stlskyline

We will have a guide for 2 days, Friday and Saturday, taking Thursday off and staying 1 mile from Rim Shoals. We were thinking if possible to get a few hours wade fishing in we would if water is up will just chill and commence to drinking a few.

I will be staying near Rim Shoal Access in March and don’t have much knowledge on places to wade fish. I’ve been able to find all the access points, but have yet to find more than general information. Depending on water levels is it a good place to fly fish or would you focus on another area if given a day? Thank you in advance.

My wife and I used Duane Bell on the White and had a great trip. We we able to bring in 11 Browns and many Rainbows, and we were each a Brooke away from the grand slam, the wife hooked into the largest brown at 23” and rainbow at 24” and we lost a couple that seemed the same or larger. The weather was great, the the bite was awesome, he helped the wife wife with casting and such, lunch was great and advised on wading options for the next day, had an overall great time, the boat was awesome and was just a week old, we will use a guide when finances permit in the future. Thank you to everyone for the replies and advice and answers to questions.

Thank you for the feed back,.

Using a guide for the first time for a full day and have a few questions before the trip. It looks like some rain in the forecast, is it best to bring rain gear or just use waders and jacket. as we may do some wade fishing if conditions agree. The guide stated that he has the rods/flies, but should I also bring what I’m comfortable with, 5 wt 9 ft, a few beers/tunes acceptable(won’t be speed death metal)? , assume some snacks as usually take turns running the boat asI usually fish on Norfork tailwater. sandwiches,chips provided, again 1st time with a guide and not use to having someone else doing most of the work, since the wife will be along her first in a boat and guide. I want her to chill and have a great time as she also likes to fly fish/tie flys, but we normally wade fish and I’d want to fish instead of running the motor. Any suggestions or what more I should touch base with the guide. thanks

I was thinking of skipping the upper Current and missing the canoe hatch. Any reports? Have not been there since the spring.

I enjoy the river for the same reason. If I want to fish for the day and not do a round trip to Montauk in one day. When fishing Montauk I head out of the park also. I believe the Current gets more pressure and I've had good luck with the Browns this year. I would assume that I've been when a recent stocking was. I did manage one at 16" on a 5 wt. Remember there are no fish in the river.

I've been to Genes numerous times and there is wade access at the dam or you can just get in at genes dock and wade there or make your way up. Be advised that it can be slippery and there are rock/ shelves that can seem shallow and then get deep fast. You will only be able to do this at no generation. I also am not sure if there is a new minimum flow in place for the norfolk or if it's just for the White. You may want to look at charlies rainbow resort that is next to Genes. I have never stayed at Charlies next to Genes. Going to genes the second weekend of November. Try zebra midges, pink lady eggs and if generating longer leaders/ sink tip and throw streamers. Let me know how His Place is, never been there but have wanted to try. You can go to Genes website and they also have a webcam of the river both up and down stream from the dock.

Al,great story and painting. At first I thought it was a photo. My dad painted some copies of Charles Russell, "in without knocking" and" Doughtful handshake" for me and I really can't see a difference. I on the other hand could not do yours or his if they were paint by numbers. I do see that you post on the Fly Fishing forum, but your stories seem to be more in depth here, thanks for your wealth of knowledge.

I've had good success lately with a olive wooly. Fished both under an indicator and also free. Really been hitting it at the swing.

So are the fish that are being taken all smallmouth or do they focus on trout also? If not is it because they can't get a jet on these smaller rivers? I ask this because I primarily trout fish. I've only seen illegal gigging take place once, that was Around Parker's on the Current and I did not own a cell phone at the time. I did go back to MSP and reported it but I'm sure they were long gone. This has me concerned as I'm having some good success lately catching what I would consider nice size trout and releasing them back.

I did see that they were putting in a commercial processor near Alton, IL to process/ can fish and send them to market in. Asia where they are eaten.

I hate to see this. I'm not a huge smallmouth fisher as I lean towards trout, but if this is accurate this kind of thing ticks me off. I guess it's all about look at me.

While fishing the North Fork in AR with some buddies we were floating by McCellan's dock and the two ladies fishing from the dock are in deep discussion. I hear "Don't know what got into that boy he just throw his fly rod in and then jumped in after it" and " he must have been plum crazy like a rabid dog". After getting down a few hundred feet we se one friend in the jon boat anchored up and drinking beer, minus one guy. He explained that his brother had apparently had enough of getting hit in the head with his back cast, thrown his high dollar rod over, realized what he had done and jumped in. He then proceeded to gather all his stuff from the boat and walk back to Gene's Lodge by crossing the dam. It had to have been a several mile walk, pack up his stuff and drive back to St. Louis. Wish I could have witnessed the jump We still give him trouble and laugh.

I agree with mic. I had not been to bssp in years and really had no clue. I sat and observed most getting in at zone 1 and going straight to the far bank. They were actually standing where I would have been fishing. There are some great holes and fish right as you would get in. I fished a pretty lady egg under an indicator. It was kinda funny as really no one seemed to be catching anything on the far bank. Most of the fish caught were of decent size.