AN EVENING ON THE WHITE RIVER

July 3rd brought a beautiful day in the Ozarks.  The temps were very mild and the humidity had dropped to very tolerable conditions compared to what we have been experiencing.  I had just wrapped up a couple of guide trips on the White River where the temps and humidity were just about unbearable.  The temp was in the nineties and the humidity matched.  So when we finally got a very pleasant day it was a welcomed. 

During the early afternoon my wife Mary suggested that we head to the river later that day and fish for a few hours.  She didn't have to ask twice.  So about 4:00 p.m. we loaded up the boat and headed for the catch and release area below the Bull Shoals Dam.  They were generating about 3100cfs and we were pleasantly surprised when we arrived at the ramp to find only one other boat on the river at that time.  This is usually the case when you fish later in the day.  All the guides have completed their day on the river so many times you have the river to yourself. 

We launched the boat and immediately headed up to the dam.  I observed several fish breaking the surface but did not see any hatches appearing.  This lead me to believe that the fish were possibly taking emergers just under the surface.  Once we arrived at the area 100 yards below the dam we began our first drift.  We drifted about 50 yards and Mary struck first with the first fish of the evening.  It was a nice fat little rainbow.  After releasing that fish we continued our drift.  Mary then informed me that she had another fish on and it appeared to be bigger than the first one.  She loves telling me when she has a fish on.  That is her subtle hint to get the net.

Mary fought this fish and as it got closer to the boat we could see that it was a very respectable rainbow.  We got this fish in the net, took a quick picture then released it back to the river.  Mary had several estimates as to the size of that fish and each estimate appeared to be bigger than the previous one.  My guess was around 16 inches.

I then hooked into a very nice brown trout but he spit the hook after a nice jump and clearing the water by at least one foot.  

We continued to make several drifts from the dam down to the Baxter County side boat ramp.  Each drift we would pick up fish.  Then the fishing below the dam slowed so I suggested that we go just a little farther down river.  We ran through the riffles by the boat ramp then turned around and started a drift through a deeper channel.  We hadn't drifted 20 feet when a I got hooked up with a nice fish.  I managed to get this fish to the boat and Mary netted a very nice rainbow for me.  This fish turned out to be the fish of the evening.  We took another quick picture and released the fish.    Mary estimated this fish to be about 18" and I did not argue with her.

 

As the sun began to set behind Bull Mountain we both agreed that it was another beautiful evening on the White River.  We are already looking forward to our next adventure.