Plenty of shad have made their way through the generators over the last few weeks allowing all the post spawn browns and various other species of fish below the dam to pack on some much-needed pounds.
In return many anglers have encountered a bite that has slowed down significantly due to the decreased appetite.
Over the weekend we did see a few more shad come through. The cloud cover, colder temps, and high flows gave a few individuals that timed it just right to be productive. But as a whole many anglers that have come into the shop over the last few days have struggled to find good fish and to keep the bite consistent.
Early on in the week proved to very slow for most. The bite would come in spurts. One would be drifting down the river for several minutes and then suddenly a feeding frenzy would occur, just to be followed by another lull in the action.
Jeremy was out early in the week and seemed to encounter much of the same slower bite that we left last weekend off with.
His long-time clients Todd and Ben would have bent rods for several minutes only to be rewarded with a lull over and over the cycle would come and go.
They stayed with the White bite and in the end was able to pull out a few noteworthy fish before they headed back to Kansas City.
Many anglers, including myself have been giving up on the White bite.
Going with the normal White River table fair of eggs, worms, and midges, only to look back on the day wondering if staying on white would have produced the same results.
Those willing to venture down river with streamers are continuing to produce with white, chartreuse and white, and cotton candy deceivers or feather/polar changers.
Thursday I was out with Josh and his father-in-law Steve who made it down from the St. Louis area to see what the White River was all about.
Steve was able to produce with a nice rainbow on the first drift that sealed the deal on what flies we would be fishing the rest of the day.
Keeping the Arkansas Beadhead and a Tom Rogers Blow Fly on the bottom with hopes of it drifting by a trout that is willing to eat one more piece of shad goodness seems to be the best bet at the dam.
Josh was able to get a brown to come up and slow sip a zoo cougar on the top resulting in his personal best brown.
Which paired well along with his personal best rainbow from earlier in the morning.
The boat landed quite the assortment of fish throughout the day.
To go along with the rainbows and browns, Steve found a Palamino and Josh landed a fine spot Cuttie which he never expected to land on the trip.
Then on the last cast of the day Josh finished with a chunky Walleye to make their first trip to the White River just a bit more memorable.
Much like the last report sticking with the white bite will in the end pay out.
Meat Whistles dead drifted with or without an indicator have produced at times.
The staple Chartreuse and white mega worms continue to be go-to in soft pocket water.
Mega Worm Tying Kit- 1/80th (25 Count)
Jeremy has had very productive shad bites throughout the month of March, so we put together a little shad kit with many staple patterns to keep those full tummies wanting just one more.
The Deluxe Shad Kit and the Mini Deep Water Shad Kit offer several staple patterns that we use during the Shad Kill and at different times throughout the year.
We have just a few more days of cold weather and hopefully we will be seeing more signs of spring by early next week.
The talk of the 70 degree days has everyone coming in the shop talking about the Caddis. Many of the guides that frequent the shop are ready to start tying on some bugs.
We just had several orders for the All in One Caddis Kit go out this week, don’t forget it is a great way to get a baseline for what you need to fish the hatch successfully with plenty of room in the box to grow and it helps take some of the guesswork out of the hatch.
Plenty of shad have made their way through the generators over the last few weeks allowing all the post spawn browns and various other species of fish below the dam to pack on some much-needed pounds.
In return many anglers have encountered a bite that has slowed down significantly due to the decreased appetite.
Over the weekend we did see a few more shad come through. The cloud cover, colder temps, and high flows gave a few individuals that timed it just right to be productive. But as a whole many anglers that have come into the shop over the last few days have struggled to find good fish and to keep the bite consistent.
Early on in the week proved to very slow for most. The bite would come in spurts. One would be drifting down the river for several minutes and then suddenly a feeding frenzy would occur, just to be followed by another lull in the action.
Jeremy was out early in the week and seemed to encounter much of the same slower bite that we left last weekend off with.
His long-time clients Todd and Ben would have bent rods for several minutes only to be rewarded with a lull as the cycle would come and go.
They stayed with the White bite and in the end was able to pull out a few noteworthy fish before they headed back to Kansas City.
Many anglers, including myself have been giving up on the White bite.
Going with the normal White River table fair of eggs, worms, and midges, only to look back on the day wondering if staying on white would have produced the same results.
Those willing to venture down river with streamers are continuing to produce with white, chartreuse and white, and cotton candy deceivers or feather/polar changers.
Thursday I was out with Josh and his father-in-law Steve who made it down from the St. Louis area to see what the White River was all about.
Steve was able to produce with a nice rainbow on the first drift that sealed the deal on what flies we would be fishing the rest of the day.
Keeping the Arkansas Beadhead and a Tom Rogers Blow Fly on the bottom with hopes of it drifting by a trout that is willing to eat one more piece of shad goodness seems to be the best bet at the dam.
Josh was able to get a brown to come up and slow sip a zoo cougar on the top resulting in his personal best brown.
Which paired well along with his personal best rainbow from earlier in the morning.
The boat landed quite the assortment of fish throughout the day.
To go along with the rainbows and browns, Steve found a Palamino and Josh landed a fine spot Cuttie which he never expected to land on the trip.
Then on the last cast of the day Josh finished with a chunky Walleye to make their first trip to the White River just a bit more memorable.
Much like the last report sticking with the white bite will in the end pay out.
Meat Whistles dead drifted with or without an indicator have produced at times.
The staple Chartreuse and white mega worms continue to be go-to in soft pocket water.
Mega Worm Tying Kit- 1/80th (25 Count)
Jeremy has had very productive shad bites throughout the month of March, so we put together a little shad kit with many staple patterns to keep those full tummies wanting just one more.
These kits have everything you need to flyfish shad kills effectively whether you fish the White, Norfork, Taneycomo, or the Beaver Tailwaters.
Kits should be loaded to the site within a few days.
We have just a few more days of cold weather and hopefully we will be seeing more signs of spring by early next week.
The talk of the 70 degree days has everyone coming in the shop talking about the Caddis. Many of the guides that frequent the shop are ready to start tying on some bugs.
We just had several orders for the All in One Caddis Kit go out this week, don’t forget it is a great way to get a baseline for what you need to fish the hatch successfully with plenty of room in the box to grow it and takes some of the guesswork out of the hatch.
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