Early September Report 09-15-2020

Jeremy and I have been covering some water with the fluctuations in generation the last few weeks.

With that comes a general fishing report over the tail waters that we fish.

High water, low water, nighttime, daytime, White River, Norfork River, and Taneycomo, we have covered it all in 10 days or so and I hope that we can help you get the right flies and information for the ever changing water flows to help you catch fish the rest of the month.

White River

The White went from a steady 150-250mw water to sudden drops all the way to minimum flow of 7mw.

Trout became trapped in pockets of water for substantial periods of time and several didn’t make it out before the flows picked back up.

Reports of fish kills at the dam all the way to Rim shoals happened for several days, along with dead sculpins lying on the gravel banks.

Unfortunately, we saw several dead fish in the water over Labor Day weekend.

The good news is that the White is back to generating water and they did start dropping it out a bit slower than the few days’ prior.

Allowing all those trout some time to escape to the big water.

Even with the fish kills on the White, the low water brought out the wade fisherman during the holiday weekend and the bite was great!

Jeremy started the month in the steady flows working seems and drop offs with eggs and worms and the soft pocket water with midges.

When the minimum flow hit, midges were the game and fishing the rise was phenomenal to say the least.

Eggs, Y2K’s, and high water worms with smaller san juan droppers were very successful over grass beds and drop-offs.

The minimum flow continued into the night time hours allowing some that were willing to give up hours during the day to float the river at night.

We had a couple of nights filled with takes, and fish that came unbuckled, and some that just missed the mouse pattern all together.

The browns were happy and feeding on the surface and we were lucky enough to bring just a few to the boat.

The White is back up to running a steady 155mw all day this week again, so the hopper bite is back on for those interested in that bite.

Norfork Tailwater

When the minimum flow hit we were able to get a few mornings in on the Norfork. The fish are packed in the river right now.

Midges, Miracle Flies, Megaworm’s continued to be the go to in low water all the way down the river.

In the higher flows we resorted to single rigged San Juan’s deep.

They seemed to out produce double rigged fly setups this go around.

Jumbo, standard, and micro san juans in Fl. Pink, Worm Brown, and Cerise worked well over islands and in the shoal water.

The Arkansas bead head worked well at the dam when generation started; as well.

For those wanting a steady nymph bite the Norfork seems to be a better option this past weekend, even in higher flows.

This past week they have decided to turn the generation up a few hours before the projected release times.

I saw plenty of sad faces in the morning when the horns started blowing.

Lake Taneycomo

We saw steady flows on the river early on in the month, with that brought a great nymph rig bite.  The fish seemed much more active and full of fight unlike the previous month when they knocked down the generation.

The old standby eggs, worm, and midges performed well on a short 4-hour trip before the corp decided to start the low flows again.

Wade fisherman are soaking it up as they should be, since we haven’t had too many opportunities this year to do so.

Unfortunately, for everyday the water continues to stay off for long periods of time the water quality will decrease.  I spent a couple of days towards the end of last week out in hopes of sight fishing to some browns only to have rainbows swoop in for the take.

Since the DO is down the streamer game is on fire right now.

Trout are always willing to chase in that situation.

Sculpins are the choice for many anglers and we have been selling several in the last few weeks.

Woolly buggers, Crackle backs, and soft hackles are all working and in the right water.

All the staple eggs, worms, and midges continue to catch fish but the quantity of fish is decreasing on that bite daily.

For those willing to lose a few hours of shut eye the low water on Taney gives an excellent opportunity to land a brown.

We have several nighttime leach and woolly bugger patterns that have been staples on Taneycomo for 20 plus years in stock and ready for you to cast, so check them out in the buy flies section or as always give us a call.

The moss and algae on the bottom of the river is the worst I have ever seen it.

Many of the familiar holes that hold bigger fish are completely covered in moss.

The sun is slowly doing its job killing off the moss on the exposed gravel and with that comes a pungent odor that takes away from some of the joy of being outdoors, but I know we can all overcome that to catch a trout or two!

Those that are fishing the faster runs where the water is getting some oxygen churned up in it probably have not been affected so much with the low DO levels.

Scud’s of course are always a go to in these areas.