Report 7-29

[JamiePatterson]

Oops, rainbow, not brown... Yes, first (larger) fish pic came from norfork. Saw several good fish within 100 yards of this one. This fish tried to catch my jig three or four times. Had to stop and swim the jig for it to finally catch it. It was to fat to be very agile lol. Sorry, didn't measure any fish -guess I should have pulled out the ruler. I always feel like measuring or netting fish removes slime and I try to touch em as little as possible. Caught a lot of flack at lunch today for not measuring...

Ham, I tries out that sjr720 again with a jig -way to stuff and heavy for me. If you don't like your sr720 we should trade . I just like the feel, light weight, and the ability to really "load up" on cast. Just found loomis doesn't make the one piece sr720 anymore

[Ham]

that would be cool JP.

[LittleRedFisherman]

Wow, great catches there man, congrats!!

I could tell you farmed by the hat!!

[JD Dudley]

James, did that "not so fun" day involve gently walking the boat through a shoal on FATIGUE weekend? Regardless, I'm with you! It's ridiculous how good it's fishing right now. Last 3 trips over there have been just like your talking about and I now have a guy I coach with who is ALL OVER IT!!! He caught just over 50 on Friday and that's only his 2nd time over there (both in the last 3 weeks). We fished for 4 hours and ended up with over 150. A lot of it had to do with them running the stockers through there, but there's plenty of QUALITY hungry fish in there as well including some browns that are eating and chasing like I've never seen. We still need to hook up over there and see what kind of dent we can put in them... that'd be FUN!!

[JamiePatterson]

JD,

Lol, yeah, how could I ever forget that experience! Anyhoo... I wondered how your trip went. You guys really socked em! Awesome ! Also, be careful, sounds like you've created a monster with your buddy -I've got three cats from Oklahoma who have had their entire perception of reality (or maybe just trout fishing) changed on one trip where they tried out a few "little crappie jigs". They are all worthless now, dreaming of fishing at work, during family gatherings, etc lol! -maybe a bu of an exaduration, but you get the idea

Let's get brother Matt lined out and make a run before school gets back in full swing. Call me and we can figure out when. I've got about here weeks 'til I'm hooked up with corn harvest.

[JD Dudley]

Nothing like having a hook trying to be wrapped around your neck by an angry angler... but QUITE a memory!! My buddy is the same as what you're talking about with being consumed by it. I was initially suppose to be taking another one of the football coaches, but when this guy heard I was taking another coach over there, he said, "I'M GOING!" Turns out the other football coach couldn't go, but we ended up going anyways. He's already bought a new rod and reel setup and is hitting any clear water he can to be able to sight fish better... really fun to watch and coach him! We're about to close on our house, so we're moving next weekend and then the next week we start in-service with school so it won't happen for me before school starts but maybe once we get in the groove, we can get ol' Matt buddy over there with us and hammer down!

[JamiePatterson]

10/4. Congrats on the house!

[Clay Goforth]

Jamie those are awesome fish. Chris and I fished the Norfork on Saturday morning, along with the majority of Baxter County I assume, and did not have the same good fortune you did. They had min flow and from the access at the dam to the bottom of the hole in front of all the docks, there were no fewer than 50 people either in boats or fly fishing from the shore. A literal truck load of fly fishermen pulled up and bailed out of the cab and bed of the truck and started wading out to various parts of the river. No surprise the big fish had lockjaw. We caught 37 rainbows and 1 cutthroat before just not being able to take it any more with all the people crowding and trying to low-hole us. I know people say this a lot, but we were literally the only boat I saw catching fish. Everyone around us was bait fishing. We had a boat troll up to us and ask us what we were using to catch them because we were ripping fish out of the water around everybody's boats. (it was a 1/32oz peach/olive jig)

We also had what sounded like a .22 shot in our general direction from the bank, hitting in the water about 5 yards from the boat. We never could see exactly where it came from which is probably good because the 9mm in my concealed holster was feeling a bit itchy at that point.

We did get to see some MONSTER fish in that low water though. We saw two browns that would have crested the 20lb mark, two others running together that would have gone 15lbs, and around a dozen more that were in the 8-10lb range, so that was really awesome to see. If we go back to the Norfork, it will be during the week sometime for sure.

We packed up and went to Rough Hole on the White and dinked around, catching another 40 fish, waiting for Bull Shoals to turn on more than 1 unit. At about 2 we loaded up and ran to Bull Shoals Dam, hoping that they would turn the water on. Sure enough, we got there and they had turned on a couple more units so we ran up river and made about 5 drifts from the dam back to the first shoal before a thunderhead rolled over the top of the dam bringing ridiculous wind gusts that spun us in circles, pelting rain, and plummeting temperatures. So we packed up and headed to the house. Overall, we bagged 120 fish on Saturday, so, a good day overall but not what I consider to be stellar fishing over there by any means.

We need to get together one of these days when you come up from the farm and go over there. I'd really like to get you, Chris Martin, JD and Drew, and maybe a couple other guys over there for a killer weekend. ALMOST Fatigue style. I say almost because I don't know if anything can live up to Fatigue weekends.

[JamiePatterson]

Yes, yes, yes! An almost "FATIGUE" weekend would be a blast! How long has it been? -seems like forever since the last one.

Good day on the water for you it sounds like! Glad you didn't get shot! Any idea what was up? Had two friends have that happen to them in a spot we duck hunt a few years ago. Some deer hunters decided they didn't like us hunting "their" spot. Spooky!

[JD Dudley]

It's been a little over 6 years since the last FATIGUE. I'd love to get over there again. Clay, when me and Drew went over the Saturday after the 4th, it was busy, but not that busy. We ended up going past all the docks into the next 3 holes and it was incredible down there as well. Saw a few fly fishermen in C&R and one other boat and that's it. In fact, the past 3 trips, we've had McClellan's and Mill Dam all to ourselves the past 3 trips. Got down there at minimum flow without ever having to get out of the boat... rubbed a few rocks, but kept it in line and got down without any problems. Planned on floating all the way to Mike's at low water (and really feel like we could've made it down without dragging), but each time, they turned the water on so we headed back up and fished more freely up top.

I saw one of the monsters you're talking about over there...easily over 20 and had two leeches on it's back, but it was running crazy trying to find a safe spot. Fun to watch it move around though and would've loved to see it eat a little "hairy" water bug.

About to get crazy busy for me, but definitely planning on getting over there more than I have been! We all gotta get back over there!