Ham

The river will probably be alittle different next year and the year after that and certainly after the next larger than average flow event. Some of those changes will be improvements and you're in a beautiful spot with more than a lifetime's worth of fishing in easy reach. No worries. Now that you found the butt section, would St Croix replace the butt section for a nominal fee? Could a local rod guy repair/replace the grip?

Beautiful river. I'll have to get back over there one of these days. Real nice picture of that Shadow Bass.

FWIW, this forum is dominated by folks that LOVE to fish TR. The time of year you are talking about is relatively easy to find a few fish on TR and they are catchable. You'll have a good time there. No doubt about it that the average size fish on TR is bigger, but BSL fishes a lot easier and you don't ever seem to get crowded. TR CAN BE crazy busy. BSL has it's share of toads as well though, it isn't a dink fest. TR has lots more places to stay and lots more guide services. Which might be a deciding factor for you. IF I lived exactly in between the two lakes, I would fish BSL 8 times out of 10. I catch a lot more bass out of BSL and I have a much better chance to catch a big ole walleye while bass fishing at BSL.

More water than I want for fly fishing most days, but I'm looking forward to being able to use ramps on BSL.

It's all your's son. Once the water cools down enough that the fish are mostly inactive, I head to the lakes where I have a lot more action from the fish. I do trout fish rivers when the water is cold though.

I'm working a late shift today which meant I had time for a quick trip this morning. They were running more water than I like, but it wasn"t a crazy amount so I rolled the dice. Lauched at Cotter. Wasted 1/2 hour trying a side channel with reduced flow ; I got mainly flashes and follows. Finally caught one before I wosed up and moved on. Flow was high enough that banging the bank with my Zig Jig was getting looks, but not enough solid hookups. I finally dug into the tackle bag and got out a Rapala D-7. I don't know why I haven't fished the CD's before. I know they have a good rep, but I had tried any of the ones I own before today. It was getting smoked by a 50/50 mix of Browns and Bows. I still like my F7's and F9's, but I'll save them for lower flow. I lost contact with the Brown trout downriver at Rim, but I caught several nice Browns today. I also caught a couple of dinky cutts. All together I got 16 to hand in about 2 1/2 hours of fishing. Not great, but not terrible results. The overall size of the fish continues to be really strong. on a side note: Has anyone caught(or even seen) any of the Orange colored Rainbows lately (aka Creamsicles)? i haven't caught or seen any since before the high water this spring.

My anchor is vinyl coated. I'm using an old kids backpack for now, butI'd like to get my hands on an old bowling ball bag. I think that would be the cats pjs.

Snicker snicker. I think Al would rather swim with a fishing rod in his mouth that use a kayak.

I've had a Tarpon 120 for 8 years. It weighs 65 lbs. I put another metric tonne on it. I've never had a real issue with toting it over or aaround or thru a portage situation. I bitch and moan while doing it, but it really hasn't been too bad. I don't think a Coosa would be any worse.

PLEASE post when you get the Coosa's available for rent. I really want to rent one for a full day demo.

I think I'd better stick to fishing class 1 water.

Is the water off the road leading to the big ramp at Bull Shoals Boat Dock there just inside Jimmy Creek?

I've fished low water from my boat a couple of times the last few days. The river is really fishing well. Zig jigs are catching > 10 fish an hour with 13 inch fish being the most common size. Mostly bows where I am fishing, but one in 20 is a Cutt. I have caught anything over 17 inches lately.

All my experience is below dam #3. the areas above there are likely exempt from most of the summer BS. Fun river to fish and float when the drunken idiots are gone. I did see where a lady got wedged by the current in a high flow area and drowned. That's terrible.

Eric's funny.

The following comments are just my opinions and everybody has opinions, but they are honest and without bias. Leave your boat at home. You can rent a boat here if desired or required by the water levels, but talk to the person you rent from and make sure you understand some basic safety measures for the White ie NEVER anchor in current. The anchor is to keep the boat from drifting off when you stop for lunch on the shore in a non current area and always anchor off the bow off the boat. Also, if they are running a bunch of water, keep the motor running; when you get in a bind is not the time to struggle to get a motor started. The boats aren't too expensive and are of local design an manufacture for this river. You don't want to tear your stuff up and try to make what you have work if conditions it wasn't built for. You didn't mention how you planned on fishing or how long you planned on staying. You should strongly consider hiring a guide for the first day. Tell them up front you'd like to catch a decent brown more than a bunch of rainbows and that you want to learn some things to help you catch fish on your own the next couple of days. There are plenty of good guides in the area. Several of them post here, but not all. If you are going to fly fish get guide that specializes in that. If you want to use bait and lures, go with a guide that does that all the time. I don't know him, but Hotdawg Guide service seems to be very successful on catching big browns with bait and lures. I do know Larry Babin at Blue Ribbon Fly, John Berry, Davey Wotten, and Steve Dally that all fly fish guide and I would be happy to spend a day fishing with any and all of them. The new regs have helped already. There are lots and lots of decent Browns in the river and I hope you catch one. Do read and follow all the fishing regs that apply. AGFC enforce to the letter of the law and they seldom give warnings. March is a great time to be on the river with a shot at a big brown, but the Browns feed all year. I don't have a favorite time of the year to fish. IT can be REAL Cold and Wet in March, you probably shouldn't plan on tent camping. Pack good gear. It is significantly colder on the river than outside your motel room. Also find out when they are having the Sowbug event. The river gets pretty crowded about then. Come back for the Sowbug, but plan a fishing trip some other time. Pay attention to this board a few weeks before you head this way. There will be posts that can help you. Good Luck!

I'll get hit for sales tax on my future orders. I'm not real likely to make it over to Rodgers.

Blasmephy!

don't let these young guns get you down Al, they'll let the vicissitudes of age in due time. I did a lot of stupid crap in my youth that I can't tolerate at my current age.

I would have been interested in swapping the rod for a different Falcon. I didn't know about that deal. When I sell something used, I price it as used. I really want to make sure the buyer gets a deal they are happy with. It's ok though,I'm not exactly hurting for fishing poles. I have several more that I would like to sell just so somebody would be getting enjoyment out of them.

I had a Falcon Cara T7 finesse jig rod with the micro guides. I did not notice any positive differences. It did ice more quickly in the cold weather and I did seem to have more line tangles with the micro guides and fluro. I really didn't like the split grip handle and sold the rod here on OA at a steep discount. I don't have any plans on buying more rods with micro guides.

There are otters, herons, osprey, mink, turtles, kingfishers, raccoons, and lots of piscatorial predators to help keep the smallie numbers in check. I agree that it's a good idea to have scientific research to back up regs, but some stuff gets researched to death. The research continues while the resource goes to he'll. Not the case with smallies Thank goodness. I fully support selective harvest. Especially on crappie and walleye!

I might go this fall once the party crowds a bit. Not worth fighting the young, drunk, and stoopids.

I actually have a 5'6" St Croix light action spinning rod I would like to sell. Of course, shipping would be half as much as the rod. PM me if you're interested in a St Croix Premier for $50 bucks and live close enough to Mt Home to make the exchange practical.

I'd be good with keeping ZERO smallies from flowing water flowing water regardless of their genetics. Plenty of other fish to eat.