New Years Newsletter
I hope that everyone is having a wonderful holiday season, and it will be nice for me to put the hassles of this time of year behind me and get back to focusing on fishing full time. 2009 was a great year, but 2010 promises to be much better. My plan is to send out an extensive newsletter every month. This newsletter will have special promotions just for my subscribers, so do not think that the edition I post on the Web site is exactly the same as what you will be receiving. I will also send out additional special promotions and updates a couple times a month, and these mini-newsletters will discuss exceptionally hot fishing, changes in water conditions, or any other topics that are time-sensitive. The people that support my guide business and my Web site mean a lot to me (I’m talking about you guys), and this is why I am committed to creating a newsletter that contains “privileged” information that I will not share with the general public. Please enjoy this New Year’s edition, and any feedback you can provide is greatly appreciated.
Stock up with my “loaded” nymph box
Some of you already know that I am working on putting together different fly boxes that will contain a variety of specific types of patterns, or a selection of flies for each river. This collection is designed to help you get geared up for the upcoming fly fishing season, so it will contain the four basic patterns that I use to consistently catch fish on my guide trips. They are all nymph patterns, and they are tied in the most productive colors and sizes. Keep on mind that those who subscribe to my newsletter are privy to special promotions and discounts – plus, guide secrets are revealed in the subscription edition. On the website, you can sign up for the full version of the newsletter on the bottom of the Home Page, the bottom of the Taneycomo Page, and on the bottom of the Contact Page.
“Jeremy Hunt’s White River Basin Staple Patterns”
Total price for #120 personally tied flies is: $150
Box #1 includes:
#36 Scuds (weighted with lead): Sizes #16, #14 – variety of colors
#30 Tungsten Zebra Midges: Sizes #16 – Black & Red, rusty midge, psycho midge
#30 Tungsten Bead Head Hare’s Mask: Sizes #16, #14, #12 – Natural Rabbit, Lighter Rabbit, Charcoal Gray
#30 San Juan Worms: Sizes micro & standard – Worm Brown, Fluorescent Red, Pink, Cerise, Sparkle Braid WormTotal price for #120 personally tied flies is: the standing price for this package will be $150)
Box #2:
This box contains the exact same flies as box #1, but half the quantity.Total price for #60 personally ties flies is: the standing price for this package is: $80)
I have been developing my own custom dubbing blend. You will love what I have come up with, as this dubbing contains both a subtle UV and Pearl Blend
White River Basin Fly Fishing Forecast for January 2010
2009 was a crazy year, and although we did not experience record flooding like in 2008, it was still a very wet year. This meant that high water was the rule, not the exception, and most of our fishing was done out of a boat. A single high-water year can result in above-normal numbers of trophy fish, so you can imagine what two successive years of high water will produce. I think that the numbers of browns and rainbows in the 22” to 26” range will be incredibly high, so 2010 will be a great year to target bigger fish. That means that streamer fishing and drifting during periods of power generation will be the desired techniques of trophy-minded anglers. Still, when we do get some low water, there will be plenty of fish over 20-inches to go after. I am very excited about getting the opportunity to look around our rivers in order to assess the fish populations, and there should be some low-water situations emerge over the next month.
What differentiated 2009 from other high-water years was when we saw rain. Normally, the heaviest of precipitation will fall in the winter and spring, but this year we saw lots of rain during the summer months and exceptional deluges in the fall. This is why the dams have been running so much water of late. Table Rock Lake is the only impoundment that is currently below power pool, so we could see low water on Lake Taneycomo at any time. Over the last week, flows have been reduced dramatically, and as of this writing, the levels have reflected one-unit flows. There are some low water opportunities on Taneycomo right now, and barring heavy rains, we should be looking at plenty of days where the Corp runs zero to two units out of Table Rock Dam. It’s fixing to be a very good January on Lake Taneycomo, and the 20-inch rainbows that were so prevalent ten years ago are starting to be common again.
While the Corp always tries to keep Table Rock Lake as low as possible, the opposite is true of Bull Shoals. This reservoir can store the most water of any of the five White River Basin impoundments. Bull Shoals Lake is still about 15-feet above the power pool level, but since they have reduced the flows upstream at Table Rock Dam, Bull is really starting to drop expediently. If the rains hold off, the lower White could see low water sometime around the middle of January, and when this does happen, the fishing will be as good as it gets. I just want to refresh everyone’s memories regarding what “power pool” means and how this elevation affects fishing conditions. Basically, power pool is the ideal lake elevation, in the Corp of Engineer’s minds (power pool elevations are measured in feet above sea-level, and this level is different for each lake). When the lakes are above power pool, as a general rule, the water will be high on the rivers. If the lakes are below power pool, water releases will generally be limited to times of significant power demand, and there will be periods of low water. Of course, there are little exceptions to all of the Corp’s rules, but once Bull Shoals and Norfork Lakes get down to their respective power pool levels, there will be low water conditions on both the Norfork and the White. Norfork should be down to power pool sometime in early January, and the fishing over there will also be excellent when this happens.
