Ham

1) Road Runner 2) smallish soft plastic on a jighead 3) small crankbait 4) zara puppy (first choice if water is clear enough and they are feeding on top!) 5) live bait

I could use a little help with the term "fall off". Is that the more gradual slope on the inside of the channel swing?

I would have thought things would be improving with the warmwer air temps and sunshine. It's gonna get better soon.

I have fished several area in the last couple of weeks and they have all fished well. The area immediately below BSL dam is probably the best spot right now, but it si getting HEAVY fishing pressure and that has to start afecting the fish at some point, I went to Wildcat Shoals area on 2/18/10 to avoid the crowds at BSL dam. I had a brief but very nice trip. I had one Brown in the 20 inch range and several others between 15-18 inches. I use Zig Jigs and jerkbaits when not fly fishing. If you want to fly fish, look at Larry Babin's reports or John Berry's reports. Both are dead on.

cajunangler and I fished out of Beaver Creek down to below K dock. It was our first time on that section of the lake. We fished about six hours and caught three "keeper" spots. We saw water from 39-40 degrees and were less than warm all day.

As stated above, it really just depends on the individual product being considered. I like some of their soft plastics, I like some of the BPS branded hardbaits, I'm fine with BPS Excel mono for some applications, I like the XPS hooks (when they are on sale). I typically want to look at that stuff in person BEFORE I buy it and often try it after friends kitt my butt with it on the water. As on online source, I've been very pleased with www.tacklewarehouse.com. Good prices, great selection, and good customer service. I also try to buy local, but when the local guys do not stock what your looking for, you have to look elsewhere.

A cold, wet spring.

I did a little more looking. AGFC had scheduled to drop a little under 1.2 million rainbows, around 195,000 Cutts, 105,000 Browns, and 15,000 Brookies. ONLY 15,000 brookies. I was surprized that they dump almost twice as many Cutts as Browns. I catch a lot more Browns than Cutts. Which makes me wonder if the Browns have a higher survival rate AND how much natural reproduciton of Brown occurs. The Brook trout is the hardest part of the slam to come by for sure.

I've noticed a little variability in how "heavy" they are and in how deep they will run, but so far I have not had any leakers.

Offical disclaimer, I'm much more of a rank amature at trout fishing than a pro. Hopefully, one of the pros will chime in behind me. The Cutts I have caught have been scattered up and down the length of the river. I have not been able to pattern them in any other way EXCEPT nearly every dry fly fish I have caught has been a cutt. I think about 3 of of 4 of my dry fly fish have been Cutthroat trout. BUT, you can't just force the dry fly bite. I would put my over all Cutt percentage to be less than 5% of the trout I have caught. Every Brookie I have caught here has been within one mile of BSL dam or Norfork dam. No exceptions. Most have been small, but beautiful. No fly or technique specific trends just lagniappe mixed in with the bows and browns. Take a look at your Arkansas Fishing Handbook from the AGFC. In the past, they have listed the number of trout stocked broken down by species. If nothing else, it is a numbers game. The breakdown is Bows (by the ton), then Browns, Cutts, and last and very least Brookies. IN 2009, AGFC stocked almost 1.2 million trout in the White River and about 100,000 in Norfork. The fact that Cutts and Brookies are so physically small when stocked doesn't help their survival rates any. I think they are usually stocked at < 8 inches. I have a friend that refers to Brookies as expensive Brown trout food and I have personally seen a small group of just stocked Brookies getting run by a fairly small Brown (~16 inches). I think I read that Rainbows are usually > 10 inches when stocked which seems to jive with my on water experience. We all want to catch "a slam". Good Luck in your quest.

Yeah, the left side drift is MUCH more difficult. The left center drift is VERY difficult. Agreed Hotdawg. Any time you manipulate flown, you stand a good chance of changing things downstream as well.

Jerkbaits and Wiggle Warts working a little bit too.

I would have thought that it was pretty obvious that if you have a beef with a particular product you are more than welcome to start your own thread to discuss that. It's more than a little rude to vent your spleen on some piece of gear on the someone else's Buy Sell or Trade thread. Some folks like Motor guide and some folks like Minn Kota. I like em both. They both make quality products. The one for sale here is pretty close to the Top of the line that Motor Guide makes. Cajunangler prefers Minn Kota and would like to move the Motor Guide while it is like new, as in all but NEVER used. No wear on it at all. Good deal available to someone looking to move up to a 36 volt system or even buy it as a back up motor for someone that tourny fishes and has that setup already.

Decent area to fish, but hopefully you aren't legally bound to only fish that creek. I fished it two or three times last spring. We caught fish there, but did better in some of the other creeks in that area of the lake. I'm sure you have a map. Fish every creek within 5 miles of that one. Best lure and location varies day to day in the spring if not hour to hour. Finesse jigs, jerkbaits, grubs are the baits I remember catching fish on, but I'm sure a dropshot could be made to work. We caught some small walleye, crappie, panfish, White Bass, LMB, SMB, and spotted bass. Nothing all that great though. I don't lose any sleep thinking about going back to that particular creek to fish and there are areas of the lake that I am actively dreaming about fishing in a couple of months. COME ON SPRINGTIME! We fished the back third of the creek if I remember correctly.

The Red is UP and running hard. The Pros always tear there stuff up on the Red because they throw caution to the wind. Someone would likely have gotten killed. The water is high enough that some of the marker bouys are under water or blown away all together. Most of the ramps are closed and non pro traffic is at a minimum. It would have fished very small.

I typically reach for the McStik first. I've been very happy with them.

If you live here and are determined to fish the White, you need access to a boat and a good set of waders. Boat when they run water and wade when they don't ; Both are fun and productive. I refuse to be held captive by the COE. 10 inches of snow is another story.

I'm furious that I can't get out. My lower driveway still has most of the snow in place.I will have a four wheel drive something before the next Ozark winter. I'm really starting to wonder what percentage of big browns go up river. Nothing wrong with fishing up by the dam; I've got to fish somewhere, somehow, TODAY.

Zig Jigs. Just sayin.

I've often wondered why Mr Wright never released an updated version of Ozark Trout Tales. Great book btw.

What is the maximum CFS they can run out of Beaver?

I'd be more interested if you had asking prices. I'd know if I was anywhere near the ballpark on what you want to get for these items.

I own three colors in the McStik. Norman Flake. TR Shad. Chrome Shad. I'm not saying I've worn them out on it, but it has caught trout. Browns and Bows. More to the point I was trying to make, I thik they all work SO throw what you like and what you can afford to lose. I've heard the Slender Pointers have a fragile bill. Have you guys had trouble with that?

That has not been my experience.

I'd call it a real nice fish. I generally consider 21 inch bass to be a "5 lber". Release em quick before someone puts it on a digital scale and shrinks it to 4 3/4 lbs though.