One Of, If Not, The Best Day I've Seen

[JD Dudley]

Last week, I FINALLY, got to get back over to the two rivers I've loved for the past 30 years. It's been 4 years since I've been on the White and about 7 since I've been to Norfork. This time, I got to take my son who hasn't been in 4 years either... baseball, baseball, and more baseball (54-9 on the year, so he wasn't complaining!).

On Thursday, we put in at Cotter and motored up to the Narrows and started floating back down hitting hot spots like the Narrows, Wildcat, Rainbow, and then Cotter. Trolling motor broke down at the Narrows so we pulled out the drag chain which worked perfect for what we were doing with 2 units coming down. Caught a ton of fish and my son had what looked to be about an 8 pound brown take a swing at him, but my boy was too fast for him. He didn't realize he'd have another chance at one just like it later on. Pulled out of Cotter and went to Dry Run for his first experience at "those" fish! He threw a jig at them and caught a couple of the babies in there, but nothing better than we caught in the White. Left there and went to BS Dam where they still had 2 units running. Ran up from state park to the dam and IT WAS ON!!! Caught fish after fish after fish for 2 hours, all of which were HEALTHY rainbows and browns... Nothing huge but extremely fun catching fish between 15-18 inches on 2 lb. line. Loaded up and headed back home having caught a little over a hundred fish on the day.

On Saturday, my brother-in-law joined us and we got to Norfork at about 10:00. Took my son to Dry Run again and he caught a 19 inch brown (which prepped him for what was coming in a little bit) while me and my brother in law sat there and video'd and drooled over "those" fish! After seeing several BIGGER ones swing at him and miss again, we decided to hit Norfork with minimum flow. Put in at the top ramp and decided we'd float to Norfork Trout Dock (unbelievably nice guys down there and really helpful... still!) and then come back up and pick up the trailer. Floated through Genes Hole (at least that's what I use to call it... where all the docks are) and immediately saw why I use to LOVE to fish that river. Saw cutthroats up to 4 pounds, browns up to 10 pounds and several 2-3 pound rainbows. Was fishing across from Genes and spotted a BIG male rainbow that wasn't spooked. Threw at him and he turned, swam, and ate and the fight was on. Immediately handed the rod over to my 11 year old son and watched this kid fight this fish like a champ. He couldn't horse him because we were using 2 lb. line and every time he ran, kid would back reel on him (I've taught him not to trust the drag). He finally got him tired enough to pull him up and I netted him. Put him in the livewell because I knew we'd have to work with him before we turned him back and he was big enough that he curled in the livewell. Motored over to the dock, snapped some pictures and then started working on reviving him. Worked with him for about 15 minutes and then sat him in the tank at the dock until he stood up which did my heart good to know that he would make it in the river. Turns out, it was an 8 pounder that beat my personal best over there and of course, my son is claiming it as his (as he should!). Left there and kept fishing all the way down to C&R and I lost count at how many 2-3 pounders we caught in front of where McClellans use to be (including a stretch where I caught 10 fish in 10 casts only to put my rod down and help my son proceed to catch 5 in the next drift). Even hooked a 3 pound largemouth that jumped and spit it back at me. Brother-in-law got a taste of why I use to love it so much because he caught fish after fish as well. Realized they had turned the water on so ended up motoring back up to the dam to load the boat. Left there and said "hi" to an old friend at Norfork Trout Dock and loved what he'd done with the place since I'd last been there... LOTS of space and tons of cabins (big and small), pool, conference room, etc... yeah, that's a plug! Left there and headed back to BS Dam where they were running minimum flow. Put in at state park again and headed back up to the dam for the last couple of hours of the day. Not a single boat up there and only 2 fly-fisherman so as we kept our distance from them so we didn't disturb their day, my brother-in-law got in on the action. He and my son started trading licks with fish after fish and all I could do is sit there and net fish, video, and take pictures (would do that every day of my life if it meant people catching fish like that). Brother-in-law's biggest was a 22 inch football rainbow that I guessed to be 4 pounds. Finally on our last drift, I ended up catching an 18 inch brown that let me remember why I love those fish over there... Pure fighters and ALL including the fish from Thursday were released (don't get me wrong, we'll take a few now and then, but didn't have time to clean the little keepers). Totals for the day were over 130 fish caught including the 8 pounder, 4 pounder, and I don't know how many 2-3 pounders.

