netboy

Water was good.

Sorry about the weather and cancellation of the White river Jigfest. I'll try to make it down to Riley's for the February version. Went out this afternoon for a short wade. I hooked a small rainbow right away and then this guy came up and tried to eat the rainbow. I quickly released the rainbow and the cuttie was still there circling around so I tossed the fly back out and he inhaled it. This all happened within 10 feet. He measured 21".

Where did ya catch the brown fish?

Went back to the same place this morning and caught this guy about 10 feet from where I caught the one yesterday. Once again I saw him jump and hooked him shortly after. Pretty cold this morning but he warmed me up.

Yes I will try to be there. We just got back earlier this week from a river cruise on the Seine from Paris to Normandy and I guess I lost track of time.

Well here is a real "Senior moment"... I was on my way to a quickie wade trip to the Cotter access this morning before our visitors (daughter and her family) got up. I ran into Ham on the way out and we stopped and talked. So I ask him why he is not fishing Jig fest and come to find out it is not this weekend as I thought, but next weekend. Thanks again Ham... I thought is was this weekend and I was ready to drive down there this evening to meet you guys. Oh well that is what it is like when you get old and retired. Every day is pretty much like the previous one and all great. Back to the fishing report... fishing has been good, lots of rainbows and the browns are starting to get more active. It has been slow on the browns recently but I think many of them have spawned and are getting more active. I waded up to a good run and immediately saw a nice brown jump about a foot off the water behind a root wad. After 2 casts I hooked him on a size 16 egg pattern and got him in. Certainly no trophy but a decent one.... Caught some nice rainbows and back to the house when the kiddos were just waking up.

Well it looks like SWPA fixed the CFS glitch this afternoon so the text notification should be working.

I'm gonna try to get down there Saturday evening. Kept some trout this morning and I'll smoke them tomorrow and then bring smoked trout dip and crackers.

Wading Rim Shoals would be a challenge with the current 35mw flows they are scheduled for tomorrow. I would suggest wading Norfork at Quarry Park just below the dam. The browns move up there for the spawn. Whatever you do, don't go to the C&R area below Bull Shoals dam. That area is closed to all fishing from Nov 1 thru Jan 31 for the brown trout spawn.

Water is crystal clear (7x tippet clear). Don't know about D O but it's usually not an issue on BS tailwater. Also it appears the SWPA website actual flow data is screwed up again. The CFS column is not currently updating so just look at the river level to get the actual flow. Their new text notification is based on CFS changes so be aware of that.

Definitely... 35mw is much easier for boat fishing and navigating the shoals but not so wade/fly fishing friendly. That said, Norfork was great this afternoon with the fly rod. Good luck to all.

Hi all, I am going to try to make it down there either Friday or Saturday evening for a short visit so I can meet you guys and put faces to names. We have company coming this weekend (non-fishing types) so I'll have to see how that works out. You should have some good water levels for jig fishing. SWPA went back to running 35mw minimum flow (with occasional higher bumps) instead of the 7mw they were running which is about perfect for boat fishing.

They were running 35 MW constantly at Bull Shoals for the last couple of months. They finally lowered it to 7 MW with bumps in the morning and evening. Seems like when Bull Shoals lower their flows Table Rock increases or vice versa.

AGFC also did a great job rebuilding the Wildcat Shoals ramp and access area. Similar ramp and much more paved parking.

Looks like you know a guy named Sharkchum….

I guess Taney is different. I get the actual 9:00 AM update (which displays on the 4th line down next to the date) at 10:06 for Bull Shoals.

Just wanted to bump this response up so nobody gets caught using this text notification with a false sense of security. It has been pretty much useless to me.

It works... but I noticed that the notification comes 1 hour and 6 minutes after the hourly release data is posted and it appears to be just that... the hourly snapshot of the flows. So be careful if you are close to the dams. From what I have seen so far here is an example.... Say they turn the generators on at Norfork at 10:10 am. That increase won't show up until the 11:00 am hourly update and then the text notification comes an hour and 6 minutes after that. So in this case you are notified approximately 2 hours after the water turns on. If I was wading at Ackerman access on the Norfork and relied on the notification, I would be swimming down the river when my now drenched cell phone would be trying to text me. It would be great if they could just send a notification when the horn blows before they actually turn the generators on or when they shut down.

That looks great. Thanks Phil

I would throw my name in the pot, but I don't think I could get much distance with my fly rod. 😄 Good luck to all.

I was at the Trout Unlimited meeting in Mountain Home last night and heard about it. One of the guys had a picture on his phone but I only saw it from a distance. At any rate that is quite a fish. Norfork does have some really nice cutts.

Nope never get tired of fishing. Nice thing about this area is that there are so many different places to fish on the White and Norfork. Not to mention the Spring river, Crooked creek, Eleven Point, NFOW and the lakes, although I haven't tried the lakes yet.

Yeah, that's off our deck. We never get tired of the view.

Caught this brown this morning just below the house. Oddly enough it was almost exactly where the rainbow in the second picture (which I posted a couple of days ago in the photography section) appeared to end.

Just took this pic off our deck a few minutes ago.