netboy

I went back this morning and the water was quite a bit higher. Didn't see any bugs coming up so I used a ruby midge and then later on, a soft hackle. Caught 10 including these two nice rainbows...

The cutthroats are now in spawning mode so they take on those pretty colors. Saw a couple pair on redds last week at Dry Run creek.

I noticed that the water was lower than predicted at the dam this morning so I decided to go check it out. I was the only one there until about 9 and then only 2 other waders. Water was running about 1/2 of a unit so it was good for wading. Eggs and midges worked early on and then around 9:30 a few caddis started coming up so I switched to an elk hair caddis and caught 6 on top. Then the caddis stopped so I switched to a soft hackle and caught some more. I ended up with around 20 including 3 nice rainbows in the 19-21" range and a couple of colored up cutthroats. I also lost 2 other big rainbows that came unbuttoned. Here are some pics...

Interesting read on some of our common phrases... In George Washington's days, there were no cameras. One's image was either sculpted or painted. Some paintings of George Washington showed him standing behind a desk with one arm behind his back while others showed both legs and both arms. Prices charged by painters were not based on how many people were to be painted, but by how many limbs were to be painted. Arms and legs are 'limbs,' therefore painting them would cost the buyer more. Hence the expression, 'Okay, but it'll cost you an arm and a leg.' (Artists know hands and arms are more difficult to paint) *** As incredible as it sounds, men and women took baths only twice a year (May and October) Women kept their hair covered, while men shaved their heads (because of lice and bugs) and wore wigs. Wealthy men could afford good wigs made from wool. They couldn't wash the wigs, so to clean them they would carve out a loaf of bread, put the wig in the shell, and bake it for 30 minutes. The heat would make the wig big and fluffy, hence the term 'big wig.' Today we often use the term 'here comes the Big Wig' because someone appears to be or is powerful and wealthy. *** In the late 1700's, many houses consisted of a large room with only one chair. Commonly, a long wide board folded down from the wall, and was used for dining. The 'head of the household' always sat in the chair while everyone else ate sitting on the floor. Occasionally a guest, who was usually a man, would be invited to sit in this chair during a meal. To sit in the chair meant you were important and in charge. They called the one sitting in the chair the 'chair man.' Today in business, we use the expression or title 'Chairman' or 'Chairman of the Board..' *** Personal hygiene left much room for improvement. As a result, many women and men had developed acne scars by adulthood. The women would spread bee's wax over their facial skin to smooth out their complexions. When they were speaking to each other, if a woman began to stare at another woman's face she was told, 'mind your own bee's wax.' Should the woman smile, the wax would crack, hence the term 'crack a smile'. In addition, when they sat too close to the fire, the wax would melt . . . Therefore, the expression 'losing face.' *** Ladies wore corsets, which would lace up in the front. A proper and dignified woman, as in 'straight laced'. . Wore a tightly tied lace. *** Common entertainment included playing cards. However, there was a tax levied when purchasing playing cards but only applicable to the 'Ace of Spades.' To avoid paying the tax, people would purchase 51 cards instead. Yet, since most games require 52 cards, these people were thought to be stupid or dumb because they weren't 'playing with a full deck.' *** Early politicians required feedback from the public to determine what the people considered important. Since there were no telephones, TV's or radios, the politicians sent their assistants to local taverns, pubs, and bars. They were told to 'go sip some ale' and listen to people's conversations and political concerns.. Many assistants were dispatched at different times. 'You go sip here' and 'You go sip there.' The two words 'go sip' were eventually combined when referring to the local opinion and, thus we have the term 'gossip.' *** At local taverns, pubs, and bars, people drank from pint and quart-sized containers. A bar maid's job was to keep an eye on the customers and keep the drinks coming. She had to pay close attention and remember who was drinking in 'pints' and who was drinking in 'quarts,' hence the term minding your 'P's and 'Q's *** One more and betting you didn't know this! In the heyday of sailing ships, all war ships and many freighters carried iron cannons. Those cannons fired round iron cannon balls. It was necessary to keep a good supply near the cannon. However, how to prevent them from rolling about the deck? The best storage method devised was a square-based pyramid with one ball on top, resting on four resting on nine, which rested on sixteen. Thus, a supply of 30 cannon balls could be stacked in a small area right next to the cannon. There was only one problem...how to prevent the bottom layer from sliding or rolling from under the others. The solution was a metal plate called a 'Monkey' with 16 round indentations. However, if this plate were made of iron, the iron balls would quickly rust to it. The solution to the rusting problem was to make 'Brass Monkeys.' Few landlubbers realize that brass contracts much more and much faster than iron when chilled. l Consequently, when the temperature dropped too far, the brass indentations would shrink so much that the iron cannonballs would come right off the monkey. Thus, it was quite literally, 'Cold enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.' (All this time, you thought that was an improper expression, didn't you.)

