War Eagle/White Bass 4.16

[bferg]

Ran way up the War Eagle yesterday from 1-5. Ran as far up as we could go- almost to the mill. From sidewalk hole up river the water got more and more stained. Bigger issue was the fish at the top were paired up and very actively spawning and not interested in eating. We worked hard to get 4 in a couple hours. All on red clousers. Saw another group that had fished pretty hard to catch 6 on conventional gear. If the water was more clear I think you could get on the pre-spawners but I don't see that happening anytime soon based on the weather. This white bass run has been strange...of course the weather/water conditions have been in conflict with my schedule.

Also, FWIW: Heard a few old dudes talking crappie at the ramp. Sounded like they were fishing between Sidewalk and point 12. Said it was slow but everything they caught was coming on red and chartreuse shiny hiny's. They also said they were only catching male crappie.

Water temp around Sidewalk was right at 62ish.

[hoglaw]

I crappie fished that area last Friday and it was a bust for me. I'm just not that good at it.

Anyone look at the White River gauge this week? Water level and discharge are close to normal, but the turbidity is waaaay up. Guess that means one of the forks got hammered by rain and the others didn't?

I'm hoping to take off tomorrow and fish. There's a chance of rain, but mostly cloudy and calm winds should make for a decent crappie day. Just can't figure out where to go. I'm thinking I may head down to the Arkansas river but they've been running a bunch of water there, so my normal spots aren't that great. I'd chase the white bass if I thought I could do any good, but if the river's that muddy, I don't know about that.

[Guest]

Thats strange.

There's a small spike in Turbidity, but no spike in velocity or river stage.

Something else is causing the turbidity issue.

Could it be the West Fork Doodoo monster?

[beaverbeater]

Could be someone getting into the water or causing a disturbance near the sensor. Saw the same thing 2 weeks ago for the wyman bridge. It's the only logical thing seeing as it hasn't rained for a week and I was footing by that day near that area

[JohnF52]

A hard isolated shower anywhere upstream can cause temporary muddiness. I have seen a small tributary stream heavily muddied by a hard isolated downpour muddy a big stretch of river for a time. On the upper white, when there is a big wind, Sequoyah will get temporarily muddy and the spillway is only a little bit upstream from the Wyman gauge. A bit of gravel mining will also cause intermittent turbidity. I wish the COE would crack down on gravel mining in the upper White, Middle, and West forks.