Fishing higher flows tomorrow

[hoglaw]

I've been traveling a lot for work lately and it's finally settling down, so I'm leaving early tomorrow morning to do a quick over and back trip to the White.  We'll likely put in at White Hole and fish up and down from there.  Looks like they've been running the equivalent of six full generators pretty much around the clock, so I'm pumped about some some warm weather jerkbait fishing.  Only problem is the weather forecast doesn't look so good.  Hopefully I'll have a report Thursday that doesn't involve dodging lightning.  Anyone been fishing the big water?

[joeD]

I've heard the big bite is off. Reason being, that due to constant high water for the last two months, the fish are ignoring the usual stuff, having been gorging on the real thing.

But, us jerkbait fishermen are in the minority on this river. So...

I would go fishing in a heartbeat regardless.

[Ccox1982]

Fished early August and did really good, considering the high water. We mainly fished 1/8 oz jigs, 1/16 in some spots. The hot color for us was sculpin and orange. We fished  whatever sloughs and slack water we could find from the state park all the way down to The Sportsmans. Good luck. 

[hoglaw]

Yep, y'all were both spot on.  I think we could have caught a lot more fish if we'd have focused on sticking to the slack water and jigging it, but I was determined to get a big fish.  Ironically the biggest fish I landed was a really pretty 17" rainbow on the first drift.  We probably caught 25 or 30 between the two of us, most of which were small (all smaller than the 17"), but there were quite a few fish with full fins that had been in the river a while mixed in there.  We caught most fish on jerkbaits because that's what we threw all day, but we did catch a few on jigs in the C&R area.

It stormed like crazy on the way up there and rained lightly on us for the first hour or two of the trip.  I thought that might help the big fish bite, but it didn't.  We did manage to locate a few groups of really nice fish.  We fished to them on multiple drifts.  Each time they would charge the jerkbait down, maybe dart back and forth a few times, but we couldn't get them to eat.  Finally I had one come out of nowhere and it just engulfed my jerkbait, but it came right towards me.  I reeled as fast as I could so I could stick it, and before I got any pressure on the line, it jumped straight up out of the water and threw my bait right back at me.  I swear it came six feet out of the water - I've never seen one jump so high.  It looked to be a really long and lean brown.  It was a big fish for sure.  We had a bunch of heart stopping moments when big ones would charge our baits, but that was the only one that bit.

You're right Joe, they must have all the food they want right now.  They were definitely frisky and would chase the bait around, but as soon as they got a look at it they wouldn't bite.  I threw at least three different jerkbaits, and my buddy threw two or three different ones.  Same results all the way around.  Maybe the big fish bite is better on a faster rise, or early in the rise?

[joeD]

Generally, on the rise. However, they do like consistency and current. As long as the river isn't going up and down like a yo yo, and there is at least the equivalent of 2 generators going, you have a better chance of catching bigger browns.

However, and it is significant to my opinion, I haven't and don't, fish the White except January through March. I am after post spawn big and bigger browns. That is when they are concentrated on the upper portion of the river, instead of scattered all over. Also, lodging is 40% off in the winter months, so I need to make my few trips to Arkansas count.