Ham

I gave Justin and the crew at Sunburst a call to reserve a Coosa and headed their way first thing yesterday morning. I've really been wanting to use a Coosa since they first came out and compare them to my much beloved Tarpon 120. I floated the Hammond Bridge back to Sunburst. I have fished this section before and on that trip I caught almost nothing once we hit the cold water springs so I made a mental note to drag my feet on the upper section. Well this time the water was much lower and there were a lot more people on the river, I drug my feet and tried to let the crowd go past me once the morning rush caught up with me. I really didn't catch the numbers or the size of the smallies I was hoping for, but I did get some smallies to hand. I spent 6 hours getting to the cold water and then 4 1/2 hours getting to Sunburst.So maybe I dug in my heels too hard. I'll do a few things differently next time I make this trip. I caught fish much better this time from The Twin Springs area down. I did waste some time in areas that were not productive, but I caught a lot more smallies than last time and more and better sized trout. I live minutes away from the White and Norfork rivers; It's a hard sell for me to travel other places for trout BUT I'm going to have to do more trips to NFOW and Sunburst. The trout although fewer in number than I'll catch on a trip on the White were all beautiful. I did not catch a trout under 14 inches and they all fought long and hard. I SAW several BIG browns and I had seen some giant Rainbow trout. They seemed too big to be trout, but the water is gin clear and I catch 100's of trout every year. I was sure it was giant trout I was seeing. REALLY BIG OK. Well, I caught once of the giants. A true she beast. I catch a few 20 inch trout a year and this fish drawfed those. I'm giessing > 25 inches. By myself, no camera, no way to measure without stressing the fish more. I popped the hook out and held her until she powered off. That turned out to be my last fish of the day and it was a heck of a high note to finish on. My new personal best for Rainbow Trout. I also got a new species. I finally caught a log perch. I ended up catching 9 species on the day. Including a horny head chub on a jerkbait. The non gamefish species seem especially aggressive on NFOW. Ahh yes the boat review. Good initial stability and excellent secondary stability. The fancy seat is very comfortable. I kept in high position all day enjoying the little extra elevation above water level that it affords. I know that raises the COG, but the boat is very stable. I did not that at the high position it did feel like I was having to almost reach for the water with my paddle. I use a 230 CM paddle and a 250 would have been OK. I did stand and fish in it a little while. I could use more practice at it, but it's doable. The new strap makes it easy to get up and down. I don't know how often I would stand and fish, but you can. The under seat storage is nice. Much easier than my current situation. There is not room in the rear tank well for my tackle bag and cooler, but the under seat stoge makes up for it. It would ot be hard to figure out how to carry my gear, just different. There is inside storage for rods which I find vital. Hatchs are bungeed down which gets old, but is very workable. Hatches front and rear with a rubber snap hatch on a front center storage area. That area is Wallet and keys I guess, but I use a dry bag. They keels have been greatly reduced (or eliminated I didn't look). So the boat doesn't track as well but is more manuverable. The boat is wide and stable, but slower than my T120 maybe about the same speed as a T100. It seemed like the wind was able to push the Coosa around more than a Tarpon which I think relates to the lack of keel. Lots of neat attention to detail was built into this boat. You can read about those elsewhere, but they do make things nice. Bottom line is a really liked the Coosa. So much so that right now I'd probably buy a Coosa over a Tarpon. My 03 Tarpon keep rocking on though and I won't buy a Coosa UNTIL I need a boat. I do think the Tarpon would be a much better flat water boat, but I use my yak on flowing water almost exclusively now.

Nice job.

Not at all like our water, but that area may have the best southern crappie fishing in America. I'd love to fish them in the spring sometime when conditions are right, but I had a pretty amazing spring for crappie around here.

I've joined mono to braid with a uni to uni and a slim jim knot with VERY good success. I want a weak link when I am fishing braid and I don't want to use up braid when changing lures. I join mono to fluro or mono to mono using surgeons knots. Adding a drop of glue isn't a bad idea, but I have not found it to be necessary.

There is a local association here in the Mountain Home area.Sure seems pretty interesting to me.

I don't know why that struck me as so funny, but that's the funniest thing I've read or heard all day.

Should be fine, but I have NO direct experience.

