netboy

Been there, done that....

Used to catch lots of redfish when we lived on North Padre Island. As far as eating, I would rank them lower than the other bay species down there. The meat was rather bland and a bit coarse for my taste. Problem was a smaller redfish around 16 to 18" was great eating, but Texas put a minimum size limit of 20" and most that we caught were in the mid 20 inch range. Now as far as catching them and the fight they put up, I would rank them number one on the list. They were fun to stalk on the shallow flats with a fly rod or small topwater plug.

I'll take a fresh red snapper, grouper, flounder, speckled trout, black drum, mahi or cobia over any fish that swims.

I use a small tungsten bead on the egg and also on the midge, so no split shot is needed.

I went to the Bull Shoals Dam access this morning as they were scheduled to run 1 unit starting at 7am. Fishing started out kind of slow, probably due to the rising water, but it got better around 9. I ended up with around a dozen nice rainbows and a really pretty male brookie. I think he had been in the river for a while to develop those colors. I had the best luck using a bright orange "slush" egg with a ruby midge dropper. Here's a pic of the brookie and a decent rainbow....

Our neighbor took this pic of a bobcat kitten outside their window.

I have been catching a few cutties mixed with the rainbows below the dam and at Rim Shoals. Nothing very consistent though.

Went to the State Park access this morning and had a good time. Lots of brookies on the shorelines and they would hit just about any fly. Probably caught a couple dozen on tan mayfly dries and tan cracklebacks. After that I moved to deeper water and started catching some better fish. A small Y2k and a midge dropper worked well. Here's a couple of the better ones...

I use the Weather Channel radar app. It is accurate for the previous 3 hours up to the present time. It then shows the "forecasted" radar picture for the next 6 hours... which sometimes is a craps shoot.

We had some rain early this morning but according to the radar forecast, it was supposed to end around 8. I decided to try the dam access as they were scheduled to run 1 unit starting at 8. When I got there 2 units were running which is a bit high for that area. Since I was already there, I got ready and walked downstream. I tied on an egg/midge combo under an indicator and caught a couple average size rainbows and 1 brookie. Then I hooked this pretty male rainbow and fought it for about 15 minutes. After that I started hearing thunder and checked my phone. A big storm developed over the lake so I made a hasty retreat. Note to self.... never trust the radar forecast or the SWPA forecasts.

I went to the BS dam access this morning and had a good day. Caught around a dozen, but 5 were over 18" including a 23" and a 22". I had the best luck using a scud with a red midge behind it under an indicator. I talked to a couple of freinds and they were doing good on cracklebacks and soft hackles. Weather was great and it felt like a fall day. Here's a couple of the better ones...

I had a Suzuki 140 four stroke and it did a similar scenario when starting. The tach would peg and then reset to a number. That number was indicating the number of hours on the motor x100 hours. After it reached 600 hours the red light would flash 1 time for each 600 hours over. Whole process took about 5 seconds before it would crank. Might check your manual and see if it is the same.

Beautiful area. Great pics also.

I went to the BS dam access this morning and had a good morning. Caught a dozen or so including this really nice rainbow. It took a plain red midge and put up quite a fight. It took about 20 minutes to get it in the net on the 6x tippet. Caught a few on a crackleback, but most on the midge.

Would have make some nice cabrito on the grill.😀

Try a sulphur colored cracklback in the surface film. Works over here on the Bull Shoals tailwater and also the Norfork the last couple of mornings.

Have fun and be careful.

I went to Ackerman access this morning and fishing was good. Glad they finally posted some sort of schedule as to when they will be releasing water. I drove over there last Thursday only to find the water was coming up just as I got there. According to this post from AGFC it looks pretty safe to plan a trip 1 or 2 days after they release. https://ozarkflyfisherjournal.wordpress.com/2023/07/20/agfc-monitoring-norfork-water-temps/ The water is a bit higher than normal minimum flow... probably a couple inches, but no problem wading. Ended the morning with a couple dozen including this 23" rainbow. Cracklebacks, eggs and midges all worked.

Here is a link for the details... $2B Disneyland-sized theme park planned for Oklahoma along Route 66 | Fox Business

I went to the BS Dam C&R access this morning and had a good time. I hooked what turned out to be a nice tiger trout. It took me down to about half of my backing and a guide was pulled over on the side rigging rods for his client. I had to go around and over his boat when chasing the fish. He got out of the boat and offered to net the fish with his bigger net and then take a couple of pictures. A little later I hooked another nice tiger on a crackleback. He was longer than the first one, but kinda skinny. Also got a decent rainbow along with about a dozen others. Glad to see the tigers doing well in the river. They fight like a brown on steroids with lots of jumps.

I went to the BS dam access this morning had a good session. Minimum flow all morning and eggs worked early and then a few sulphurs started to come up. Very few fish were rising so I put on a sulphur crackleback and that was what they wanted. Caught around 20 with a couple nice ones and lost a really big one that hit and ran most of my backing out. He finally stopped and made some head shakes and then the hook pulled out. With the calm winds and low water it was amazing to see how many fish are up there. Here's one of the better ones...

I understand they are good eating. Wonder why people throw them on the bank.

I went to the Dam C&R area this morning and had a good trip. No sulphurs hatching this morning probably due to the cloudy, cool weather. I started with a crackleback and caught 1 and then switched to a tiger tail and caught a couple more. I then switched to a small white/peach egg under an indicator and had the best results with that. Ended the morning with a dozen including these 2 nice ones....

So is it just trash? That is easy to pick up. I do it all the time.

Does MDC have a Game Thief hotline like some of the other states? If so, you should call them,