The fishing has been good on the White River and the catching has been superb as seen by Curtis above. The minimum flow sure makes it easy to drift out of a boat and catch fish and when the sun it out it’s a whole lot of fun to see the fish swim up to your fly and you just know your going to get a take. Of course with all the rain we have had the minimum flow has sort of gone out the window for the time being as water flows have increased due to the lake rising a couple of feet. More than likely we will see another foot or two rise on Bull Shoals Lake as the rain continues through this morning and more called for the next 3 or 4 days. Red midges of various types were working pretty well until generation increased this past monday when Sow Bugs and San Juan worms began working a whole lot better.
Henry’s Wading and Walking Report:
How can turning a fawcett just a little make such a big difference? Something you need to be aware of when wading in minimum flow is our new invasive species called boaters. These humans can be dangerous, they are able to drive their boat into parts of the river that was too low before minimum flow, and they seem to have no idea about the law or water safety. Beware of flying hardware with hooks and drifting boats with no one watching where they are going. Knock knock who’s there? This is another good reason to have a wading stick with you. For some reason they don’t seem to like you knocking on their boat as they are about to drift into you. You do have the right to protect yourself.
This past week spending 3 days wading the White I have added a old (new to some) fly to my must have list The rubber band midge in size #12 & #14 caught more trout for me than any other fly during a one hour period not only more, the largest also. This was also a good fly for me on the Norfork Tailwaters in fast water.
The North Fork has been fishing extremely well. Be sure and carry the “F” fly #22 & #20, rainbow warriors, pheasant tail midges with copper beads and wire rib. Another new fly that I began testing 3 weeks ago and has been a top producer is the North Fork Warrior. This fly in a size # 12 has been a killer in fast water and also in the riffles on the White.
Here recently we have been getting a bit of rain and in some areas turning the water a little murkey. If this happens and you find the fish have turned off you might tie on a white woolly bugger or a white sj worm or a white fly jig. The fish are still there, just suffering from a little visability problem.
See you on the river. Life is good in the Oazrks but please don’t think about moving here our bar’s are over crowded as it is.