Ryan Walker

Not as of Monday but with the warmth, it'll be anytime if they're not there now.

I agree, it's every bit of 15 minutes on the way in. And hopefully double that on the way out with a sack of fish!

Randomly. I've started to be more mindfull of that this year. I'll go back and see if I put any notes on it.

Thought I'd add that after April 17, most years, I was focused on blasting a thunder chicken for a couple of weeks, so there are gaps in my fishing logs..

Yea Jerry, I hear ya. My own mind was made up that it was late this year until I looked back. Seems fairly consistent. Those old wives tales are based on observations of folks that didn't have solunar tables and all kinds of electronics..

I keep them on Crane, the James and all the Tailwaters. My boys are getting old enough that it will make some sense to them, and it's important to me that they know I did more than work, come home, repeat. They will start adding to it this year ( the twins are 10 and the oldest is 12).

It looks like I fished the mornings more. But I think the common denominator is low light. All of the Walleye I caught were in the evening.

So, with all this early spring like weather, I decided to go back and look at my James River white bass logs for the past 4 years. Here's what I found: If you average out the last 4 years, between March 15 and March 30, average was 8.4375 fish per fishing day. I fished 44 of the 64 days ( 2012-2015, mostly weekday mornings and evenings, 4 hours fished was the average). From the looks, the average gets skewed the closer to March 30 you get. Best day was 18, worst was 0 ( a few of those, but we won't talk about that)... Between March 30 and April 17 average was 17.75 fish per fishing day. I fished 48 of the 72 days (2012-2015), roughly averaged 4 hours per fishing day. The days I did not fish, the water was to high or I had obligations. Best day was 36 fish caught. Worst was 3. Biggest Whitebass I kept was a hair over 3lbs. Biggest Walleye was 24", probably 5 lbs Noticed the redbuds right around March 24th (25th, 24th,24th,27th respectively). This really only reflects when I was actually paying attention... Interestingly enough: I've caught 9 Walleye while Whitebass fishing at Taylor/Blunk those 4 years-5 of them on an April 11th, and all of them from the same 200 yard stretch at the top of the shoal to the high dirt bank above the shoal, and most of those from a Hilton-Heated-Indoor-Swimming Pool-sized depression right at the dirt bank. All on a clouser... Was still catching fish in early May of 2013, right up to the snow on May 3rd. All days were wade/bank fishing with a flyrod. Almost half of the days I fished I fished both morning and evening. For what it's worth..

Walk til you hit gravel! Taylor is the first gravel bar you can walk on up-stream from Blunk. You can't miss it. The dirt trail will end, and you'll be on the shoal(s).

Agreed! Those pears are purdy, but they are an invasive, and need to be cut down...

I fish wade fish Taylor until the gauge height (at Galena) shows 6.8ft, or no more than about 1900 cfs discharge. Right now it's at 5.85, which in my opinion is perfect. It creates some great slack water behind the gravel humps....Cold front will be your biggest problem now...Water temp a week ago was 52ish, probably back in the high 40's now, which will shut them down until it warms back up.

I am hearing ( from reliable sources) that they are catching good numbers of fish at Powersite, on Rogues and Sliders. I got a picture from a buddy that was down there Thursday eve and he had a limit of whites and a couple of keeper walleyes. They were fishing the pothole. I can tell you from personal experience that their are fish at Galena, as far up as Taylor. Caught 9 on Friday morning ( only had 1.5 hours to fish).

I agree with trythisonemv. Go to YouTube and search "Joe Humphreys nymphing", and you'll see him casting to creeks you can lay across. Mostly roll casts and bow/arrow casting. I fish Crane regularly and rarely cast overhand. Get good at the roll and it will open up the water at Crane for you....Congrats on the PB btw...

That's a BEAST! Nice fish man, what an event!

Thanks Ollie, I did see quite a few fish working the bank on the far side as well, next trip I'll bring the Kayak..

Fishing trips are all about perspective; I started this trip to Taylor Shoals as a scouting trip, setting my expectations low. Early season whites can be frustrating at best. Gauge height at Galena is 5.86-not flooded but high enough to warrant a sink tip ( I used a versi-tip-7ips sink rate). Most of the fish I caught were in slack water at edge of the current; they wanted the fly slow, and not right on the bottom, but about mid-way down. They aren't there in the numbers we'll see in a couple of weeks, but there were enough fish that I didn't get to comfortable looking at the scenery. I took the steelheaders approach to covering water; cast, cast, step, step. Almost all of the takes were at the bottom of the swing, as the fly was starting to come up in the water column. I fished from the top of the bend, to the bluff adjacent to the bottom of the bend. Ended up with 9 male whites, 4 decent crappie and a half-dozen kentucky bass... Pink and purple clousers, and white bunny shad were the most successful patterns. One nice thing about high water-I was able to use 3x tippet ( 10lb flourocarbon), which helps a bunch when you get a little over zealous on the hook set. If you haven't been to Taylor since the floods in December, it's changed a bunch. Gravel is piled 6ft high on the Sycamore trees in the bend, and there are massive gravel humps at the top of the shoal. If you're an arrowhead, or fossil collector, you might want to drag your screen with you. As I said- It's all about perspective; 2 weeks from now, 9 fish may be a slow day, but today it was a blessing. Tight lines!

What a beautiful day! 65 and slightly over-cast ( early on). I boated up to the island below Lookout Point, and fished the south side. I started with a sz 16 beadhead soft hackle ( partridge and orange), and the bite was consistent. After an hour I decided to experiment a bit; fished scuds ( sz16 gray/tan/olive), Tungsten Zebra midges ( sz16 red/black/olive) Miracle midges ( sz 18 pearl) and San Juans ( natural/cerise). It really didn't seem to matter what pattern, as long as the presentation was right. Most of my takes on the soft hackle were on the drift, not the swing, so a dead drift was the common denominator. The fish were colored beautifully, strong and full of life. Water was still a bit dingy, but markedly clearer than a week ago. I fished 5x tippet with the soft hackles, all the others on 6x. Flow was between 22-2500cfs all morning. I love this flow level, as it creates "fish zones" where there would other-wise be flat (or no) water. From there, I got in the boat and ran up to the ramp, and fished my way back to Fall Creek. Fishing was consistent the entire run, very few drifts were fishless. Pressure was light for a sunny Sunday, but it seemed like everyone was having success. All-in-all, another gorgeous day in the Ozarks!