hoglaw

I hate to do it but I have to back out. My house is going on the market sooner than I thought so we have a lot of work to do, and my mom and step-father are planning to come see us and can only come that weekend. I'm sorry we will miss the trip. We will try to get up there this spring before the weather gets warm and the crowds get thick.

I'd canoe float myself. Cow shoals to swinging bridge or swinging to lobo. We used to fish the lower river a lot but there was a massive fish kill last summer around Ramsey. Pangburn to Ramsey was our standby float but haven't been back since the kill. The fact that they died that high up makes me doubt there are many trout farther down. There are also dams/weir walls that obstruct navigation in a couple places below Ramsey I think. We have always fished jigs on the little red. Not necessarily zig jigs, but marabou jigs anyway.

I'm with Ham, not the boat for those conditions. I used to have a shawnee that was a narrow boat and it was awful in the wind because of the rocker. My current AFF handles the wind much better because the bottom is flatter with little rocker. But I still don't like driving mine across white-capping waives. I've done it, but it sucks. It's bumpy, you can see the floor moving, and the jet cavitates. I'd definitely want the widest boat you could get though.

I'll be there. I'll talk with my fiancee tonight and hopefully she'll come as well. For now, can you pencil me in for our own unit? I will update this as soon as I can.

10-4 Joe. The weather made it an experience for all of us.

I'll echo everyone's comments here. It was great to meet everyone. Very glad Phil could make it down to join us. The one comment that kept echoing was how we need to make this an annual deal. I completely agree. Someone posted earlier about the advisability of planning a fishing trip during a blizzard or something like that. This trip was planned a long time ago. Everyone could have made the decision to back out on account of the weather, but we all made an informed decision to head out there and I feel like we were well prepared for the conditions we faced, and we didn't push the safety envelope at any time aside perhaps from the drive down the hill into rim shoals. That was a little hairy, but we could have bailed out into the grass on the uphill side at any time if it got too bad. You'd be hard pressed to find anyone as safety-conscious as I am when operating a boat. As everyone who rode with me can attest, I don't come close to pushing my jet to its capabilities when I have other souls on board. On Sunday Muddy convinced me to push a little harder and we ran through some shallow water on the Norfork at full plane. We did not see a single angler on the White River the entire trip. I believe we have the weather to thank for that. It's extremely rare when you can float 25 miles of the White and not see another fisherman. This was one of my favorite trips I've taken over there and I really appreciate everyone who made it. There's no doubt in my mind that we'll make this an annual deal. A couple of weekends before Christmas really seems to work well with everyone's schedule. I really feel like you catch more quality fish in the winter months and you're likely to encounter higher flows which I really enjoy fishing. We didn't get any high flows this weekend, just moderate generation that I think was ideal for the float-fishing we did. It's neat to get to meet folks with such varied backgrounds and experiences, but it's a real tribute to this forum and community that folks who've never met eachother before can get together and share a cabin and boats and have a great time like we'd known eachother all of our lives. Can't wait to do it again and I hope some more of our community can join us. Muddy - I'm trying to send your fish pics but can't get them to attach on my phone. I'll try to get it figured out at some point today.

So as I understand it, the plan is for me to meet Phil at cotter tomorrow at 7. That's what I'm going with. I'd be up for fishing down-river too. I was just excited about the prospect of the upper river on high water. Again, I'm 479 957 8tree28 if anyone wants to touch base in the morning. I'll be leaving Fayetteville around 430

They cut the generation back a bunch tomorrow. Maybe three units at peak. Are we still meeting at cotter tomorrow morning?

Phil, that sounds like a winner to me. The only caveat being that we need at least some water running through wildcat to run through it on the way up. That area gives me the willies. But it looks like we've had some generation continuously so it shouldn't be a problem. That's going to be a long cold boatride in the morning!!!! I'll be sufficiently bundled up, make sure you are too. Also, grab some life jackets. I have three in the boat I think, but they're cheap and not that comfortable. I always put mine on when I'm underway so you'd think I would have invested in a nice one by now. We definitely want to make sure we have plenty of wear-able life jackets to go around. So what I'm taking from this is I meet Phil at Cotter access at 7a.m. No problem. I don't know whether fog has been an issue on these cold mornings or not. If it's really foggy I'm not sure we'll want to run that far.

So it looks like the early folks are me, Little Red, Phil, Ham, and Muddy with Quil at noon. That being the case, we'll have five people ready to fish at 7 or 8ish. So I can take two in my boat and Phil can take one in his maybe? Then Phil can rendezvous with Quil wherever we happen to be on the river at the time. Yep, I think the way to do this is to plan a float and we all meet at the take-out, where we leave a chase vehicle or two then we all head upstream together to the put-in. That should be easy enough. We can plan the meeting time later tonight, but I'm thinking we meet at the take-out around 7:30 or 8, then up to White Hole maybe.

