Ham

I LOVE Chuck's Emerger. That can be a FANTASTIC bite when its on.

I'm a big fan of plain lead jigheads. I think MOST of the time we are more worried about jighead color than the fish are, but on jigs that pretty you might want to pre-color the weight prior to tying them in. I do believe crappie are a lot more worried about color than bass are.

troutgnat, you got me going man. I went out and bought 6 of the 15 packs (one of each color head in 1/8oz and 1/4 oz). I also went and got myself more tying materials. I have tied up about 60 of the heads so far. I am keeping the others in reserve to replace lost RR or add to the stockpile if I find an especially good color combo. The tying went fairly quickly. It takes me about 3-5 minutes a RR so it wasn't too bad. Now, if I can survive winter so I get to fish these things, I'll be all set.

Trout eat jerkbaits. So far, I have seen them eat Rapalas (F7,F9,X-rap), LC Pointers (78's and 100's), Spro McStik's, BPS plain and XPS, Jann's Springers, and Smithwick Rogues. Basically, I haven't found a jerkbait they won't eat. Does the McStik stand out above the crowd when fishing for trout on the White? No, not really, but throw what you like. You're not all that likely to lose one if you have good line and the ability to tie a decent knot.

Good job Larry!

I wouldn't. I'd read John Berry's reports. I'd tie what he uses AND I'd go by Blue Ribbon and ask what was hot. If it was something I didn't have, I'd buy 3 flies of a particular fly/size. Y2K's, white beadheads, Zebra midges are all must haves.

The Sowbug is March 18,19, and 20.

Seems like a nice group of resonable and responsible sportsmen being good stewards of a resource so that they and others could enjoy their "sport" for years to come.

I don't have that one, but I have a couple of Sierra's that I'm happy with and a larger one (Magnitude maybe?) that I haven't fished with enough to have an opinion. Okuma is pretty good value for the money IMO.

Lund makes a good boat. If I lived a little further north, I'd have one.

It is interesting to me how diffeent folks really get locked into diffeent patterns. I'm seemingly addicted to throwing skirted jigs for my early winter bass. I did not seriously consider throwing a tube at them. Did you happen to note water temps when you were catching those fish on the tube? Some guys like to texas rig their tubes. I don't, but some do. I use an internal jighead with a single wire "weed guard" that I feel like helps protect the hookpoint as the tube bashes around in the rocks. You could thread the tube onto a football jighead.

IF shad are coming through, they aren't making it downstream to where it is legal to fish at this point. I would imagine that the trout would hit a white fly/jig this time of year even if significant numbers of shad aren't comign through the dam yet.

I haven't fished immediately below the dam since they added the current breaks. I was wondering how much the current beaks have shifted since the initial implamentation and if they pose a significant navigation risk. Are they visible at all water levels? I HAD a pretty good feel for how the current would drift you along based on where you started your drift from below the dam. Does the flow from the dam tend to push you towards the new obstacles? I do plan on fishing there sometime after 2-1-10 and would like to know what to watch out for prior to boating.

I'm afraid that I'm no help on the walleye. I moved up here August 2007. I've accidentily caught some NICE walleye bass fishing and some young wallye crappipe fishing, but I have not walleye fished per se. I am anxious to make the long drive to fish powersite though. I have some of the collarless RR heads and I figured that's what you used. I like what did with yours. Looks like you have every color combo under the rainbow. Old favorites or experiments? I was planning on using some RR, grubs, jerkbaits, shad raps, and lipless cranks. IT will be a learning experience for sure.

SO, I take it you like Road runners. I tend to use soft plastics on mine more than the boo/chenile ones. I also was thinking about using the 1/4 oz heads tipped with a crappie minnow strolled along just above bottom. In the past I have use 1/16 oz and 1/8 oz more than the 1/4 oz models, but that might be changing soon. I don't have just a whole lot of bucktail jigs. I do have jigheads and bucktail though.

I prefer the water temp to be AT LEAST 60 degrees before I wet wade and I regret going too deep at that temp. I hate to even think about wading chest deep in 36 degree water.

These end up being really handy. I have one that I use every time I wade fish. Works great. I don't need another one, but that's a nice price.

The temp is low enough to affect your nads.

I be pretty satisfied with a complete and total ban on whale hunting. The only research being done is developing new tasty recipes for whale blubber. Japanes commerical fishing doesn't have the reputation of being compliant with the letter or intent of conservation laws. If I had to choose between the two, I'd like more whales and less people.

I took a beatdown or two from an x-rap when I was throwing LC's. I will say that they don't exactly give Rapala's away.

2009 was a pretty good fishing year despite weather and water issues. It cot cold early and too much water screwed up some trips. Ended up catching 2206 fish total. 25 different species. I fished in 4 states (MO,AR,LA,TX). I managed to go fishing 79 times. I saw a lot of new water on Bull Shoals and caught fish out of it. Fished a buinch of rivers,creeks,and streams that I don't care to name. Got to see some new water. Big smallies, big trout, some big LMB, a big walleye. Learned a lot about crappie on Norfork. I didn't get to fish saltwater. I failed to make it over to TN. I didn't catch enough carp or catfish, but I have a plan for 2010. I didn't do enough overnight/multiday trips, but I hope to do better in 2010.

Learn your access points. There is a nice free map available at Blue Ribbon Fly Shop. Learn the impact on where/how you can fish based on how much water they are running. Sometimes the Norfork will be "better" fishing. By "better" I mean lower flow for boating or water off for wading. The White River is tremendous. I do not believe anyone person could ever learn it due to its length and flucuations in water level/flow rates and seasonal variations. Hiring a guide the first day is a good idea. Get some tips from him on running the boat if you are going to rent a boat the next day. Drop in one of the fly shops and buy 3 each of 3 or four patterns to learn what is the hot fly at the moment.You can read John Berry's fishing reports current and archived to get LOTS of background information. Are you coming in for the Sowbug event? If not, you might want to plan your trip to avoid that peak time of river use.

Fun weather cycle we are right now. PLEASE keep us posted Bobber. Saturday afternoon should be the ice up peak.

I WILL NOT buy anything that I have to finance for more than 3 years. I will most likely NEVER buy another new boat. I plan on saving some money as I go along so that I will have a nice down payment for what ever used rig I buy. I have a aluminum bass boat (G3 HP 180) that is paid for and suits my needs. A glass rig would resist wind better and would punch thru waves better. I would expect it to have a higher end top speed and a little better storage as well. My son will be in college soon and that might keep me in an older boat longer.

I like the McStik. I own a lot of LC Pointers, but I reach for a Mc Stik first.