hoglaw

Muddy, I would not attempt to float the norfork in a big boat with no water running. It may be doable, but a lot of work. I can run my jet from the dam to mcclellans shoal and wade from there. That's the best spot anyway. I could run it all on plane if I wanted, but the crowds of waders by the dam make that too dangerous. So I have to drag once or twice just below the dam.

I really like the 4lb cx premium for jig line. I've also used that floroclear I think it's called. It's a coated line. I'm not sure how I feel about the braid yet.

I haven't been watching flows. Demand hasn't been high yet. I floated the little red yesterday and it was as low as I've ever seen it. The white was a consistent one unit for a while with demand spikes. Normally more moderate on the weekends. That's not a recipe for an epic jerk bait trip. Jerk baits fish ok in low water, but we will need some serious bad weather to get the 4+ unit generation we really need for big fish on jerk baits. I'm predicting a jig trip. We caught a bunch of good fish floating the norfork a few weeks ago. But it's basically paddle hard for a mile and a half, fish hard for the next mile, then paddle out. The good water is in the middle and everything else is elbow to elbow right now. It lends itself to a good half day trip taking out at Ackerman.

Ugh, it was a rough day. I fished from about 11 to 4 with zero bites. I froze my rear end off. I needed to get out and run the boat anyway since I had the impeller bearing replaced. Boat ran great. I fished a wiggle wart mainly along with a jerkbait and a jig. At one point I hooked some debris and felt my wart go dead so I started cranking it in fast to clean it off and fire again. A giant chased it all the way in but turned around right at the boat. That was as exciting as it got all day. I did see a good 8 point swimming across the lake and getting out of the water right in front of me. That was pretty cool. Water temps were around 46 at the natural springs ramp and down to 45 the farther I went up the war eagle. Water was a lot muddier up the creek arm too. Didn't see anyone else fishing, but did see a couple of guys with a flatbed trailer full of christmas trees and a boat. I should have followed them!

Any further insights on this? Would like to fish war eagle arm at some point soon and I'm just not good enough to catch them unless they're shallow.

I'm fired up about the trip and hoping to learn lots from everyone there. Can't wait. As much as I'd like to be there all day on Friday, I don't know that my fiancee will be able to get off work early enough for us to do that. To the extent I haven't made it clear already muddy, please pencil us in for an individual bedroom and our respective share of the cost.

Is jail time even an option? I don't think it is for most Arkansas violations, if any, but I'm probably wrong. I know I'm an Article III apologist simetimes, but if the statutes don't allow for imposition of jail time, then it's on the elected legislators, and not in the court/prosecutor's hands. I agree that these guys should have served time.

Maybe we can just link it to the main board?

Was thinking about going up there tomorrow but 25mph winds with gusts to 40 just doesn't sound that fun. I like it a little windy, but that's extreme.

Of course my last post assumes the river will be wadeable in December. Who knows what kind of water we'll be seeing then.

Little Red makes 8 I think. Riley's Station is right where the Buffalo comes in, right? If so, there's some great wading/fly water right around there, and upstream from the Buffalo City access where I destroyed the intake on my jet one time. I don't mind ferrying folks either, so anyone who just wants to wade and fish should be in pretty good shape and have quite a bit of river to yourself.

I have a really busy few weeks coming up so I don't think I can take the reigns on logistics. I'm just going to have to battle to be able to make it that weekend, but I'll make it a priority. Looks like we already have a place to stay. As far as headcount, count me in +1. Same deal, fiancee and I will want our own room. If that means renting more than the lodge we're talking about, that's fine by me. I will be happy to bring whatever food. In fact, my "specialty" is dark roux sausage gumbo, so I'll make a big pot of that and bring rice. That will feed a dozen people easily, particularly as a side to whatever Phil is talking about bringing.. I will bring my boat. Fiancee and I +1 can ride for sure, maybe +2. I like to fly fish but fiancee doesn't care to and I'm not a very good teacher, so we normally throw jigs and jerkbaits. I think a fish fry on Saturday night is a great idea, and judging from pictures Little Red has plenty of fish. I will be happy to bring/pay for any accompanyments you want. As much as I like a big giant breakfast on these kinds of trips, I don't like cooking it. I'm a roll out of bed, eat something small and get on the river kind of guy. I'd also suggest that each party bear responsibility for his/her own lunch. My fiancee normally makes up a bunch of chicken salad from a walmart rotissery chicken and we eat that for lunch in the boat. So between whatever meat Phil is bringing plus gumbo and rice from me, we may be squared away for Friday dinner. Fish fry should knock out Saturdday night, but Little Red needs to let folks know what htey can bring. Breakfasts are still an issue, and everyone can bring their own sandwich stuff for lunch.

I like the weekend of the 14th myself but can do either. I'd just like for Ham and LR to be able to make it, and Phil for part of the time. I figure Friday night will be fun, and we may be able to get there early enough to fish on Friday (depends on whether I can leave work). We've got a trial down south on the 10th I think. I don't think I'll have to try that one, but I may be involved helping some folks get it ready which has the potential to make that weekend of the 7th a busy one for me. Like most trips I think, Friday is the most fun in terms of meeting folks and hanging out. Saturday morning is fish hard time. Saturday afternoon is more fishing. By Sunday, some folks will be ready to hit the road. My fiancee and I are down for the 14th.

