netboy

Made a trip to Rim Shoals this morning. SWPA has been running lots of water on the White and Norfork the last couple of weeks to lower the lakes. Good news is that both Bull Shoals and Norfork are only 1-2 feet above power pool so hopefully we will see some lower flows soon. With the high water I resorted to the ultralight spinner with a white/gray marabou jig. Caught 5 or 6 rainbows and these 2 nice browns. The one in the first picture spit up 2 fresh sculpins while I was taking the picture. This post has been promoted to an article

Here is a pic of one using a size 16 hook and a slotted tungsten bead with olive powder coating.

Here is where I get mine. He usually has them in larger sizes also. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Fly-Tying-Hooks-QTY-50-Size-16-Barbless-Jig-Hooks-for-beaded-flies-High-Quality/332032852553?epid=676878727&hash=item4d4eb34249:g:CfsAAOSwl9BWJ6q3 I use these slotted tungsten beads which are made for jig hooks. https://www.ebay.com/itm/100-SLOTTED-TUNGSTEN-beads-6-colors-4-sz-available-USE-CHART-5-pacs-of-20-beads/371596643495?hash=item5684e2cca7:g:3akAAOSwX~dWneP3:sc:USPSFirstClass!72634!US!-1

I've got 2 pair of the older Simms goretex waders. They are 7 years old and last year I sent one pair back to Simm's to have the neoprene booties replaced (due to Spring river snails). They replaced both booties and sealed a few pin hole leaks. I think it was around $40. Good as new. I would suggest staying away from the Freestones (made from a material named Toray in China) and stick with the Simms goretex waders made in Bozeman Mt.

Forgot to mention that TU did the same planting on June 2 at Rim Shoals on the White river.

Wife and I went to the Trout Unlimited Bonneville cutthroat egg planting this morning on the Norfork river. TU starting doing this 5 years ago to develop a wild strain of trout in the rivers up here. They get the eggs from Idaho. We buried 75 boxes with 500 eggs in each box this morning in a small side channel of the river. Here's a few pictures... They started with a presentation to Dave Whitlock (fly fishing guru, author and artist) who started the program 5 years ago. Arkansas Game and Fish had a film crew there for an upcoming episode on their TV show. Next pic are the eggs which they put in plastic boxes with gravel in the bottom. They have to control the temperature to get the eggs within 3 degrees of the river water. Then the plastic boxes are put into wire boxes and surrounded with clean gravel. Finally the boxes are buried in the river gravel and surrounded by more clean gravel. There were about 30 TU volunteers there and the county sent a crew of kids from their detention center (aka community service) to help with the heavy work of moving and loading gravel. Also some fantastic support and coordination from the guys at Wapsi in Mountain Home. This post has been promoted to an article

Very nice!

Phil, you may be sitting on a gold mine with your inventory... $126 per jig??? Maybe early retirement??? Kinda like the original Wiggle Wart craze. Those things look great for still water fishing but we never have that down here on the White/Norfork rivers.

This was my first time to experience the caddis hatches on the White and Norfork and from what I have heard this was a better than normal year. Dry fly fishing is my favorite way to catch trout. The hatches are getting slimmer with more sulphurs, a few caddis and the usual midges, although we did have a good hatch at Rim Shoals on Saturday before the water came up.

The Okuma might be a little sporty for those 22+ inchers, although it handles 1/8 and 3/32 jigs just fine.

I bought an Okuma Celilo 6'6" 2 piece that works great with jigs. 35 bucks also. Here is a link.. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Okuma-Celilo-Ultralight-Spinning-Rod-6-6-2-Pc-Ultra-Light-Action-CE-S-662UL-1/162503552029?epid=79624402&hash=item25d5f76c1d:g:OpEAAOSw3v5YuESj:sc:USPSPriority!72634!US!-1

Wow Duane, you got it figured out. Way to go... that is what makes fishing so much fun.

Release pic...

Talk about dumb luck...caught this guy today just upriver from Cotter. He was 23.75". Water was pretty high so I went back to the Y2K. Think I need to go buy some lottery tickets later today.

Green Crackleback stripped just under the surface. There were very few caddis coming off on the White this morning. Caddis were thick on the Norfork yesterday, but they ran water over there this morning.

I made a quick trip to the Cotter walk-in access this morning and lucked into this guy. He was 23" and put up quite a fight, He took me down to the backing twice and made 4 nice jumps.

Enjoyed reading about your trip. The floods last spring really hurt the river. Still a beautiful place.

Wow, that's a fatty! Congrats on the PB.

Well not so much this morning... We went back this morning and with the cool temps and spotty rain there was not much of a caddis hatch. We did catch some using ruby midges under an indicator but nothing picture worthy. I made a quick trip to Rim Shoals this afternoon and caught some on a crackleback. Probably ended with a dozen.

Better pic of the brown. He had a deformity in his backbone towards the tail. Still fought like a champ with many "clear the water" jumps.

My wife and I fished Bull Shoals Dam area this morning and lots of caddis were hatching along with some sulphurs and midges. The trout were popping everywhere. Didn't seem to matter which dry fly as long as it had a green body. They started coming off around 8:00 and it lasted until 11:00. I was really surprised to see this big of a hatch this late in the year. Here's a couple of pics... This post has been promoted to an article

Great trip Ham. You are gonna love the Venice redfish trip. Be sure to take an 8 wt fly rod along. Nothing better than a 10 lb red on the fly. Also might want to check out an offshore trip for some tunas, snappers or a ling or two. That area is the best saltwater fishing this side of the world.