netboy

Water levels have been mostly low in the mornings recently. Yesterday they ran 2 generators for an hour or so early and then went back to minimum flow for an hour and then made an unscheduled change and increased it to 1 full generator for the remainder of the morning. Today they skipped the scheduled bump early and ran minimum flow all morning. So basically, it's hard to second guess what the flows will actually be on any given day. Best strategy is to just go and deal with the flows you get. This morning was good fishing with the low water. I caught some nice rainbows, 1 pretty cutthroat, a couple brookies and a tiger. I caught the biggest rainbow (the one in the last picture) on top using a small hopper. I saw him come up a couple of times, so I changed to the hopper and he took it on the second pass. The best flies for numbers were small egg patterns and scuds. Here's a few pics...

The article says they put a cameraman in the boat that day. I wonder how they were able to stuff those weights into the fish with him in the boat.

I think that once they get established in the river and start feeding on the natural bugs (scuds, sowbugs, snails, caddis, etc.) they get much more color. Same goes for the rainbows and cutties and browns.

Yes, he did. Made some nice runs and cleared the water twice.

I fished the Dam C&R area this morning and had a good morning. SWPA has been running around 1 full unit most every morning and then bumping it up in the afternoons. Best flies have been eggs, scuds, tiger tails and cracklebacks. There has been lots of guide boats out, but very few waders. I had an old time White River slam this morning with a nice cutthroat, lots of rainbows, 3 brookies and an average size brown. Here's a few pics from this morning...

The water has been just above minimum flow in the mornings for the last week or so. I have been fishing the Dam C&R area and Roundhouse Shoals over the last week. Fishing has been great with lots of fish at Roundhouse and fewer, but bigger trout at the Dam C&R area. Best flies have been eggs, scuds and crackle backs with a few on dry flies early in the morning. I am starting to see some redds with active fish (rainbows) on them. We kept a few yesterday for the smoker and two of them were full of eggs when I cleaned them. The males are starting to show more color also. Here's a few pics of the better ones...

You guys need to be careful when fishing the Meramec...😬 Missouri Fisherman Claims Bigfoot Threw a Huge Boulder at Him (khmoradio.com)

Is that a Bonneville cuttie? Can't tell from the pic.

Yes, they do show up better in the river than the rainbows. And they always put on a good fight with some great jumps. Very similar to browns.

I had a good morning wading at the Dam C&R area today. I ended up with a couple dozen rainbows, 1 cutthroat, 1 brown and 2 brookies... so I guess it was an old school slam. These days you would need to add a tiger, a golden rainbow and a Bonneville cutthroat to the mix for a White river grand slam. That is going to be a tough one to accomplish. The cutthroat was fun because I saw him holding about 15 feet downstream from me and I watched him take my fly as I drifted it back to him. Best flies today were scuds and eggs. I did see 2 active redds with trout on them so it is getting to be that time of year.

I saw quite a few groups of blue wings buzzing the river at Bull Shoals C&R area this morning. Also, hundreds of lesser Canadian geese landing all around me. Brought back some good memories of duck hunting in South Texas.

They are pretty cool looking fish. A cross between a brook trout and a brown trout. They are triploids so they should grow fast. This guy was probably stocked at 10" earlier this year. Good to see them in the river.

I went to the state park access this morning and had a good morning. The water was pretty low early and then at 9 they increased it from 20mw to 65mw (and once again, no horn). I got to shore and I was going to leave but I decided to stay and try a somewhat protected area along the shoreline. It turned out good as lots of trout moved in close to the shoreline. I ended up with around 3 dozen including a couple nice rainbows and a decent tiger trout. I caught 6 on a stimulator dry fly and the rest on an egg/midge combo. It was fun as I was able to sight cast to many of them.

😀 I found the bag up the road where the pavement stops. You have some nice stuff in that bag. I finally saw the infamous Turner Jones Micro Jigs that Phil and others talk about... I took pictures. Then when I saw that and the fish counter, I pretty much knew the owner.😀

Bingo. I just put it in your kayak in the back of your truck.

Nice to see the holiday crowds gone. I fished the dam C&R area this morning and had a good morning. Caught fish on tiger tails, cracklebacks, ruby midges and a size 16 white egg pattern. Ended the morning with a couple dozen including these two bigger guys...

Hey Ham, did you happen to lose a tackle bag this morning? I found one on the side of our road when I left to go to the dam. Looks like lots of micro fishing stuff and a fish counter attached. I tried to PM you but that didn't work. Let me know and I'll get it back to you.

Oh my... match the hatch???😀

Wow, that is a shame. Security issues???

Also be sure to use a wire leader as they have sharp teeth.

Well, I can't say much for the fishing over there, but you should plan a day trip to the Pensacola Naval Air Station Aviation Museum which is close by. It is one of the best museums we have been to and if you are lucky, the Blue Angels may be doing a practice show. Plan an entire day to see it (free admission) and they do have a good restaurant inside.

I fished a different area below the dam this morning and had a decent morning. They were running 1 unit when I got there at 7. Fishing was good using cracklebacks with both yellow and tan bodies. I caught around 20 rainbows and this nice cutthroat. He took a tan crackleback as it was free floating as a dry fly. At first I thought it might have been the same one I caught a couple days ago as they were both males. I compared the pictures when I got home and this one had a bigger mouth and was not quite as fat. Around 9ish SWPA shut the water down to about a half unit and the fishing slowed down a bit. I changed to a ruby midge and caught a few more.

SWPA was running 1 unit this morning, so I made a trip to the dam C&R area. A yellow crackleback stripped in the surface film was the best fly today. I ended the morning with around 15 decent rainbows along with this nicely colored cutthroat. It was fun to see him bulge the water as he came up and followed the fly for a couple of feet. I stopped stripping and as soon as that happened, he took it. He gave a good fight and swam away strong after a couple of pics. Glad to see some lower water again.

I don't think we have ever had that O2 problem down here on the White that I know of since they started minimum flows. The water gets pretty well oxygenated with many miles of shoals. Norfork solved that problem with the siphon. Norfork Dam Siphon - Stabilizing the trout habitat - Garver (garverusa.com)

She put up quite a fight. Took me well into my backing twice and made some nice jumps.