Ham, any prayer of you getting off on the weekend of the 7th? If it means LR and Phil can come, that's definitely a plus. Is your work schedule such that you couldn't meet us at all?

I talked to my fiancee last night and she's in. I like that weekend of the 14th. No reason why we couldn't do it on the 7th, but Ham said he couldn't go then. Little Red, is there any way you can make it on the 14th? I'd think wives and kids would be welcome on this trip too. I'd like for Ham and Little Red to both be able to make it. Muddy seems like he might be flexible like me. Phil, what do you think? If this thing keeps getting legs, we also need to decide whether to put it on the main board. As far as I'm concerned, the more the merrier. I just don't want any global warming discussions on the trip.

Has the fishing changed much with the cooler weather? Seems like the last couple of times I fished the War Eagle area, the fish were still doing the late summer thing and my best luck was on buzz baits. Thinking about heading out there today since it's going to be so windy (I can't get my big boat in the place I wanted to go, and the little one doesn't do well with 25mph gusts). Any thoughts on what's been working or what the bass have been doing? Is it still too early for them to get on a wiggle wart on the rocky banks?

There's little in the way of public ground around the river. As mentioned by others on here before, you can run up the buffalo if you have a 9.9, and there are a handfull of resorts that have camping spots. White-Buffalo resort comes to mind. You can always camp at the parks. If you want guaranteed wading, I reccomend you bring/rent a canoe and float the Norfork. Currently they're only running one unit on the White around the clock I think. At that level, surely you can find some wadeable wader without a boat, even if you have to take the shuttle from Rim Shoals to the islands.

Riley's would be fine with me. I've never stayed there, but a good deal is a good deal. If we have one or two guys with 9.9's, then maybe we can do some wart and jerkbait fishing in the buffalo. They'll send me to jail if I try to run it. I figure we bump this thread a few more times and hopefully get some more eyes on it, and then we do a roll call a week or two out? How much notice do you think you need to get the place booked? That's not just a super busy time of year for them I don't think.

December 7 and 14 both look good to me. I'm leaning towards the 14th because Fiancee's birthday is November 29th, and we may need a weekend right around then to celebrate. I'm open to suggestions as to where you guys would want to go. I am partial to the big cabins at the Norfork River Resort. They sleep a lot of folks comfortably and I like that part of the river. A little more elbow room than fishing up at the top. Of course, if we get good water conditions, we could do a long float on the upper river and run some shuttles. If we have low water, a canoe trip down the norfork really is a blast. I'll be pretty flexible that time of year and could probably knock off on a Friday as well to get an afternoon of fishing in.

Anyone interested in doing a trip in November or December? Ham, LR, anyone? My boat can accomodate three easily. I haven't tried to fish four out of it (and only have three seats), but I'm sure it's do-able. I'd be up for taking canoes down the 'fork too. We whacked them on zig jigs doing that last weekend. My fiancee's desire to be on the river wanes significantly when it gets colder. If it's a nice weekend I'm sure she'd want to come too. We could rent one of the big places at Norfork River Resort maybe? Just thinking out loud here. But I'd love to do a gathering with some of you guys and learn some stuff. If we wait until it gets REALLY cold, then the river won't be nearly as crowded and maybe we'll get some higher jerkbait flows.

I concur with everything Ham said. Depending on what part of the river you're on, you can almost always find SOME wadable water at these low to medium-low flows. I wouldn't want to be stuck on foot myself, so I'd opt for the boat for sure. The Norfork is fishing really good right now, or at least it did for us last weekend. I'd focus your efforts there if you really want guaranteed wadable water. Of course, with the cooler temps coming up, the window of opportunity on the fork may not be as big as it has been.

I haven't done a side by side test, but I've found the triple surgeon's to feel week in hand with a braid to floro connection. I can generally pop it with a light sharp jerk, whereas the uni to uni holds up. I've always used a triple surgeon's for tippet to leader connections on a fly line, but that's generally mono to mono or mono to floro. Maybe it makes a difference? I need to learn the alberto though. Even with small diameter lines, the uni to uni causes some issues since I put micro guides on all of my spinning rods. It will still pass a size 4 micro, but it hits it on the way out for sure.

We opted to float the norfork this weekend with the boat in the shop. Floated from 9 to 4 and had a great day yesterday. I think we managed 40 between us, but we had a number of very nice fish. They were seriously fat and happy. Caught a few on the fly rod but jigs and panther Martins in the catch and release area took all of the big fish. It was a beautiful day. We went up to white hole last night just to look around with the flashlight and saw some giants working the shallow water by the ramp.

Awesome, thanks again FF. Hopefully last question. Are all of these deals just plug and play? As in, do I just stick a card in my unit and be done with it? Or do I have to download stuff from the net, interface between the PC and the unit (or card), etc.?

That's it, thanks Jeb! Question. Does the software on your unit update to reflect the water level some how? Maybe it beams a known depth and adjusts off of that or something? How does it reconcile the fact that the lake is 10 feet high or low? Also, on the web it cuts off a pretty good ways from shore. Does it do that on the boat too, or is it just hidden from the web demo or something?