FlyFishinFool Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Went down to BSSP to fish the last weekend of the C&R season. The highway is completely cleared, but the park still had a lot of snow. The stream was not crowded at all - I thought there would be a lot more folks down since it was the last weekend and the weather forecast was to decent weather. A few parking areas were plowed, but many were not - thus a lot of parallel parking along the park road. After 2 warmer days, the park roads had melted quite a bit, and were almost clear of ice/slush ridges. After a couple more warm days, there probably won't be much snow left at all. Saturday temps were a little brisk in the AM but were over 40 by 11:00AM and peaked out in the mid-50's or so. I got there late and did not start fishing until almost 11AM - but the fishing was pretty good! Lots of fish hitting a variety of flies - I caught almost 2 dozen fish in the first 2 hours I fished, mainly on small midges. But I saw folks catching a good number of fish on thread jigs, glow balls and lots of wooleys. The fish completely shut down about 3PM - no one caught a thing after that! Sunday morning the temp at 7:30AM was already 40 and it was over 50 by 10AM, with a peak temp over 60 - great weather for February! The fishing was slower on Sunday - everyone I talked to said the fish simply were not as aggresive and they were catching fewer fish than on Saturday. However, the fish were still there; I averaged 3-4 fish per hour on a mix of drifting small midges and stripping cracklebacks. Watched one fellow just knocking them off by stripping a BIG weighted brown wooley. Early in the day the same guy caught a very nice 20+" fish (I saw the picture!). There were several small hatches, but I did not have any luck throwing small dry flies, nor did I see anyone else having success with drys. And again, the bite basically shut down about 3PM. In summary, it was a great weekend to fish at BSSP; and it was a really GREAT weekend to do it in February! * ´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸ ><((((((º> `•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸¸.•´¯`•.¸ ><((((º> .¸¸.•´¯`•.¸ ><((((((º> I look in my fly box and think about what should guide my choice of the best fly: the amount/angle of sun on the water, the water temp & clarity, what bugs are hatching, what the fish might be eating, and what worked last time. Then I remember what an old man told me... " Ninety percent of what a trout eats is brown, fuzzy, about 1/2 inch long and underwater."
laker67 Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 Good report to go along with a great weekend. A much deserved break in the weather and sounds like you made the most of it. Thanks for posting.
Ham Posted February 14, 2011 Posted February 14, 2011 You confused me at first because I use BSSP to mean Bull Shoals State Park. Which may not at all be accurate, but it is the moniker I use. As I read along I figured things out. I know I would have understood immediately had I looked at the furom heading. I was at "my" BSSP this Saturday and the 30 or so people I saw soaking Power Bait where not into Catch and Release. I caught and released 40 trout Saturday with my flyrod using micro jigs. Every color I tried worked so I doubt color was a key. Nothing huge, but a fun way to spend 2 1/2 hours. Every Saint has a past, every Sinner has a future. On Instagram @hamneedstofish
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