netboy

Had another good day with lots of nice rainbows and a few brookies. No cutties or browns this morning. Caught a few on the purple crackleback early and then switched to a scud. When the scud slowed down, I tied on an egg pattern and did pretty good with that. Here's a few of the better ones... biggest was 23".

SWPA reduced the flows to 1 unit starting this morning, which opens many wading opportunities. I went to the state park had a good morning with lots of rainbows, a few brookies, 1 cutthroat and a couple browns. A purple crackleback worked early and then I switched to a grey scud under an indicator and started getting some larger trout. There were lots of boats out today and a few other waders. Here's the best ones this morning...

I tie them in size 12 and 14. I use the 12 in faster water and the 14 in slower water. The cuttie took a 14.

I used a brown saddle hackle.

We have had good wading water of 1 unit for the past couple of weeks. I fished the Cotter access this morning and had a good trip with lots of rainbows, 2 browns and this nice cuttie. Best fly today was a purple body crackleback stripped in the surface film. I have some freinds that just got back from a trip to the Green River at Flaming Gorge and that was the hot fly up there, so I tied a couple up and found out our trout like them as well.

I forgot about the Federal Hatchery at Mammoth Spring. They do have 2 raceways for raising trout as well as a bunch of ponds for other species.

We have 3 trout hatcheries in Arkansas, 2 federal (Norfork and Greers Ferry) and 1 operated by the state (Jim Hinkle Mammoth Spring). I looked up the average annual production capacity of each during "normal" years, if there is such a thing these days. Norfork was the largest with 2.5 million Greers Ferry was 1 million Jim Hinkle was 800,000 So, with the problems at Norfork, we may see a considerable reduction in stocking. With that said, it be may a good time for AGFC to think about expanding the catch and release areas.

Saw this on Jeremy Hunt's website. Looks they have lost quite a few fish due to low oxygen levels and higher water temps. The hatchery report is at the bottom after the fishing report. White River & Norfork Fishery Report – Taking What the River Gives You

Size 14, brown body with partridge hackle.

Flows have been less than 1 unit until early afternoon giving us lots of wading opportunities. Fishing has been good with lots of rainbows, a few cutties and more brookies than I have ever seen. They are almost a nuisance as they are pretty aggressive and sometimes beat the bigger fish to the fly. That was the case this morning when I was trying to sight cast to a nice cuttie, but 2 different brookies beat him to the fly. I finally got him to take the fly and got him to the net. Best flies today were brown soft hackles rigged in tandem.

Bull Shoals Lake reached power pool level earlier this week and SWPA reduced the flows to 1 unit until noon the last couple of days. Fishing has been good with lots of options for wading. Had a good day yesterday and again today with lots of rainbows, a few browns, some brookies and 2 cutthroats. Best flies have been cracklebacks, scuds and eggs. Here are a couple of nicely colored trout from this morning...

Congrats.👍

What is this fungus thing? Does it only affect the browns?

Took the boat out this morning and fished a couple places with protected water. Caught a dozen including a couple nice rainbows and this 21". Best flies were a brown crackleback and then a couple on egg flies. I was surprised that there were not many boats out today.

What type of fly do you use for grass carp?

Took a size 14 tan scud under an indicator in some slower protected water.

Thanks to Tom Emerick and our local Trout Unlimited Chapter for working with the city of Cotter to make some improvements to the parking area at the sewer plant below Roundhouse Shoals. Here is a pic of the new parking area. It was raised about 2 feet on the downhill side which expanded the parking area and vehicle access. TU does some great stuff. If you like trout fishing in the Ozarks, you should think about joining.

I talked to a friend today that saw some dead stripers floating over there yesterday. Hope it's not too bad.

I have been fishing both Rim Shoals and the dam. There are a couple places to wade, but you need a boat to get to them. Most of my fishing has been from the boat.

Fished the C&R area this morning and had a good morning. There are still a few (very few) sulphurs coming up, but nothing like it was a couple weeks ago. I ended up with a dozen or so rainbows and a couple small browns. Caught 2 on a sulphur dry fly and the rest on cracklebacks and eggs. Here are a couple of the better rainbows.

I took the boat up to the C&R area below the dam Wednesday. They were running 5 generators, and I anchored quite a way down from the dam. Them about 9am I heard a bunch of rumbling and noticed my anchor wasn't holding. I looked back and saw a wall of water coming from under the spill gates. The water was blowing up a couple of feet under the center spill gate. I pulled the anchor and idled over to the Marion County side of the river. That went on for about 15 minutes with lots of trash in the water. No horn or any other notice. The river came up 2 feet in a couple of minutes. After 15 minutes, the gushing stopped, and the water started to recede. I thought it was over, so I anchored closer to the Marion County side and then about 15 minutes later... here it comes again on the Marion County side of the river. More trash and another wall of water. I pulled the anchor and left. After doing some research, I found out there are conduits that run under the dam, and I guess they were testing the valves and cleaning out the passages. You would think they would blow the horn when they do that. If I was wading, I would have been swimming. A 2-foot rise in a couple minutes would sweep you away if you are already waist deep. So just be careful wading as the Corp of Engineers apparently aren't too concerned about your safety.

Looks like a great adventure. Us old folks need to do these adventures while we still can.😀 Thanks for sharing.

There are a number of places where you can find slack or slower water.

Took the boat up to White Hole access this morning and had a good trip. Ended with 6...1 brown, 1 cuttie and 4 rainbows. Caught 2 on a crackleback, 1 on a girdle bug and 3 on egg flies. Here are 2 of the best rainbows, a 22" and a 21"...

Brown