Jig Fest BilletHead photos and report

[Phil Lilley]

I sat back and watched this group of friends and saw what a fishing group of men should be.  No egos, no offenses, sharing stories and life.  Appreciating the time together at a nice lodge on a great river with lots of fishing prowess present ready to teach the ones who aren't as versed in jig fishing.

Thanks Jeff for all the coordinating, putting this together, as well as the One Bass on Table Rock.  You deserve a big thanks to many members on this forum for your effort.  Kudos!

Ham, I'm amazed at your humbleness, how you shirked off that big smallie like you were embarrassed you'd caught it and not someone else.  And your willingness to teach anyone how to "Ham those trout", sharing the skill that's taken a lifetime to perfect.  You are a gentleman.

Thanks Curt for fishing with me.  It was good catching up since our Alaska trip last summer.

Thank you Richard for sharing your Zig Jigs.  They truly are fish catching jigs!  Thanks Les for your stories.  And yes we missed Rick and others that didn't make it.

The fishing was pretty incredible, seeing we caught world class small mouth bass just outside the mouth of the Buffalo, I guess in their wintering hole.  I don't think we knew exactly what we had at the time, not being avid bass anglers.  Duane and I are always joking about the "stinkin' bass" we catch while trying to catch a trout but we couldn't say that about these bass.  Pretty neat.

And the trout -- they were much more colorful (esp the rainbows) and bigger on average than the fish in past years.  Not as many though... there were pockets holding a ton of fish but in years past, I remember catching rainbows all through the river, just smaller and all silver.  This year was very different.  Very impressive.

One thing has to change, though.  Duane and I told each other we're going to have to invest in a White River trout boat --- with a jet!  Plus a drag chain.  I ran the motor most of the time and about poisoned myself with fumes from the motor while back-drafting, trying to keep the boat straight while fishing pockets along the banks.  If the wind was right, my head would start throbbing... took me a while to figure out why.  And the prop limited my ability to go places I needed to go.  I was happy I didn't damage the prop.

[Johnsfolly]

I don't think that the guys with the boats ever get enough thanks at events like this. I appreciate the efforts that Ham, Brett, Les, Richard, Phil, and Marty to get us nonboaters out to the fish. You guys are willing to position the boat, chase down hung tackle, even teach others how to fish those pockets and seams. You conference and pore over the generation data and figure out where to go. You all definitely give up some if not many opportunities at fish so that the netmen like me have a chance at a possible fish of a lifetime. Thanks to all of you!

I haven't fished with all of them(yet). I do get to fish with @Ham quite a bit. I learn so much from him. I just hope that I am able to contribute to him as much as I receive from our fishing together.  I guess since I am willing to count fin rays or lateral line scales, and provide some Excel help. Maybe that tips the balance ever so slightly😁.

[Quillback]

I also want to thank those that brought their boats, I surely had an incredible day fishing out of Ham's boat, one of my best on that river, ever.  

The food really came together well, I missed the 3rd night, but the BBQ, sauce piquante, smoked salmon, stuffed mushrooms, and the fish fry was top of the line.  Great desserts also, and let's not forget the special birthday cake that was made for Richard!

That channel catfish Brett brought was the best catfish I think I have ever had - didn't get to eat any of Richard's bream as it was gone by the time I got there, must've been pretty good, LOL.

I'm wondering how many browns over 17" were caught by the group?  I think that the day I was in Ham's boat we caught 8 or maybe 9.  I bet over the whole course of 3 days of fishing it had to be around 100 nice browns total.  

[Ham]

I don’t think there has been a bad Jigfest, but this was one of the best. The food, the ppl, and the fishing all came together really well. 

The food was just fantastic. I need Les to teach me how to do brisket. It was so Good. The pulled pork was perfect. Marty’s BBQ sauce is top notch and I throughly enjoyed the Sauce piquant. Phil brought smoked salmon again and I always enjoy that. Les brought his fish cooker and Bret did the cooking. Richard brought panfish and Bret brought catfish. There were fries and hush puppies too! It was so good!

The White River is a phenomenal playground. It fishes differently through the seasons and water levels and weather, but the only time nobody catches them is when the water is muddy or trashed by algae and other vegetation kicked up by high generation. From min flow to 8 units, people catch trout. I prefer lower flows because the boating is easier and I catch fish better. 

We had what I consider tough conditions, but we were all pretty darn successful. I would have liked everybody to get a few Browns over 20 inches, but fishing can be cruelly random. Same bait, same location, same techniques and yet different results. I got lucky a lot over the last few days. 

I appreciate the kind words and kudos. These JigFest deals help keep me humble though. Everybody catches these fish when given the opportunity. I’m fortunate enough to live on the White River so I get a few more trips in than most. I am proficient with a Zig Jig, but not significantly better than lots of the guys at Jigfest. 

It was a Blast fellas. Thank You!

[JestersHK]

Well it sure was a fun one this year guys!  I agree with what all the others said in that this one really came together nicely for us all.  Food was fantastic and we'll never be hungry down there LOL.  Also a big thanks to the boat guys running me and my crew around.  We really truly appreciate it fellas.  Ham thanks for the local insider info.  You not only told us knuckleheads who ventured out at night where to go, but kept us safe too regarding flows and water levels which is most important.  On to the fishing since I really slacked on my live reporting style I try to do.  Too much fun times and not enough internet  .