Guide tip for January: How is the fishing when the water first gets low?
This month’s “guide tip” relates to what to expect over the first few days after they shut the water down subsequent to extended periods of heavy water releases.
Typically, the first few days of low water on any of the White River Basin trout fisheries will result in slower-than-expected fishing. This is because it is quite a shock to a fish’s system when flows are reduced so dramatically, so they will spend a few days searching out new holding water and getting used to base flows of 40-cubic feet per second (cfs). I can remember one time when they shut down Bull Shoals Dam after 45 days of eight generators worth of water, and I expected to have a field day. There were fish rising everywhere near the dam in the slow-moving areas, and I was ready to go kick some butt. Well, three hours later, I had only caught two small fish, and I did not see anyone else catch a thing. I found it interesting that there were quite a few fish feeding on tiny midges, but they would not touch a fly – usually when the above-mentioned scenario occurs, you will not see many fish even feeding. Needless to say, I went back up there three days later, and I tore them up. Sometimes, when we are getting towards the end of a high-water cycle, the Corp will start shutting the water off for a few hours at night. This really helps, as the fish begin to get used to the reduced flows. When this situation occurs, the first few times that the water is low during the day can be excellent. Keep an eye out for what exactly is happening at the dams when the lakes get a few feet from the power pool level. This way, you will know if it is worth fishing the first days of low water. Please give me a call if you have any further questions regarding this situation.
In Depth: The Corp of Engineers addresses low oxygen issues
Those of you who fish the White River Basin trout fisheries in the late fall know that low oxygen issues can often have an adverse effect on the fishing. The fish can become lethargic, and there are even times where fish-kills have been observed due to low dissolved oxygen levels. Although lower oxygen is an issue on all of the five of the Ozark tailwaters, the worst situations are usually observed on the Norfork Tailwater and on Lake Taneycomo. Table Rock Dam is equipped to pump liquid oxygen into Taneycomo which really does help, but that approach is not an option at Norfork Dam due to its old age. There are many reasons why oxygen levels are low in the fall, but little has been done to alleviate the problem.
Over the past few years, I have noticed that the Corp seems to be taking certain measures to keep the Norfork in as good of shape as possible. They will often limit maximum generation output, and the Corp will usually release light amounts of water when oxygen levels get to lethal levels after long stints of low water. These efforts have helped, and the fishing in the late fall has improved as a result, but there are still times where low oxygen levels are observed on the Norfork for extended periods of time.
This year, because of excessively high lake levels in the late fall, the Corp was forced to think outside the box. They wanted to get the water in Norfork and Bull Shoals Lakes drawn down as quickly as possible, but they also realized that maximum generation rates would result in high volumes of poorly-oxygenated water being released into the rivers. Their solution was to crack open the floodgates and allow oxygen-rich water from the top of the lakes to enter the rivers. These efforts worked quite well on both the lower White River and the Norfork Tailwater, and it was nice to see the Corp of Engineers take a proactive approach, even though this effort did cause them to lose money.
Unfortunately, spillway-releases are only possible when the lakes are high enough to reach the level of the back of the flood gates, so it is doubtful that these exact measures will be utilized very often in the future. Still, the fact that the Corp displayed a concern for the trout fisheries below their dams sets precedence, and it does appear that they are working on long-term solutions. Change is hard, but the Corp’s willingness to consider the recreational point of view is a positive step in the right direction. I will keep everyone up to date during the annual low oxygen season; especially if a permanent solution this dilemma is enacted.
And in conclusion…
January is gearing up to be a stellar month for trout fishing in the Ozarks. We always seem to get a few January thaws, and as long as the wind doesn’t blow too hard, most days are plenty comfortable for fishing. Please give me a call or drop an email if you have any questions, and I sincerely hope that you have enjoyed this first edition of my “newly enhanced” public newsletter. My guide schedule is fairly open for the month of January, but I do tend to get a bunch of last-second trips during this month, as people tend to wait to see how the weather is looking before booking. History and experience tells me that January is typically a very good month for both action-fishing and trophy-sized trout, so be sure to take advantage. The slow fishing of late fall and early winter will be a thing of the past, and the trout on all of the White River Basin fisheries will be thick and full of energy.