netboy

SWPA is finally giving us some minimum flows which leads to some great wading opportunities. I fished Rim Shoals yesterday morning and had a good day. I walked down the new trail to an area with some shallow shoal water. Ended the morning with lots of rainbows, a couple browns and 1 small cuttie. I hooked a really nice rainbow that looked to be around the 20" mark but lost him to a pulled hook after a good fight. Best flies were a purple crackleback, eggs and scuds. Here's a couple of the better ones.

Great pictures^^^^ Here's mine.😀

We went on a river cruise on the Seine River from Paris to Normandy a few years ago during the Veteran's Day holiday. We visited the Normandy American Cemetery, and it was pretty impressive and moving to imagine the bravery of our troops. Also visited the Omaha beach landing site and the WW2 Museum in Caen. I would recommend this trip to anyone interested in the history of WW2. Here's a few pics... One is from the inside of a Nazi bunker at Omaha beach.

Both of the Cotter areas have been good this week as well as Roundhouse, which I fished this morning.

With the BS Dam area closed until Feb 1, I have been fishing both the Cotter and Rim Shoals accesses this week. The good news is there are still plenty of fish to be caught. I would say it is currently as good as it was before the hatchery problems, so the C&R regulations appear to be working. I have noticed a reduction in the number of bait guides out, but the usual number of fly-fishing guides. Best flies for me this week have been cracklebacks, eggs and midges. I did see the Jim Hinkle stocking truck dumping some fish at the Cotter boat ramp when I left this morning. Here is a decent brown that took a crackleback at Cotter this morning.

Here is an interesting article about the O2 problem. USACE installing oxygen diffusion system to boost hydropower efficiency at Wolf Creek Dam > Great Lakes and Ohio River Division > Display

Here is a good article by Clay Henry about the current problems. Commentary: Keep an open mind during state’s emergency trout regulations | Whole Hog Sports

The water quality issues at the hatchery stem from problems in Lake Norfork. This past summer a number of stripers were found dead in the lake due to the problem. I think AGFC has a responsibility to investigate the true cause and possible solutions for the lake.

Well on second thought from the response from AGFC, we need to ask this question... Why are you spending all this money to track brown trout movements in the White River when that has absolutely nothing to do with the current problem with the water quality issues in our hatcheries. Maybe they need to re-allocate those funds to find a solution to the water quality issues.

That may very well be the case. Here is a response to an email I sent to Christy Graham (AGFC) with a couple of suggestions to expand the C&R areas. I think they are doing their best to conserve the current trout population. Thanks for your email. We are planning to revisit the Bull Shoals and Norfork management plans in 2026 and will be considering multiple options on revising regulations at that time. We also have no idea yet how long we will have to maintain the temporary catch-and-release regulations for the fishery- that is, whether they can be lifted after 120 days or need to be extended. We will have a better idea when water quality improves and Norfork Hatchery can inventory how many fish they have left. I 100% agree with you that the C-R regs at the dam are confusing and need to be simplified. One thing that will help inform that decision is results from a telemetry project we are getting ready to start. We will put transmitters in Brown Trout and track them for a year to see what areas they use and when, in addition to determining how far they move. It will be a really great study to see if we need to alter our C-R areas or provide additional regulations. Thanks again and have a great weekend. Thanks, Christy

AGFC finally got the signs printed and posted at the boat ramps earlier this week.

Today was the last day for the BS Dam C&R area until Feb 1. SWPA ran water until 10am and then shut it down to 1 unit. I got up there at 10 and had to wait a bit for the water to come down. When the water came down, the fishing was pretty good. Ended the morning with lots of rainbows, 3 browns, 1 cuttie, 4 brookies and 1 tiger. Best flies today were a size 16 grey scud in shallow riffle water and an egg rig. Thankfully the C&R area has continued to be good fishing with all the problems in the hatcheries. Guess it's time to explore downstream areas, so that may be a challenge. Here's some pics...

I waded at the dam C&R area today after the water went down and had a good afternoon. Caught lots of rainbows, a nice cuttie, a few brookies and one tiger, so I guess that would be considered a slam as the tiger is part brown. Best flies were eggs and scuds. I hooked this nice rainbow in some fast water and had to chase him about 50 yards downstream to find some calm water to get him in the net. Tomorrow is the last day to fish up there as it will be closed until Feb 1 for the brown trout spawn. Here's some pics...

Waded at the C&R area this morning and had a good morning. Lots of guide boats up there the last few days as they are getting their licks in before the area closes for 3 months for the brown trout spawn starting Nov 1. I have been seeing some redds with rainbows active on them, but no browns yet. Best flies today were a tandem egg rig and then a single grey scud in size 16. Here are the 2 best ones from this morning.

Back in south Texas we would slice the breast up and marinate them in tomatoes and some Mexican spices and then slice them up and deep fry them. Then add lots of cilantro, caramelized onions and homemade tortillas. Next add some Mexican Queso Chihuahua cheese, fresh lettuce and end up with wonderful tacos.

Every October a bunch of personal aircraft buffs meet up here for a weekend of playing with their cool toys and a good party. We see lots of them flying the river in front of our house. It's open to the public and we always make it over there to check out all the flying contraptions they have as well as some demonstrations. Here is link to some pics and videos. Gotta love Ruger. the dog co-pilot. roller fly in - Search Results | Facebook Ruger...

No problem. I know AGFC does an annual shocking survey of the trout fishery. You may want to dig through their website and see if they have stats of C&R vs catch and keep. I suspect MDC does something similar on Taneycomo, but not sure.

Sorry, no "scientific" study... just hard knocks experience from fishing 6 days a week. I guess we all will have to wait for that real "scientist" to chime in so we can all believe it. Although I have never ran to a real "scientist" out on the river. 🤪 You wanna pay for the "real scientific" study?? Go for it and then we will all know the "scientific" truth. I can't wait for your results.

I have found that the average size of the fish in the C&R areas is considerably larger than those in the catch and keep areas. That would indicate that many of them stay in the area.

AGFC needs to get busy and put signs up or modify the existing ones at all the accesses notifying people of the changes. I drove by Cotter and Roundhouse accesses, and the old signs are there stating the limit is 5 per day.

Here is a video tour of Bull Shoals Dam. They used to give public tours inside the dam but stopped after 9/11. Pretty interesting if you never made the tour.

Here is a study about catch and release statistics of C&R. natural bait vs lures – using bait resulted in fish being hooked more deeply and less likely to survive What Percent of Catch and Release Fish Die? Full Stats

Wow, you are on them. Good job.

Caught this little guy on a size 16 scud. I think a male brookie is by far the prettiest fish in our local rivers, just wish they were a bit bigger.

I am sure I have probably killed a few trout that were hooked in the gills with a barbless fly and bleeding. However, I would suspect the overall mortality rate of released fish in the C&R areas is far less than those released in the bait areas.