netboy

Three Chutes is the shoal about a mile upstream from White Hole access. The river splits around a couple of islands and on minimum flow it could be called two chutes, but anything over 1 full unit it becomes three chutes. Pretty good spot to wade and you can access it from Denton Ferry Road. The Streamer Fest was fun. Those guys can turn out some beautiful streamers... almost like artwork. Way too complicated for my tying abilities.

Waded Three Chutes Saturday with around 1 unit of water running. Fishing started out good as I caught a decent brown on the very first cast. That is usually a harbinger of a slow day to follow, but fortunately that wasn't the case. Ended the day with lots of rainbows, another smaller brown and a nice brookie. Still seeing a few redds with fish on them and drifting an egg downstream of the redds was the most consistent method. I also caught a few on top on a stimulator later in the morning. Also wanted to mention that we went to Dally's Streamer Lovefest at the fly shop last night. This was the first one since Covid and there was quite a crowd. Had a great time watching the streamer experts do their thing and some great gumbo from KT's BBQ in Gassville along with plenty of "liquid" refreshments. Here's pics of the brown, brookie and the party...

Oh my. I forgot to mention another favorite.... Fresh Gulf Shrimp. Back when we lived on the Gulf Coast of Texas in Kemah and then Corpus Christi we used to do a lot of offshore fishing. We would always take an extra case of beer in the cooler and then barter for shrimp with the anchored shrimp boats out there. They would drag their nets all night and then anchor up at dawn and start culling their catch. It was some crazy fishing with all the by catch being tossed overboard. Kingfish, Cobia, Mahi and of course lots of sharks boiling the water to get the bycatch. Later in the day most of the crew went to sleep and we would cruise around to find a thirsty deckhand on watch and then make a deal for the ice cold beer for what most often ended up as a cooler full of fresh jumbo shrimp. I do remember some summers back in the 70's before the US actively enforced the 200 mile limit for foreign fishing fleets. We found out there was a big Cuban shrimp fleet working the waters about 30 miles offshore of Freeport Texas. A friend told us they had plenty of beer, but what they really wanted was Houston Astro stuff. The Astros had gotten into the playoffs and they had a couple of Cuban players on the roster. Well, we bought a bunch of knockoff Astro hats and T shirts and headed out for some fishing. Fishing was great but ended up with no room for fish in the coolers... came back in with well over 100 pounds of fresh headed jumbo gulf shrimp. Made lots of trips after that one.

Here are my favorite shellfish... Fried softshell Blue Claw crab Steamed Blue Claw crab Lobster (coldwater or spiney) Scallops Oysters (Raw of Fried)

I think everyone that lives in the sticks has one also. Got one right outside my front door.

This might help explain the transformer issue. It seems to be more of a problem with the wet, heavy snow we had that night. I saw many crews still working today and most were using a long pole to reach up and reset the fuses. I didn't see any of them with equipment capable of replacing a transformer. Snow load and high voltage transformers do not mix well. Often a heavy snow load will cause arcing between the energized lines/connections and grounding mechanisms installed for safety. Of course what you might be observing in some cases is nothing more than resettable fusible links designed to protect equipment during such events. You might recognize these as something resembling a short handlebar type mechanism, insulated at both ends and a ring capable of being hooked with a pole similar to a gaff, and used from the ground to re-engage the link. With enough snow load, many things happen to electrical systems. Arcing caused by melting snow and water running into the circuitry. Insulator to insulator arcing. Heating and breakdown of some transformers will often cause fires, and associated explosion and arcing.

We had around 6" here in Flippin/Cotter area. It was a very wet, heavy snow so lots of trees and limbs down. Power went out around midnight, and it just came back on a few minutes ago (6:45 pm). We have a wood stove so no problem keeping the house warm.

My opinion is that Brian seems like a very nice guy,,, As compared to some on here.

I didn't save the one automatic I had as a kid. Too darn heavy. That said, the Wonder Rod is surprising light with a 4wt Chinaman reel.

X3 on Rapp's. We have some our Trout Unlimited gatherings there. They always put out a great spread.

I think you have him confused with Brian Sloss, who used to guide on the Eleven Point. He moved to New Hampshire a couple years ago. As far as I know Brian Wise still lives on the North Fork of the White. As a side note, he will at Dally's Streamer Lovefest this Saturday night. If any of you guys are around Cotter this Saturday, be sure to stop by. Here's the details... HADA PAINTS WHITLOCK AT LOVEFEST – The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal (wordpress.com)

I recently resurrected an old 4wt Shakespeare Wonder Rod that my Dad used when we fished at Bennett Spring back in the late 50's. It is very lightweight and has great action and lots of fun to fish with. I replaced the guides and covered the old cork with heat shrink tubing. Here is a pic...

I had redfish on my list, but it was on the bottom of the list. The problem with redfish is that the smaller ones around 16-18" are really good eating, but there is a slot limit of 20-28" in Texas and it was rare to catch lower slot size reds in the Laguna Madre. Most were 25" and up.

Thanks, I'll give that a try soon.

Speaking of suckers, there are a ton of them here in the White River below Bull Shoals and I have never seen anyone fishing for them or trying to gig them at night. Strange that they are popular in Missouri rivers, but not down here. I would like to try one sometime but have no clue how to catch them. They don't pay any attention to my flies.

After seeing the picture of your boat, I think I passed you yesterday morning around 8:30 at the Rim Shoals Road stop sign. I was towing my Blazer jet rig headed for the ramp.

Grouper Snapper Flounder Cobia Mahi Salmon Trout Black drum Speckled trout (sea trout) Redfish

Looks like a good hunt. Duck hunting is the one thing I miss about living in south Texas.

Should be a good trip. We have low wadeable water and lots of willing trout. Have fun and say hello the Gary and Paula.

Here is our favorite homemade burger.... The Jesse Kelly Cheeseburger Recipe (willerson.wixsite.com)

Okay, still a good video.

Good job on the fishing and the video.

Only Woolies I use are olive or brown. I use white mop flies if there is a shad kill happening.

Having lived in Corpus Christi, TX for 20 years, which was where Whataburger was founded in 1950 and its corporate headquarters for many years, I have eaten many a Whataburger. You couldn't drive a mile in Corpus and not see a Whataburger store. I still prefer them to the other fast food burger joints such as McDonalds, Burger King, Sonic, Hardys or Wendys. With that said, I hope they open one here in the Mountain Home area, but I am not gonna wait in a long line for one.