- Chad pulls a nice fish yesterday on a day off
FOR what is the “slow time” of the year the fishing has been red hot. In 3 days fishing this week there have been a 27″, 26″, a couple of 25s and a 24″ plus plenty of smaller browns.
In fact the slowest afternoon’s fishing all week had to co-incide with last weekend’s streamer class. Two days after leading the class, our mate Alex Lafkas, had two clients from his home state of Michigan in prime conditions_ the first 3 fish if placed head to tail would be over 6′ long.
If your not into the streamer action, there is plenty of entertainment. Guides Clint Wilkinson and Will Brandtonies (the brother of Kevin, on our guide team) were scoring some nice browns drifting last Saturday.
And this weekend should be a bottler, with temps in the mid-60s Saturday and 50s Sunday. The warm temps bring a good chance for low water over the weekend and some wade fishing for a nice change, before a return to cooler temps and higher flows next week.
Jeff Hearn's solid fish from downstream. PS that's his blood, sticking your paw in that maw isn't a good idea.
Streamer surprise _ feisty smallmouth ate a sculpin fly this week
WHITE RIVER: Tuesday sees the opening of the Bull Shoals Catch and Release water, oft regarded as the opener of the 2011 season, though the fish above just confirm the White River is a year round fishery. Wade fishers will be hoping for low water, but with snow in the forecast for February 1, the trophy zone is likely to be the domain of the river boats hoping for a shad kill.
The Corp Lake temperature site yesterday was helpfully still showing 2010 results but quite a few observers aren’t optimistic about a serious sustained kill this year due to the warmer than normal upper lake temps. However this doesn’t rule out spot kills, with shad being flushed through the generators, on cold mornings under heavy generation. We have returned the Hippie Chick (heavy) shad fly, for drifting deep with or without split shot and we are getting the best “guide fly” unweighted shad pattern into the shop asap.
Cold weather and a lack of serious precipitation sees Bull Shoals Lake continuing to fall. Bull Shoals will dip below 70% of power pool for the first time for a long time over the weekend. Depending on how much rain we get through spring 2011 looks like having some decent wading prospects.
But right now the daily pattern of high water in the morning and lower water during the warm of the afternoon has been continuing. Getting onto the good rise in the water is key, and some overcast dreary skies even better, but we have also hit some fish on falling water.
White, black and yellow streamer remain the predominate colors with tans and olive following. Rainbow trout patterns have also performed. Check out our streamer choices here, a selection of Dungeons, Fatheads, Zoo Cougars, Circus Peanuts and Krakens are essential. We also have some new patterns coming in next month.
For those drifting higher flows eggs and worms have been very good, pink san juans were the ticket last weekend, behind an orange egg even for the browns. Red and brown dynamite worms run behind the Hippie Chick will be a good each way bet for the opener.
Whether you are wading or drifting, having some Davy Wotton sowbug patterns in your box will be essential, and we are stocked back up after Davy and T-Bird landed back in Arkansas from the huge Somerset Fly show last weekend.
NORFORK: We have heard of the odd dribble of shad through Norfork Dam but with only a few hours of generation a day has meant the shad have been limited.
Cold weather earlier in the week kept waders off the water largely with those braving the cold rewarded with some rare solitude on the Princess of Tailwaters. Midge pupa reigned supreme, with standard zebra midges in olive and black and silver doing well, and chocolate Tung WD40s.
Don’t forget to pack your UV Hunchback Scuds, Woven Sowbugs and Davy’s Sowbugs.
