netboy

Here are couple of the better rainbows...

We had almost 2 inches of rain last night and the river was muddy here at Cotter this morning. Just what we needed... more water. I noticed they shut the dam down to 2 generators this morning around 9 so I took the boat up to White Hole access and ran to a nice shoal then got out and waded. Water was clear up there and fishing was great with lots of nice rainbows, a couple of brookies, 2 nice browns and a cutthroat. The bigger brown was 23.5 inches and put up a really good fight taking me into my backing twice and had me chasing her downstream a ways. She took a peach colored egg pattern.

Took the boat up to White Hole access and ran up to a shoal that is wade able in this high water. Fish were holding in little seams on the edges and they were interested in the egg/midge combo. Caught a couple decent browns around 15", a good number of rainbows and 1 nice cutthroat. Each little seam seem to be holding from 5-10 trout. They would show themselves and I could catch 3 or 4 and then they lost interest. No problem just move down to next seam. Here's a few of the better ones...

I launched the boat at Wildcat ramp this morning in a thick fog and ran up to a nice shoal area and then got out and waded. There were some BWO's hatching when I got there and I caught 4 rainbows and a small brown on a size 20 BWO. Once the sun burned the fog off the hatch stopped. I switched back to the egg/midge combo and had some pretty good action. Caught quite a few rainbows, a decent brown and 1 cutthroat. Here's a couple of the better rainbows. They were colored up for the spawn and dropping milt when I removed the hook.

WTH???

Actually neither... Bruce creek shoal.

They shut the water down on Bull Shoals because of flood conditions downstream so there has been some great wade fishing the last few days. Took the boat to a favorite shoal and got out and waded. Caught quite a few rainbows and this nice brown. He hit a ruby midge dropper beneath a peach colored egg. I lost a real pig of a rainbow also. Looked to be in the 25" range and really fat. Hook just pulled out. Hopefully we will get a few more days of low water before they open it up again. This post has been promoted to an article

The Newport gauge is currently at 14.6 and rising so I guess that is why Bull Shoals is cutting back.

Just what we needed... more water. Interesting that they shut Bull Shoals dam down to minimum flow this morning for the first time in months. Went up to the state park around noon and caught some nice rainbows on small caddis dries which were hatching on the low water. Saw quite a few stranded trout from the drop out in small depressions and lots of sculpins in the receding water. Schedule shows water coming back up tomorrow morning so hope the herons and eagles don't eat all the trout.

Seems to me that MDC should designate some C&R sections on their trout parks and put those pellet pigs in there.

Waded the backyards around Wildcat access this afternoon and had fun on dry flies. There were lots of fish feeding on midges and small mayflies that were hatching in the grass. Size 20 Parachute Adams worked well. Switched back to the peach egg and caught this nice rainbow. He was holding just below a Redd and apparently waiting on eggs.

FishinDave… That male brookie is a real beauty. Great colors. Congrats on a great trip.

Most definitely did. I saw him slowly swim off after that.

Waded around Wildcat access this morning and the water is still up in the back yards. Caught around a dozen rainbows and a couple of small browns on a size 20 Parachute Adams and then switched to a hopper once the sun came out. Caught this brown on the hopper and had a really big brown come up and look at the hopper but turned away. He looked to be in 28" range and was in spawning colors. Oh well, fun to see him and maybe next time he will eat. Caught a few more nice size rainbows on the hopper.

With all the high water I have been challenged to find some good wade fishing areas. The last few days have worked out pretty well. I took the boat up from Wildcat access and found some protected water along the inside bends of the river. These are areas on homeowner's backyards that are now flooded. The trout are up in in really shallow water eating BWO's that are coming up. Caught lots of smallish rainbows and browns along with a few nice ones. Size 20 BWO's and Adams worked.

John that was a great trip. I had no idea there were yellow perch in the White river. I think that cuttie is one of the Yellowstone guys the AGFC stocked earlier this year just to confuse us. The true Bonnevilles have most of their spots on the back half of their bodies. Next time you are up here come by for a beer....

Looks like a great trip. The White has been good lately with the steady flows. What, no fly rods involved??? They have been coming up to BWO's recently.

Cool, those are some nice rainbows. Congrats on another great trip.

Don't think they have ever stocked brookies as the water is a bit warm for them. Brooks like cold water. I have caught quite a few browns and a few cutties over the years and lots of rainbows.

They stock some browns also. The AFGC trout booklet shows 4,000 browns to be stocked this year. Three years ago they stocked some nice size Bonneville Cutthroats but I think most of them have been caught (and kept).

Saw the news on KY3. The lake looked pretty brown down around the landing where they were filming. Certainly don't need any more water on the White this year. Let's hope for a dry spell.

Wow just saw this post. That is a great replica and a fantastic story about how that fish hit again after being caught once. Very nice.

Very nice. I am not a bass expert but I guess that is a spotted bass???