As I sit here at 5:30 in the morning the temp is 47. The leaves on the trees are just now changing and the fish are finally starting to spawn. Everything seems to be running a little late this year as usually by this time the fish are already in full spawn from rim shoals down and the leaves on the trees are normally in full color. The good news however is the temps have finally dropped as the first half of October was unusually warm. We’ve had some good steady rain this past week along with some heavy winds up to 35 mph which should abate this weekend as this low moves out of the area. This should also bring some sunshine and mid to upper 60 degree days. It will make for some comfortable fishing weather.
During this past month I’ve watched the brown trout move at a rapid rate upstream to the spawning grounds and into various holding spots along the river from the top of Buffalo Shoals all the way to the State Park and somewhat at the dam. Blood midges 16 and down along with other various midges drifted under an indicator are working well as are SJ Worms. Generation has been mostly weak with a unit or two running pretty consistantly on the white and almost no generation on the Norfork. The White has seen a few days with no generation and the lake level has been pretty steady at just below 649 feet. Our latest rains have not really raised the lake level much. Weekends on the white and norfork have been crowded so if you can come during the week especially since your chances of getting some low water are better from tuesday thru friday. Don’t know why the corps is generating every weekend.
As for November I’ve been tying up unreal eggs in various colors as they will work in a unit or two of water as well as no generation days. We are entering the time of year that sight fishing to big brown trout gets very exciting. It is also the time of year when large numbers of brown trout can be caught. November, December and January should be extra good for this since the spawn started late. After thanksgiving the rivers will be just about empty and the serious headhunter type fishers will show up.
If you are a fisher looking for some good action give me a call and I’ll put you on some good fish. Rivercliff cabin has some availability in November and especially in December and January. Besides we drop the rates of the cabin by 40% during those months and the weekends are not crowded at that time. 870-404-8906 to book guide trips and 870-431-7777 to book the cabin.
Heres drag free drift to you.
Jimmy T.
870-404-8906