I'm bringing my boat - 20'x56" aff with 90 jet and trolling motor. Room for three easy, maybe 4. Phil, I'd like to get an early start as well, so I'm happy to meet you wherever. I don't have any qualms about leaving a boat in a parking lot up there as long as my gear is locked in the truck. I've never had a problem (knock on wood). I think we can plan a meeting spot tonight when the generation predictions come out. I'd like to be able to catch the rise and ride it a ways. My boat doesn't have any problems heading back upstream in heavy current, but if a long float trip is an option, that's my preference. My indication right now for catching the rise, if they follow current patterns, is that if we meet at a take-out, say Cotter access, at 7 a.m., then we can leave a vehicle and ride together upstream to White Hole. We'd be in the water around 8, which should be just ahead of the rise. They ran 15k cfs this morning which is great jerkbait water IMO. We'd have a ten mile float which would take about three to four hours drifting. The next access down from Cotter is Rim Shoals and it's easy enough to motor back up from there to Cotter if we decide to go that far. I really like the idea of floating tomorrow rather than running up and down a dozen times. Plus, if we get a long way downstream and the weather gets bad around lunch, then we won't have a long boat ride home. I'm totally flexible here and will do whatever everyone else wants to do, but I think my suggestion is a decent game plan.

Everyone please post your phone number if you haven't already. Mine is 479-9five7-8328. Generation schedule when posted tonight should give us a good idea of what water is doing. My original plan was to be at the river around 7 or 8 tomorrow morning, but I can hold back a little if y'all aren't going to get there until later. With the weather tomorrow, I think we should be using the buddy system and not fishing alone. I need a boat partner tomorrow morning.

Ham, you're not alone. I've always enjoyed lower water jig fishing in pleasant conditions. It just seems that some of my better big fish days have been in eerie conditions, particularly when higher flows collide with an approaching front. I love watching them eat the jig in low clear water. But I really love seeing a big flash on a fast moving jerk bait.

John, as you may know a bunch of us are planning on heading over there for the weekend. Are the ramp conditions likely to improve at all in the next few days? Are there any ramps we should avoid right now?

I've floated the War Eagle probably 30 or 40 times but haven't done that stretch in the video. There are some unmakred public accesses where old roads dead end into the creek between Withrow Springs and Highway 45. I've used those, and I used to use 45 quite a bit but they shut it down. It appears folks still put in there though. It was curious to me that they shut the access at 45 down right about the same time that someone started operating a livery less than a mile downstream from there. I smell shenanegans. I've also taken out at the mill quite a few times. As far as rivers on the bucket list, I really want to get over there to NEA and do the 11pt in Arkansas. A lawyer that used to work for us has some family land over there and they run small jets all over it. They catch a lot of good smallmouth and walleye. I'd like to do the current river as well. The only Arkansas streams left on my list are the Saline, the Illinois Bayou, and the Little Red headwaters of Greers Ferry and the associated forks there. I've heard the Illinois Bayou has some phenomenal fishing.

I may be flying solo all weekend. Fiancee can't go and my buddy that I thought would come with me is out as well. I'm still planning on leaving Fayetteville around 5 or 6 on Friday morning, so I will be there early Friday. I'd like to catch that first rise and ride it down quite a ways. I'd like to team up with someone so we can have a shuttle, but I don't mind running back upstream. My jet will go around 30mph I think. It looks like LR, Ham, and Muddy are going to be there early-ish on Friday. I think that makes 4 of us that will be there early. So why don't we do this? We'll look at water conditions more closely on Thursday evening when they post predicted generation for Friday. I think Friday is shaping up to be the banner fishing day - heavy with a front moving in, not a lot of wind, and rain in the afternoon. To me that sounds like a good recipe for a long float. We could put in at the dam and take out at Denton Ferry or Cotter, which would be about a 15 mile trip. If four generators are on during the morning which appears to have been the pattern lately, that float wouldn't take but four or five hours to do. We could shorten it by taking out at wild cat then go down-river to our place and fish some more that afternoon, but I think we should try to maximize time on the upper river on Friday morning. That would also mean no long upstream runs in heavier current. Something to think about. I'm sure we could make some kind of game out of it. To do that, we'd all meet at the put-in and drop off boats, then run trailers downstream. Obviously water conditions are subject to change, but the weather is consistent enough that the generation pattern should remain pretty close to the same - heavier water in the early morning and early evening. Flows may be more moderate on Saturday as it has been my experience that they tend to cut back on the weekends a little. Saturday will also be windy I think.

Phil said earlier that he would be at the river around daylight on Friday. Who else will be there early on Friday morning? Fiancee may be backing out now, but if so I have a buddy that wants to come with me so at least I'm not driving/fishing alone on Friday morning. Phil also said he was bringing a boat, so he may need a buddy or can ride with us. Anyone else going to be up for fishing early on Friday? Big water release should start around 8 a.m. if the schedule keeps up for the week. That means we'd want to be fishing upstream, either from White Hole or the park at the dam. Some of that water at the dam is closed this time of year. I don't know where the boundary is off hand.