Jeff, I really don't think you need fluro at all. You're running lead ore and then braid. You lures are going to stay down and that setup will have very little give. I use fluro to help suspending baits stay down and to give me a little (but significant) extra sensitivity by less stretch under normal load and a straighter line to the lure (less inverted belly from the mono floating up). IF you want to run fluro anyway, I like Seagar Abraz X and Bekley 100%. Wet you line well prior to cinching knots down and you should be golden.

Ask her if you can assume ownership. Don't spend money if you don't have to do so.

I think you might be shooting a little low on the guide cost, but I don't know that for sure. Nothing wrong with Riley Station, but look at Rim Shoals run by Gary Flippin on the White River and River Run Lodge (I think) on the Norfork as well. There are a lot of good guides and good places to stay. Most resorts will have websites these days.

If the man is looking to arrest people might I suggest they look on the Spring River EVERY weekend from May thru September. They will need to bring school buses to haul them off in though.

I'm not a huge believer in photo finish cranks. I'm a sucker for high stuff and own ZERO Koppers stuff, but they be great. Good Luck if you decide to get one.

Shocker.

Compare this to the earlier thread about White River safety issues. We want people to be personally responsible, we just want a fighting chance when fishing in the shadow of the dam. It never ceases to amaze me at how ignorant of the dangers of the White River so many people that chose to fish here are. Those kids really were in danger. Good job helping them. I would definitely try to educate my customers if I was renting boats. It is also frustrating how many people claim ignorance of conservation laws, but will not change their behavior when the laws are explained to them. This includes the litter laws.

Watch for sales. Lots of nice tents out there that meet you needs, I have a Eureka Apex 3 with aluminum poles that I got for just a little more than you listed. I really like it, but it's a 2 person tent and you better like that other person. Sierra Trading,REI, Backcountry, or other online retailers should have several in sale at your price to choose from.

My son has a P22. I'm definitely I the market for a Taurus 992, but I want blued. I also want the GSG 1911 style .22. The LCR sure would be nice.

Nemo's fish looks like a lot of the Current river smallies you catch in shallow flowing stuff especially when the sun has been out.

The vast majority of it is a payoff to the energy company for electricity they won't be able to generate because of the water used to provide the minimum flow. Totally stupid and unnecessary. No, it isn't worth 58 million. I don't think it's worth 58 thousand dollars, but it is happening.

I don't think there is anything wrong with Spotted Bass being in Bryant. I haven't fished any of the streams that were all smallie and are becoming all spotted bass, but those changes occured because of habitat changes made by man. I'm not sure I've caught a Spotted Bass above Sylamore. It seems like the Spots are mostly a couple of miles below Warren Bridge, BUT my memory ain't what it used to be.

Not enough. I'll make 80 or so fishing trips altogether. Too many of those would be less than a full day. Rough guess, I'll make 40 full day trips and 40 half day trips. I'd like to get that number up to 150 or so.

Has anyone heard a CFS they are going to use as the minimum? I've seen multiple numbers bandied about, but honestly don't know what to believe. I do think there will be unintented consequences. I may end up getting to yak for trout a lot more.

To each his own. I've caught lots of memorable fish some real large and others special to me for other reasons. I keep up with numbers to compare one year to the next and to as another excuse to make additional trips.

I caught 116 last creek trip. I would have caught more, but I got a late start and then ran out of daylight. I had a lot of other chances too miissed strikes and lost fish that pulled off. I could easily catch 200 panfish on a flyrod in a day. EASY. I keep track with a mechanical counter. I only count them if I bring them to hand. I don't bring it up because I am only keeping track for myself. 100 trout in a day with a flyrod would be tough for me. I lose a lot of fish because of the barbless thing and I lose time re-rigging tippit etc. I think the best I've done on trout with a flyrod in a day was 78.

I've caught one Cutt just under 20 inches and a fair amount of smallish skinny bedraggelled ones. Maybe once they get past a certain length they learn to eat scuds and sowbugs rather than waiting for a may fly hatch that ain't coming for a couple of months. I see pretty decent cutts from time to time leaping clear of the water hitting a hopper. silly fish.

Silly ole Cutts seem to be bug eaters only. Maybe the NFOW has more consistant bug hatches that will help the Cutts thrive. The Cutts don't seem to be doing all that well on the White considering that they stock more Cutts than Browns, but you catch a lot more Browns than Cutts.