marcusearlt

Good grief, what a fish!

I have fished most of the lower Elk from Noel all the way until it turns in to Grand. Last time I went was last October. It was full of huge shad! I'm not kidding, I've never seen anything like it ever. Huge schools of shad everywhere you looked, under every tree, by every rock, in every hole and tailout, thousands of them. Also down river there was more big buffalo and big carp then I've ever seen in my life, hundreds probably, just swimming upstream. It definitely has some SM and LM in there though, as we did catch good numbers. Not kidding you at all when I say we saw what was at least a 7lb LM in there. He was just hovering way down deep hugged against a root ball and was completely indifferent to anything we offered. Some areas were real low though so bring your drift boat or jet, but you'll have the place all to yourself most likely.

I've had a Hustle zero turn for 5+ years, great mover. It has saved me lots of time and is actually fun to operate. I also use it to pull around tarps of leaves, small trees, and piles of brush. The 42" has two blades. Put some Gator mulching blades on there and you'll be happier than a pig in slop.

'98 Lowe 154?, welded-in front deck and a jet motor, a total eye sore but functional. It's the equivalent of a small four wheeler for rivers, it takes me place I probably shouldn't go!

My top 3 would be Shimano Symmetre, Shimano Sahara, and and Abu Cardinal. I have these reels from 1000 to 4000 and every one of them is 4+ years old. In that time they have been put through some serious abuse, especially that little Cardinal. I use it for trout fishing and canoeing mostly and when I get snagged in fast water that drag just sings while I get the motor fired back up or paddle back up river to free the lure. I've done that literally probably a hundred times and that reel keeps on ticking. If I could afford it I would go Symmetre on everything though. Shimano's are geared pretty high, usually around 6:1, whereas the Pflueger President and Cardinal comes in at 5.2:1, so I like that extra line pick up ability.

I'm pretty sure anybody can go fish out there front the SVA shop, as long as you fork over a $100 rod fee for the day. I know a guy that guides out there. I'll double check with him. It could be worth it to do once or twice considering the privacy factor and the potential for quality fish.

I'd really practice your double haul and your strike sets, two things that in my opinion are very important in the salt. Clousers and little shrimp flies are all you will probably need, make sure your hooks are sharp.

Al is right on with this one. We were also planning on the Buffalo, Ponca area, this weekend but it's looking like those plans will be postponed in favor of next weekend. Fast water is just not that much fun for me. Keep an eye on the USGS graph at this link: http://waterdata.usgs.gov/ar/nwis/uv?site_no=07056000 If you are in NWA area and you have to go to a river for smallmouth, it seems to me like the Little Sugar in SW MO drops out and clears up a little faster than the Buffalo.

The fish are still biting, we just caught lot's of goggle eye, LM, green sunfish, and one smallmouth out of the White in West Fork. We really kinda did need this rain to wash away some of this pollen build up though. F and F - So the rain is good for a topwater bite?

What a pretty section of river that is and that smallmouth has got some of the most unique markings I've ever seen. It's funny how different the patterns on smallmouth can be, fish by fish, river by river, or even hole by hole. What were you catching them on?

That's an awesome double hook-up right there! I've never caught anything big on the Buffalo, just go there for the scenery.

Dang man, thats one heck of a fish! We actually don't see a lot of pictures of stripers from Beaver on here. Thanks for sharing.

Nice fish. Y'all did good. By the way, that boat looks sweet, do you mind telling some info about it? I'll be in the market for a boat soon, one that can get me to the smallies like y'all are catching.

I have caught some very sizable bluegill in Bob Kidd for the past 3 years, especially at night with the fly rod in the NW corner. Bob Kidd has also been a good spot for us with the buzz bait as well, producing bass up to 3 lbs. Other than the NW and SW corner, I haven't had much luck elsewhere. We used to go to Elmdale pretty frequently, before we discovered canoe fishing for smallmouth that is. Never did catch any big ones there but it was usually pretty solid. One of U of A bass fishing team members caught a 7lber in Elmdale fishing a football jig on a rock pile in the middle of lake right in the dog days of summer, so there are fish in there I believe. Plenty of bluegill there too in my experience. Only been to Ft. Smith once and man was that a place pretty. Just an overall really unique and pleasant lake. There was very little traffic, NO trash, and lots of bass and bream, we stopped counting after a while. Good bites fishing the log jams from Jacks creek to Cow branch, C-rigging on the south side of the dike in any place with a good slope, and up in the cove with the marina. Caught some big shad too. Really cool place, definitely going back soon.

