npierceuark

Alright guys, another question. I've read that the stretch below yellville dries up late spring. I'd have to guess that with this latest rain that shouldn't be the case but just to be safe, do any of you have any first hand knowledge of that stretch recently? I'm going on my 3rd weekend in a row fishing this river and I'm addicted. Something about those fire eye smallies just keep me coming back for more. Hopefully this rain won't keep me away this weekend.

Well I headed back down last weekend to try it again on a different stretch. Went George's to Kelly's and the river was a totally different animal. Swift current in all but maybe 5% of the river. Couple small eddies and the long pool before the take out were the only calm spots. Weekend before the fish were keyed in on eddies directly off of the tail ends of rapids. That condition was almost no where to be found and if it existed good luck being able to cast to it more than once or have your lure sit for more than 2 seconds before being ripped out by the current. The most productive technique was swimming a tube with a jerky motion through 2-4 fow. Caught fish on a little of everything but it was not as productive as the weekend before. Small shad cranks did alright as well. Hope to get out there again and I'll keep you posted.

I'm debating going back soon as well, anyone ever try it on a full moon?

I would like to add, I have fished rivers and streams all over the ozarks and I don't think I've ever seen one with more quality habitat than what I saw this last weekend. It was almost overwhelming, usually I fish a hole or a bank and then paddle a few minutes to the next one and repeat. This river was foot after foot of quality structure, I couldn't keep my line out of the water because I felt I was missing spots.

Alright so I made it back safe and sound and had one heck of a trip. My dad and I made the float from pyatt to snow in just under 9 hours. fished hard and heavy but not as hard as plastic must have haha. Fair amount of dragging but nothing unbearable in my book, I do agree the sound does spook some fish but our typical strategy is to fish the top of a shoal from the boat, then park and walk to the tail end and fish back up to the boat. I feel I catch more fish casting upstream than down and they haven't seen the boat yet so relatively sneaky approach. Caught between 50-60 fish with the nicest being just shy of 18". Didn't get a picture of that one since we were about 300 yards from the boat and didn't want to stress the fish. Fishing did start off slow and peaked around 10am, caught fish primarily on shaky head worms, tubes, and a few on a spinnerbait. My dad caught a lot of fish on the rebel craw but they were mostly real dandy sunfish. Every nice fish we pulled in was coughing up crawdads so that was definitely the bait of choice. Enjoy the pics and I thoroughly enjoyed the river, thanks for the help guys.

Thanks for the advice cnr, I always carry a few different packs of those small tubes, one of my favorites for the smallies. And felt shoes are not a bad idea. I was on the buffalo a week ago and those round slick rocks will cause some havoc.

I was checking the gauges today and I am little worried the water is too low for a float. Since I have never been I can not say this for certain but by looking at the averages it is definitely less than normal. Any of you guys near there or know if Snow to Kelly's would be doable in a canoe with this water level? I appreciate the help

Met up with hoglaw for the first time last night and he invited me to fish a private pond he had access to. Beautiful place with a very healthy population of largemouths. I was off my game to say the least, it's been awhile since I've seen 3lb+ bass boil the water at my bait and I think I missed the first 15 or more fish. I'm used to my crappie and white bass fishing, no real need for much of a hookset. Hoglaw did well, brought in around a dozen nice fish. I finally tasted victory when this sow launched herself clean out of the water at my frog. Great fish and very thankful for the invite.

as f&f stated every day is a different battle and the fish want different things. While he was fishing the rocky branch area I was fishing the war eagle marina area and I was using the same bait but vigorously jigging in 20 fow 10' down over fish on brush. That was the only way I could coax a bite. Day before that they wanted it perfectly still 1' off the bottom. They love those little baby shad but they want it presented in a very particular manner depending on their mood.

Just picked up a Lews baitcaster and really like it speed spool somethin somethin. For spinners I have owned a handful of mitchells and love them, I don't baby my reels with all the canoeing and wading I do so I have never splurged and went over $50 on a reel knowing that they will be in sand, mud, dirt or at the bottom of a river sooner than later. They have all lasted over 5+ years and still going strong. I throw everything from 25lb braid to 4lb mono on them and they handle it all with ease. I also have an ancient Penn that I got from my dad, that thing is 15+ years old and has held up real well

