After that, smallie season kicked off and we have been basically spending most of our time on the smallie rivers chasing after those beloved bronze-backs. We have had a pretty good year too. Plenty of water after an awesome wet spring and lots of hungry fish came to hand. Its been pretty sweet. Well, here we are, its prime summer time fishing and we have started to think about trout again. Especially catching big brown trout on that beloved foam bug over on our beloved tailwaters. From our previous post, you saw that the Professor and I had already tested the waters and found some hopper eating fish but it was time to get the rest of the crew involved. Lets roll...
Day 1
With the primo conditions to throw hoppers happening in the evening with the higher flows on the White, we opted to start the trip over on the Norfork with a low-water float to wade fish all the fishy spots along the river. Most everyone dug out the 5-weights and rigged up a bobber with some kinda nymphy bug below it. We dumped the boats in at the dam and made our way down to the 1st spot where my boat started at the big riffle above the island while the Professors boats set up shop at the island. Things were kinda slow for us on the riffle minus Crik finding his groove and plucking some decent fish out while Nathan caught a few and I was flat out striking out. Gotta love it...
We pushed on downstream from there, hitting all the fishy spots that we have wade fished for years during low water before we had boats. Its cool getting to see spots change that you have fished over the years but the fish are always there. Always. It was typical Norfork bugs as always....small streamers, eggs, scuds, and the odd mayfly variation (one in particular that I'm not gonna name cuz it works so good : ) thank you to my buddies in Montana for that one). All the guys were getting into the fish which is always plus. The Norfork typically treats us pretty well so we love the "princess of tailwaters" in all her glory.
Our final stop was the top island above the handicap access and everyone spread out on different water. It was good. Very good. Bent rods were seen every time I turned around. I even broke out the fiberglass glass rod rigged with a hopper/dropper rig just to see what I could do. Didn't take long as I plopped the foam nasty under an over-hanging tree and watched a fat rainbow come up to inhale the hopper. Brilliant. Had a few more eats on the foam bug but most were coming on the dropper in the fast water. Easy pickings. Man I love this river....
As the day wore on, we made a push to the boat ramp so we could make time for some lunch before sneaking over to the White in hopes of a foam bite. We loaded up the boats, stowed our gear, and headed over to Gassville to hit up our favorite pig out spot in the area, KT's BBQ. If you haven't hit this place up while fishing the White River, you are really missing out. Their BBQ is amazing and their sour cream potato salad is nothing short of epic. If I wore it as a hat, my tongue would beat my brains out trying to get to it. Anyways, we all made ourselves completely miserable with our lunch and enjoyed the AC for a bit before we loaded up to hit the White and chuck the foam....
As we made our way up to the boat ramp to drop in, our luck started to wear thin as a good ol' summertime thunderstorm started to move in. Isn't that just freaking dandy? I don't know what it is about the White but she can be a cruel mistress. When we want clouds and overcast skies to throw streamers, the sun shines bright as ever and when we wanna throw hoppers, the skies turn gray and it rains. Gotta love it. We stuck to your guns though and decided to see the trip through. We got to the ramp, rigged up 6-wts with foam bugs, and our 8-wts with big meaty streamers. Our target? Big brown trout....
Wish I could say that we had an epic float with several big browns to each boat on either hoppers or streamers but it just wasn't meant to be. We couldn't turn a fish on a streamer so we stuck to the foam bug and just kept hammering the banks. Finally, towards the end of the float, the sun tried poking out and it was like a light-switch for whatever reason. We started getting some eats on the hopper, missed a few fish here and there, and Joey finally put the 1st brown in the boat.
After a short streak of action, it shut back off again when the clouds returned. The fish were showing us no love at all for quite a while. We hit all the good banks, changed colors and sizes, and couldn't get it done. Frustration was beginning to set in and then it happened again, the sun decided to poke out again. It happened on 1 of the 2 last banks before the boat ramp so it was basically 4th and long for us to make it happen. I finally stuck a fat brown and wrestled it into the boat. Joey followed it up with a typical White River snake of a brown trout. Mix in a few feisty rainbows and a couple of LOFT inspired misses on some NICE browns right before the boat ramp to call it a night for us. It wasn't what we had hoped for but the river did show us a little love and gave up a few good browns so the trip wasn't a total loss...
Day 2
The next day, we returned to the 'Fork in hopes of another day of good numbers but it just wasn't meant to be. In all of the trips I have taken to fish the 'Fork, it has never fished bad. Never. It always produces for me. Well, I guess all good things must come to an end. It was a pretty tough day for us. The fish were just being weird and I'm still kinda wondering what happened. We managed to catch a few fish here and there but nothing like the day before. Of course, the Professor stuck more than his fair share of trout....the dude is fishy. It happens. We fought the slow bite for a while and then pushed on for the boat ramp as we had some time constraints to meet back home.
It was a good weekend. It was nice to get back to the Cotter/Mountain Home area and visit the old haunts both on and off the water. The hopper fishing wasn't what we had hoped for but it all worked out in the end. Everyone had a great trip and fish were caught. We can't complain...
Until next time, keep chasin' the dream...
