Fishing
Tip: Although many anglers shy
away from high-visibility lines,
they
can be an excellent aid to
detecting light strikes and
keeping track of
where your lure is.
High-visibility lines rarely have
any impact on
fishing success in stained or
muddy water or in areas with
current. If
you are fishing clear water and
are afraid the bright color may
affect
your fishing success, tie a 3-foot
leader of fluorocarbon between
your
line and the lure. This way, you
can still benefit from the
high-visibility line without
spooking fish.
White
River: Gaston's
White
River
Resort said
there was some generation
last week, but one unit is hardly
enough to even notice additional
flow. Still, the extra water was a
nice refresher for the trout.
Low-water baits and flies, such as
white plastic worms, or PowerBait
artificial wax worms and yellow
PowerBait or corn, are working
well. Red worms are working
well, also. The best artificials
seem
to be Little Cleos, Buoyant Spoons
and Rooster Tails on
4-6-pound-test
green low-visibility line. Fly
fishermen are bragging about the
Y2K bug
and woolly buggers being the hot
flies last week. This weekend is
Eagle
Awareness Weekend. Please contact
Gaston’s or the State Park for
information on the free programs
taking place all weekend.
McLellans
Fly Shop
said there has been very little
generation below Bull Shoals Dam
lately, providing plenty of wading
on the upper river from late
morning
on through the rest of the day.
Wade fishing the upper river has
been
very productive with tan and olive
McLellan’s Hunchback Scuds and
Woven
Sow Bugs. Fishing high water
out of a boat has also been very
productive using large scuds,
eggs, and San Juan Worms. Winter
is a
great time to fish a streamer
(even in low water); try to
trigger a
strike from the aggressive brown
trout by swinging a streamer like
the
Zoo Cougar or Platte River Spider
through a pool. Experiment
with
different retrieves until you
start getting hits.
North
Fork River: McLellans
Fly
Shop
said generation on the Norfork has
been sporadic lately, but when
they
have turned on the generators,
they haven’t stayed on for very
long. The wade fishing has
been very good lately, and fishing
high water from a boat has been
productive as well. Scuds,
sow
bugs, midges, and eggs in low
water, and eggs, San Juan Worms,
and big
streamers like the Articulated Zoo
Cougar in high water have been
producing plenty of hook-ups.
Norfork
Trout
Dock said the
generators are
running a little, producing some
current, but there are plenty of
wading opportunities left. Rainbow
and brown trout are biting well on
wax worms and corn as well as
Little Cleo spoons and Rapala
Countdown
Minnows.
Bull Shoals Lake: As
of Wednesday, the U.S.
Army Corps of Engineers reports
the lake’s elevation at 644.98
feet MSL.