netboy

Great fish. Kudos to all on the release efforts.

Wow, I find it hard to believe the "Captains" would take those silly things out with all the warnings. We live close to Cotter and got early warnings about the approaching storm. Blew my heavy smoker with no wheels across the deck and had to retrieve deck furniture from down the bluff. Not a time to be on the water. What a shame, 17 people killed for a few dollars in revenue. Guess the duck captain doesn't get paid unless they go. Think they need to close all the duck operations down after this , the third tragedy. Just my rant but condolences to the family of those lost in a senseless tragedy.

I think so. The AGFC guy at the Bonneville cutthroat egg planting on the Norfork said they spawn this time of year.

My guess would be around 22".

Caught this pretty cutthroat this morning below Bull Shoals dam. He took a parachute Sulphur and looked like a big pumpkin when he came up to take the fly. I didn't get a measurement but I think it's the biggest cuttie I have caught up here. This post has been promoted to an article

Very nice browns. WTG

Couple more....

I made a trip to the upper reaches of the White this morning. Water was at true minimum flow (7 mw) for the first time in a couple of months. Saw some caddis coming off but I only caught 2 on an elk hair caddis. I noticed some Sulphurs coming off so I switched to a parachute Sulphur and started getting some takes. The warmer it got the more Sulphur activity and the trout got more aggressive. I quit at 11:30 after a bunch of rainbows and a few brookies. No browns or cutties today. Here's a couple fatties... This post has been promoted to an article

Well us old guys don't do extreme cold too well. Guess it's just a matter of the circulation (or lack thereof) thing.

I'll plan on jig fest (if it isn't freezing). Thanks

Took the wife for a short trip to the White. Caught 3 browns and a bunch of rainbows. Caught about half on a beadhead woolly bugger drifting in the boat and the other half wading with Y2K/ruby midge combo. Fun part of drifting in the boat is that you see most of the fish coming after the fly and see them eat it. Wife caught a decent brown and got some good jumps out of him. She saw a really big brown following her fly but it turned away at the last minute. Lots of fun watching them follow the fly. Some eat.... some don't. Here is one that ate...Sorry for the blood, but she was hooked on the top of the mouth and swam away very strong. This post has been promoted to an article

Fished a bit downstream of Ranchette this morning. Started out tossing an olive woolly bugger at shoreline structure from the boat and hooked a nice brown (pic 1) a few minutes into the drift. Then hooked a smaller brown (pic 2) a few minutes later. Caught 6 or 7 rainbows doing the same thing and had another nice brown follow a small rainbow up to the boat. Got down to a nice shoal area and anchored the boat along the shoreline and got out and started wading. Caught a bunch of rainbows and another decent brown (pic 3). Nice morning and not very many boats for a Saturday. If you blow up the last pic you will see my fishing buddy for the morning... about a 1,000 pound angus bull that was grazing on the island. This post has been promoted to an article

Probably right on 2 months to go from pellets to natural food. Here is my take on it.... Jim Hinkle started stocking the bigger trout around the first of the year. I saw a big improvement in the size of the trout on the Spring river earlier this year as did my friend/guide over there Mark Crawford. This spring when the White and Norfork were running big water I made some trips to the Spring river and I watched them load from the same runs to stock the White. I think we need to thank AGFC, Christy Graham (trout program manager), Melissa Jones and the folks at Jim Hinkle for a job well done. I think they are looking at the same number of pounds but fewer/larger fish going into the rivers. Don't know about you guys but I am happy with less small stockers and more decent sized trout.

Those are some nice ones Ham. The new regulations seem to be helping and they are also stocking larger fish. I watched the truck from Jim Hinkle hatchery dump a load at the Cotter boat ramp last week and they looked to be 12-13" instead of the normal 10-11". The driver said they have increased the size of the stockers. Don't know if that is also the case with the trout from Norfork National hatchery.

Ouch! Pinch those barbs down. Much easier on the fish and the fisherman. Voice of experience!!!!

Cool, she will always remember that experience.

That brown was in 1 foot of water looking for caddis. I saw him eat 2 caddis and I was able to sight cast to him and watch him take the fly. Pretty cool.

I think the bigger browns really like them for dinner. The only place I consistently catch brookies is the C&R area just below Bull Shoals dam. Usually catch 2 or 3 each time I go there.

Waded the C&R area at Norfork this morning and the fishing was pretty good. Caught 7 cutthroats (2 were Bonnevilles), 2 browns and a bunch of rainbows. Had a pretty good hatch of caddis around 9ish but it only lasted about 30 minutes. Elk hair caddis worked great during the hatch and then I switched to a green butt soft hackle and caught a few more. The Y2K/ruby midge combo caught the rest. There were lots of rainbows midging in the still water areas but I have yet to figure out how to fool them. Here's a few pics... Second to last pic is a Bonneville. This post has been promoted to an article

All systems are on go. Go get um and post some good pics.😄