Water is in great shape, looks like its going to be a good opener this year, lots of nice trout in the water, a lot of 15"-17" trout that are ready to go.
With all the nice sized trout, there are several hundred in the river that are over 3 lbs, a few of these are over 10lbs, and there are a couple that are 14lb +, we caught all these over the winter, and at the close of the C&R season these fish were all still alive and doing well.
Start fishing at 6:30 a.m. on the 1st, lots of people will get their limits and leave, some will fish several hrs and some might fish all day, the later in the day there will be fewer people and the fishing for the bigger fish should be eaiser.
Probably eaiser to start with a spinning rod, and when the crowds thin out, pick up the fly rod.
Roostertails, mepps, trout spinners of all kinds will work great all day, but better in the morning. Black, skunk, brown, green, and metalic spinners work great most days. Marabou jigs, micro jigs, and little ozark jigs will all be effective most all day, if the water stays clear like it is right now. Roaring River Specials, as always will catch trout
all day.
Plastic worms will be one of the best choices for trout, the trout haven't seen these all winter and the seem to like em, so as always the trout worms will work great, the best colors are the orange, orange/white, cheese, white, mint green and electric chicken. If salmon eggs are your thing, then have at it they will work great all day, but most times the trout will swallow them so only use them if your going to keep most of what you catch, if your going to do any C&R your better off using jigs or even worms are better than eggs, but for a quick limit, its hard to beat a plastic salmon egg.
Water is clear, so the use of 2 or 3 lb line will work best, first thing in the morning 4lb is a good choice, the use of a clear line or a green line like Gama, or Maxima will usually work best.
If your going to fish in zone 3, then the powerbait paste and the nuggets will work well, nightcrawlers and minnows are good also, but you can use anything in zone 3 so fish what you want.
Should be a good Opener this year, have fun, and be safe.
Great C&R season this year.
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