White River Brown Trout
WE are starting to show signs of settling into some regular summer flows like we haven’t seen for several years. If you have been holding off fishing we’ll we reckon this weekend will mark the start of plenty of wading time most days
And the fishing has been very very good.
In part that is why the Journal is a little skinny this week, too much time on the water early this week (then trying to catch up on honey-dos” yesterday. And while the Journal came in with great expectations of churning out content this morning instead its been one customer after another. We have been rigging rods, reels, explaining low water rigging again and of course selling a bunch of flies.
So this is it this week, the one thing you don’t want to miss each week our fishing report.
Summer afternoons, a simple flybox, good friends and low water
A dry fly eating cuttie from Wildcat
WHITE RIVER: Its still too early, as we type the report, for the weekend generation forecast. But our best guess is for some low water, including zero generation, overnight, rising from late morning or early afternoon.
Fish upriver below Bull Shoals Dam or at State Park through the morning, then jump downstream when the generation starts. Some nights last week, while the Dan wasn’t shut off, the flow was low enough that we found plenty of people wading on the flows of under 1 unit.
Bull Shoals Dam has been fishign very well, with red midge patterns, Davy Wotton Bloodworms, Super Midges, or Poison Tungs, and Zebra Midges accounting for plenty of fish.
Davy Wotton Sowbugs, or McLellan’s Woven V-Rib Sowbug have been killer throughout the system, and around the shop these seem to have accounted for the better browns.
But equally mayfly profiles, like Copper Johns, Tungsten hare’s Ears, Pheasant Tails and Lightning Bugs are doing well.
Everyone wants to know when the hopper action is going to start, our answer has been any day. Our best luck of recent days has been on larger ant patterns, but we wouldn’t be suprised at any tan hopper pattern being snatched off the surface.
NORFORK: The Norfork has been running a little “burp” of water every morning but everyone we have talked to have been enjoying the fishing.
Soft hackles like Anna Ks, partridge and yellow and partridge and orange have been fishing particularly well. Smaller midge patterns (think 18s and 20s) have also been popular including Poison Tung’s, Zebra Midges and WD40s.
Sowbugs as for the White are also performing well during the lower flows.
