February 1st the day many have been anxiously awaiting. The opening up of the Catch and Release area of the White River near the Bull Shoals Dam. For some it has become a tradition to be one of the first to put a fly out in front of fish that have been essentially off limits to anglers for months.
Jeremy and I did not make it out on the water during the big event, but Jeremy was able to take a drive up and get a few keepsake photos throughout the day. I was able to talk with several people that came through the shop and the highest count that was reported was 34 boats in the catch and release area at one point.
I will admit I have been curious to see what was going on out there in the past week.
Daron was due to come into town on the 6th so figured it would be best to just wait and take in all the madness with one of my favorite relentless anglers that has a passion for the sport that plain and simple just is not seen every day.
After looking at the lower flows we would be delt with all day on Sunday we decided we might as well see what the dam was going to give up. I will be the first to admit it was a bit tougher than I thought it would be to land numbers and quality fish, but after running through the fly box and a few depth adjustments we found several healthy rainbows and was able to finally pick up a thick female in the upper section.
Daron is an all-around angler, but let’s face it when it comes to February, he wants to throw meat and with only having small pushes of water in the very early morning hours we were limited to the time we had to do that. We managed to make due and found around four or five hours during his stay to hit the banks.
The olive and yellow feather changer that treated us so well in December just didn’t cut it this go around, so we had success on the chartreuse and white polar changer, white feather changer, crafty slop mop in yellow and a yellow fat head was able to bring a few to the net.
Daron being the trooper he is, he was able to power nap and head out a few nights and do a little wade fishing with some success getting a few browns in the 20-22 inch range on black and purple streamer we have available in the shop.
For those that can’t make it by the shop to check it out, the Sweeny Todd is very similar.
As always, stop by and take a look around the shop!
February 1st the day many have been anxiously awaiting. The opening up of the Catch and Release area of the White River near the Bull Shoals Dam. For some it has become a tradition to be one of the first to put a fly out in front of fish that have been essentially off limits to anglers for months.
Jeremy and I did not make it out on the water during the big event, but Jeremy was able to take a drive up and get a few keepsake photos throughout the day. I was able to talk with several people that came through the shop and the highest count that was reported was 34 boats in the catch and release area at one point.
I will admit I have been curious to see what was going on out there in the past week.
Daron was due to come into town on the 6th so figured it would be best to just wait and take in all the madness with one of my favorite relentless anglers that has a passion for the sport that plain and simple just is not seen every day.
After looking at the lower flows we would be delt with all day on Sunday we decided we might as well see what the dam was going to give up. I will be the first to admit it was a bit tougher than I thought it would be to land numbers and quality fish, but after running through the fly box and a few depth adjustments we found several healthy rainbows and was able to finally pick up a thick female in the upper section.
Daron is an all-around angler, but let’s face it when it comes to February, he wants to throw meat and with only having small pushes of water in the very early morning hours we were limited to the time we had to do that. We managed to make due and found around four or five hours during his stay to hit the banks.
The olive and yellow feather changer that treated us so well in December just didn’t cut it this go around, so we had success on the chartreuse and white polar changer, white feather changer, crafty slop mop in yellow and a yellow fat head was able to bring a few to the net.
Daron being the trooper he is, he was able to power nap and head out a few nights and do a little wade fishing with some success getting a few browns in the 20-22 inch range on black and purple streamer we have available in the shop.
For those that can’t make it by the shop to check it out, the Sweeny Todd is very similar.
As always, stop by and take a look around the shop!