I started Thursday night wading at Cotter.  We were fishing blind but managed to eek out two brownies before we went back in for dinner and to hang out.  I avoided the skunk and its always nice to land that first fish of the trip.

I told Brett aka @LittleRedFisherman that I was bummed we didn't get to fish together last time so we partnered up for Friday morning.  We put in at Buffalo River access with the rest of the crew and motored up to the sholas in his super sweet BlazerSS.  We got into an Eddy and spotlocked down and proceeded to put a whackin on some rainbows.  After 30min and prolly 30 fish in the boat we decided to work the far bank and started in on catching browns out of the structure.  Brett was putting on a clinic and whackin the brown trout.  I tried to keep up, but he was dialed in.  I think we had 6 browns over 17in that morning and they were all colored up and pretty.

After lunch and some good story time with the others we headed to Bull Shoals tailwater.  It was pushing lots of flow and we motored up to the Dam.  We caught some bigger fish here but not in the same numbers as we hit them in the morning.  We drifted further down to get out of some of the boat traffic and Brett continued to whack the brownies on a white and grey 1/8th oz ZigJig.  While it was daylight I also did some scouting on where we might be able to wade fish that evening.

After an awesome fish fry dinner myself, Brandon, and Geno made the trek back to the BS tailwater.  We were greeted with the water being totally off, but now I was lost again on where to start fishing.  Ham hooked us up though and gave us some info and to heed warning on watching the water if it starts to come up.  We headed to the boat launch and I stuck a fat ol rainbow.  Geno and Brandon both landed browns and then the horn blew... Once the water started coming up we headed back up to the dam and were greeted with another horn blast and then we decided to head back in.  Didn't want to risk being in uncharted water at night with those flows...

Saturday I fished with John and Brett again and we stuck with our plan from Friday and fished the Buffalo again.  We started out up by the shoals and caught some here and there. then we headed down to the confluence and caught some more and got into some smallies too.  After lunch we consolidated boaters and anglers and few headed out to beat the weather.  Brett and I went out with Les taking the rest of my crew and we went up into the Buffalo a bit to find some cleaner water.  At this point the White was roaring and it was getting trashy.

At this point after a few more rainbows and browns I should of just sat down and watched as Brett put on a clinic on how to fish winter smallies.  We fished a short section right at the confluence and he put a hurtin on the brown bass.  I know he boated over 10 of them in just that little stretch and tried as I might all I could catch were rainbows LOL. 

We called it when some light mist started rolling in and the temps were dropping quick.  It's almost like the weather knew our trip was winding down...  

I learned so much from other anglers this weekend, not just about fishing but sharing our life stories as well.  It truly is a trip I will continue to look forward to and cherish my time with this great group of just awesome people.  The filler as we discussed earlier really made this trip.  The stories and laughs they weren't lying when they said tears were shed we laughed so hard and so often.  

Thank you to Jeff QB for all that you do putting this together.  You are a true gentleman and take such great care in the planning and getting us all together.  

Thank you to Phil as well.  Without you and this forum we'd likely never of even met much less got together like this.  Such a great and special thing you provide us here and I know we're all really grateful for you getting us together through the forums.

Looking forward to next year already... I know for me it can't come soon enough.

 

 

[LittleRedFisherman]

Ill start off saying that 6 years goes by in a hurry, it seems like a couple years ago we started meeting up for our winter gathering in God’s Country.  The first year it was the OA winter trout trip or something like that, that year somebody in the group joking called it jigfest and it has stuck.  DJ did a great report that says a lot about the fishing already.  I really enjoyed fishing with DJ @JestersHK he’s a great fisherman especially with his 4 foot rods. His little jerkbaits he was throwing was whacking even the rainbows.   Glad we got to fish together brother!  Friday was a great day in the water, especially that morning!  Day 2 got to fish the DJ again and John @Johnsfolly fishing was a little tougher but managed to have a good morning, both of them boated more trout than I that morning, John put us in a run of bedrock in middle of the river he and Ham had hit the morning before and we always hooked up on that stretch.   

The food and fellowship was great as always, great group of good dudes fun to fish and fellowship with.   Thanks @duckydoty for one of your signature jerkbaits! At one time Saturday we’re going to fish a stretch of river and saw Duane and Phil fishing it and knew a bunch of fish had been sore mouthed, fishing behind the human seines is tough. Lol.  Thanks Phil for the forum, without it all this wouldn’t have been possible.    

Looking forward to next year fellas.  

Bret 

[ZigJigman]

It’s also great to get to meet and get to know several of my customers. It’s great to watch all of you that use my jigs have success and a lot fun catching fish on my products!! 

Thank you for your business!!!

[Terrierman]

10 hours ago, ZigJigman said:

It’s also great to get to meet and get to know several of my customers. It’s great to watch all of you that use my jigs have success and a lot fun catching fish on my products!! 

Thank you for your business!!!

You're welcome.  It's well deserved.