White River Trout Trip - Recap with PIX (mucho pix)

[S-3 Ranch]

Wow looks fantastic

[mclipp]

Looks like you were at rainbow drive lodge. Great place. I've been going to the White for 40 years. Just really neat being on that river.

[AtTheWall]

[AtTheWall]

[Txhuntr2]

I love fishing that river! Were you up near Bull Shoals?

[AtTheWall]

18 - 20ft long / White River Jon Boats

In lieu of the recent flood event throughout the Ozarks, Bull Shoals dam is releasing water at high rates. This section of White River, below the Bull Shoals dam is a tailwater, prone to the water release rates.

Eight generators dictate wade and fly and or Jon Boat and float.

This trip, 7 generators running, water flowing literally up to 7 mph......fishing with fly tackle was out of the question. Some managed to make it work but, those that did had an oarsman paddling against the flow allowing the fly casters time to work shoreline structure. Only spotted two fish hooked up on fly gear.

During our day with our guide - Rick, we caught and released 5 brown trout. The other guides from our particular lodge only managed 1 - out of roughly 10-12 guide boats.

So Curt and I along with Rick - made it work for Browns.

[AtTheWall]

[AtTheWall]

Those curved dark objects are Rainbow Trout.

We spotted some serious sized trout. The river has marginal rocks and water breaks, so these fish learn to ride the current up tight to the shorelines when the water is flowing at 6 plus generator rates.

[AtTheWall]

[AtTheWall]

Bald Eagle nest on the top of the rusty bluff. A lone eagle stared out over the river as we fished through this section.

[AtTheWall]

Many boats anchored up close to the banks. A sit and wait game for them.

We drift fished the majority of time on the water with our guide. And exclusively drifted and covered water when we ran alone in the rental boat.

Caught fish with both methods but drifting was way more productive and hookups were consistent in sections we patterned fish in.

I focused on rip rap, churning water edges as well as shallow sections of river, covered with small rocks with flow down into deeper pools of water.

Morning action - the faster sections of river scored fish with a solid early AM bite.

[AtTheWall]

The morning start is typically around 0730. Due to the water temp, each day the river develops a thick fog. Guides prefer to have some light available to run this river safely at sunrise. And considering you have running water, hearing other boats in thick fog, as you run up river is impossible. So running with a constant scan in the fog is a must.

[AtTheWall]

Fishing with artificials - yarn ball on a hook. Fly and or Ultralight - works both ways.

Curt and I used 4 - 6lb class Ultra-lights

They pull line, they jump like mad, they go under the boat and fight like hell!

Good times on light tackle!

[AtTheWall]

The land

https://youtu.be/n33mNWu2VGQ


A bit of Brown Trout action on an Ultralight

https://youtu.be/uZOzryjqKGQ




.

[Hoggslayer]

What a trip!

How did you get Smart to dress up and put a wig on?