netboy

Good looking reels. Congrats.

How about a pic of the new reel? They are pretty nice.

I made a quick trip to the Cotter access this morning before the predicted monsoons hit. Water was running around 14k cfs so it limits the wading opportunities. I found an area with lots of suckers stacked up and some looked to be actively spawning. I put on a Y2K and fished downstream of the suckers. I caught a bunch of rainbows, 1 brown and this pretty golden. I fished for the golden for about 15 minutes before he finally took the fly. He would come up and look at it and either turn away or a rainbow would eat it. Lots of fun to watch and it is amazing how visible they are and how well camouflaged the rainbows around him were. Looks like they are predicting another 2-3 inches of rain over next couple of days so more high water.

Just call it Lilley's Fly Shop.... Kinda like Dally's Fly Shop down here in Cotter. Seems to work pretty good for Steve.

We had a light rain this morning and the forecast called for it to end around mid-morning. The SWPA schedule showed minimum flow until 3pm so I headed over to Ackerman access and got there at 8. Fishing was pretty good in the light rain and foggy conditions. Best fly was a green butt soft hackle swung in the current and then stripped back upstream Then just after 10 the water came up and I left. I caught around 20ish in the 2 hours of fishing including this decent rainbow. I checked the actual flows when I got home and they only ran water for about an hour and shut it down again. Makes no sense, but not the first time they have shortened my day.

I think you are right. The flows on the Bull Shoals and Norfork tailwaters have been low with some bumps in the afternoons. It looks like Bull Shoals and Norfork lake levels have stabilized for the time being and lots of water coming in from the Buffalo and Spring rivers system downstream. That said, fly fishing has been great recently. Took the wife out this morning and we caught some really nice rainbows on top. I am sure the flows will be increasing soon.

They ran a little over 1 unit today and the fishing was good. Started out with a soft hackle and caught around 10 and then switched to the EHC and caught another dozen. Lots of boats out but I was the only wader. Here's a few pics....

Try a size 18 parachute Adams next time.

Thanks, it gave a great fight with some good jumps and oddly enough it had one of those nasty chestnut lamprey ells attached to it.

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I went to Ackerman access yesterday and today as they have been running minimum flow in the mornings on the Norfork. Fishing was good both days. There are still some caddis coming up starting around mid-morning. Midges and soft hackles have been good before the caddis start and then the elk hair caddis dry after they start hatching. I caught a couple dozen both days with some nice rainbows in the mix. We should start seeing some sulphurs hatching soon. Hopefully the water will stay low. Here's a pic of a nice brown from this morning on the elk hair.

Turn the news on.

Wow, hard to believe what happened down there today. Our best friends have a big ranch down there just north of Uvalde and know 2 of the families, one who lost their son and the other lost their daughter. Hard to imagine what kind of monster would go in and kill innocent little kids. Rant over...

Really enjoyed the play by play. Good job...😀

Still going up here in Flippin.... 20 cent increase over the weekend ...$4.19 today. Not to mention the cost of everything else. Thankfully we don't have to drive very far.

Yes, we have seen a couple of them in our yard and the momma always comes back early evening and collects them. Usually, they have 2 fawns and leave each one in a different place. Always have to look closely when mowing this time of year,

Sounds like some tough times out west with the drought. Just keep on looking and you will find them.

The neighbors down the road from us sent this Game Cam pic of a bear at their deer feeder yesterday. I just saw the bear a few minutes ago while driving up our road. It was about halfway up the road and crossing toward the river. It was too quick for me to get a picture. It looks to be around 200 lbs and other people that have seen it say she has a cub.

Thanks, but it is 2 pics of the same fish. I measured where it was relative to the rod when I got home and it was between 25 and 26".

The flows are still coming up and wading spots are getting fewer and fewer. SWPA was running around 6k cfs this morning. I wasn't able to get very far off the bank, but there were some caddis coming up close in. I caught 5 nice rainbows in the 16-17" range on an elk hair caddis and then had a take that appeared to be another decent fish. I set the hook and knew right away this was a better fish. It took off toward the middle of the river and took me down to about half of my backing. I had to chase it downstream but finally got it back on the fly line. I worked it in close to the bank and after about a 10 minute tug of war, got it into the net for a few pics and then the release. Also ran into this little guy on the way out.

Looked to be 24-25"ish and really fat. Had him on for about a minute and then he made a couple of jumps and the hook came out. Darned barbless hooks.

Yes, there have been some big ones cruising around looking for the remaining caddis. Always fun to watch them come up and some take it and some don't. Still my favorite time of the year.

They are gradually increasing flows on the White river, but it is still wadeable in some areas. I started the morning with a Tiger Tail and caught 6 nice size rainbows and lost a really big rainbow that jumped and threw the hook. The water came up a bit so I moved to some calmer water closer to the bank. There were a few caddis coming up but I didn't see any fish rising. I tied on a smaller unweighted Tiger Tail and caught a couple more. Then I tied on the elk hair caddis just to see if they were still looking for caddis. Had a take on the second cast and caught 5 more and lost as many hits. Caught this nice rainbow on the elk hair. The horn went off at 11:50 so I left.

It was another good morning on the White River today. Things started out slow with a heavy fog and cool temps. I started with a P&P midge under an indicator and caught a couple of rainbows. Then around 9 the sun broke through and burned off the fog. I started seeing a few caddis hatching so I switched to an elk hair caddis dry fly and got a take on the second cast. At first, I thought it was a decent brown, but it turned out to be a nice cutthroat. I took a couple of pics and sent it on it's way. Then about 30 minutes later I got a second nice cuttie on the elk hair. Fishing got better as it warmed up and I ended the morning with a couple dozen trout, including the 2 cutties, 3 brookies and the rest were rainbows. Here's a few pics of the cutties along with a decent rainbow...

Always fun to try to get them interested in the outdoors. From my perspective, it's also fun to see the big trout in Dry Run creek come up and take a fly... and then mostly break off. The kiddos get really excited and that is a good thing. Hope that will make an impression in their lives.