color? Do you throw it more when you expect really aggressine fish? More if you are around smallies? I generally have colors that I like for sun vs clouds and super clear water vs dingy water.

1) LRF, You already own lots of excellent cold water smallie jigs. They are feather jigs. Hint Hint. 2) Better tools make fishing easier and more enjoyable. I'm not buying a Steez level rod though 3) nanofil makes any spinning rod better ; flurocarbon makes any baitcaster better. 4) relative temp CAN BE more important than absolute temp. And warming trends make a big difference. ie the ONLY time I've been on a guided trip was on the New River. Air temp was 28 degrees when we started and water temp was 36'. We were able to coax a few tentative bites and had caught a couple of fish, when water warmed to 38' with an upstream water release, the smallmouth activity increased dramatically. I think we finished the day with about 20 smallies between us and all of them were pretty nice sized. I had a certified Boga grip 5 pound river smallie which is my heaviest smallie to date..

Well of course you did. You're the man. I don't know why I struggle with it, but I do. I need to improve my skill set with the wart.

I wish the rain would have allowed for a few more pictures. The 17 inch Spot I caught was an absolute beast. So fat.

I've got to actually catch some wart fish before I allow myself to consider buying additional any of the new colors.

I do, I do.

I'll bring a cake or a pie both nights

I guess I would be concerned about the ability to backcast that much line or is there more of a BIG roll cast? Used trout boats aren't that expensive to own or operate.