The Shad Kill started with a bang the last few days of January, in the midst of some very high water flows on both the White and Norfork Rivers. For a few days, we saw sheets of shad coming through Bull Shoals and a few through Norfork; but the Shad have slowed somewhat lately. For the next month or so, a Shad imitation should be high on your list, particularly on the higher water. The Shad will be with us off and on for the next month.
Both Bull Shoals and Norfork Lakes are at their target levels now, and we should see some low water until the next frog strangler. We have a couple of commonly wet months to go before we can see how the summer will size up; but we're in pretty good shape for the moment. Remember, if we do get any flooding in the spring, the dams usually cut back flows until the flooding downstream subsides. So don't despair if it rains.
Fly recommendations, with the high water we've seen all winter, are simple: Glo Bugs, San Juan Worms, and Shad imitations. Hopefully the lower water will shake us out of that rut, fly-wise. Next on the agenda are our hatches. Soon we'll start to see a few caddis on warm days. The first caddis will be the big (#14) guy with smoky gray wings and a bright green body. The trout love these bugs. So be ready with Elk Hair Caddis, green caddis pupae and soft hackles. Green (not olive) is the key color.
Let me inject a word about traffic on the rivers, for some of you that prefer to fish on your lonesome. It's a big surprise sometimes for folks trying to get a jump on the season to find the rivers very busy during March. The reason for this is spring breaks. They seem to stagger and pretty much cover the whole month of March. If you want more room, wait until April. It's a much quieter month.
Stop by and see us ...............Dale
