Generation Down: Lower Water Fishing

Hurricane Gustave moved its way through Louisiana and up into Arkansas and settled over the northern part of our state dropping some more rain on us.  At Bull Shoals Dam we received 4 3/4 inches however the upper stretches of the drainage system got much more and up to 10 inches of rain fell in the north western part of the state as well as the southwestern part of Missouri.  The Bull Shoals lake level has risen to 681.00 feet and the Norfork lake has risen to 566.83.  Norfork lake appears to have stabilized while the Bull Shoals lake is still rising due mostly to the opening of the flood gates at Table Rock dam. The gates were open on Friday at 2:00 pm with the release of 15,000 cfs.  Since the areas south of us also received some heavy rains as well as some flooding further down stream (100 miles) generation at Bull Shoals was cut on Thursday to a minimal amount and on friday there was no generation.

On friday I did fish the state park area with sow bugs on a long leader with a small shot and palsa indicator.  The fish were all over this bug.  We did spot two big brown trout and made an attempt to hook up with these fish but there were so many aggressive rainbows that our flies were taken before they had a chance to reach the larger fish.   On Saturday generation began again with a unit of water.  I had a buddy in town and we met up at the dam at 6:30 am and walked down to the river.  It took us a half hour to figure out the fish and we got into them pretty heavy.  I used a loop wing emerger #20 and my buddy used a floating ant in a pool and ripped on them as well.  After the water rose further to two full generators we got in my boat and fished till 6:00 pm with sow bugs.  We did try some streamers as well as the floating bi-visible to no avail.  We racked up some big numbers of rainbows for the day.  On Sunday we hit the river again in the boat.  The bite started out slow and picked up at the day went by.  My first fish of the day was a 21 1/2 inch brown trout followed later in the day by a 20 inch brown trout.  Once again Sow Bugs seem to be the choice fly for this day.  The White should stay lower for another day or two as the Newport gage is reading just above 18 ft.  The flood stage is 14 feet and it is dropping quickly.  When it hits this level look for more and heavier generation from both rivers.

To book your fly fishing trip with Jim call 870-404-8906

 

I have a fishing friend who has made a blog of various gages.  Check out his site for this info.

http://www.tailwatergeneration.blogspot.com/

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