White River Fishing Report 2/29/16

[Ham]

Had some catching up to do around the house before I could think of doing anything else, but things went well and I was able to make a little fishing trip this afternoon.

drug the trout boat up to the ramp just below the BSL dam. Water was about 8000 CFS when I got there. They turned one off and turned another unit on, but it did seem like the water level dropped a little bit as I fished. Sunny with some high clouds which I like. Warm. A lot more wind than I like but I made it work. 

I threw Zig jigs. Shocker right? 6 lb Nano/ 6 lb leader. Browning Air Stream rod.

The fish were tight to bottom and better close to shore. I had a lot of nice fish, but no Giants. 18 inch Brown was best fish. 

I caught 62 fish in less than 5 hours  of fishing. I also collect 3 big articulated flys out of bushes. Still in great shape with sharp hooks. 

Ill have to look and see exactly what the water level was. It was a great level for that section of the river. 

[Ham]

This is the sky I like for trout

[Ham]

The flys are a little bigger than a Zig jig. 

Zig jig on top is unfished. One in bottom after 40 plus fish. It was still getting bit, but it was so sparse I lost confidence in it and changed it

[Ozark Sweetwater]

Hey Ham! That fly on the right is mine. I've lost an unbelievable amount of streamers over the last 3 weeks but that's part of the game on big water. 

[joeD]

How far down did you go, and did the bite stop at a certain point?  I've heard the water is still somewhat murky (for the White). So many conflicting reports. Just interested to know about the bite after such prolonged high water at the wrong time. 

BTW, when I was down around Feb 8, still mega water, the lure of choice was a white zig (or approximation, head was painted) jig, and not a jerkbait. Go figure.

[Ham]

7 hours ago, Ozark Sweetwater said:

Hey Ham! That fly on the right is mine. I've lost an unbelievable amount of streamers over the last 3 weeks but that's part of the game on big water. 

It sure was pretty!

[BFTMASTER]

I hit the catch and release area on Friday and Saturday. They were running about 9-11K.  White jigs as close to the dam as you could get resulted in a fat 2lb. rainbow every cast.

After about 9:00 that bite died down and we had good luck with the browns.  We caught 18 browns between 15 and 20". They were staging in 2-3 ft of water in the middle of the river and were hitting brown and orange Pj's.  I wish that Pj made a 3/16" or 1/4" oz.  I prefer Pj's, but that is just me.  Downstream of Cane Island, the bite really died off and we quickly learned to just stay with the fish that were cooperating. Lots of boats out

 

[Ham]

PJ is a nice jig. I like the head design, the hook, and the amount of feathers on the Zig Jig better. Sounds like y'all had a good trip. Maybe I should have tried White.

[Ham]

Typical White River stocker.

[Ham]

I think this was first fish of the day.