So far the generation this week has been around the clock at at least two units. However, there's a big pop that looks like four or five units right around 8a.m. and another one in the evening. That could make for some good jerk bait water closer to the dam in the morning, and closer to our place later. Someone can probably calculate when we're going to get peak water at Riley's pretty easily, but I'm not sure how to do that. I got the green light to leave early on Friday. We'll know more about actual water conditions on Thursday when SWPA posts Friday's schedule. That normally happens at night. But I'd guess it will be close to the same thing, which means a big pop in the morning. With these cold temps, does anyone know if any shad have been coming through the dam? It's a little early for a kill and BS may be too warm still, but with turnover completed, maybe there are a few? If so, a white jig bite could be good. I'd like to meet whoever wants to fish on Friday morning somewhere upstream. Maybe launch at White Hole or even up by the dam. As I said, I'll be flying solo so if two of you want to sling jerk baits in the bigger water we'll hopefully get, please let me know. After a morning of fishing, I'll be down to head wherever the flows are (maybe Rim or Ranchette by that time) and fish closer to Riley's. I'll have to leave around 5 to go pick up my fiancee in Harrison and then come back for dinner on Friday.

My schedule has changed for the better I think. Fiancee wants to be back early on Sunday for a Christmas party. Compromise was she would meet me in Harrison on Friday night for the drive over. That means I get to leave Fayetteville before daylight on Friday and fish all day on Friday before going to pick her up! So I will be there solo with boat on Friday morning. Ham, Little Red, you guys want to fish with me on Friday? On Saturday, she will be fishing with me so I can carry one more. I figure Little Red? the only thing that gives me reservations is I haven't run my boat in about two weeks. I can't run it at the house since it's a jet. I don't anticipate any problems and it's never given me any other than a bearing that went bad, but I had that replaced recently. I need to re-grease that bearing and was hoping for some over-freezing temps so I could push any water out, but it was greased two trips ago so it shouldn't be a problem. LR, I'm with you on having a back-up boat. If you don't mind trailering yours, that would be good. Plus It doesn't look like I'll be fishing on Sunday.

Marcus, did you see us on that Friday? There were five of us in canoes. My brother and brother-in-law were in one, my stepfather was in a green one with a motor, and fiancee and I were in the other. We saw a few groups that included a lady, so I think there's a good chance we saw you. That pod of giant fish we saw splashing around were on the left side of the island. We floated down the right side then eased back up into the left side. Didn't catch any though.

I'm not sure. Our place is right where a creek comes into the river about a mile down from lobo, on the other side. I'm sure we have run the boat down there before. We used to fish it a lot by boat, but we canoe it most of the time anymore. We float from Dripping/Pangburn to Ramsey quite a bit, and the floats I mentioned before. My mom got a sign recently that will be put up on our property and it's going to be painted like a game and fish sign. It's going to say "Shearpin Shoals". There's a little rise just in front of our dock that absolutely smokes motors as folks ride down through there at wide open throttle. We used to sit on the dock and watch them do it all day long without saying a word. Now we're wondering how long we have to have the sign up before it makes it into the Corps' or AGFC's maps.

Marcus, were you guys fishing on the Friday of Thanksgiving Weekend? We tried to float from swinging bridge to our place (below Lobo) by canoe. The water was LOW, and we hadn't even made it half way when it got dark so we took out at a friend's dock in the cooter neck neighborhood. It has been years and years since I have been on that stretch. I forgot how good the Little Red can really be, and there is so much great water in that area that is really only accessible by canoe. We found a pod of giants that were surfacing but couldn't get any to bite. We caught a few nice fish but mostly stockers. My fiancee had a really good one hooked not too far below swinging bridge but it jumped off. It was a real pain in the rear scooting those canoes down through all of the shoals. You couldn't have done it with even a light john boat. That would have been a nightmare. We normally float from Cow to Swinging Bridge or from JFK to Cow, but since we were doing an afternoon float (and the good fishing on both of those floats is at the beginning), we opted for the Swinging Bridge - down float. My stepfather has a square stern canoe with a little outboard that's perfect for motoring through the deep pools out there.

I am definitely coming and want my own room. Fiancee is 99.9% in. If she comes we will get there on Friday night. If she doesn't come then I will leave here first thing Friday morning to fish some on Friday too. I too am bringing my river boat and can take her plus one or two. One of my spider seats flew out of my little boat while I was driving down the road and the frame got bent up a little. It's still servicable but doesn't sit flat anymore. The other one is brand new and good to go. If the flows are anything like what they are this week, then we should be able to get on some good jerkbait fishing. I have a bajillion jerkbaits and plenty of jigs.

Saw folks talking about snow trout bite in the yuck thread. One of my most heart stopping fishing moments was a long battle with a giant brown that ate a soft hackle on the beaver tailwater just when mega flakes started falling. It was one of the best bites I've ever been on. Must be something to the snow deal.

By"run it all" I mean from dam to mcclellans. I wont go below mcclellans shoal in the big boat with no generation.