White River (below Bull Shoals)

Big Bug bite Brown

6/22/10

The last few outings have been very amusing. I'm observing guides with bobbers strapped to beadhead rigs tucking tale and running to the dam...all the while the bugs are massing in the trees waiting for the magical hour to burst onto the scene in the spots down river that the said guides just left. There must be something at the dam I don't know about right now, but with the dry fly fishing as good as it is....ignorance is bliss.

Randy and a brown on a Sulphur....life's tough

Fished the State Park to Wildcat. Flows started at about 12,000 cfs and bumped to 16,000 in the afternoon. Same deal different day. Hatch progression started in the afternoon, so we started out with some nymphing and then moved to the dry game after lunch.

Brown on a Caddis.....they'll be here all summer folks.

I have never seen hatches this thick anywhere I've ever been. That's saying something as i just left the dry fly mecca of Missoula, and spent three winters in Chile. Sulphurs are coming off in the mid afternoons with the caddis coming off really late. The big bug bite is still going and will continue to get better

Forrest Smith

Trout and Timber Outfitters

troutandtimber@gmail.com

(479)684-9189

www.troutandtimber.com

White River (Bull Shoals Dam)

6/17/10

Fished Bull Shoals Dam to Wildcat with Rob and Bob Lambert. Flows were really consistent in the 13,000-14,000 range. Worked hard for fish in the morning, picking most of them up on tungsten midges. After lunch we got into some pretty hot terrestrial action. Flying ants have been in the system for a couple weeks, and fish are really keying in on them. At about two o'clock the sulphurs really got going. fish were concentrated in the "bug funnels" and feeding in massive pods.

Rob and Bob did an excellent job jamming the flies in the magic eat zones. We started running some large terrestrials as a lead with the sulphur stuff behind, and had some great action: multiple doubles, sight fishing, explosive takes, a few nice browns, and sight fishing to some really nice bows. Its was a tough job, but the Bob and Rob were up to the task. Now onto the caddis finale.

Now I must first admit, I was a little slow on my hatch progressions during the day, but I did manage to stay on top of it. The last piece of the progression puzzle came in the caddis game. It was almost time to hit the boat ramp, but fish were still up. The sulphurs started to taper off, the big bug bite slowed, the caddis began to emerge in the flat light of the late afternoon. Bob was spent. Man down, I dropped an 18 lopro caddis off the back of the big bug on Rob's rod. Worked instantly. Boated several fish in a short period. As we were working down, we found a small side riffle, with an inside eddy foam pocket against a rock wall. Fish were up on rhythm ....something out of a text book. Rob jammed the fly on the nervous water edge of the foam, missed a fish. Put it back in the same slot and a different fish comes up for a nice sip, and Rob stuck it.

As Rob was fighting the fish, Bob and I were giving him a hard time about show boating his dink of a trout. Fish finally came to the side of the boat, where I slid the net under the fish. Turns out Rob wasn't show boating, and that dink of a trout was a legitimate 20" brown.......on a dry fly.

QUICK NOTE: Many a time have I told people that it doesn't matter what the flows are on the White, you can find fish looking up. River was at 14,000 cfs! We caught fish all afternoon on dries...big ones and small ones. Just find the right water to play with. So when anglers read reports that say "if the water is low, we should have great caddis action", I would advise them to ignore the "if the water is low" part.

Kings River

Fished the Kings on 6/8 with Rob Lambert.

The flows at Berryville were recorded at 212 cfs. The river is low but still floatable. Pretty good numbers of smallies and kentuckys were caught, but the bigger fish have moved back into the lake. Big fish are now running in the 14" range....still a good smallie. No River traffic what so ever. It's nice being the only boat out.

Fish came on various baitfish imitations, but ate on top water stuff late in the afternoon. I repeat. Smallmouth ate topwater stuff! This is the beginning of a solid month of great top water smallie fishing. Should get better every day.

White River (Bull Shoals Dam)

White River below Bull Shoals Dam

Fishing was pretty good. Caught lots of nice fish on san juans and midges. Sulphurs came off early in the afternoon, and fish were up on them in the "bug funnels."

Big browns are still crashing big streamers early and late when the water is up past 4,000 cfs.

The powerhouse should continue generating from 6,000-16,000 cfs (3-6 units) for the next week. Remember that this is just a prediction of a fishing guide, and not the true forecast from those "monkeys" at the dam.