Ham

Braid is very light and the spool has less momentum to keep spilling line out. fluro has more weight and backlashes worse than mono. it doesn’t have to be a Big Deal. Set your spool tension and your brakes correctly and keep an active thumb. you can make a long cast and then pull off 30 more feet of line and then put a piece of electrical tape on the spool. It will not backlash past the tape.

Whoa !!! Tap your brakes some. NFOW is going to have too many drunk floaters regardless of what any individual invested. Words matter and that’s too strong an opinion for the subject matter. Save that for drug cartels or something

I think Dawt Mill is the lake. Spots are in the upper lake for sure, but largiesxare more numerous.

I’m 58 and definitely limited in how long I can throw and actively work a jerk bait. cranks are no problem yet, but I’m not ever gonna throw the giant ones.

2) Brown Trout (Salmo trutta) Baby Brown but the first of the year

Careful John! I expect there will be an Invasive Carp tag to raise money to deal with them.

I really like the rock crawlers. Cast great and run deep. You really can slow it down and stay down. To be fair, some days all the want is a wart. Been there and seen that. I ended up having to borrow one. True story.

1) Rainbow trout it was little, but it was my first fish of the year. I caught two bigger ones with nice colors and.........didn’t bother to take a picture

The “wild” trout in NFOW had 50 plus years of making it own their own. You can tell the stockers that have dodged Power Bait for a few months from the fish that were dumped in a few days ago. You can certainly tell the difference in a fish that hatched in a River vs a raceway. either way, it’s going to be a long time before we get back to pre flood fishing

Or better yet (maybe) egg boxes. For Bows, Browns, and Cutts

I live on the White River. I like fishing it. I have caught literally thousands of trout from the White. So, I have more than little experience with stocked trout. Prior to 2017, I made a trip or two in the fall after most of the drunken floats were out of the way for about 5 years or so. I loved fishing up there. I didn’t catch a lot of fish each trip, but the ones I caught were healthy, pretty, no damaged fins, and all fought HARD. I didn’t catch any fish under 12 inches and several of the largest Rainbows I have ever caught I caught up there. I had a 23 inch and two others over 21 inches. I caught them in heavy current and they fought really well. Those fish WERE SUPERIOR to the stocked Rainbows of Spring River, Taney, White River, and all the Trout parks. I’m not super romantic about trout. I enjoy catching them, but I do not hold them in higher regard than other fish. You are of course entitled to your opinion, but it would carry more weight it you had fished NFOW prior to the 2017 flood.

Happy New Year Pepe. First of all, I hope you enjoy the new home and new area. Shoot me a PM if you have questions about local eats etc. I’m not like everybody else. I would rather trailer to where I’m gonna fish and not run in the boat a long way, but there are lots of ramps on Bull Shoals that you should be able to use. CR15 is a good ramp way up Howard’s Creek arm. Road is rough right before the ramp so just take it easy on that last 500 yards before the ramp. That one is just up the road from you off Hwy 5 North. Bull Shoals Boat Dock is usable until about 574. Water gets over the road too much after that. I was the last boat out one year before they closed the road for weeks. That ramp puts you at the mouth of Jimmy Creek. There is a nice ramp right at the dam, but kind of a run to get to the fish. I love fishing the Oakland area and there is a ramp there at the park. Those four ramps all have courtesy docks which makes solo launching much easier and better. There are lots more, but that gets you started anyway Good Luck and Good Fishing.

Some people chase and some people catch 😥

Man, when you settle down in that trough and lose the horizon completely, water is way above you on all sides, that’s not a Great feeling

We were in the Five Fingers area when the wind got up. We had to cross the lake back to where we launched. We were in a 19 foot bass boat and very carefully made our way back. I wasn’t sure we were going to make it and I would rather not ever be in stuff that waves that big again.

Rayburn gets BIG waves when there is a wind from the Northwest. Scary Big. It has been fishing well of late. Toledo Bend should be on your list as well. Caddo has fun scenery and some Big fish. I love the bayou that runs into it (Big Cypress Bayou) and its backwaters, but I am not sure I would consider it a Big Fish destination trip.

Do Not Feed That Troll

The A rig is the thing to throw in Winter for those Big bags, but you still have to know where to throw it and how to retrieve it. It doesn't do me a whole lot of good since I have not put the time in to know where to throw it and how to retrieve it and what baits to put on it. I'm not sure LiveScope would be worth the money to me since I would have to spend the time to learn it too

Bill are you running a dedicated battery for the Garmin LiveScope system. It seems like it is a pretty significant draw on batteries from what I hear from my buddies that have them.

I like that they are “wild” born and self sustaining. I’d rather not mess that up if we can help it.

I'm not a fisheries biologist nor an environmental scientist, but I would like to to see trees replanted ASAP and native aquatic vegetation re-established. I am not in favor of stocking trout IF there are acceptable numbers of the naturalized Rainbows remaining. I am fine with them re-establishing the dam at Dawt Mill as long as it can be done in a way that will be safe for the people and specifically children that swim there.

That's Awesome Buddy ! Super Happy for Your Epic day yesterday. I appreciate you taking your son hunting and fishing.

We want to see your fish on this thread too!

Here we go again. I had a good run in 2020, but I came up short. I’m not going to feel Sorry for myself much longer though. I’m pushing all my chips to the center of the table and trying one last time to get 100 species in a year. John had a good idea to open this up and have the efforts of multiple fishermen that are pursuing multi species in one place. So you guys can see what @Johnsfolly or @FishnDave or anyone else that wants to participate are up to. I hope it will be a Fun Ride.

Man, I’ve been busy chasing other fish other places. I’ve fished Bull once since June. For crappie. For a half day. my work situation changed snd I have one less day a week to fish. It’s a struggle.