KATroutman13

Fished down there last Saturday with a buddy. Wet wading is not an issue, at all. i caught a bunch of fish early on a bugger in C&R and in other places. Caught fish later in the morning on a caddis pupa imitation. Then for the rest of the day, I kept very busy catching fish on black foam beetles, the one on the counter at Tim's and on a size 8 Taylor's Fat Albert in light tan. I was honestly amazed at the numbers of fish I caught on the beetle and hopper. It was a lot of fun. Remember, see the strike, breath, set the hook.

I have finished my major summer projects and am contemplating an additional summer project. Anyone have an old transom mount trolling motor that no longer works they wouldn't mine parting with?

Gavin, Great advice. Thanks. I will certainly do that Ness. I've got to get the thing running first, otherwise, I won't waste my time with the titling, etc. Wes

Hmm, interesting. Thanks for the input. A few years ago, I called the DOR and told them about the craft and putting a trolling motor (electric) on it and I was told I did not have to register the boat (might be the inflatable thing). I guess I will give them a call and ask again...if I ever get that motor running.

Okay, I have one of those inflatable pontoon boats. The toons are 10 feet long and it has a steel frame. I bent some steel sheeting to make my transom and it works perfectly for the trolling motor. I know that I do not have to register that boat with the trolling motor on it. However, I am in the process of fixing a small 1.75hp Sears Gamefisher motor. If I put that thing on the back of that inflatable pontoon, do I have to register it? Thoughts, suggestions, snide remarks?

Sean, Thanks.

I am assuming low water. High water gets us there earlier, which is not the issue.

If a fella were to float either the White or Norfork to start a float at dawn and be in a place where he could pull over to the side of the river, watch the basketball game at 11:00 a.m. or so and then continue a float, where would one do so?

I was wondering if anyone could recommend a shuttle service for a float from Wildcat Shoals to Cotter this weekend. Just need someone to pick up the truck and move it from Wildcat to Cotter. Also, will need the same for Norfork dam to the confluence. Thanks! Wes

Okay, okay. I give. I apologize for calling you out Brian.

Brian, We've met on the river a few times. I doubt you are a meth head, you have too many teeth in your smile on camera. But, your straw man type arguments will not get you out of this argument. Based on the photos and videos, I don't buy that you've NEVER fished a redd or ALWAYS instruct your clients to not fish redds. You catch fish in spawning colors and have video of a dude eating brown trout roe at a pull-out and assert that any fish spewing roe had to be pulled off a redd. It does not jive. Am I criticizing you, if you've ever fished redds? No. Ness, Brian does the same, do you have an equal criticism? He clearly admits that a brown was caught that sprayed eggs in a boat, thus, it was "obviously pulled off of a redd." According to him, if you didn't see a redd in the video it wasn't there, so these kids couldn't have been doing what he alleges them to have been doing, because that would be nothing more than an assumption.

Okay, Brian. I will give you that you do not have specific pictures of you casting to spawning fish or videos of you saying -- There's a nice fish on a redd, let's get him -- but circumstantial evidence is good enough for me. Look at your fall 2010 video, there's a dude eating trout roe at the end of the video. Looking at just your 2010 winter and fall videos, you can see numerous occassions where you catch fish that certainly appear to be spawning fish and are clearly fishing in areas where there would be beds on a river that has a population of wild reproducing trout during the time period in which they would be spawning. I find it very hard to believe that you have completely passed on every single big spawning bow or brown on the NFOW. Considering the amount of time you've spent on that river I am sure you've had that encounter about 100 times and I just don't buy that you've said, meh, let's move on every time.

TC, Predictable. No, I am not under that impression. But why don't you just roll through the blogs, watch the videos and look at the pictures posted, where they went, where they were fishing, et. cetera.

Justin, If that is what he is saying, then I think he needs to remove several of his videos from Youtube and avoid any further January trout odysseys. Time for some blog clean-up, too.

Brian, Your post is nonsensical, to me. Do you fish for fish on redds or not? Do you guide people to fish for fish on redds?

I agree with Brian, there is no way that fish is even in the ballpark of 10 pounds. I also have to agree that those guys were likely tromping all over redds to land that fish. On a side note, that one kid who was just walking to walk was killing me. Get the net off of the other kids back and net the fish, it will be easier that way. But Brian, are you telling everyone here that you have not or will not be pulling rainbows off of redds on the NFOW? Or that you did not target browns on the same?

I've said it here about 10 times I think, but the day in which I had the most fun on a fishing trip was netting trout on Dry Run for a couple of my fishing buddy's nieces. I don't think that I will ever forget that day.

Dalton, I used to fish Taneycomo a lot when I was in college. I used to love crossing above the second outlet casting up into the seam, swinging an olive or black bugger and then letting it sit in the current after the swing was over. Good times. But, my favorite, is taking a heavy, big sculpin. I like the woolheads with the large barbell eyes in a size 2 or 4 and a load of lead wrapped on the head. I would take that fly and walk in the areas without a lot of current and cast the fly to a general area with fish and just bounce it through the rocks. I loved that because the fish would just murder that fly repeatedly until hooked.

I'd recommend a 6wt because of the times where you may need to throw streamers or you might need to chuck some heavy sculpins.

You can count me in for a few tickets as well.

Does anyone else see this going badly?

I've floated Taney a couple of times in my inflatable pontoons. I would certainly suggest that you either leave yourself an entire day or hope they turn on some generation. After you get a ways down from the dam, it feels as if there is no current at all. If you get a wind blowing upstream, you are in for a poo-filled donut treat. Buy one with a trolling motor frame mount and buy a little 30lb thrust trolling motor and a small deep cycle battery and have at it. With that, you can get on a seam and motor your way back up pretty well. With one generator, I think that you would have a great advantage of getting to places where fish are, but fisherman ain't. As for boaters, people are freaking idiots, but the same is true everywhere, just gotta watch out for them. Buy a pair of fins, I use the Outcast fins and wish I owned a pair of Force Fins, but haven't convinced myself to drop the coin. These will help you control the boat without using the oars. It takes a while to get used to, but once you do, they are wonderful. Just remember, don't try to walk in them.

Dollar for dollar (in THIS price range) I would not even think about the St. Croix or the Redington). I would certainly consider the Sage, if you can find one of their rods in that price range. I have a TFO Professional in a 7'6" 3wt and I have thrown that rod in virtually every configuration and I have been impressed. I second the line recommendations made here, except for the Cortland. I fished Cortland line for years and was not impressed. You certainly don't need a 100 dollar line like the sharkskin, but I would certainly not hesitate to spend the remaining money you have budgeted on a good line, keeping the reel you currently have. As far as the selection of what length to purchase, I say go cast the rods and see what you like.

Details on the swap? I might be in... Brian, They've won 4 straight now.

This would have been my exact same recommendation, except I might even go with the Professional Series rather than Signature series, if you can keep your current reel. For the most part, in this area of the country and the rod you are fishing with, reels are just line holders.