Ham

Hey Martin, They are offically "our" walleye at this stage. I'll leave them alone when they go > 20 foot deep.

The spoons look great. I'm not at all sure pretty paint jobs matter on a jigging spoon, but I am a sucker for a pretty paint job. I attend to tie up a BUNCH of Zebra midges. I use a lot of Zebra midges and I haven't been satisfied with the hooks in some of the commercial ones. I'm going to do a couple of sizes and a handful of colors and be DONE for a couple of years. There's also planting brush. I've called, but I haven't gotten to speak to anyone about a permit YET. I never dream of Table Rock, but I can't stop thinking about BSL in the springtime. Oh, the smallies I will catch. The walleye. The crappie. It's gonna be great. (actually is was still great last week, but it's getting too cold for me to enjoy being out).

That's good intell Dutch. I had NO idea they were that small when they were stocked. I think they grow fairly rapidly. I did some more looking on Bing and actually came up with some good information. I will cut and past some of that when I get a little more time.

I was wondering if anyone had heard/read how successful the walleye spawning runs were in the creeks/rivers that run into BSL or Norfork. I'm sure the Arkansas/Missouri Fisheries Biologist have some sort of a SWAG at the numbers. How large are the wallete when they are stocked? If the walleye are 8 inches long when stocked, people catchig fish less than 8 inches would be a storng indication that we have some natural supplementation of the stockings being done by MO and AR. The stocking programs by Missouri and Arkansas certainly seem to be working well though. I'm having a lot of fun stumbling across walleye while bass and crappie fishing.

I one Sauger that I have seen caught was on the Spring River below Imboden. I just love to catch all kinds of different fish and it would be fun to me to go catch a few. I'm NOT expecting it to replace smallmouth bass as my favorite fish or anything. The Lake Norwood or Arkansas River at LR both seem like viable options. Thanks a lot for the input guys.

I'd like to catch a Sauger this year. I've never caught one. I've been in the boat with someone that caught one, but I have not. Any ideas where a decent place to try a get that done? Nothings close to Mtn Home, but a shorter drive would be a plus. Thanks.

I love catching walleye, but not enough to night fish this time of year. God Bless those that care enough to night fish in this weather.

Again, lots of freakin cows and too few Mtn Lions. I wouldn't have shot the Mtn Lion. I don't think it was necessary to shoot the Mtn Lion. I "miss" the cat. I hate that it was killed. I think the shooting of that Mtn Lion likely had more to do with bragging rights than protection of cows and calves. I think there is great value in wild things and wild places even if they pose some level of risk to people. I'm not opposed to hunting. I'm not opposed to selective harvest when fishing. I am against unecessary killing based on greed or ego, or fear.

I caught my first yellow perch of the year on 1/3/11 above Big Creek on a jigging spoon. Little guy, too small to fry.

lots and lots of cows. No near enough mountain lions.

Give them a try and report your results. Soft plastics in general don't seem to work as well on trout for me as they do for other species, but your results may be different.

I'm gonna guess you're NOT on Peta's Christmas card list. Color me impressed.

Merry Christmas John! Thanks for the intell. See you on the river.

My experience with White Bass where I learned to fish is that the White Bass migrate up the Lake into the main creek that was dammed to form the lake. The final push up the river/creek is triggered by high flows from early spring rains. You could find the White bass as they move up the lake and catch them pretty good. Do the White Bass behave that way in TR, BSL, and Norfork? If you find one of these staging locations on a day that you can stand to be out there, a jigging spoon, a grub, or some form of natural bait should catch them. Has anyone found this to occur up here? General knowledge or hints of location is all I desire. Please don't post GPS numbers or anything. Feel free to PM me those GPS numbers though.

What three threads?

Wearing a wader belt and a jacket over the top of your waders will greatly slow the intrusion of water into your waders if you have an unplanned entry into the water. DO wear the PFD though. I wear waders in a canoe or kayak when the water is < 60 degrees and I don't worry about it at all.

I've used them and like them up to a point. IF and WHEN you break off that mini ring while on the water, tying on another one can be a bitch.

Taxi, you missed the part where I said I throw the Megabass on small capacity baitcasters with fluro. If I'm buying fluro and Megabass to begin with, I figure catching more fish is worth some money. I really don't think I'm going to be able to turn a 30 plus pound striper with 100 yards of line. I'm come crazy close to being spooled by a TR spoonbill. That was enough excitement for me.

That looks like a sure way for me to lose a Megabass, McStik, or LC Pointer. IF I knew I was throwing at those beasts, I would put a jerkbait on a wide spool reel. I normally throw jerkbaits on a small spool baitcaster with fluro.

Holy Crap!

I think you fished a little too long.

If you float pretty soon after they stop running water you'd do OK. I wouldn't want to do it when the water had been OFF for more than 24 hr. I started an hour after they turned off the water and I had to drag some.

I caught some just below Ace in the Hole. I think. I don't know all the names of the places on it. I caught some below Ackerman as well. I 16 to hand, but I should have caught 50.

The T140 is a favorite amongst saltwater anglers. I'm a little curious why you went T140 vs T120 though. The T140 will be a little harder to tote manually and a little harder to transport with a vehicle, but it will be able to carry a lot of stuff and will be faster down the creek. When you get your boat, give me a hollar and we can self shuttle. I'd be glad to glean some fly fishing knowledge from you as well.

Waited until they shut the water off before we statred. Got headed down the river around 10 AM. My Tarpon's first trip down the Norfork and I hope it won't be the last. Water gets skinny in a hurry and there was NO help from the current getting downstream. I pretty firm cold wind blew upstream most of the way. I wasted too much time upstream from McClellan's. I finally started picking up a few fish once I got to Otter Creek. I got one on a soft hackle and a couple on Woolies, but I could have just fished a egg pattern with a midge behind it under an indicator all day long. Very few other people on the water. Saw a few folks near Ackerman. Nice new emergency exit ONLY spot up from Ackerman. Saw lots of fish. Only caught a few. I did get one real nice Brown. Not a giant, but a real pretty 16~17 inch hen. The rest of my fish were Rainbows. Saw some nice midge hatches, but I guess the fish really wanted something smaller than size #20. I worked emergers thru the surface activity w/o any good takes. I really wish I had taken a spinning rod to get even witht he trout in a hurry. I had a few spots that were loaded withtrout, but wind and current made the flyrodding pretty difficult. Good thing it was real cold yesterday, because it still felt pretty darn cold on the water. I would have frozen to death if it had been 20 degrees or something.