Traveling To White River Need Advice

[Cdal1]

Hi,

I am taking my father to the White River in November to fish for trout. We have never been there and have never fished for rainbow or brown trout, only bass, crappie, and bream in Tx.

We are staying at a house on the river that says it is 8 miles from bull shoals dam. I have searched the net and found that 4-6lb flourocarbon clear or green works best, but would like some tips on what bait to use while fishing. We are not going for trophys just want to have a good time and catch lots of fish.

I have decided to not get a guide so we are doing this on our own. I am planning to just fish from the bank or maybe rent a boat but haven't decided yet. Any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

[Ham]

You don't need to drop the cash for flurocarbon. a quality 4-6 pound green mono will work just fine.

Inline spinners, spoons, F7 and F9 rapalas will all catch trout for you BUT I prefer Zig Jigs. I've caught literally hundreds of trout this year on Zig Jigs. I use the 1/8 oz most of the time. I prefer the greens and brown colors.

You might want to consider hiring a guide at least for a half day trip to get a feel for the river and how to handle a trout boat BEFORE you rent one. You're coming a LONG way to do something you've never done before and I'd like ya'll to be successful.

Swimming those jigs isn't too different than tightlining a jig for crappie, but the White changes flow etc almost every day and a decent guide would be able to take you to a section of river that was fishing good.

Corn and Powerbait definitely catch trout BUT that is not necessary to catch them.

[RSBreth]

Yeah, you don't need bait to catch fish down on the White. I've taken people of all different skill levels down there fishing before, and you can always catch some fish on smaller minnow type lures (Rapala), small spinners and spoons (like the Thomas Buoyant or Little Cleo) and also jigs like Ham mentioned. This is especially true when they running water, like they will be most of this Fall. You may also want to take one heavier spinning or casting rig with say 8- or 10-pound test to throw a bigger XRap or other jerkbaits at a really nice looking spot. Stock up on some single replacement hooks for your teble-hook lures if you are going to fish single-hook areas, like Rim Shoals.

You'll need the fishing regulations book, or you can download it here: CLICK HERE.

Lot's of huge Browns and big Rainbows in the White, one of the best fishing spots in the entire middle section of the country. Bring a good camera, too.

[brownieman]

You might want to bring severel rods...keep an ultralight with 4 lb. test on to fish for dinks with using traditional trout stuff like these guys have said.

If you want a chance at a big brown bring one pretty heavy set up. Cheap rods will produce about as many fish as the most expensive rods...been proven many times just don't look as pretty.

For fishing the Current I target lg. browns. I use a 6'6" medium heavy action Ugly Stik and a 4000 series Shimano spinning reel with 15 lb. test and a heavy duty barrel swivel...the swivel lets me throw every color I've got much faster and I think it adds a little weight and action to the lure. All I carry is Rapalas, F 13s...I know one wouldn't think it but they will belly up a fish often when nothing else will...don't know if they are fightin it or bitin it, don't really care but don't think for one second it does'nt produce big fish...wrench will testify to the number of fish this method produces.

later on

bm

[Cdal1]

Thanks for all of your help. I'll go to academy and get all of your recommendations.

Should I even bother with live worms or just try artificial?

[brownieman]

Never hurts to drown a crawler...just make sure you're legal.

later on

bm

[Cdal1]

How should we fish with the live worms?

Use a cork or free line, or with just a split shot.

Thanks

[brownieman]

What works for me is use about a # 4, 6 hook or so, nothing tinsy and enouph split shot to bounce it off the bottom in fairly swirt water...just drift fish the riffles ya know, cast upstream and drift it down below you keeping your line tight as you can and keep it down.

good luck...good thing about crawlers bows, browns, cuts...heck, almost any fish will eat a worm.

later on

bm

[Gavin]

If your fishing from a boat....try one of these rigs....works great with crawlers injected with air, powerbait, etc.

http://lilleyslanding.com/lt_maps/drift_rig.php

[brownieman]

Gavin,

I used to use a rig identical to that on the lower Current for walleye...just parked it at the end of the riffles where the water breaks from shallow to deep.

It is a good way to rig several baits,

later on

bm