I can't say I have any one spot that consistently produces fish. It seems to change day to day. I fish the river portion of the lake from the confluence of the war eagle and white arms down south to the Goshen area. I focus on transitions with cover. Flat to a channel, bluff to chunk rock, rock to sand/mud or any of those combos with a laydown or brush. Docks will hold fish as well. Pretty much every time I go out I end up burning half the day trying to figure out how and where they are biting. I am new to crappie fishing and by no means an expert, there are crappie out there but they aren't the easiest things to catch. I would recommend booking a trip with a local guide that could really show you the ropes. PM me and I can give you a name or two

Got out around 5pm sat evening and started the search for crappie. Marked a couple schools over brush in 15-20 fow and dropped down a minnow to try and pick em off. Immediate strike and up comes a chunky 14" kentucky, next cast a 13", this trend continued until i burnt through a dozen minnows and the fish kept shrinking down to the final, puny 5 incher. Switched over to a shaky head and finesse worm and proceeded to catch bass from the bank to 12 fow. No monsters but entertaining. The sun set and I turned the lights on but as off 9pm had not caught one crappie. Getting frustrated I switched to artificials and started jigging, first cast nice chunky white. Continued catching fish on a 2" baby shad fished from the bottom up to 10' in 20 fow. I found all the crappie to be within 2' of the bottom while the whites and one walleye were suspended around the 10-12' mark. Ended around 11:30 with a nice cooler full of whites and crappie.

Haven't had a chance to get out since last week but if nothing had changed since then they are way up the arms.

They have been very particular with the timing of the bite. On monday I caught all my keepers within about 30 min, the other 1.5 hours out there I snagged one by accident. Not sure what triggers them but when it's on it's on, you just have to be there.

Whites are still up both arms. If the weather is nice on Sat it will be elbow to elbow I'm sure. Alabama rigs, rooster tails, curly tail grubs, BG Baby shad, spoons. Anything white and silver will catch them. Slow retrieves bouncing the bottom have done best for me. Live bait, crawfish and minnows, have produced as well.

There are plenty of whites still left roaming around the upper stretches. Caught a handful of crappie as well but gave up pretty quick and went back to the whites. Every crappie I caught up there was 9" +/-, no keepers. Text me and I will give you some details.

I am wondering the same thing, water temps have not maintained the 60+ temps that the fish prefer but I have been noticing some groups doing their dance in the shallows. We caught whites and hybrids up till mid may in the arms last year and I see this year being the same. I have not caught a female that has dumped her eggs so we should be good for another couple weeks especially with this cold rain

Glad it panned out well for ya Scott. We ended with 18 keeper size whites Saturday between 8am and noon. Had a handful of shortys and couple small stripes as well. Very sporadic though, no one spot provided more than 3 fish, we picked them up off all types of structure, depths and baits. Saw a few guys that did well with the crappie but didn't have a chance to chase them as my dad was preoccupied with catching some chunky whites. Saw one gentleman pull out a monster hybrid that he caught on a live crawdad. Fought the fish for a good 10 minutes on ultralight gear. Sunday was much slower for me and it seemed the case for most of the others I spoke with. We will see what this week brings after this major cold snap.

Very cool. Save a bass for me.

Man sounds like Sunday didn't treat anyone too well, I don't feel so bad saying I got skunked as well. I did manage a a few on Saturday before the cold air pushed in around noon but it was nothing to write home about. I may be out Tuesday evening to see if the warm sun warms those cold fish hearts into playing a little a bit more. Tough weekend boys

caught one up the white last weekend. caught him while crappie fishing. Water temps were in the low 50's but I'm sure it's dropped substantially since last sunday.

We ended with 14 for saturday 4-5 stripes and the rest whites all nice and chunky. White spoons with red noses. Really tough to stay on the small schools with the wind. We earned every fish, no gimmes that day. Sunday was a bit easier. Ran up river a ways and got into the crappie, no monsters but 15 fish with a bonus eye in the mix. Crappie were holding on timber in 15 fow down about 6 feet. caught em on any color jig we threw.

Scott treated me to some nice fish last night. Very cooperative fish for such chilly water. I didn't hear him doing any whispering so he must have sacrificed something before I hopped in. I should have taken a shot of the fish finder a time or two, they were stacked together like cord wood.

I would throw in a couple darker options. I usually fish until 30 min after sunset when it gets black and the darker the lure the better especially when there is a little murk. Caught this sow on a purple 1/4oz rooster.

Checked tire pressure, bearings, tires are ST175/80D13 2 yr olds, swapping those for radials. Talked to the shop today, negative camber in the axle. Swapping the 2000lb axle for a 3500. Went to a place in Springdale, 5 J manf. Seem like good guys but the deal isn't done yet so we shall see. B.O.A.T. we all know what they stand for haha. I figure, do it right now and not have to worry about it again.