netboy

Wow, very nice trout. Congrats to Cecil.. wow

Spent the month of August at our place in North Arkansas. We had 6 inches of the rain the day before we arrived so most of the rivers were high and muddy. Fortunately the Norfork tailwater is quite short and has no major tributaries so it stays clear after big rain events. Fished there the first few days until the other rivers got back to normal. Fishing was great with lots of rainbows along with a few browns, cutthroats and brooks. Had 2 days on the Norfork where I got an Ozark slam and caught all 4 species of trout. Best flies were soft hackles and midges on the Norfork & White and egg patterns and Woolly Buggers on the Spring & 11 Point rivers. Here's some pictures.. 1, Norfork brown 2, Rim Shoals cutthroat 3. Spring river fattie (posted this pic earlier on trout forum) 4. Another Spring river rainbow 5. Wife with a Norfork rainbow 6. Close up of a nicely colored brookie

Wife and I launched at Greer Spring access this morning. We basically fished from the bridge down to the first island. Had pretty good luck using weighted egg patterns and brown woolly buggers. We ended the day with 15 in the net and a nice one at a tad over 18". Lost a couple of other good ones due to barbless releases just before the net. Just fun to hook them and enjoy the fight. Water looked great and no one else fishing. What a Pretty river!

Thanks Ham. That is great info.

Sounds like a great day. Question for you, how long do you estimate it takes for the water to reach Rim Shoals after they start generating?

I would consider that to be a new kind of slam with the bass and crappie thrown in the mix. i fished the C&R area earlier this week and did pretty good. I did notice quite a few fish with lampreys attached to them. Seemed like lots more than I've seen before. Nasty looking critters.

Sounds like a fun trip. Always fun watching those surface takes whether you catch them or not.

Probably true. Now that I think about it, I see males dripping milt all year.

Caught this gal on a white woolly bugger. Weighed 5.4 lbs on my hand scale. She was spewing eggs as she swam away which seemed strange for this time of year. Water was pretty dirty from all the rain.

I was at the ramp a couple of years ago when they dumped a load in. All were 5-6". Saw a nice brown snatch one up. Guy on the stocking truck said they came from Greers Ferry hatchery.

Ham, sorry I missed you but I left right at 2. I've caught a couple of slams there, but the brookies have never been much more than 6-7".

Congrats on the slam! I was wade fishing at the dam Monday until the horn went off at 2. Had a decent morning with lots of stocker bows and a brown about 15". Did you fish in the afternoon?

I agree. But sadly with all the poaching and bait fishers that catch and keep multiple limits every time out that's not gonna happen. That's why the best places left to find those natural looking fish are the C&R areas. Lots of conservation minded anglers that will confront those who don't obey the rules.

Yeah, it was a football.. must have quite an appetite. Here's a pic of the release that shows the girth a little better.

Spent the last 4 weeks at our house in North Arkansas. Fishing was pretty good most mornings. We had a couple slow days due to thunderstorms that cut the mornings short. We spent most of our time on the Spring river, but also fished the Norfork and Bull Shoals tailwaters and the Eleven Point river in southern Missouri. Best flies were zebra midges or scuds behind an egg pattern on the tailwaters and eggs and olive/brown woolly buggers on the Spring and Eleven Point. Here's a few pics.. Pic 1 Wife's best trout to date (Norfork) Pic 2 Rim Shoals cutty Pic 3 Norfork cutty Pic 4 Rim Shoals bow Pic5 Eleven Point bow Pic 6 Spring river

Seems like a simple solution..... Push the horn button when you increase flow.

Very nice! Congrats on the C&R.

Very limited wading opportunities at Rim Shoals C&R on anything more than minimum flow. I have not fished the C&R below the dam so can't comment on that area. You should be fine with pinched down hooks. No problem with felt soles. The tailwaters already have didymo. Just clean them and dry them out before you go to another river system. I use waders all year on the tailwaters as the water is colder than the spring fed rivers, but I'm an old guy and can't take the cold water like I used to. Hope this helps.

Good report. Glad to hear the river is fishing better. Love those wild rainbows!

Sounds like a great trip Brian. Glad to hear a good report!

That's great it's still out there. Congrats to all involved and hope the guy gets a nice replica mount. May be a state record next time.

My favorite is Davy's white tail midge in black with silver head and ribbing.

Thanks for the info Brian. May give the area around Turners a try.

Fished the area around Greer access today. Caught a few small trout, but didn't see near the normal action for that area. Best fly was a pink egg pattern. I hope the floods haven't hurt the trout population but that's my second trip there in the last 2 weeks and both were tough fishing.

We launched at Greer and went down past the first island and then motored back up to Greer. We waded about 6-7 spots and there just weren't many trout. I guess if we did lose some fish then a visit from the MDC stocking truck may help.