I launched the boat at Wildcat this morning and ran up to Tucker Shoal and then got out and waded. It was foggy and only a few caddis flying. I used the egg/midge combo and caught around a dozen rainbows and one 17" brown. The fog finally burned off around 10 so I took the boat up to a large weed bed and there were fish rising. I noticed some bigger fish rising right along the shoreline so I positioned the boat above them and dropped the anchor. Turned out to be a group of nice browns waiting on the caddis to drift by. I caught 6 browns in the 18 to 20" range from an area that was about 10 square feet. It was strange that there were no rainbows in that small area. They all took a size 18 elk hair caddis. Here a few pics...

Must have been one hell of a rusted screw....😁

Oh man, that really sucks.

I have seen many eagles swoop down and catch smaller trout but they always get them with both talons, which would make more smaller punctures. Whatever this was had at least a 6 inch spread and two claw marks on one side and one on the other side. Also no spoonbills that I know of below Bull Shoals, never seen a gigger up there, but who knows what goes on after the sun goes down??? Still wondering what he ran into but glad he survived and was the best fight of the day. Probably made 6 jumps clear of the water and took me into the backing twice.

I went to the C&R area below the dam this morning. The sun was out and there were caddis coming up when I got there so I tied on an elk hair caddis. Caught a half dozen rainbows and 1 cutthroat on the elk hair and then the clouds moved in and fog started to form. That was the end of the surface activity so I switched to a soft hackle and caught another 10 including this big male. It had three big puncture wounds, two on one side and one on the other. He put up quite a fight so he was still healthy. Any ideas on what would cause this? I thought maybe an eagle, but the fish was pretty big for an eagle to target.

They were scheduled to run about 3 units this morning so I took the boat up to a shoal that has been fishing good recently. The water was a bit high for safe wading so I anchored upstream of the area where the fish have been concentrating and had a good morning. Caught around 25 including some nice size rainbows, a decent brown and a nice cutthroat. It was interesting that I saw a number of trout come up to the fly and then turn away. I changed from the usual size 16 elk hair caddis to a size 18 and that seemed to be what they wanted. There were smaller caddis coming up with the bigger guys but they stayed on the water longer than the bigger ones. Got lots more takes with the 18 but also lost a few good ones due to the small hook. Here are a couple of the better ones...

Great article and a very nice rainbow... Congrats.

I tried the walk in access at Wildcat this afternoon and it was dead. Not a bite. Water was around 2 units which is too low for that area. So I drove up to another shoal and as soon as I got there I saw lots of caddis coming up and the fish were after them. They were in the slack water just upstream of the shoal. Probably caught around 30 including a few nice browns, all on my foam elk hair caddis dry fly pattern. The browns were fun as I sight casted both of them. There were so many caddis it was hard following my fly through the swarm of bugs but I did see both of these browns come up and take the fly. Saw a bigger brown and he took the fly once and I missed him. Lots of fun watching them take the fly on the surface.

Well I don't know anything about the trout at Taney, but I keep a few every week for dinner here on the White river below Bull Shoals and they are very good. Just look for some that weren't just stocked. You can tell by the colors of the trout and look at the anal vent. The ones that have been off the hatchery pellet food and start eating natural foods, mostly scuds, sowbugs, crawfish and snails will have their anal vents swollen from passing all that natural food with the hard casings. When you fillet them the meat has an orange tint and when brined and smoked they taste like salmon. Also great to saute them and then top it with toasted almonds, butter and lemon sauce or a lemon, butter and caper sauce. Never heard any complaints from the friends and family that have come for dinner.