That is absolute magic right there! You really whacked 'em! So, what lake did you say that was again? Congrats.

Just got back from Twin Bridges. I wanted to get an eye on it so I could decide on a trip tomorrow or not. The level is higher and dirtier than last weekend. I already knew it was high from past experience and USGS gauges but I really wanted it to be clear(ish), no such luck, 6 inches of visibility max. No fishing, hiking it is.

You can catch anything you want on the fly rod and a jig. Nice fish Roger.

Lots of people fish right below the dam there at Sequoyah. It can be hit or miss. People are most likely trying to target walleye or whites when the move up the in the spring. For the rest of the year all I've ever seen down there is gar, carp, and some sunfish. If you plan on fishing it you must pay just as if you were fishing in the lake. The guy that operates the bait store at the lake is named Mike. He keeps a close eye on things down there so be sure to stop by and get your pass. He is usually good for the latest fishing report too.

I put in at Twin Bridges today just before 11am. The parking lot had a good number of trailers in it and there were a dozen or so bank fishers. I asked around some and nobody had caught anything. The water was super muddy, maybe 6 inches of visibility at most. I ran way up the White and Richland trying to find clearer water but it never cleared up at all. I took out at 12:30pm and when I did the parking lot was dang near empty except the two old guys selling crawdads. I wouldn't bother with it for a couple more days unless I had real solid info on fish locations.

First boat I bought was as a freshman in college. WOW, what a beauty is was. Rust, squeaky trailer, rotted transom, and a 6hp Evinrude with a prop the size of a DVD. Perfect to fish generation on the Little Red with, right? Convinced my twin brother to go in half. So, we really had no idea what we had signed up for. (gas, glue, storage, registration, etc) We had a blast on that thing, bout killed ourselves too many times, and my shoulder hurts just thinking about yanking' on that recoil starter! Now, let me tell you, we only took between 6 and 9 hours a semester. If was going to enroll full-time, say 12+, it would be well advised to do some serious consideration on the matter. The workforce is tough and a bachelor's degree is becoming more and more common. You need every possible advantage you can to beat out the next guy, grades, internship, summer job, club memberships etc. You'd probably be best served to delay your angling dreams, for now, in preparation for the absolutely ferocious everyman-for-himself competition that ensues during and right after college for good jobs. Wait on the boat, study hard, get an awesome job, and buy what ever boat you want. You will thank yourself for the rest of your life.

cpriest - We were thawing the 3/32 ounce jigs. But, they probably weren't triggered by the size; It seemed that the retrieve was most important. Plus, anything much heavier was kinda tough to throw on a 6wt. BFTMASTER - It was your trip report (and a few others) on the White that made me want to go over there and throw jigs in the first place! When are you headed back over there?

They all look pretty cool to me, nice work.

Thanks guys. That's enough trout for now though because it's time to start white bass hunting. They should be showing up anyway now.

Nice rainbow! I gotta get back over there soon. Will the spring rains really blow the river out? Or will they just raise the level a little?

Well fellas, it was a wild two days on the White and Norfork. Broke a 7wt, a reel, and lost a full sinking line at the bottom of the White. The White ALWAYS kicks my butt... We did catch plenty of fish though, all off PJ's jigs, both spin and fly fishing. The Buffalo is putting a lot a green dirty water in the river right now which was still very saturated down by Norfork and who knows how much farther. The fish were hitting the white jig the most with others taken on silver tinseled flies. Weather was not great, cold post frontal on Sunday but better on Monday. Only saw a couple boats out on the White while the Norfork was packed. Everyone was catching fish whether it was a boat of 4 old men in camo throwing PowerBait or the guys with the mud motor throwing streamers. The trick for us was to start stripping in the jig as soon as it hit the water as fast as we could with sinking leaders on. The browns couldn't stand it and put on a good show. Good times.