netboy

We had some lower water at 1 1/2 units this morning for the first time in a couple weeks. I took the boat to Rim Shoals and ran to an area that is good wading under these conditions. Fishing was good using peach-colored eggs, P&P midges and also a couple on a Tiger tail. Caught a bunch of rainbows, 1 Bonneville cutthroat and a couple browns. Water came up around 11 am so I headed home. Going to check out the Sowbug Roundup this afternoon. It runs through Saturday, if any of you are interested here is a link... https://sowbugroundup.org/ Here's a few pics...

SWPA reduced the flows on the Norfork earlier this week since the lake is now back into power pool. We had a couple of full days of no generation and then a couple days of minimum flow until noon. Wade fishing has been good with the low water although there have been lots of people fishing. I have had the best luck using midges, ruby and P&P, along with some success stripping cracklebacks. I did see a few (very few) caddis coming up, but not enough to bother with. The caddis should start getting stronger in the next few days if we continue to have mild weather. Here's a couple of pics...

Maybe the stocking truck paid a visit???😁

Hope that wasn't in saltwater. Vibrio virus from the salt is pretty nasty stuff.

Yeah. no problem... just funny stuff. Wife keeps reminding me to watch the backcast.

I went to Wildcat access this afternoon and the stocking truck was dumping a load of trout when I got there. I like to play with those little guys and try to educate them a bit before the meat fisherman take them out. I put on a woolly bugger/spinner and was catching a fish or getting a bite on every cast. I probably caught 40 and then a gust of wind caught the fly rig and it ended up in my ear. It went through the earlobe, but the hook still had a bit of barb on it and I couldn't back it out. I didn't have any wire cutters so I headed back home and the better half cut the barb off and the hook came right out. She was laughing her A** off when I got home with that spinner dangling from my ear. Lesson learned... REALLY pinch those barbs down or just use barbless hooks.

Arkansas version of the Bad Boy lawnmower...

I always wondered how putting your hands over your head and getting under the desk was supposed to save us from a nuclear blast.

Get ready for World War 3... Baby boomer bomb shelter. Only $995.

I hear you... just gotta keep moving forward at our age. 😀

They will be coming thru St Louis on Tuesday.... Day 7: Tuesday, March 1 Morning – Depart Sullivan, MO area Evening – Arrive in Indianapolis, IN area for overnight stay

Looks like they will be coming thru Springfield on I44 next Monday. Day 6: Monday, February 28 Morning – Depart Vinita, OK area Evening – Arrive in Sullivan, MO area for overnight stay

Very nice.👍👍

I waded at the State Park yesterday afternoon after the water went down to less than 1 unit. There are still lots of redds visible in the shallows and I saw 3 different pairs of rainbows active on redds. Fishing was good using a peach colored egg with a ruby midge dropper. Ended the day with a couple dozen rainbows and 2 browns. Some of the rainbows were full of eggs as you can see from the first pic.

Norfork was scheduled to be at minimum flow all day today, but they turned on 1 unit at 7am. You just never know what they have up their sleeve.

April will be prime time for the caddis hatch. Hard to beat a size 16 elk hair caddis with a green body. Just cast it and mend the line to make a drag free drift. Nothing better than to see them come up on top and suck it in.

Sounds like a fun day. I have a Euro setup but haven't tried it out yet. It sure was some great weather to be out after all the snow.

I made a quick wading trip to Roundhouse Shoals this morning while the water was still low. Fishing was good with some nice rainbows and lots of stockers. I am still seeing quite a few active rainbows on Redds. With that said, a Y2K with a P&P midge dropper was the best combo fishing to the trout holding below the redds. Here's a couple of the better rainbows...

I have been fishing the C&R area the last few days and doing pretty good. SWPA is running 1 unit in the afternoons which limits the wadeable water, but still allows for some decent fishing. There are LOTS of guide boats up there right now, but very few waders. Best flies have been midges and then BWO's later in the afternoon when a few bugs start to hatch. Here's a couple of pics...

I am doing some fancy French cuisine....

We have seen a few in the yard under our deer feeder.

Wow, you need to come down here and get rid of some of our beavers. They are everywhere on the White and Norfork and getting worse. I'll be happy to show you many areas where they are active.

Nothing much down here in Flippin/Cotter yet. Looks like we get it tonight. Fishing was pretty good at Cotter walk in this morning. Still some trout looking for eggs.

The Dam C&R area has been closed since November 1 for the Brown Trout spawning season and opened back up this morning. I went up there around noon and had a good afternoon. They were running 1 unit and there were lots of guide boats but I was the only wader. Probably caught around 20ish... mostly rainbows, but one 17" cuttie, a 16" brown and a couple of rainbows in the 18-20" range. Best flies were a peach colored egg and a P&P midge. Also a pic of my wife with a rainbow from our trip to Norfork Dam yesterday. Looks like some bad weather the next couple of days.

Here is a write up from the Greers Ferry Hatchery website that explains the process. How We Do It Greers Ferry does not have any adult trout for breeding purposes. The hatchery receives fertilized eggs from other Federal hatcheries, called brood stock hatcheries. The majority of eggs we receive are provided by Erwin National Fish Hatchery, a national brood stock hatchery located in Tennessee. Eggs are received and incubated in the juvenile fish rearing area of the hatchery building from August through March. At this stage the young fish are vulnerable, so biosecurity procedures are followed to protect the fish from disease or harmful biological agents. Only staff are permitted in the juvenile fish rearing area. As the eggs hatch and the yolk sacs are absorbed, the young trout swim up from the bottom of the troughs and are fed commercial fish food 5-6 times a day. When they reach a size of approximately 3 inches (4-5 months old), the fingerling trout are transferred outside to the raceways. In the raceway area, the fish are fed and cared for until they reach the 11-inch stocking size (approximately 20 months old). Each raceway of fish may be fed from one to three times a day depending on the size of the fish being fed. Throughout the year fish are harvested from the raceways and distributed by truck for stocking in suitable tailwaters and in Arkansas and eastern Oklahoma. Greers Ferry National Fish Hatchery produces more than 700,000 trout annually. Maybe one of those trout will be the subject for your next “big fish story.”