White Bass 03.11.2016

[Ryan Walker]

Fishing trips are all about perspective; I started this trip to Taylor Shoals as a scouting trip, setting my expectations low. Early season whites can be frustrating at best. Gauge height at Galena is 5.86-not flooded but high enough to warrant a sink tip ( I used a versi-tip-7ips sink rate). 

Most of the fish I caught were in slack water at edge of the current; they wanted the fly slow, and not right on the bottom, but about mid-way down. They aren't there in the numbers we'll see in a couple of weeks, but there were enough fish that I didn't get to comfortable looking at the scenery. 

I took the steelheaders approach to covering water; cast, cast, step, step. Almost all of the takes were at the bottom of the swing, as the fly was starting to come up in the water column. I fished from the top of the bend, to the bluff adjacent to the bottom of the bend. Ended up with 9 male whites, 4 decent crappie and a half-dozen kentucky bass...

Pink and purple clousers, and white bunny shad were the most successful patterns. One nice thing about high water-I was able to use 3x tippet ( 10lb flourocarbon), which helps a bunch when you get a little over zealous on the hook set.

If you haven't been to Taylor since the floods in December, it's changed a bunch. Gravel is piled 6ft high on the Sycamore trees in the bend, and there are massive gravel humps at the top of the shoal. If you're an arrowhead, or fossil collector, you might want to drag your screen with you.

As I said- It's all about perspective; 2 weeks from now, 9 fish may be a slow day, but today it was a blessing.

Tight lines!

[ollie]

Thanks for the report.  I plan on heading that way in a couple or three weeks.  Good to hear them on the move.

[Ryan Walker]

2 minutes ago, ollie said:

Thanks for the report.  I plan on heading that way in a couple or three weeks.  Good to hear them on the move.

Thanks Ollie, I did see quite a few fish working the bank on the far side as well, next trip I'll bring the Kayak..