Morgan F.

Had to work all week so Saturday was the first I was able to enjoy some Turkey Time! Worked a bird first thing but couldn't get him to come to my part of the world. Man were the birds vocal though! Moved to another stretch and started to walk in to one of my regular haunts when I saw this guy crossing the field just over the rise. I backed up, set up, and gave a couple of series of yelps. Waited for what seemed like 1/2 hour (really 10 minutes) and took a peek over the weeds to see if he was heading my direction...sure enough, I could see tips of tail feathers just over the top of the weeds around 20 yards and closing. With the way this bird was approaching he was strutting right on the edge of the weeds I had dove into, so unless he changed course this was going to be a very close encounter! He continued his path to approximately 4 yards in front of me when I cut loose. (At that range I was little worried about pattern size, but luckily my aim was true and was able to connect solidly with the target!) Never did get a chance to weigh the bird, but I'm guessing around 21-22lbs. 10-1/2 inch beard, and 1/1/4 spurs. And of course the best part is more bird for the weber! Photos aren't the best since I was operating solo, but they show a bit of the bird. Good Luck over the next couple of weeks!

This was a cabin fever reduction trip. After working on the "must do / honey do" list for a few hours in the morning I made a break for it...knowing that I was only going to get 3-4 hours of fishing in. Arrived at TV and started fishing around 1:30. At first I was a little worried driving the road from the park to TV...still mainly snow/slush covered...but had no problems making it in 2x truck...should be pretty cleared up today or tomorrow I would guess, based on current temps! Had the river to myself. Didn't even see a boot track walking back out. Started off fishing nymphs and midges but it didn't take long to realize that all trout eyes were looking up. The caddis? hatch mentioned in other recent threads was in full effect and a dry fly was the only way I could connect with fish. Caught browns and bows both...man what a blast on the dry flies! Best fish was maybe 14-15 inches. For the size of the fish though...they were THICK! Very healthy looking fish with a lot of fight in them! Dusk settled in all too soon and put me back on the road home...maybe I will be able to knock the rest of the cabin dust off next week!? Hope you all are able to get out and enjoy this weather! Morgan

We certainly did Mr. Flycaster! Got at least a little bit about fishing down there figured out. Now just for another 1000+ trips and I may get this fishing thing down yet!! Ready for the next trip down!

Loaded up and headed to the White / Norfolk early on 10/9. Arrived and on the water by 12:00 noon. Actually started on the Norfolk tailwater due to no generation until later that afternoon. Got a solid four hours in before the water reached us as we entered via the lower access with the dam parking lot being closed. Gearing up we spoke to a few people in the parking lot who were just coming off the water. All reports indicated murky water coming downstream from some construction going on up above. While there was some tint to the water...it didn't seem to turn the fish off at all. I rigged a prince nymph under indicator with zebra midge dropper. My buddy fished prince w/ scud dropper. He also fished a couple of other droppers to included san juan worm, hares ear, etc. The fish seemed to prefer the prince/zebra combo though with about equal takes on prince/zebra (red and black). Scuds did well but we just fished the zebra midges more. Takes on the scuds were light and proved difficult to set at times. I had never fished this tailwater before and was very pleased. Really neat water to fish. We only made it upstream from access about 200 yards at most...caught fish the entire time. We would loved to have explored further up, but with the generation looming and the fish biting where we were...we just didn't make the jump upstream...next time! Generation started at 3pm and water got to us about 4pm...driving us off the water. WOW! That water comes on fast! Kind of neat to see...but glad I was standing near the access when it arrived! It had been 20+ years for me being in the area and around 8 years for my buddy, so we took some time and drove around getting familiar with the area and access to the White while making our way to our lodging for the evening. So much water...so little time! Stayed the first two nights at one of the Camper Cabins at Rainbow Drive Resort. Nice little campground and the camper cabin was a great blend of camping / lodging. The dew was SO heavy in the mornings that we were glad we had the cabin and not trying to dry all of our stuff out each morning! Rented a boat from Rainbow Drive the next day. The dock hand there (I believe Gordon is his name) was great! Very helpful, personable, and accommodating. We fished all day running up to Wildcat Shoals and floating back down to Rainbow Hole. Fished the same Prince / Zebra set ups as we had the day before and did very well. Once we motored up to the shoal it was almost an automatic 2-3+ fish in that stretch every time. Wished we could have slowed our drift down just a bit to have more casting/catching time in that stretch each run. Had a great day of it though and caught fish all day. Nothing of any size. All rainbows except for one fish that possibly had some cut mixed in...a good deal of orange around the throat/gill plate...cutbow maybe? Not sure if this happens on the White or not. Either way...a very pretty fish with all the coloration! Third day we wanted to inspect other areas of the river so we took some time to drive up to the dam and inspect the flow/ access/ crowds. We ended up back down at Rim Shoals and fished that for most of the day. Tougher fishing for us here as we were fishing middle of the day, but still managed a few fish. Same double nymph set up. We ended up having to find a new place to stay friday as our original place was already booked for the weekend. Made the jump over to Copper Johns and stayed in one of their camper cabins. Great folks running the place who took care of us and even hung out around the fire ring with us for a bit. Woke up to light rain that turned into a couple of short-ish bands of heavier rain on Saturday morning. Drove up to the dam and fished the first set of shoals until about 11am when our licenses were no longer valid. Fishing was slower...again on the double nymph rig but still managed some fish. Had another fish here with amazing color on it and again had the orange around the throat. Really dark rainbow coloring ...beauty of a fish! We had a couple of guides come by and talk with us as they were motoring back up to the dam. They were kind enough to share with us that the hopper was the fly of the day. We didn't have any luck with it but we could see that it was clearly working for them as they drifted further out in the shoal. A huge thank you to all who provided info on where to stay and fish! We will be back for sure!

