netboy

I'll try to get down there one evening.

I went to the boat ramp access at the dam this morning. They were running 1 unit so I was limited to fishing close to the shoreline. I still ended up having a good morning with a couple dozen rainbows, 1 brown, 1 cutthroat and a couple brookies. Best flies were eggs and scuds. About the time I was getting ready to leave I hooked a really nice rainbow and had fun fighting it for about 10 minutes. Turned out to be 24". There were lots of guide boats out, but I was the only wader. Here's a few pics...

There are multiple ways to set up a tandem rig. This is how I do it (minus the split shot)...

I usually fish them as the trailing fly in a tandem rig setup under an indicator. The lead fly is usually a beaded egg pattern or some sort of nymph such as a pheasant tail or prince nymph, both with a bead to get the rig down.

As far as midges, here on the White and Norfork rivers you can't go wrong with a simple bead head ruby midge (red body and black ribbing) or a P&P bead head midge (tan body and copper wire ribbing).

With all the great places to wade, I never take my boat out during low flows.

I went to the dam C&R access and had a good morning. Caught some really nice rainbows and hooked a big Golden. I saw him holding downstream and tried a couple of different flies and he finally took a scud. Had him on for 2 or 3 minutes with some nice runs and then the hook just pulled out. He looked to be around 22" and fat. I saw him a couple more times, but I guess he learned his lesson as he showed no interest in anything I had. Best flies were scuds and eggs. Later in the morning there was what looked to be a guide with 2 fishermen in a Supreme with a Merc 60/40 jet that was drifting the Baxter shoreline below the Baxter boat ramp. I guess he decided to run up to the dam as he gunned it and then took the wrong line going through the shoal just above the boat ramp. I heard him hit a rock and saw the boat go sideways. One of the fishermen then flew out of the boat while still in his seat. The boat was wedged sideways against the rocks and the guide jumped out of the boat and got the guy and the seat back in the boat. He had to push the boat back into deeper water and then motored upstream and beached the boat on the shoreline. Hope the guy wasn't hurt too badly, but I imagine he had some bruises as the water was only a few inches deep. I left shortly after that. I bet the guide didn't get much of a tip at the end of the day. Here is a pic of one of the better rainbows...

Interesting story about Dusty, Billy Gibbons and the ZZtop band. Back in 60's we lived in a suburb of Houston and after I moved out a new neighbor moved in across the street. Turns out he was a professional music mixer from Nashville and did lots of mixing and fill in guitar work for a number of bands, one being the ZZ Top band. My parents, who were well into their 70's. always talked about the weirdo guys coming over there and would tell the us that the "Easy Top" guys were over there again today.

Another pic of the golden...

I waded at the Roundhouse Shoals access this morning and had a pretty good morning. I ended up with a couple dozen stocker rainbows, 1 nice golden rainbow and another decent size rainbow (at least for a catch and keep area). I saw the golden holding just downstream from me and I was using a tan scud under an indicator. I could see him swim over to investigate the fly a couple of times, but he never took it. I changed to a ruby midge and had the same result, a couple of looks, but no takes. Next, I put on a size 16 egg pattern and after a couple casts he finally ate it. Best flies this morning were the scud and a pale yellow egg pattern. Here's a couple of pics....

Phil, I don't think O2 is much of a problem on the White and Norfork. The White has many miles of shoals that add oxygen to the water. The Norfork had problems with low O2 since it was only 5 miles long. They solved the problem on the Norfork with the siphon that can take water out of different levels of the lake where the O2 is best at that particular time and then it defuses it at the nozzle which adds more O2. The fish seem healthy and always put up a good fight and swim away strong.

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.😀