netboy

Great article and a very nice rainbow... Congrats.

I tried the walk in access at Wildcat this afternoon and it was dead. Not a bite. Water was around 2 units which is too low for that area. So I drove up to another shoal and as soon as I got there I saw lots of caddis coming up and the fish were after them. They were in the slack water just upstream of the shoal. Probably caught around 30 including a few nice browns, all on my foam elk hair caddis dry fly pattern. The browns were fun as I sight casted both of them. There were so many caddis it was hard following my fly through the swarm of bugs but I did see both of these browns come up and take the fly. Saw a bigger brown and he took the fly once and I missed him. Lots of fun watching them take the fly on the surface.

Well I don't know anything about the trout at Taney, but I keep a few every week for dinner here on the White river below Bull Shoals and they are very good. Just look for some that weren't just stocked. You can tell by the colors of the trout and look at the anal vent. The ones that have been off the hatchery pellet food and start eating natural foods, mostly scuds, sowbugs, crawfish and snails will have their anal vents swollen from passing all that natural food with the hard casings. When you fillet them the meat has an orange tint and when brined and smoked they taste like salmon. Also great to saute them and then top it with toasted almonds, butter and lemon sauce or a lemon, butter and caper sauce. Never heard any complaints from the friends and family that have come for dinner.

What happened??? Edit....Just saw the report on the KY3 news website this morning. Condolences to all.

5/4 update... We had over an inch of rain here in Cotter last night and the river looks like chocolate milk. I went back to the same shoal this morning and the water was clear up there and fishing was pretty much the same as yesterday. Here is the best rainbow of the morning on the elk hair caddis...

Sorry, can't seem to get the pictures to load.

Launched at White Hole in the fog this morning and ran up to a shoal that has been good on the caddis hatch. Problem was the fog didn't clear off till around 10 am. Caught some rainbows, 1 cutthroat and a brown on the egg/midge combo. Then when the fog finally burned off I started seeing some caddis and a few fish rising for them. I tied on a size 16 elk hair caddis and had steady action for about an hour, then the clouds rolled in and the bugs disappeared. It was fun while it lasted. I saw the trout in the attached picture come up and take 5 or 6 caddis and I thought it was a brown cause all I could see was the mouth. After 3 drifts it finally took the fly and it turned out to be a nice 22" rainbow.

Billethead nailed it...

Just a quick update on the Denton Ferry bridge washout situation... My fiend that lives up there said Baxter county road crew responded and now they have one lane traffic open.

We had quite a bit of rain yesterday and even had the tornado sirens going off in Cotter. When I emptied my rain gauge this morning there was 5" in it. The river looks like the muddy Missouri river right now here in Cotter and a friend told me the bridge on Denton Ferry road washed out again last night. That means a long detour thru Monkey Run (yes that is a real place with a not so nice, steep gravel grade road) for the folks that live north of the bridge and all the fishing resorts up that way. Also anyone that wants to launch at Wildcat access. This morning I thought the only clear water for fishing would be at the dam so I headed up there early. I walked up the bank to get upstream of a small creek that was pumping muddy water in and the water was clear. I was the only one there and then around 9 am all the guide boats started showing up. When I left I counted 18 fly fishing guide boats. It looked like a parade as they came by me and then motored back up for another drift. Lots of jet motor noise... at least they motored back up on the other side of the river. Fishing was pretty good and I caught some nice rainbows and a couple of browns. Didn't see any caddis so I used an egg/midge combo. Here is a nice brown that took a Ruby midge dropper...

I launched the boat at White Hole access and then ran up to a shoal that is good wading with the 2 units of water we had today. There were quite a few caddis coming up but not many trout after them. I caught about 18, all on an elk hair caddis dry fly. One brown around 17" and the rest rainbows including this nice one. Looks like rain tomorrow and Thursday. Hope it is not too much.

