JimmyT

Asphalt, There isn't much wadeable water but here are a few spot. Keep in mind these directions are looking downstream. At the C&R area by the dam (Bull Shoals) on the right side just below the restricted signs about 200 yards down. On the left side just below the first ramp. Various spots at the state park. White hole access...Wildcat access these spots are not so good but are somewhat fishable. Cotter in the eddy water at the ramp is OK but could be crowded on a weekend. down the road some at roundhouse you may find a spot or two. At rim shoals the AG&F access isn't bad on hiwater..... I know it's not much help but there aren't that many spots to wade on 7 units. It all changes dramatically if the water gets down to less than 3 units. Jimmy T.

Ms. Midge is a true addict Pat as are you. J

Snowfly I don't think there is any mud left to runoff... the water was stained though, even above Dryrun Creek. Jimmy T.

Fished an FFF group out of Atlanda on a 6 boat party. the last of three days so we put in on the Fork as a catering sorie was planned for lunch. (good eats). the fishing on the fork was however pretty slow. 1 1/2 units, steady winds at 10 to 15mph with gust to 35, stained water and crowded. We did manage to hook and land 4 of the 7 strikes we got. There were some Blanks out there yesterday. After lunch we took out and headed to the white and put in at wildcat. Less wind there and the fishing was indeed much better. 25 fish or so for the afternoon using various SJ Worms with 3/0 split and very long leaders with indicators. Catching was good close to the bank and behind the back side of gravel bars. It was a move that pulled out an otherwise lousy morning. Nothing of any size today but the numbers where there... Jimmy T.

I doubt it Pat. We sure drifted by him a bunch and only saw him with two fish on. It was kinds tough yesterday. We hit Rim Shoals today and hit numbers pretty well but the afternoon wos tough. J

Much tougher than earlier in the week. A ton of boats and two bass boats and an aluminum Lund wave maker. Would love to see a motor limit. Mostly they just got in the way and one of them about ran over an AG&F boat. The officer shouted out when the guy almost ran over his boat. I could hear him 100 yards down stream. As I went by the ticket book wook was out...He was a danger to all the others up there. Sure would like to see AG&F more often. It was an interesting day at the Dam. Lots of boats counted 18 at one point and Game and Fish was there in force. Two boats of them and one on the bank at the RESTRICTED sign noting which boats had crossed the line. He would radio the officers and then give tickets. Quite a few were written on this day and good for them. It's about time. The fishing was tough. I imagine some shad have come through and the fish were pretty full. The shad patterns didn't work but the SJ Worms did. Red, Fire orange, Wapsi Worm and brown. The strikes were few and far between but we did manage to land 18 (Fishing close to the bank) with the biggest at 19 3/4 Did have a fisherman who could set the hook as he only missed one fish and that was as I was asking him a question. Most of the fish look good and are FAT....Gourged would probably be a better word. Weekends are tough to fish at the dam due to the traffic. Mon-thursdays are the best. Get too many boats up there running all oveer the place and it does slow down. Jimmy T.

Catman. there are two launches in the C&R area. One on the baxter Co. side which is much harder to use due to current and the fact that if the water goes below 2 units the ramp is unusable. The Ramp on the marion Co. side or golf course side is much easier to use and the current break there is good and it's easy to launch there. The ramp at the state park had an upstream current caused by a break water and is easy to use as well. Parking there can be tough though. The ramp at Gastons is a PUBLIC ramp that anyone can use. Only the parking is private but if you ask in the office they will let you park. they never tell onyone no. As a guide we must park across the airstrip in a back lot. Gastons cannot deny you the use of the ramp. The next ramp down is white hole which is about 6 miles down stream of the dam. I'd use the Gastons ramp if you want to fish the C&R area if you fear the water being shut off. Jim

Yesterday afternoon we were able to fish the floating patterns on the surface with success: Suspended and on the bottom worked poorly. Lots of looks, slaps, and some takes. The trick to this is to not pull the fly away as the fish may make numerous attemps (some take and some don't). Our best of the day was a 5 + lb brown who took the fly right away. The hook up trick to the floating shad is to let the fish take it down a couple of feet. Remember the old One Mississippi or the God Save The Queen then set the hook with a dry fly? Will this is even longer---Twice as long. The angle of the hook set seems to be important but is determined my the fish more so than the fisherman. With the fisherman I had yesterday his learning curve on this method was honed as we did were getting up to 4 strikes per short drift. The previous days knowledge definatly helped with the seconds days success of landing 7 fish ....Good Bows in the 16 nch range. The one brown we did land took off and almost reached his backing. I had to slow the boat down so he could gain some line on the fish as having that much line out almost always ends up with a lost fish. For those interested in a pic of this fly http://flyfisharkansas.com/shad.jpg will get you there. I will say that the morning fishing was pretty lousy. We did manage to pull some small stocker type fish out from behind an island just below bruce creek. 4 units in the morning and a full 7 in the afternoon. No shad came through on wednesday that were visible and the gulls never did dive on this day (that I or others I spoke with saw). This is definatly some exciting fishing. Jim http://flyfisharkansas.com

I do have a booth at sow bug..... J

Hey there RR... Making down to the top of cane island (visually so to speak) but guides have cleand fish as far down as cotter that have had shad in them. A best guess is that there are some shad coming through at night. I would doubt that the fish are moving 10 miles or more to feed on shad and then move back down stream... Sometimes fishing on or near the bottom is more productive than fishing suspended... Which seems to wok better when shad actually come through. J

Burst of shad have been coming through mostly in the am and with heavy CFS. Afternoons have been the best and generally when the water drops the fishing is better and mostly with the floating shad patterns or just below the surface. As the CFS drops and the shad quit coming through the CFS rises and fishing on or near the bottom is more productive. The Yo-Yo effect of the water IE: The up and down or pulsing as the SWPA likes to call it must be played like a pro football game. A good eye leads to good fish when this happens. Another eye must also be kept on the gulls as this will let the fisher know that shad are coming through. Timing at this point will make or break the fisherman as the shad move through the conveyer belt of feeding. Jimmy T. http://flyfisharkansas.com

Some of you folks know me..... Some don't. My 2nd time here on Phills board. This one anyway. Third time if you count the fishing reports I did for a number of years on the main ozarkanglers.com board. (see the archives for the white river..and actually a 4th time if you count Phills old BB. Looking forward to posting some fishing reports for the White below Bull Shoals Dam again. I do have a Banner Ad on http://ozarkanglers.com that rotates occasioally at the top of the page. Click on it if you like to see what I'm all about. Jimmy T.