White River Trip Report 7-6-2016

[Ham]

Fished the White with Stein and his buddy Dave yesterday. We split the day with the morning in my trout boat and the afternoon in kayaks.

The morning split was very successful. Got started fishing before 0800. A nasty Thunderstorm was predicted for 10:30 or so. I told the guys we needed to keep an eye out for it. The high humidity levels kept the morning fog on the river the whole time we were there. The temps were very nice, but I often had to take my glasses off because they were all fogged up.

After a fight with my Merc, we got started on TM power. I caught a nice fish first cast. With trout, that's not a jinx. Pretty soon afterwards Dave got his first Zig Jig trout. A couple of minutes later Stein got his first Zig Jig trout of the day. Whew, I had nothing to worry about. They could jig fish. Apparently, I'm a slow learner. Everybody I show it too picks it up faster than I did. They did great and I appreciated it.

After the first extended drift the Merc decided to cooperate and fired up. Ran fine after that. We were fishing falling water which everybody seems to hate, but the trout were biting ok. Not great, but steady. We lost quite a few which is often because of the way the trout are biting, but that's also part of the barbless deal. You lose a few, but so what.

I wanted to catch a few more before we took a break, but the weather decided to force my hand a little bit. For a change, I did the right thing. I hustled back to the ramp and got the boat on the trailer before the rain hit. We got gear swapped and were rolling away when the bottom fell out. HEAVY rain and frequent lightining.

We met up just after noon and did a yak float on the lower river. I was a little disappointed with the fishing. The trout had not consolidated as much as I would have expected. We all caught fish and we all had some nice ones, but NO giants and no Browns.

it got a little warmer, but the water was very brisk and you can get cooled off in a hurry. I never felt like we were rushing an hopefully the guys didn't either. I got off the water on schedule and zipped home to grill some chicken.

[Quillback]

Good deal, sounds like a great trip.  There's been a couple of those heavy down pours here in Bella Vista this week.  Lots of water in a short time frame.

[Stein]

Finally got a chance to post.  Thanks again Ham for taking a couple of neophytes out for an inaugural trout float and kayak shakedown.  We had a great time and I'm looking forward to getting back down and spending some more time on the river.  The problem is I'm probably out of commission until December with surgery to replace a disc and fuse L5 sometime in October.

[Ham]

Welcome to the area John. You guys most be pretty good sticks at home because y'all did just fine here. Good Luck with the back surgery. Don't over do it deer hunting. Keep an ear to the ground for Jigfest 2016.