netboy

Well I am not a shad kill expert but may be a good time to try it out. Only way to learn is to go try it. Guess the best thing may be a white mega worm??? I know Jeremy swears by them. We will see.

Oh my... I guess I better make a trip up there tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up Phil.

I took the boat to Rim Shoals this morning and ran to an area that is somewhat protected from the heavy flows we are having (14k cfs). Got out of the boat and I could see 4 or 5 trout holding in a run just below a couple of big rocks. First cast I hooked a nice rainbow on a Y2K but it broke off on the 7x tippet. I retied and caught another 5 rainbows and 1 cutthroat in the same run. Once that spot slowed down I moved downstream and picked up another dozen rainbows on the Y2K/pheasant tail dropper combo. When it was time to quit I walked back to the boat and made a cast in the run where I lost the rainbow earlier. The indicator went down and I had another nice rainbow on. I finally got her in and when I went to remove the hook I saw my Y2K that I lost earlier stuck in her jaw along with the Y2K on my rig. Guess she really liked Y2k's. Here's a couple of pics... This post has been promoted to an article

Well it is "fishing" and some fish are gonna die. Tell the Facebook idiots it's not like "hunting" where everything dies. 😁 That may make them happier.

I would do exactly what Bill and your folks at Lilley's did. Catch it, try your best to keep it alive during the certification process and then release it. Based on the accounts of the catch and the relatively short struggle it put up that fish was probably at the end of it's life cycle anyway. Since it was apparently a triploid it's genetics weren't removed from the "gene pool" . Once again... congrats to Bill and all your efforts at Lilley's.

Water has been fishable in the mornings and then big flows start at the dam around 7-8am with the current heat wave. That means water comes up around noon here in Cotter. I found a few protected areas to wade fish on the higher flows with flies and fishing has been good. Caught a few on hoppers against the bank and a few on a small parachute Adams but best combo has been a size 16 Y2k on a jig head with a ruby midge trailer. I did see a really nice brown this morning but he was more interested in the little rainbow I hooked. Didn't see him after that. Here is a pretty rainbow on the midge (probably would have been a good snack for Babler's huge brown.. congrats to Bill on that one 😁)

Holy smokes Batman! That is one big brown.

Sounds like a great time!

I find it strange that they say it is free and then tell you where can purchase the tickets???

See above...

I copied this from Facebook... Weekend plans! Head to Pulaski County September 7th & 8th for BronzeFest 2K19 ! Held at Ruby's Landing near Waynesville, Bronzefest 2K19 is Ozark Smallmouth Alliances’ premier event! Two days of food, music, fishing, raffles, and seminars! Free.The.Fighter! Plan your Bronzefest weekend at www.PulaskiCountyUSA.com. Purchase your Bronzefest 2K19 tickets today at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bronzefest-2k19-tickets-651781…

Wow, sounds like it is really fantastic over there. May have to make trip...

Very nice....Enjoy your trip and hope you get that big brown.

We use Grand Circle Cruise Line. This was our forth trip with them. All have been great. Since we are retired and have a flexible schedule we always watch their Last Minute Deals. We usually save around 50% of the full price and sometimes more the closer to the departure date.

Yup, I see a few dead trout on the bottom every day with their mouths ripped to hell.

We got back from our European Danube river cruise (which was fantastic) earlier this week and after catching up on usual maintenance stuff finally got back to some fishing. The last few days have been great. SWPA reduced the flows because of the almost 5" of rains here in Cotter last Saturday which increased the lower White river area. That said there was minimum flow on Sunday and gradual increases since then. Fished the Dam, Wildcat and then Cotter and all have been good. The rainbows apparently like the higher flows as they are putting on some weight. Best flies have been a heavy weight olive woolly bugger and the Y2K/midge combo. Here's a couple pics of some fatties....

Cool.. looks like a great trip. I probably saw you up there this morning as I was the only wader up there. Couldn't believe they were running minimum flow. Saw the trailer parking lot was full when I left. Those rainbows up there are studs. Wade fishing was great until they blew the horn at 10 am and then I moved down to Cotter.

They have been running both units pretty much all day on the Norfork for the last few weeks so the area around the boat ramp would be your best bet. The White has been high also. Looks like it may be another month or so until the lakes get back to normal levels.

Good post Ham. Let's be sure to add the Missouri and North Arkansas railway to the "Kudos" list. It is my understanding that they own all that land along the river down to the sewer treatment plant and agreed to having the parking lot done. Also the city of Cotter for all the work they did. Also a BIG Kudos to Tom Emerick of White River Trout Unlimited for pushing this forward.

X3 on Simms. Oh and be sure they are the Goretex version made in Bozeman, MT, not their Chinese version which is made out of a material called Toray. Look on Ebay… I bought a pair of used Simms Goretex that were hardly used for 80 bucks.

Fished a couple of areas on the White the last couple of days. Water has been running around 2-3 units in the mornings and then 6-7 in the afternoons. Had the best luck using jigs on the spinning rods but did catch a few drifting an egg/midge combo on the fly rod. Best colors on the jigs were olive/orange and white/grey. Caught some nice browns each day, a small golden rainbow as well as a bunch of rainbows. Here's a few pics...

Great trip and definitely a "Bucket List" trip. Fantastic narrative also...

Took the boat down to Roundhouse this morning and then got out and waded. Started out with the egg/midge combo and caught some nice rainbows and 1 decent cutthroat. Then about 10 am I started seeing some sulphurs coming up so I switched to a dry fly. Saw this little golden rainbow waiting on the bugs and got him to take a parachute Sulphur. The poor thing looked like a neon light in the river so I imagine they are easy pickins for the eagles and herons. Caught around a dozen more rainbows on the dry fly and lost a nice brown that straightened out my size 16 hook. Think I got some bad hooks as that seems to be happening pretty often lately.

I think the new size limit regulations have really helped with increasing the average size of the rainbows. Now you can only keep 1 trout over 14" per day. They also raised the limit on cutthroats to 24" like the browns.