Blake and I.... Sept 29th

[Phil Lilley]

We fished with Brad Smith yesterday.  Sorry no pics.  But here's a quick report.

Put in at the North Fork confluence at 8 am.  Ran way up river and found where the water was starting to drop out from the day befores generation.  We started with fly rods and caught fish but quickly switched to jigs and stayed with them the rest of the day.  Oh yeah... Blake did throw his jerk baits but after being smoked by... me, he switched.

We caught them on all different colors including sculpin, sculpin/ginger, white, black and brown, using only 2-pound line and 1/32 or 1/16th ounce jigs.  We worked shallow banks and deep banks and did well on both.  We fish down river too and same thing... lots of rainbows.  Only rainbow trout.  Did catch a fair number of smallies but nothing big.

About 1;30, we headed to the Norfork to the dam and fish white first and caught some nice rainbows.  Worked down and same thing, more rainbows.  It was pretty fun.

Ended the day with too fish to count.  A couple pushing 20 inches, may be 8 between 17 and 19 and the rest below that.  Good health and colors.  Very impressed with the numbers, no matter where we went.

[netboy]

Sounds like a great day. Glad you guys had fun.

[Quillback]

That's awesome - reminds me that Jigfest is starting to appear on the horizon.

[Phil Lilley]

2 hours ago, Quillback said:

That's awesome - reminds me that Jigfest is starting to appear on the horizon.

Yes sir.  Should be well attended this year, barring bad weather.

[Phil Lilley]

Stuck on one of the rainbows we caught.  Saw several but this one hung on till we pulled him off.  Chestnut Lamprey

[netboy]

Those Lampreys are pretty nasty, but from what I hear from the ACFC biologists they will not kill the trout they are attached to. They suck some blood and then move on. I have caught lots of trout with Lamprey scars and also quite a few with those wrenched things attached. BTW... it makes sight fishing pretty easy as you see the Lamprey attached and can watch the trout's movements. The Lampreys are hard to kill. I usually take the fish back to the bank, pull the lamprey off and pound it between a few stones, step on it and try to squish it then throw it as far from the water as possible. Seems like there are lots more of them on the Norfork and lower White river. I don't see many from Cotter to the dam.

Just my 2 cents worth...

[snagged in outlet 3]

1 minute ago, netboy said:

Those Lampreys are pretty nasty, but from what I hear from the ACFC biologists they will not kill the trout they are attached to. They suck some blood and then move on. I have caught lots of trout with Lamprey scars and also quite a few with those things attached. BTW... it makes sight fishing pretty easy as you see the Lamprey attached and watch the trout's movements. The Lampreys are hard to kill. I usually take the fish back to bank, pull the lamprey off and throw it as far from the water as possible. 

I caught a largemouth in Taney with 3 on it.  It was a big fish but looked absolutely huge before the lampreys fell off and I realized what they were. 

[netboy]

7 minutes ago, snagged in outlet 3 said:

I caught a largemouth in Taney with 3 on it.  It was a big fish but looked absolutely huge before the lampreys fell off and I realized what they were. 

I am surprised you see those nasty things in Taneycomo. I would have thought they couldn't get upstream of the Bull Shoals dam.

[Phil Lilley]

I've never heard of them in Taney...

[snagged in outlet 3]

Here’s the other side.  You can see two of the scars.