It’s been a long time since the last fishing report, it’s been busy around the new house and I think we can finally say we are all settled in. The fly orders have been pouring in, key word “pouring” as I have spent countless hours pouring and painting jigs in between an occasional diaper, snack time, and convincing little Sean Wayne naps are for toddlers. As we roll into the month of February, lake levels are still down all over the Ozarks. Taneycomo is seeing higher water with 35mg watts in the mornings with large surges of water in the afternoons. Norfork and White rivers are the place to be if you’re looking for low wadable water on the weekends. The White and the Norfork have been generating water in the mornings on the weekdays with pockets of low water in the afternoons, giving wadable water if you are willing to wait it out.
TANEYCOMO has been fishing well, with countless rainbows being caught on a daily basis. MiracleFly’s in Oregon Cheese, Egg, and Apricot Supreme are consistently working. Olive-dun, Black/Copper, Ruby Midges in 16 and 18’s and the must have MegaWorms in White, Chartreuse, Red, Yellow, and Tan have also been good go to flies and can be purchased at FlysandGuides.com to keep those lines tight.
WHITE RIVER has seen extremely low water at a time when everyone comes from miles and miles away searching for high water to throw articulated streamers in hopes of connecting with a big brown. The state park section of the river opened up February 1st and the browns are off the redds and looking to pack on the pounds they lost over the last few months. Streamers are working in shoal water during the day and at night swinging mouse patterns have been productive. Matching the size of these patterns with the size of the water has been key.
NORFORK is seeing low water and what a place to be! Cutthroats are in abundance throughout the river. The brook trout are out and if you’re looking for a freshwater grand slam now is the time to do it. Three out of our four anglers this past weekend can wipe that off the old fishing bucket list. The bigger browns seem to not be plentiful in the river, but we boated several browns between the 16-18” mark and two that broke over the 20” mark. Staples for the Norfork continue to be MiracleFly’s in a wide verity of colors, midges in Rust Brown, black/copper, and UV red, red San Juan worms, and the occasional MegaWorm all got the job done.
