Just last week we were discussing how we need either winter weather or some precipitation to get out of the low water trends. Well, the Ozarks responded with a little bit of both.
The snowfall runoff itself would have questionably been enough. However, after looking at the temperatures later in the week one could expect that our chances of seeing at least slightly higher water have been solidified.
This should be good news for our streamer fishermen, especially since Lovefest is this weekend. Yes, I said this weekend. After our pandemic hiatus, it is finally back and it appears that we should have the water for it.
According to my weather predicting devices (which have been wrong before), we are even looking at some cloudy overcast days. These are some solid conditions to welcome back our deer-hair-loving, half-chicken casting fly tiers from across the country.
If you get a chance, you should seriously consider swinging by and checking these guys out. They take arts and crafts to a whole new level.
With the additional precipitation/runoff, the confluence of Crooked Creek and below has been a bit murky for most people’s taste. This has kept people on the upper portion of the White or over on the Norfork.
With that being said, we should finally be getting a taste of something above our 35-megawatt trends. This opens the door a bit to expand our pallet on what and how we have been fishing. I look for our nymphing game to remain similar with egg patterns and pink mega worms being our key point fly players.
Simply adding a split shot and/or a foot to your bobber, I mean “indicator”, height should be all that’s really necessary. That is unless we see a big bump as a result of cold weather mixed with snowmelt.
Staying on track; Sunday specials, tailwater jigs, lightning bug jigs, and ruby midges seem to be the main players for the week. As far as streamers, I’ll leave that as a shop talk topic for Lovefest.
Norfork has been fishing well as usual. The water was a bit up and down, making it a bit challenging to make a full day of it. Hopefully, we will see some water changes here as well. Regardless, egg patterns, pink worms, and the occasional blob remain king here.
Teaming them up with Sunday specials, ruby midges, soft hackles, and lightning bug jigs should keep ya in the game. Meat whistles, slump busters, and other baitfish patterns are something to keep in the quiver as well, especially this time of year.
The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal 
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