BFTMASTER

Any of you guys know where to find some quality jigs for the White? Sculpin colored, painted heads, varying weights. We had a good time with a guide this year, bouncing jigs off the bottom. Probably caught and released over 100 fish each. Don't have time to tie my own, but would like to build a jig box for the White. Thanks-

Crawfish and streamer patterns stripped will prove unresistable for those little smallies or smoke colored grub on spinning gear.

Brave man Daddy-o, last time I went on the upper with my wife, the trashy folks ruined it for us. I doubt we will ever go during the weekend again. The party was everywhere, and too many times my wife was asked to expose herself. Total losers, it was hard for me to avoid trouble that day, so we will head to the Buffalo next time.

Good on ya and everyone else who helped pick up trash. I appreciate your efforts, and we should all pack out more trash than is ours when we are down there. Glad you had fun too!! Those big ones that get off are the ones that haunt you into coming back for more.

Clear, calm water leaves them spooky. We are seeing stripers....and they are seeing us. If somebody did some night time fishing, they might succeed.

There is a little bit of a learning curve there at RR...also some of the better holes will get hogged all day. Everytime you go back, it will get better. Try to go sometime in the middle of the week, things calm down tremedously. Glo balls are king in the middle of those hot days.

Is there any organizations involved with such thins on the LIR? Trout Unlimited? Shouts for Trouts? Trouts R us? I have had a blast the last two years down there, the years before were drought years. Used to be that the only trout that were there were less than 10" .... I personally have released 3 fish this year over 4lbs. , somthing I thought would have never happened.

I second the C & R, with plenty of smaller fish for the take,...(6) 1 lbs. to 1.5 lbs. is plenty of filets. And trout really don't taste that good after freezing. Pray for more rain through out the summer, so they will have enough water to run to keep things cool.

Stop by Tim's Fly Shop if you need some advice or flies, line, etc.

I understand, and I myself keep some fish from there sometimes. I was only trying to encourage others to do as I do, and release the well above average sized fish. Where else can you go right now and catch the quality of fish we enjoy there on the the Lower? 1.5 lb. regularly to I guess the ever rare 6lb. Best intentions were meant in my intial post, and to be truthful, I have to talk friends and relatives out of keeping the nicer fish nearly every time we go. Also, I know from experience,Big trout don't really taste that good either.

Try to keep the decent stockers for the table please, there won't be any good ones in there someday if we all decide to eat the big ones. These last two years have been good there on the Lower, better fishing then most all other destinations in a 200 mile circle. If we practice Catch and Release, we could end up having a World Class River right here in green country. Those bigger fish are much more valuable than dinner, when you think 10 more people could have the joy of catching that same fish. I know that it is hard, but with a healthy supply of 1 1/2 to 2 pounders, why would you keep a 6 lb. rainbow? With all respect, please consider your actions, and be a steward of this beautiful river, even though you have a legal right to keep what you want.

I would'nt worry about C & R for kentuckies on Tenkiller, when you find them they are thick. Play by the rules is all. When the largemouth virus came through years ago it did not affect the Kentuckies, Spots, or Smalls, therefore their populations boomed. People in the know feel Tenkiller is a Trophy Smallmouth Secret. Go to any of the tournaments and about 1 in 8 fish weighed in is a nice smallmouth.

I took an employee of mine who had never been fishing down to WATTS on Friday. Except for the thunder and occasional rain, it was a decent day. The fish were a little slow, but the wind coming from the south was making the water a little choppy. Most fish were a bit on the small size with a couple nicer ones. Roostertails and Jigs caught most, with a few on brass/copper spoons. Four different times we saw Copperheads swimming from the East side of the river to the West. Real copperheads, not Eastern Water Snakes. They must be coming off the rocky ridges on that side where they hibernate for the winter. Attention: Watch your step when walking in the grass, they all were good sized, and I would not want to take a chance on trusting my waders to protect me.

When I was down at BSD last week, we did quite well on Rapala cd-1,3,5,7 all brook trout color. The browns we caught were all on white jigs. Got into the walleye in the eddy up by the dam, trick was to let my Rapalas sink for 7-10 seconds then slowly retrieve with a fast rod tip twitch.

Just pack your spinning gear in case they release. We have been doing really well this year at all areas. Microjigs, small rapalas and small spoons. Should'nt be hard to have some fun no matter what the water level or weather.

To keep one alive in your aquarium would require plenty of clean, cool, oxygenated water, and you are still probably going to have problems keeping him alive. Sculpins like clear cool moving water. Good luck.

Any of you guys every use Rapala countdown in Cd-11, I kill trout on the Lower Illinois with the cd-1 through cd-7 but cd-9 and up are a little big for the size fish we have. I was wondering if maybe they sink to fast instead of suspending like the baits you guys talk of. Also when you are fishing from a boat on the white, are you pounding the bank or just drifting and casting? I was into fly fishing, but I have far to much energy and like spin fishing rapala for the action. once you figure out how the fish want it retrieved, and it seems a little different each day, the fish react. Me and a couple of buddies have a trip in Late March, so I am trying to figure I few things out. The Tackle Monkey is loose in my house.

That tube makes it easy to sneak clousers into prison, or when you don't have pockets. J/K

Don't under estimate rainy fishing days. Some of my best days were in pouring down rain. As long as it's not freezing, i welcome the rain. hope you have fun!!

Today the flyfisherman outfished spinfisherman and baitfisherman. Hot patterns were olive wooly-buggers and just about anything that did not resemble a shad. lots of people....if you go, go early and claim your territory.

Fished Wed. AM: Fishing was a little better, shad patterns working again as no generation occured, therefore the water was not littered with them. Some quality fish showed up later in the morning. Fish deep, near the bottom. Emerger patterns work down there when you are seeing fish rise but the won't hit dries. Let it swing behind you for a good while before casting again. Cast to much=no fish. i watched a guy cast his butt off and catch nothing....let it swing and hold for a minute or to behind you. Mid Day seems to be happening more than morning....?

The fish I cleaned Sunday were packed with shad. Still no hits on shad patterns. Go with bright colors and action. Twitch those beads and glow balls. Afternoon had good topwater bite on Dunns. This weeks stockers were the only thing active, bigger fish i guess were full and taking it easy.

Fished Dam area today. Very cold, hardly any fish until after about 2hrs. post generation. Shad kill was huge. I think the fish had plenty to eat with having to move. Stocker size was the rule today, no nicer fish. Bright colors, or anything different than shad colored patterns was the only way to go. Orange, pink and yellow. Not one bite on anything shad looking. might be tricky fishing until the kill slows down. Should see some nicer fish in the couple of months.

Taney is about 4 more hours. Not really the same area at all. Try below the dam at Beaver on the white. Next, Roaring river, though you'll have to bring the "A" game to catch a decent Brown there, but you'll catch plenty of stocker size rainbows. You can fish both of these rivers in the same day,but the are in two different states(two licenses and tags). You can still have plenty of fun on the Lower Illinois. Roostertails, small jigs, small rapala like crankbaits. have fun

I've seen those same three deer cross there several times this year, except it was late winter and early spring. One time they swam across when the Dam was pushing about 5,500cfs. Might not be the same deer, cause the three I saw where antlerless that time of year.