New Guy

[Stein]

I do realize there is an introduction section on this site but I'll pretty much only be in the Lower BS section so I'm putting it here.  I've been reading for several weeks and it looks like a pretty small, tight knit group here.  Hope there's room for one more.

My name is John and I live in Nebraska, at least for a few more years.  In anticipation of retirement we considered a few locations and ended up deciding that the Mt. Home area was fairly highly rated so we bought a home south of Bull Shoals just off 178.  People thought we were odd buying a house in an area where we had never been before other than the weekend we toured houses for sale with the realtor, but I have a good feeling about the area.  I wanted to be close to fishing, a reasonable cost of living and not get murdered on taxes like Nebraska. 

We close tomorrow but we won't be down until the first week of July.  Looking forward to learning how to fish clear water and maybe some trout fishing.  I'm 3 minutes from Fairview ramp and 3 minutes from White River ramp near the golf course.  This is exciting for a guy that, growing up, would drive five hours to fish a lake bigger than 2000 acres for a three day weekend.

For the next five years we will only be down for vacations.  My wife goes part time June 1 and I have another 5 years before I can do that.  But, I'm 48 and she is 54 so all is well.  Looking forward to meeting some of you down the line and maybe get a few pointers for conditions to expect the first week of July.  I'm actually excited about fall/winter fishing there.  We can't do such a thing unless we want to drill holes in the ice.  That was for my younger years where all you needed was a pair of carharts and a bottle of Hot 100 cinnamon schnapps.

 

[mixermarkb]

Welcome John! 

I drive down from STL as often as I can, I hope to buy a place down there myself at some point in the future. It's really one of the prettiest areas in the country in my opinion.

As far as July, there will probably still be a decent topwater bite early and late, with overcast days helping it stay longer, look for fish off of main lake points, over very deep water. It's not unusual to be catching fish on topwater walking baits with the boat sitting in over 80' of water. There should also be a decent night bite with jigs and worms in the same sort of areas, and Ham can fill you in more on what may be happening below the dam on trout. I typically kind of leave Bull alone after about June until my work slacks off again in the fall. 

welcome to the forum!

[Ham]

Wow! Good for you guys getting to work less and live more so early in life. I anticipate working until lunch on the day I die.

like Mark, I'm up usually off of Bull Shoals until the fall by mid June. I can offer no personal experience driven advice on the lake, but I'm likely to be on the White River any day of the year. The trout bite all year long and  have caught them when the air temp was 15 degrees all the way up to an air temp of 103 degrees.

touch base with us again when you arrive. You can always PM me and I'll offer you whatever help I can on fishing and relocation advice. 

[Rob P]

In July, absolutely a sunrise and sunset topwater bite. 

As the sun gets high by 7 or 8am, I typically troll or toss jigs to steep banks in 20-30fow. 

I'm a weekender as well and hope to move in a few years.

[Stein]

Thanks Mark and Ham.  I'm pretty excited about fishing the White.  I've not trout fished other than a couple times on vacation in MT and have a handful of 6" trout to show for it.  I planned on hiring a guide at least the first time or two just to get a feel for it, then start looking for a river boat.

So it sounds like the lake falls off hard after June.  We will bring the fly rods!

[Stein]

Rob,

We must have posted at the same time.  Thanks for the input.  I guess there are worse things - get up early, bass fish for a couple hours, go to the river for the day, then back to the lake for the evening.  Nice to have options when you live this close!  Something I've never had growing up in Nebraska.

[Stein]

One more thing, from what I've been reading it looks like I need to invest in a couple decent spinning setups.  I generally only use baitcasters but the allure of the Ned rig has caught me.

[Ham]

John,

On solo trips, I'm generally taking 10 bait casters and 10 spinning reel combos out. That is of course excessive, but you should plan on having as many spinning reel combos as bait casters.

I'm not poo- pooing the idea of hiring a guide, but you could go with quite a few of us on here and we can put you much further down the learning curve on the river. I am an advanced novice with the fly rod, but I catch my share of trout with a spinning reel and a White River Zig Jig.  

[Stein]

Ham,

My comment on the guide was based on the fact that I didn't want to be presumptuous thinking that people would show a new guy the ropes.  I would of course welcome any help to learn something new about river fishing, be it wading or in a boat.  From what I have read I can rent river boats down there from some of the outfitters or cabins.   I'm totally a fly rod novice and would be just as happy with the spinning rod for trout. 

[Ham]

There are several really, really good fly fishing guides. It is a very enjoyable way to fish and something you should play with lots and lots. You'll be in a fantastic area for it. They can teach you tons in a hurry.

I still enjoy fly fishing, but the jig fishing is simply fantastic. It has to be seen to be believed apparently.