Absolutely hooked

BULL SHOALS — Fishermen enjoyed the best of both worlds on the tailwaters of the White River last Thursday when springlike temperatures warmed the air, while the trout below the surface were feasting on winter treats of cold-stunned shad coming through Bull Shoals Dam.

Cloudy skies and six generators pumping high water downstream only enhanced the prospects of tricking trout with lures, especially the big browns that become the focus of fishing when shad are in the river.

Words, in fact, were unnecessary when fishing guide David Capps of Yellville greeted me for a trout trip that would extend from the tailwaters' White Hole access to the dam and back.

He simply gave a big, wide grin and held his hands about 2 feet part to indicate the size of browns expected to be caught.

An extra cause for optimism was finding Capps' good friend and fellow fishing guide Mike Neher of Flippin waiting to join us. The chance to wet a line themselves - and do so together - was a rare treat for the two guides, but it spelled double trouble for the trout.

As we motored upstream toward the dam, plenty of damage from the recent ice storm was visible in broken and downed trees on the bluffs along the river, but there were also signs of spring with sights of blue herons tending their nests and clumps of bright yellow daffodils blooming on the banks.

Along the way, Capps and Neher regularly pointed out spots where one client or another had recently hooked brown trout stretching up to 30 inches and weighing 6-8 pounds.

Consistent with an immutable rule of outdoors journalism, Neher had enjoyed the kind of trip the day before that never happens when there's a camera in the boat.

"We had a heckuva time catching between 40 and 50 brown trout, including an 8-pounder and 7-pounder and I don't know how many 2- and 3-pounders," he said.

It was a day when schools of live shad were visible swimming on the surface and the trout were coming up after them. In the process, they were vigorously hitting white jigs and flies fished fast and shallow.

"They were tearing up the flies," Neher noted.

SHAD APLENTY

Close to the dam, threadfin shad were readily visible on the surface as they steadily floated past in scattered numbers. Most averaged about 2 inches long, but others up to 4 inches occasionally floated past. Some obviously were still alive.

From then on, we would be in the constant presence of the silvery baitfish during six hours of fishing from the dam to White Hole.

Although the shad had been showing for most of February, the guides didn't expect them to stop coming through any time soon.

"I've seen them come through until April," Capps said.

Interspersed among the floating shad, we could see the scattered swirls of trout coming to the surface to grab a bite.

"Yesterday, they were hitting on top right at the edge of the grass," Neher noted as he prepared to begin casting a white marabou jig from the bow of the boat.

Fishing from the stern, Capps elected to go deep with a "river rig" consisting of a teardrop sinker hanging from a staging on the line about 3 feet ahead of a hook threaded with a 2-inch piece of white plastic worm.

Thereafter, the jig or worm would prove to be the hot choice at one time or another while fishing varying water conditions and bottom habitat.

Bumping the worm on the bottom, Capps scored first with a small rainbow trout.

"The problem with that fish is its head is too close to its tail," Neher joked, initiating the back-and-forth banter that would characterize the interaction between the two guides.

Capps soon hooked up with larger rainbows, the best being two fat, rosecolored fish of 16 and 17 inches.

Regardless of size, many of the rainbows showed stomachs bulging with wads of shad they had consumed.

Although the rainbows would provide consistent action ranging from slow and steady to fast flurries, the brown trout would steal the show.

SHOWTIME

As we moved downstream out of the catch-and-release area near the dam, the first brown took a plastic worm bumped along the bottom alongside a grassy island. After a drag-stripping battle in the strong current, the fish materialized as a beautifully shaped and brilliantly colored 22-incher.

With six generators cranking from the dam, Capps had been hoping for another turbine or two to be opened to create a "bump" or rise to improve our prospects for browns.

He got the bump he was hoping for about two hours into the trip and announced his intention of following the rise downstream.

"A good guide would take us back through that spot where we caught that nice brown," Neher challenged.

That inspired Capps to insist on a change of guides to take his turn in the bow while Neher took command of the boat. The rise also prompted a switch to casting marabou jigs to take advantage of the noticeably faster fishing action for rainbows and browns.

The latter included several spunky fish of 16-20 inches that kept our hopes up for the proverbial big one.

"A good guide might slow this boat down some in these better areas," Capps chided his partner.

I finally came to the realization that the underlying message of the goodnatured banter was the suggestion that one or the other of the guides might be trying to "save" a hot spot to be fished with clients the next day.

Along the way downstream, Capps and Neher stopped briefly to visit with fly-fishing guide Ron Yarborough of Yellville. His client for the day, Strait Hill, had just caught a beautiful male brown of more than 22 inches on a micro jig. The Indiana angler appeared thrilled with his catch.

"Ron is a good friend of ours and the real deal as a fly-fishing specialist," Capps said.

Noting that the water level was falling and stabilizing, we switched back to the plastic worms and picked up a 21-inch brown and a couple of smaller ones before the action slowed enough to call a lunch break.

After lunch, Capps stated his intention of moving downstream toward White Hole to find the "good water." He found it, and we were back in action for rainbows and browns.

Capps upped the ante for big-fish honors when he brought in a brown stretching 23 inches.

Not long afterward, Neher hooked up with a heavy fish that stayed deep and fought grudgingly and determinedly as we drifted downstream. Neher patiently and unhurriedly kept steady pressure on the fish during a fight that went on for 10 minutes.

"A big male [brown] of about 13 pounds has been hanging out where you hooked your fish, and you might have him," Capps suggested to Neher. "My clients have hooked him four different times and have lost him each time, so heknows how the game is played."

When finally netted, the fish turned out to be an unusually stout and strong brown pushing 24 inches.

While there would be no giant brown caught Thursday, Capps and Neher were convinced the kind of day we had will become increasingly common in the Bull Shoals tailwaters.

"The thing is, we didn't catch a single keeper brown today; they all had to be released," Capps said in reference to the new 24-inch minimum length limit that went into effect for the tailwaters on Jan. 1.

Although Capps and Neher assiduously release all the brown trout caught aboard their boats, less-discriminatefishermen could have kept some of the browns of the size we caught under the previous 16-inch minimum length limit.

"That 24-inch limit is going to do more for trout fishing in this tailwater than any regulation the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission has ever done," Neher said.

"No question about it," Capps echoed.

Of course, the presence of shad in the tailwaters is a good time to get started with enjoying the blessings of the new regulation.

David Capps can be contacted at (800) 268-3474 and Mike Neher at (870) 453-8502.