Great Catching-February Brings a Shad Kill

Audio cast #6 click on the arrow below to play.  To book a guided fishing trip call 870-404-8906.  All full day trips include lunch, rods and reels, flies, leader, tippet, drinks. Half day trips include all of the above with the exception of lunch. Want to learn to fly fish? Beginner fly fishers are welcome.  Large groups are also welcome.

Earlier in the month some shad came through the dam then quit.  Last week shad started coming through again.  Mostly in short burst and not always floating to the surface but from time to time they did.  This event sure makes for some great fishing as you can see below.  The fish on the upper end of the river are getting fat like footballs.  The downside to a shad kill is that too many shad will come through and the fish will gorge themselves and stop feeding.  In this case we simply move further down stream.  For more information read this article Shad Kill Article

Sean from Little Rock has one big smile on his face after he hooked and landed this 27 1/4 inch brown trout.  His buddy Eric below hooked and landed this fish shortly after.

Eric with his fish.

On Wednesday Mike “maddog” Davis hooked and landed this fish.  26 3/4 inches.  Mike has been fishing with me for a decade.

Below is James Albert of Monroe La with the fish he caught on Thursday.  James is an exceptional fisherman and can cast anything one puts on the end of a fly line including some pretty big streamers.

This short video below shows the gulls looking and diving for thread fin shad to eat.

All sizes and colors of tungsten beads are in stock including slotted tungsten beads as well as cyclops or brass beads.  We have a full selection of tying materials and you will like the price on our hooks.  Click Here to see our web store.  web store or give the  shop a call 870-445-3848 Monday -Saturday 8:00 am till 4:00 pm Central Time.

On Thursday the spillway or flood gates were shut down and the Conduit gates were open. These gates are underneath the settling pool.  I’m not sure but I think there are 4 of them and it looked like there was one on and to the left it looks as though there is another one on but not open very much.  A total of 30,000 CFS or roughly 9 to 9 1/2 full generators. Some boat ramps at this time are not very boat launching friendly such as the ones at the State Park and the ones at Wildcat Shoals and White Hole.

This image below is of a thread fin shad I netted out of the river on Wednesday.  Fish fattening food for our trout.  On the previous post you will find an image of some of the shad patterns we use.

Podcast-2 Lakes Rising-Floodgates Open at Beaver & Tablerock.

December 29 2015 podcast. Floodgates on Beaver and Tablerock. Dam road closure.

This from the C.O.E.

The Corps of Engineers announced Monday that it will close both lanes of AR Highway 178 across Bull Shoals Dam from 8:30 a.m. until 6 p.m. Dec. 30 and Dec. 31 to remove equipment needed to refurbish the tainter gates on the dam.

The equipment is being removed because of the recent persistent rain and rising lake levels, according to the press release issued by the Corps.

The closure has been coordinated with local emergency and law enforcement agencies.

Officials from the Army Corps of Engineers Mountain Home Project Office say they regret any inconvenience this may cause. If you are traveling in this area, expect delays, obey flagmen and operate cautiously around equipment and work crews.

For more information, contact the Mountain Home Project Office at (870) 425-2700.

As you can see from the pictures below the water has risen