In all of my years over there, I've had one day that I know competes with Saturday. We've caught a lot more than that in a day, but nothing like the size we did. I'm headed back next week with a guy I coach with and it'll be his first time to trout fish... I hope he gets as spoiled as my son is now!

[JD Dudley]

Here are some of the pics...

[Terrierman]

Incredible. Great job.

[Ham]

I'm still in the process of knocking the rust off. I was too busy catching bass on the Ned that I let my trout skillz atrophy.

I've gotten spoiled by fishing in the fall and cold part of the spring when I have a lot of dumb, fat and happy trout to myself. You see so many less boats and the trout are seeing far less lures.

The trout are still dumb, but a lot less dumb than during the "off" season. There is NO bad time of the year to fish the White River, but there are better times for certain "bites". Our crazy winter put the caddis behind and may put the hoppers off a bit too. I'll say it until it's proven otherwise, the trout bite everyday UNLESS the water is muddy.

I'll get back in the groove. I need a couple of 100 fish trips.

[Quillback]

Good deal!

[budman]

JD, Bud Penick here, that was a great report. The pictures are great to see. So glad you got to share such great days with your son. Norfork is the first place I took BJ and got her to try a fly rod and she caught three and was hooked. We were recently on the lower Illinois river in Oklahoma and she caught about a dozen. Would love to get her into a day like you guys had. I am learning to tie my own flies and have even caught some fish on them and that makes it all the better. Good luck on your trip next week.

[JD Dudley]

JD, Bud Penick here, that was a great report. The pictures are great to see. So glad you got to share such great days with your son. Norfork is the first place I took BJ and got her to try a fly rod and she caught three and was hooked. We were recently on the lower Illinois river in Oklahoma and she caught about a dozen. Would love to get her into a day like you guys had. I am learning to tie my own flies and have even caught some fish on them and that makes it all the better. Good luck on your trip next week.

Bud, I had no idea you guys were into trout fishing... I love to hear it! Maybe at some point, we can meet up over there with your sons as well and get after 'em. Hope all is well with you guys!

[JamiePatterson]

Jd,

Awesome buddy!!! Had to look the post up after our conversation to check out the pics. Haven't seen your boy in a while... Holy smokes he looks like you! Let's hook up and hit the river soon. Farming is slowing down a bit for me and I'm NEEDING a trip over to the river bad!

[JD Dudley]

Jd,

Awesome buddy!!! Had to look the post up after our conversation to check out the pics. Haven't seen your boy in a while... Holy smokes he looks like you! Let's hook up and hit the river soon. Farming is slowing down a bit for me and I'm NEEDING a trip over to the river bad!

Jamie,

What's scary is he acts a lot like me as well! I guess you can see what I was talking about with the big rainbow... looks familiar doesn't he? One of the coaches and I are heading over there this week from Wednesday - Friday. Hope he gets to experience it like that as well. We'll definitely hook up over there at some point. I hope to get my boy over there again before school starts so lets talk about when and maybe we can run it at the same time.

[JD Dudley]

I'm still in the process of knocking the rust off. I was too busy catching bass on the Ned that I let my trout skillz atrophy.

I've gotten spoiled by fishing in the fall and cold part of the spring when I have a lot of dumb, fat and happy trout to myself. You see so many less boats and the trout are seeing far less lures.

The trout are still dumb, but a lot less dumb than during the "off" season. There is NO bad time of the year to fish the White River, but there are better times for certain "bites". Our crazy winter put the caddis behind and may put the hoppers off a bit too. I'll say it until it's proven otherwise, the trout bite everyday UNLESS the water is muddy.

I'll get back in the groove. I need a couple of 100 fish trips.

Ham, those pesky bass tend to do that! One of the reasons I haven't been over there is for the very reason your talking about with bass... trying to chase them down. As I'm sure you're aware and probably already have, it won't take much to get back in the groove with the trout. My trip was just one of those days and we were extremely thankful for it! Good luck to you and maybe we'll see you over there sometime.