netboy

I've never taken my boat there on minimum flow. Minimum flow on Norfork = great wading.

I ran across this group of rainbows this afternoon on my way out from wading. I think the lighter colored one was the female and looked to be well over 20". I watched them for about 10 minutes and they just kept doing their thing. They were totally oblivious to my presence.

I just use 6 feet of 8lb mono tied to the fly line with a nail knot and then a tippet ring at the end followed by about 18" of 6x fluorocarbon tippet.

Not yet. The fishing has been too good here in my backyard this year. Last winter we had some really big flows on the White so that is when I made a few trips to the Spring.

Sounds like a good time except for the rude fishermen. That is one advantage here on the White. There is plenty of water to get away from the crowds. I rarely see any other waders when I fish. Seems everyone down here fishes from their boat including all the fly fishing guides.

I waded an area upstream from the Cotter access this morning and got this guy. I was fishing a Y2K with a ruby midge dropper and he took the Y2K. Also there was a BUNCH of boats on the river this morning. Strange that there were very few Thursday and Friday.

I stumbled on these rainbows doing their spawning thing. It's fun to watch the male chase the other males off the redd.

Try a bright colored Y2K fly tied with chartreuse and orange. It works here on the White river below Bull Shoals during the fall spawning season we are in right now. Here is one I caught this morning on the Y2K....

I waded the Roundhouse access area this morning and had a good time. Caught a bunch of rainbows, 3 average size browns and this fat rainbow. I was fishing a Y2K with a Ruby midge dropper and he took the Y2K. Water was up and running pretty fast so it took about 10 minutes to get him in on a 6x tippet. He took me into the backing twice. Overall I would guess it was close to 50/50 between the Y2K and the midge.

You guys be careful. We just lost a friend from Flippin to the Covid yesterday morning. He and his wife caught it and he passed yesterday at Baxter Regional hospital. It's amazing that we have had so little impact from Covid until now.

Those are some nice browns. Way to go.

They are a mutant version of rainbow trout, not the true golden trout from the Sierra mountains in California. This was from an internet search... Golden Rainbow are a hybrid form of Rainbow Trout that were developed over several years of genetic manipulation by a fish hatchery in the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources. In 1954 a single Rainbow Trout developed that was a hybrid and was half normal and half golden.

Went back to the same area I fished yesterday and caught this nice rainbow on a ruby midge. I also had a big brown chase a small rainbow I was landing. He looked to be in the 28-30" range and was close enough that I could have poked him with my rod. I tied on a mop fly hoping to trigger a strike but no luck with that. It was exciting to see him chase that rainbow.

We have had increased generation on the White river the last few days due to the big rains we had a couple of weeks ago. They were running about 4-5 units this morning so it limits the amount of wadeable water. I fished an area that has some protection from the flows this morning and had a good day. Caught lots of rainbows, 1 cutthroat, 1 golden rainbow and this nice brown. Caught the brown on an olive Mop fly and most of the rainbows on an egg/midge combo. Bull Shoals lake is currently around 2.5 feet over power pool so hopefully we will see lighter flows soon.

Coontail weeds hold lots of insect life. That is always a good place to fish a dry fly here on the White river.

That is a great sauger. I didn't know they got that big. Great catch.

A couple more...

I went to Bull Shoals C&R area this morning since it closes at midnight tonight until Feb 1 for the brown trout spawn. They were running a little less than 2 units so the wading opportunities were limited. Lots of boats but I was the only one wading. Fishing was good with lots of nice sized rainbows, 2 cutthroats and 3 brookies. Best fly was a size 16 Y2K with a ruby midge dropper. There were a few fish rising early and I caught a couple on a parachute Adams but that didn't last long. Here's a few of the better ones.

Dally's fly shop in Cotter has a small selection. The best selection is at the old Harp's store on Business 62 in Mt Home. They have a really nice sporting goods department.

I think we may see some minimum flow in the next few days. I hope they lower it gradually to avoid another kill from fish getting stranded in the side channels.

Bull Shoals lake is now only 1 foot over power pool so we are starting to see a reduction in flows. Water was running around 8k cfs this morning so I waded a shoal that has some protection from the current. There was a good hatch of small mayflies early and a size 18 parachute Adams worked until around 9 am. When that slowed down I waded downstream and saw a couple of redds with active rainbows. The fish on the redds aren't interested in feeding but there were fish holding just downstream waiting on the eggs so I switched to a Y2K. I caught some nice sized rainbows and 1 decent brown on the Y2K. It is fun fishing as you can see the fish holding below the redds and then sight cast to them. Here's a pic of one of the nicer rainbows.

Wow, those are some nice ones. Congrats to the wife.

I think they will reduce the flows later this week when it reaches 659. Also no rain in the foreseeable future.

They stocked all of them just below the dam so that is the best area. They seem to like dry flies and a size 18 parachute Adams has worked for me. Should be easy to get one when the water finally goes back down.

Brookies are usually pretty easy up by the dam. That is the only place they stock them. Also tiger trout. Just sayin...