netboy

Interesting story about Dusty, Billy Gibbons and the ZZtop band. Back in 60's we lived in a suburb of Houston and after I moved out a new neighbor moved in across the street. Turns out he was a professional music mixer from Nashville and did lots of mixing and fill in guitar work for a number of bands, one being the ZZ Top band. My parents, who were well into their 70's. always talked about the weirdo guys coming over there and would tell the us that the "Easy Top" guys were over there again today.

Another pic of the golden...

I waded at the Roundhouse Shoals access this morning and had a pretty good morning. I ended up with a couple dozen stocker rainbows, 1 nice golden rainbow and another decent size rainbow (at least for a catch and keep area). I saw the golden holding just downstream from me and I was using a tan scud under an indicator. I could see him swim over to investigate the fly a couple of times, but he never took it. I changed to a ruby midge and had the same result, a couple of looks, but no takes. Next, I put on a size 16 egg pattern and after a couple casts he finally ate it. Best flies this morning were the scud and a pale yellow egg pattern. Here's a couple of pics....

Phil, I don't think O2 is much of a problem on the White and Norfork. The White has many miles of shoals that add oxygen to the water. The Norfork had problems with low O2 since it was only 5 miles long. They solved the problem on the Norfork with the siphon that can take water out of different levels of the lake where the O2 is best at that particular time and then it defuses it at the nozzle which adds more O2. The fish seem healthy and always put up a good fight and swim away strong.

Water levels have been mostly low in the mornings recently. Yesterday they ran 2 generators for an hour or so early and then went back to minimum flow for an hour and then made an unscheduled change and increased it to 1 full generator for the remainder of the morning. Today they skipped the scheduled bump early and ran minimum flow all morning. So basically, it's hard to second guess what the flows will actually be on any given day. Best strategy is to just go and deal with the flows you get. This morning was good fishing with the low water. I caught some nice rainbows, 1 pretty cutthroat, a couple brookies and a tiger. I caught the biggest rainbow (the one in the last picture) on top using a small hopper. I saw him come up a couple of times, so I changed to the hopper and he took it on the second pass. The best flies for numbers were small egg patterns and scuds. Here's a few pics...

The article says they put a cameraman in the boat that day. I wonder how they were able to stuff those weights into the fish with him in the boat.

I think that once they get established in the river and start feeding on the natural bugs (scuds, sowbugs, snails, caddis, etc.) they get much more color. Same goes for the rainbows and cutties and browns.

Yes, he did. Made some nice runs and cleared the water twice.

I fished the Dam C&R area this morning and had a good morning. SWPA has been running around 1 full unit most every morning and then bumping it up in the afternoons. Best flies have been eggs, scuds, tiger tails and cracklebacks. There has been lots of guide boats out, but very few waders. I had an old time White River slam this morning with a nice cutthroat, lots of rainbows, 3 brookies and an average size brown. Here's a few pics from this morning...

The water has been just above minimum flow in the mornings for the last week or so. I have been fishing the Dam C&R area and Roundhouse Shoals over the last week. Fishing has been great with lots of fish at Roundhouse and fewer, but bigger trout at the Dam C&R area. Best flies have been eggs, scuds and crackle backs with a few on dry flies early in the morning. I am starting to see some redds with active fish (rainbows) on them. We kept a few yesterday for the smoker and two of them were full of eggs when I cleaned them. The males are starting to show more color also. Here's a few pics of the better ones...

You guys need to be careful when fishing the Meramec...😬 Missouri Fisherman Claims Bigfoot Threw a Huge Boulder at Him (khmoradio.com)

Is that a Bonneville cuttie? Can't tell from the pic.

Yes, they do show up better in the river than the rainbows. And they always put on a good fight with some great jumps. Very similar to browns.

I had a good morning wading at the Dam C&R area today. I ended up with a couple dozen rainbows, 1 cutthroat, 1 brown and 2 brookies... so I guess it was an old school slam. These days you would need to add a tiger, a golden rainbow and a Bonneville cutthroat to the mix for a White river grand slam. That is going to be a tough one to accomplish. The cutthroat was fun because I saw him holding about 15 feet downstream from me and I watched him take my fly as I drifted it back to him. Best flies today were scuds and eggs. I did see 2 active redds with trout on them so it is getting to be that time of year.

I saw quite a few groups of blue wings buzzing the river at Bull Shoals C&R area this morning. Also, hundreds of lesser Canadian geese landing all around me. Brought back some good memories of duck hunting in South Texas.

They are pretty cool looking fish. A cross between a brook trout and a brown trout. They are triploids so they should grow fast. This guy was probably stocked at 10" earlier this year. Good to see them in the river.

I went to the state park access this morning and had a good morning. The water was pretty low early and then at 9 they increased it from 20mw to 65mw (and once again, no horn). I got to shore and I was going to leave but I decided to stay and try a somewhat protected area along the shoreline. It turned out good as lots of trout moved in close to the shoreline. I ended up with around 3 dozen including a couple nice rainbows and a decent tiger trout. I caught 6 on a stimulator dry fly and the rest on an egg/midge combo. It was fun as I was able to sight cast to many of them.

😀 I found the bag up the road where the pavement stops. You have some nice stuff in that bag. I finally saw the infamous Turner Jones Micro Jigs that Phil and others talk about... I took pictures. Then when I saw that and the fish counter, I pretty much knew the owner.😀

Bingo. I just put it in your kayak in the back of your truck.

Nice to see the holiday crowds gone. I fished the dam C&R area this morning and had a good morning. Caught fish on tiger tails, cracklebacks, ruby midges and a size 16 white egg pattern. Ended the morning with a couple dozen including these two bigger guys...

Hey Ham, did you happen to lose a tackle bag this morning? I found one on the side of our road when I left to go to the dam. Looks like lots of micro fishing stuff and a fish counter attached. I tried to PM you but that didn't work. Let me know and I'll get it back to you.

Oh my... match the hatch???😀

Wow, that is a shame. Security issues???

Also be sure to use a wire leader as they have sharp teeth.

Well, I can't say much for the fishing over there, but you should plan a day trip to the Pensacola Naval Air Station Aviation Museum which is close by. It is one of the best museums we have been to and if you are lucky, the Blue Angels may be doing a practice show. Plan an entire day to see it (free admission) and they do have a good restaurant inside.