netboy

Match the hatch....What color Power bait and how to stack them??? Bait guys at the ramp swear that a pink one first, then a Chartreuse, then an orange one. Then maybe re-stack in a different order. Must make a difference.

Can't speak for Missouri but they have been stocking like crazy here in Arkansas for the last few months. Jim Hinkle hatchery truck came yesterday and loaded a stocking raft and then dumped a bunch off the Wildcat ramp. This morning the Norfork National hatchery truck showed up and dumped another load in off the Wildcat ramp. I fish most every day and the stocking in Arkansas has been at least normal if not more since January. If you think about it, it takes around 14 months to raise a trout from an egg to stockable size. There was no Covid 14 months ago. They have to release the trout or what is the alternative? Put them in the dumpster?

Bingo... I'll keep a couple of trout every few trips and you want to keep the 13-16" ones that have some orange color on the belly, more vibrant colors on the body and have an extended anal vent. Those are the ones that have been in the river a while and have been eating the snails, crawfish and other natural food. When you cut them open it looks like salmon meat. Great on the smoker or just sauteed with dill, lemon, butter and almonds. If the hatchery truck shows up, go somewhere else if you want keep a few.

They off loaded 4 boxes from the truck into the raft which would probably be around a thousand (approximately 250 per box). The truck has 10 boxes and I think that's around 2,500 for a full load from what I was told by the biologist at Jim Hinkle hatchery when I lived over in Cherokee Village and fished the Spring river and talked to the hatchery guys all the time. He did say that it depends on the size of the fish and they estimate the number of fish in the tank by the displacement of water in the tank based on the average weight of the fish stocked. These looked to be in the 12-13" range. I have seen lots of stockings and the trout from Jim Hinkle hatchery are usually 1-2" bigger than those that come from the Norfork Federal hatchery. It's a very interesting trip to visit the trout hatcheries here in the Ozarks.

I fished upstream from Wildcat ramp today and had a good morning. I caught 5 or 6 on Sulphur dries early and then a few more stripping a yellow crackleback. The trout quit rising around 9 so I switched to an egg/midge combo under an indicator and caught a bunch more including this pretty golden rainbow. Man those things look like a neon light in the river. Very easy to sight cast to. I started hearing thunder around 10:30 so I ran back to the ramp and when I got there the stocking truck from Mammoth Spring was just backing down. There was an AGFC inflatable raft there and they loaded the fish into a net in the middle of the raft. They said they would release the trout between Wildcat and Cotter and then the truck will meet them at Cotter ramp and load the raft again for releases between Cotter and Rim Shoals. That is the first time I have seen the stocking raft. Normally they just dump the fish at the ramp.

Fishing has been decent the last couple of weeks but there are very limited opportunities for wading. Flows are high but steady at around 5 to 6 units most days. Yesterday I found some trout coming up to sulphurs in a protected area and had fun drifting a foam sulphur dry fly back to them. Caught quite a few rainbows along with this nice brown. I first thought it was a small rainbow when it came up to the fly. It barely made a ripple on the surface and then went crazy on the hook set.

Oh my... hope your boss doesn't look at this website.

Those are pretty nice...

Thanks Bill. I'll have to try that. I have had good luck with an olive mop fly here on the White stripping it much the same way as fishing a jig.

Do you guys dead drift those under an indicator or strip them back?

They ran 1 full unit this morning so I took the boat up the C&R area. Sulphurs have been coming up in a couple of places on minimum flow but with the higher water those areas were not wadeable today. I anchored the boat upstream and drifted a size 16 parachute Sulphur back to fish that were rising for the bugs. There weren't many bugs hatching but those that came up got eaten pretty quick. The hatch lasted about an hour and there were some healthy rainbows chomping them down. After the hatch stopped I waded some protected water and caught quite a few on Y2K/ruby midge under an indicator. Here are a few of the better ones...

This is true... Most of them could not read or understand much more than a comic book.

If it was white it was probably a Shakespeare Wonder Rod. I still have one from my Bennett Springs days in the early sixties.

These are pretty darn good. I have a friend from Colorado that was just here and used one and he said it was equal to his $500 Sage. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Goture-Fly-Fishing-Rod-4WT-5WT-8WT-9WT-Carbon-Fiber-Fly-Rod-Trout-Bass-Saltwater/324137222288?hash=item4b78158090:g:HAoAAOSwGVVel8hN Also it had this reel on it and he said it was as good as his $250 Sage reel. When you think about it what does a fly reel do? You strip line off and fish all day and then reel it back up when you are done. Sure if you hook a big one it will take drag, but I have never lost a big fish to a faulty drag on these. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fly-Fishing-Wheel-3-4-5-6-7-8-Ice-Fly-Fishing-Reel-Aluminum-Fly-Reel-Machine-Cut/223781986953?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=522523884193&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 Needless to say he ordered the rod and reel when he got home.

If it is 25 years old I would just buy a new one. Fly rods have gotten much better in the last 25 years and you can get a decent rod for less than 50 bucks.

Great post Devan S. Also wanted to mention that those neoprene waders are great in the winter but unbearable in the warmer months. Get a pair of breathable waders and you will be much more comfortable.

The hatch was short lived but fun. Only lasted about an hour. Hope to see more with the lower water levels (which doesn't make much sense with the lakes being so high)..

For the first time this year I saw some Sulphurs coming up on a shoal around Wildcat. I tied on a size 16 parachute Sulphur and had lots of takes (and misses). Landed a bunch of rainbows, 1 cuttie and 4 or 5 browns. This was the biggest brown....

They started stocking them last year on the White. The AGFC purchased trout from Crystal Lake hatchery in Ava Mo and that is where the goldens came from. This was due to a shortage of trout produced at the AGFC Jim Hinkle hatchery at Mammoth Spring due to damage from the flood last year. I watched the Crystal Lake truck stock at Cotter a few weeks ago and it looked like a couple dozen goldens were mixed in with the load of rainbows.

Took the boat out this morning and ran to a shoal that has been marginal to wade with the current water releases. Well today they turned on another generator so it was too high for safe wading. I anchored the boat upstream from a nice run and caught quite a few rainbows using a Y2K/ruby midge combo under an indicator. I noticed a golden rainbow hanging out along the grass edge just downstream from the boat. Those things shine like a neon light in the water which makes them easy targets for the eagles and herons. I watched him approach the egg and then look at the midge on 5 or 6 drifts. He finally committed and took the midge. They are strange looking fish.

Agree with that. I had enough with the crazies in Houston, Tx. We moved to Corpus Christi and that was good until it also got kind of crazy with the local government. North Arkansas and Southern Missouri are probably the best places to be right now.

I think we should defund congress. They don't seem to accomplish anything these days.

Here is the Corp's response on their recent release strategy... https://ozarkflyfisherjournal.wordpress.com/2020/06/10/corp-says-plan-worked/

Then what?

They opened the spill gates at Norfork early this morning. https://ozarkflyfisherjournal.wordpress.com/2020/06/09/norfork-spillways-open/