What happened??? Edit....Just saw the report on the KY3 news website this morning. Condolences to all.

5/4 update... We had over an inch of rain here in Cotter last night and the river looks like chocolate milk. I went back to the same shoal this morning and the water was clear up there and fishing was pretty much the same as yesterday. Here is the best rainbow of the morning on the elk hair caddis...

Sorry, can't seem to get the pictures to load.

Launched at White Hole in the fog this morning and ran up to a shoal that has been good on the caddis hatch. Problem was the fog didn't clear off till around 10 am. Caught some rainbows, 1 cutthroat and a brown on the egg/midge combo. Then when the fog finally burned off I started seeing some caddis and a few fish rising for them. I tied on a size 16 elk hair caddis and had steady action for about an hour, then the clouds rolled in and the bugs disappeared. It was fun while it lasted. I saw the trout in the attached picture come up and take 5 or 6 caddis and I thought it was a brown cause all I could see was the mouth. After 3 drifts it finally took the fly and it turned out to be a nice 22" rainbow.

Billethead nailed it...

Just a quick update on the Denton Ferry bridge washout situation... My fiend that lives up there said Baxter county road crew responded and now they have one lane traffic open.

We had quite a bit of rain yesterday and even had the tornado sirens going off in Cotter. When I emptied my rain gauge this morning there was 5" in it. The river looks like the muddy Missouri river right now here in Cotter and a friend told me the bridge on Denton Ferry road washed out again last night. That means a long detour thru Monkey Run (yes that is a real place with a not so nice, steep gravel grade road) for the folks that live north of the bridge and all the fishing resorts up that way. Also anyone that wants to launch at Wildcat access. This morning I thought the only clear water for fishing would be at the dam so I headed up there early. I walked up the bank to get upstream of a small creek that was pumping muddy water in and the water was clear. I was the only one there and then around 9 am all the guide boats started showing up. When I left I counted 18 fly fishing guide boats. It looked like a parade as they came by me and then motored back up for another drift. Lots of jet motor noise... at least they motored back up on the other side of the river. Fishing was pretty good and I caught some nice rainbows and a couple of browns. Didn't see any caddis so I used an egg/midge combo. Here is a nice brown that took a Ruby midge dropper...

I launched the boat at White Hole access and then ran up to a shoal that is good wading with the 2 units of water we had today. There were quite a few caddis coming up but not many trout after them. I caught about 18, all on an elk hair caddis dry fly. One brown around 17" and the rest rainbows including this nice one. Looks like rain tomorrow and Thursday. Hope it is not too much.

Fishing was good today. They unexpectedly went to minimum flow yesterday at 1pm at the dam and I missed that as it was not scheduled and I was watching a stupid golf tournament on TV😈. The water was off until 7am this morning at the dam so I went to the Roundhouse access and waded the minimum flow. Lots of caddis coming up and caught a bunch of rainbows on a caddis dry fly. Nothing picture worthy but a few in the 16-17" range. Schedule for tomorrow is for less than 2 units so it should still be good. I talked to a friend who lives in Bull Shoals and he said he caught the unexpected minimum flow yesterday afternoon and the caddis were swarming and the trout were going after them. Sorry I missed that. Here is a post on the caddis hatch from Dally's fly shop.... CADDIS ARE POPPING – The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal (wordpress.com)

Watch out for the pretty blonde in the red sports car...

Two things to watch for... warm sunny day and minimum flow.

The water went down at noon today and all the "usual suspects" met in the parking lot at our favorite location. As soon as I got out on the water caddis were coming up everywhere and the trout were after them. It was a great afternoon with around 50 trout to the net, all on an elk hair caddis dry fly (also a bunch of misses😔). Caught some nice size rainbows, an 18" brown and a nice cutthroat. Looks like no minimum flow tomorrow but a steady 3 unit flow which should still be good for the caddis hatch. Here is the biggest rainbow...