netboy

Oh my, I forgot to mention that a great day tour nearby is Mesa Verde National Park. It is a bit west of Durango and very well worth the visit. Here is a link... Really worth the effort. And then don't forget the Million Dollar highway which runs from Durango to Silverton. Absolutely the best scenic highway you will see. And then when you get to the end of that pack your fly rod and visit Ridgeway park (Pa co chuk puk area). Very nice little tailwater with some pretty nice trout that really like PMD's during the summer. Dangit you are making me want to make another trip up that way. https://www.durango.org/discover-durango/mesa-verde

Abe's fly shop can set you up with a guide as well as local fishing conditions and what's working. If you want to try it on your own the best advice I can give you is think small. I'm talking 7x tippet and tiny midges, size 20 down to size 28. The catch & release area holds some really nice rainbows and decent browns.

That is probably true since it is a smooth bottom whereas the tin boats have ridges on the bottom.

I think is just a matter of opinion. The White river jons are cloned from the old original wooden jon boats in the area. The southern Missouri aluminum boats were designed there and very popular. That said I have a 17/48 Blazer with a 25 Merc jet and use it on the White/Norfork with no issues. What I have noticed is that the fiberglass Supremes and Topwaters are set up better for fly fishing guides with the center rowing station. I would probably get one of those if it came with a rower guy.😄

Took the kids on a float trip this morning from White Hole access to Cotter. We stopped a couple of times for some fishing and the first stop I hooked a decent brown on an elkhair caddis. I got him worn down a bit and handed the rod to the granddaughter for the final bout. She was pretty excited. Had a nice picnic on the river and lost way more trout than we caught but still caught about a dozen or so.

Looks like a great trip. You really have that jig fishing mastered. I miss about half the strikes I get on jigs and also lose quite a few jigs each trip. Fortunately I tie my own so it's no big loss. I went to the Norfork Sunday morning since there was minimum flow scheduled. There were sulphurs and some caddis coming off and the fishing was pretty good. Got a couple of pretty cutties (pic below) and some rainbows but only 1 brown that might have made 16". Mostly on Elkhair caddis and some on a PMD (pale morning dun). Got the kiddos here this week so were are getting ready for a float trip on the White this morning.

Should be getting good. Lots of hoppers in the yard. I saw a couple of guides having their clients hit the banks at Rim Shoals yesterday. Looked like hoppers were on the end of the line.

Best of luck on your upcoming trip to Taney. I'm sure we will see some nice nighttime trout pics. Night fishing would probably be great for big browns below Bull Shoals dam but I am just not that mad at them anymore.

Bull Shoals dam that is. I went to Bull Shoals dam C&R area this morning. They were running 1 unit so it was fishable, just had to stay close to the shoreline. Caught a bunch of rainbows, this nice (but skinny) brown and 6 brookies. I was surprised that I was the only one wading there. Saw quite a few sulphurs and some caddis coming off. Fish were rising but they were too far to reach. Should be some great dry fly fishing when they go back to true minimum flow. This post has been promoted to an article

Maybe we can catch some chartreuse trout now. Johnsfolly can add one to his list. 😄

Apparently it was just a hole in the rock ledge. https://www.springriverfliesandguides.com/mark-s-blog

No doubt that the new regulations and implementation of minimum flows have really helped. It will be interesting to see how the new minimum length limit of 24" on cutthroats and possession limit of only 1 rainbow over 14" per angler per day will pan out. I think I may have spoke too soon about the lower flows on the Norfork as they are scheduled to run both units tomorrow but it looks like lower flows on the White.

Looks like SWPA is finally starting to lower the flows on the Norfork. Today was scheduled to be 1 unit all day. That's still a bit much for wading but great for the boat. Took the boat there this morning and had a good day. Caught around 20 rainbows and 3 nice browns. About half on the spinning rig with jigs and the other half drifting a Y2K with a ruby midge dropper. Should be some great dry fly action whenever they drop it to minimum flow. Here's a couple of the better browns... This post has been promoted to an article

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.