Jgentile - I like fishing below the cable as well...the MDC guys had let us know that they had shocked that too. Though several gentlemen were fishing up that direction and seemed as though they still caught some fish...didn't get specifics from them though...just parking lot banter. I need to get back up that direction...haven't fished below the cable yet this year. I always seem to catch fish above Tan Vat to the cable...I have just been having fun exploring below Tan Vat this year! Gavin - I'm not sure if the shocking stimulates the fish just below where the MCD team is at at any given point, but after speaking with them and fishing just below them (100+ yards or so)...the fishing was ON! Maybe it was due to the minnows. Kind of felt as though I was cheating a bit as I was getting a hit every/every other cast. I could see a bunch of minnows and several stunned sucker fish floating down. I never even thought about tying on a streamer to see about capitalizing on the minnows coming down. Though I was catching/missing plenty of hits on the zebra midge. Thanks for the reply's guys! Happy Fishing!

Had the opportunity to head to the river with a buddy Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Got on the water at Tan Vat around 8am on Tuesday and fished down stream. Caught several fish on hopper dropper with the dropper being black or brown zebra midge. All fish caught were on the dropper. Both my buddy and I had several fish short-take on the hopper but nothing hooked. For us it seemed as if they were starting to shy away from the hopper, though I guess it could have been our set-up too. We fished fairly slow on our way down the river. It wasn't long before we could hear a generator running upstream. We cold hear the generator getting closer and closer as the next hour went by. Sure enough...they were shocking the river. Luckily they stopped for lunch at the riffle above me and got to fish below them for another 1/2 hour to an hour. Caught several more fish before we packed up and went to claim a camping site. The guys on the shock team were really nice guys. Had the chance to talk with them for a bit and banter back and forth. They were shocking down to the hole above baptist. Saw them shock up some really nice fish while they were working right where I finished fishing...all in all a pretty cool thing to see...just wish it didn't affect the fishing like it does. We got camp set up in the park and headed below Baptist for the evening fish. First time for me fishing below Baptist...and I always love seeing new water. Caught a 1/2 dozen or so more fish before calling it a night and heading back to make some coals to cook with before it got too late. Lamb Ribs for dinner...first time for that too...not too bad! With the river having just been shocked we decided to fish the park on Wednesday morning. Neither one of us had fished the park in quite a while so it was nice to get back in there and see that again. Fished down from the spring and caught another 1/2 dozen or so...fairly slow morning for us....but a great morning to be on the water (both days). Neither one of us caught anything very big...a 15 inch or so brown was my biggest, but as always...we had a lot of fun just being on the water. Next up...The White and Norfolk in October...can't wait! Have a good one! Morgan

Thank you, John Berry! I will certainly look into that as well. Have a great fishing weekend everyone. Morgan

We plan to wade fish, but we understand that depending on the generation...we may need to look into a boat. We may do a guide trip for a day just to get the scoop as well. We half plan - half fly by the seat of our pants. If we plan to much...we just end up scrapping them anyway once we get where we are going and figure out what we REALLY need to be doing! It's an adventure! Thanks again for all the info!