Fishing was good today. They unexpectedly went to minimum flow yesterday at 1pm at the dam and I missed that as it was not scheduled and I was watching a stupid golf tournament on TV😈. The water was off until 7am this morning at the dam so I went to the Roundhouse access and waded the minimum flow. Lots of caddis coming up and caught a bunch of rainbows on a caddis dry fly. Nothing picture worthy but a few in the 16-17" range. Schedule for tomorrow is for less than 2 units so it should still be good. I talked to a friend who lives in Bull Shoals and he said he caught the unexpected minimum flow yesterday afternoon and the caddis were swarming and the trout were going after them. Sorry I missed that. Here is a post on the caddis hatch from Dally's fly shop.... CADDIS ARE POPPING – The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal (wordpress.com)

Watch out for the pretty blonde in the red sports car...

Two things to watch for... warm sunny day and minimum flow.

The water went down at noon today and all the "usual suspects" met in the parking lot at our favorite location. As soon as I got out on the water caddis were coming up everywhere and the trout were after them. It was a great afternoon with around 50 trout to the net, all on an elk hair caddis dry fly (also a bunch of misses😔). Caught some nice size rainbows, an 18" brown and a nice cutthroat. Looks like no minimum flow tomorrow but a steady 3 unit flow which should still be good for the caddis hatch. Here is the biggest rainbow...

Where did you find that thing up here in North Arkansas??

The only "sticker" I have on my boat is a Trout Unlimited sticker.

I've seen some of those guys washed on the shoreline at the C&R area below Bull Shoals dam. I guess they come thru the generators because they are pretty mangled up. Nothing that big though.

Here you go... leave the old guy behind for an appetizer.

May have been a bear??? They say there are a few around here, but I have yet to see one. Did you have to clean out your waders when you got back?

There is now a quality 1-mile trail that starts at the Rim Shoals walk-in access and follows the river downstream. The trail first began almost 20 years ago when Gary Flippin of Rim Shoals Lodge hacked a trail on land belonging to Marshall Berg along the river below the walk-in access. Gary was regularly rescuing waders caught in high water on the island at Rim Shoals. The trail provided a safe way to exit the water. . There has been a major project to expand and enhance the trail. The original trail was a bit rough. It is now really nice and extended another 1/2 mile downstream. We have added 3 picnic tables at the beginning of the trail and another at the end, a mile downstream. The new trail was a joint effort between Trout Unlimited White River Chapter 698 and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, with additional funding from Barbara Graham through the Graham Foundation in memory of her husband, Frank. The trail is on land belonging to Marshall Berg and Hugh McClain, who have granted access for the trail. Here is a link to our TU Facebook page that has more details on the trail. Also, if you feel lucky and want to buy a $10 chance to win a Jackson Mayfly kayak set up for fly fishing (this is a $2,000 kayak) scroll down on the Facebook page for more info. White River Trout Unlimited Chapter #698 | Facebook

We are starting to see some minimum flows here on the Bull Shoals tailwater. I waded a shoal Thursday and caddis were coming up everywhere and the trout were slurping them up. It was a warm sunny day and that seems to trigger the hatch. Probably caught around 30, all on a size 16 elk hair caddis dry fly. Went back to same area this afternoon and conditions were not ideal, light rain and temps in the low 50's. There were a few caddis coming up but nothing like yesterday. Still ended up with around 20 on the elk hair caddis. Caught some nice rainbows and lost a big brown that broke the 6x tippet. Here is one of the better rainbows..

Have a great trip and enjoy the time with your dad.

Those are some pretty crazy flows and temperature swings. Just a quick update on Bull Shoals tailwater... They reduced the flows from 21k to 16k today. They have been running over 20k 24/7 for the last 2 weeks. I talked to one of the guides yesterday and he said we may see reduced flows for a while because they have an agreement with the farmers downstream to reduce the flows at Newport for the planting season starting April 15. Hope that pans out and we get some low water to get the caddis hatch going.

I remember watching a fishing show on TV where they were fishing for Tiamen (a tout species) in Mongolia and were using a big fly that looked like a rodent. They would strip it on the surface and the strikes were very aggressive.