netboy

Where did you find that thing up here in North Arkansas??

The only "sticker" I have on my boat is a Trout Unlimited sticker.

I've seen some of those guys washed on the shoreline at the C&R area below Bull Shoals dam. I guess they come thru the generators because they are pretty mangled up. Nothing that big though.

Here you go... leave the old guy behind for an appetizer.

May have been a bear??? They say there are a few around here, but I have yet to see one. Did you have to clean out your waders when you got back?

There is now a quality 1-mile trail that starts at the Rim Shoals walk-in access and follows the river downstream. The trail first began almost 20 years ago when Gary Flippin of Rim Shoals Lodge hacked a trail on land belonging to Marshall Berg along the river below the walk-in access. Gary was regularly rescuing waders caught in high water on the island at Rim Shoals. The trail provided a safe way to exit the water. . There has been a major project to expand and enhance the trail. The original trail was a bit rough. It is now really nice and extended another 1/2 mile downstream. We have added 3 picnic tables at the beginning of the trail and another at the end, a mile downstream. The new trail was a joint effort between Trout Unlimited White River Chapter 698 and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, with additional funding from Barbara Graham through the Graham Foundation in memory of her husband, Frank. The trail is on land belonging to Marshall Berg and Hugh McClain, who have granted access for the trail. Here is a link to our TU Facebook page that has more details on the trail. Also, if you feel lucky and want to buy a $10 chance to win a Jackson Mayfly kayak set up for fly fishing (this is a $2,000 kayak) scroll down on the Facebook page for more info. White River Trout Unlimited Chapter #698 | Facebook

We are starting to see some minimum flows here on the Bull Shoals tailwater. I waded a shoal Thursday and caddis were coming up everywhere and the trout were slurping them up. It was a warm sunny day and that seems to trigger the hatch. Probably caught around 30, all on a size 16 elk hair caddis dry fly. Went back to same area this afternoon and conditions were not ideal, light rain and temps in the low 50's. There were a few caddis coming up but nothing like yesterday. Still ended up with around 20 on the elk hair caddis. Caught some nice rainbows and lost a big brown that broke the 6x tippet. Here is one of the better rainbows..

Have a great trip and enjoy the time with your dad.

Those are some pretty crazy flows and temperature swings. Just a quick update on Bull Shoals tailwater... They reduced the flows from 21k to 16k today. They have been running over 20k 24/7 for the last 2 weeks. I talked to one of the guides yesterday and he said we may see reduced flows for a while because they have an agreement with the farmers downstream to reduce the flows at Newport for the planting season starting April 15. Hope that pans out and we get some low water to get the caddis hatch going.

I remember watching a fishing show on TV where they were fishing for Tiamen (a tout species) in Mongolia and were using a big fly that looked like a rodent. They would strip it on the surface and the strikes were very aggressive.

Was this a living organism? Looks like something I flushed this morning.😁

Whatever............

It was on the boat when I bought it..........

Cool... nice to know. I always went out with the castnet during flounder season and the mud minnows were the "flounder candy". Never knew there were multiple species.

Wow, after reading all this I am amazed at how many minnow species there are in the rivers up here. Back in south Texas we had mullet and mud minnows (killifish) and that was about it... but then maybe there is multiple species of the killifish???

That rainbow hasn't missed many meals.

That was back when I had to work for a living.😜

It was out of warranty period.

The 140 was 1982 model on a 20 foot Mako offshore boat and yes there was hour meter in the console. A connecting rod broke and destroyed the powerhead. The dealer gave me a pretty good deal on the 150. Fortunately the issues with the 150 were covered under warranty.

Well I'll make a challenge on the 4 stoke reliability. I put just over 6 thousand hours on a Suzuki 140 4 stoke and it was still running when I sold it. Back many years ago I had a 140 V4 Evinrude that crapped out at 200 hours. Replaced it with a 150 Evinrude 150 V6 and had nothing but problems... 2 lower units replaced and then powerhead issues. Guess that is why OMC and their savior BRC-Etec are no longer in the outboard motor business.

SWPA has been running all 8 units at Bull Shoals Dam the last few days and I imagine they will continue the big releases for at least a couple more weeks. The lake is around 10 feet into flood pool. This limits the amount of wadeable water but there are still a few places to safely wade. I launched the boat at Wildcat around 11 this morning and ran to an area that has been holding lots of trout. Fishing was good again today with many rainbows, a couple of browns and this fat rainbow. I lost another big one that looked to a big brown. I was using a ruby midge tied on a light wire hook and the brown took a long run taking me into the backing and straightened the hook when he got across the current. It was a fun day as most the fish I caught were sightcasted to. BTW, the rainbow in the pics took an olive mop fly.

I caught the same trout 3 times within an hour. He had a very distinct heron scar on his back.

I launched the boat at Rim Shoals this morning and ran downstream to a gravel bar that is usually good fishing on the 3 unit flow we had today. Caught some nice rainbows, one 16" cutthroat and this nice brown. He put up a good fight on my 4 weight and made two jumps that totally cleared the water. I was using an egg/midge combo under an indicator and he took the egg. The rainbows seemed to prefer the midge today.

I have seen groups of grass carp on the White that were huge. Some of them looked to be in the 20-30lb category. Also see them on the Spring river.

Very nice rainbow.