Thanks for the info guys! I really like the idea of staying on the water if possible. I will be sure to look into all your suggestions! Thanks Again!

Hello Good Fishermen! A buddy and I are looking to make a trip down early to mid-October over a weekend. Neither of us have been down for several years and are excited at fishing "new" waters again. We are obviously unfamiliar with the lodging situations at this point and wanted to get your input on where to stay. We would like to fish both the White and the Norfolk, so we were thinking of staying in Mountain home to centralize our operations. We are willing to stay just about anywhere (doesn't need to be fancy). Motels are fine, but if you know of a great streamside location on either waterway...chime in...we are open to suggestions! I dug around the "White" forum for a bit before writing this...didn't see much on the topic. I may just not know where to look...please redirect me if this is posted in another topic/thread. Thanks in advance guys! Tight Lines, Morgan

Hit the water at Tan Vat at 7am after a 4am STL departure this past Sunday morning. Stocker browns actively feeding and taking right from the gitgo. Headed downstream after a few of the stocker browns and was quickly into healthy rainbows just about anywhere you would want to cast. I was pleasantly surprised with the fight in the fish and how healthy they looked. Nothing big but these fish had spunk! Every fish brought in was thick and full of fight. Makes me think that the 4wt might need to get a big brother! I'm not entirely sure how far down I made it as this was my first time on this stretch of water. As I recall though, I passed an island and a couple of other riffles before taking the path back to the truck at about 11:30am. Thoroughly impressed with this piece of water...why did it take me so long to drive the extra mile or so?! Didn't count but would guess somewhere around 25 fish. Again, nothing big, but I had an absolute blast! Perfect overcast morning with low temps (for June/July) that broke into partly cloudy later...then back to rain on the way home. Laced up the go-to zebra midge and never switched...as there was no need. Probably could have done well with a hopper-dropper setup but wasn't sure on depth when I started...and didn't take the time to switch once I had a few fish take the indicator...next time. Had the pleasure of meeting another guy that visits / posts here on the forum. Good conversation on our days activities for a few minutes before neither of us could take not fishing any longer. I'm not real vocal on the water, but every time I run into someone from this forum, it's an enjoyable experience. Back home by 3pm and working on the Honey-do list...keeping my butt out of trouble...day couldn't have been much better! Morgan ...One last mention. I am certainly no expert caster, but I had been having difficulties roll-casting with the BVK 4wt that I have been fishing lately. I recently purchased a braided (mono) leader and used it on this trip for the first time...certainly a big difference...for me at least. My setup is over weighted with throwing a 5wt line (shamefully don't remember whether SA or RIO WF) that back-casts like a dream...just not so much on the roll. Probably the user and not the instrument...thought I would just see if anyone else has had this issue on same/similar setup.

Great Pics Justin! Thanks for sharing. I have never seen the hellbender...knew about them...just never looked it up. That's a pretty gnarly looking creature!

I grew up about 30 minutes Northwest of Columbia in Fayette. There are 3 city lakes just outside of town that offer fair bank fishing. The Gazateer or a quick map search should take you right to them. Wish I had a closer recommendation but that's all I can think of...good luck!

Brian and Eleven Point Canoe Rental are great! They have helped me out a time or two on late arrivals...even forgot to leave them my keys for a vehicle shuttle on one float and still made it back to camp safe and sound! That was a terrible thing...feeling my keys in my pocket about 100 yards from the take-out! Felt worse for the Eleven Point Canoe Rental folks than for me! Sounds like a great trip on one of the states best waters. Good-on-ya for introducing your son to the river!

Steve, Tim has actually sent me some really good info today...very good contact for all kinds of info! Trying to make it down there this weekend for some fishing and meet Tim...the laundry list is long though, so we'll see! Thanks, Morgan F.