Getting ready to unload the SS250 in another fishy looking section of river. Notice my left foot and the pole where the camera is attached. My foot is holding the pole from rocking back and forth. I later would fix with electrical tape as gasket for a tighter fit.
I’m aboard yet another SouthWest flight, this time, leaving Little Rock, heading to New Orleans. I scrambled to get my stuff packed up. All the sudden, my 2 week fishing adventure/holidays 2015/ New Year 2016 trip is over. The first week I was here, the fish and the fishing was feeling right. Then, we got hit with Winter Storm Goliath. That sorta wrecked the second half of my trip.
Final tally – 1 bite (Huddleston), 3 BIG followers (1 Huddleton and 2 on the Slide Swimmer). No catches. Yay. At least I got to feel the burn of sore wrists and forearms from lobbing the bigbaits around.
This is the confluence of the Cotter Spring and the White River. It is usually crystal clear. Winter Storm Goliath wants me to come back to AR again soon. Sorta cramped the trout fishing!
Pole Cat –
I’ve been messing with better ways to shoot video. GoPro cameras are awesome, but I find them a little challenging to get good footage with, when it comes to filming your day of fishing. I use the heck out of my GoPros for underwater footage. They rock for that. I’m trying to get away from a camcorder style camera in the back of the boat on a tripod. The GoPro tends to excel at up close, in your face type action. I don’t particularly care for footage that is shot from a head or chest mounted camera. You miss a lot of what is going on.
The GoPro, I’ve found, is great when suspended about 2-3 feet above and 1 foot behind your head.
I ended up with a 10′ piece of 1/2″ conduit, purchased for $2.50 at Lowes. It miraculously fit perfectly in the seat mount/pedestal mounts in my little Tracker Grizzly aluminum river rig. I have some refining to do, but the POV (point of view) and accessibility of the camera while fishing was great.
You can use the web application to dial in your mounting. I find myself going manual a lot. I sorta know where to aim it now.This is what I was looking for. I want to see the bottom and have more of a bird’s eye view. Yes, I like to fish grass beds, whether I’m trout or bass fishing. Big fishes like grass.
You get a much better feel for the river, the bottom, and how shallow it can be, even when there is water running. I would love to show you what catching a big one from up here looks like!I cannot believe how different I am than a few years ago. It didn’t phase me to not catch any fish, and didn’t phase me the flood conditions pretty much messed up 50% of my trip. I have better control of my emotions and expectations. I am enjoying things and not getting all fussy about nothing. Amazing. Thank you yoga.
Keep it simple. I am intrigued by swimming worms and swimming fluke baits, as they relate to swimbait fishing. Swimming a fluke style bait is sorta kinda glide bait fishing to some extent. There’s a randomness and glide of swimming fluke baits that makes them special. Think about how the Scrounger Head, and Aaron Martens have pretty much validated that swimming flukes flat wear ’em out. Now transition to the Head Spin. Fluke influenced. Very critical to rig your Fluke or swimbait PERFECTLY on your Head Spin. Otherwise is runs funky or doesn’t look good. The fluke + Head Spin of course won the BassMaster Classic in 2015 on Hartwell. A blueback herring lake. The Head Spin swims but also has a glide to it as it sinks and falls. It has to do with the Fluke on the back. The Little Dipper is an excellent trailer for the Head Spin.
My first exposure to the Scrounger was back in the day, Pacific Ocean in about 1990 out on the Dana Wharf fleet. Saltwater calico bass fishing w 4″ curly tail grubs and Scroungers. My first exposure to the Head Spin, was in 2005, in Atlanta, GA. It was a local company and I read fishing reports for days trying to integrate into the Southern bass fishing scene. I would credit Ryan Coleman for dialing me into the bite more like in 2007. I hired Ryan to show me Lake Lanier. There was a BassMaster Open coming to Lanier that year (Which, Ryan would WIN!). He showed me how to slow roll a Head Spin over brush piles. Later, folks like Brad and Bob Rutherford preached to me about the Head Spin for places like Hartwell. Which is ironic because that is where Casey Ashley just won the 2015 BassMaster Classic — Lake Hartwell. Head Spins have their place for suspended fish, herring eaters, spotted bass, largemouths, and any fish truthfully. The underspin is a fundamental truth of fishing it feels like to me.
How many influences do you see here? Alabama rig and adding a 2nd blade/flash …. Then I’ve got a Little Dipper, from my Okeechobee affair w swimming worms. Then You have Fish Head Spin with is a unique swimbait in it’s own right. Underspins, like spinnerbaits and inline spinners get bit.
So WTF does that have to do with the Mann’s Reel N’ Shad? Watch this bait swim. Watch it hop. The straight reel, this thing has a sweet little wiggle fluid drive swim. This is a “Do Nothing Swimbait” if I’ve ever seen one. This thing looks lethal to me, on spinning gear , or casting gear. There is a 3 3/4″ and and 5 1/4″ models which is cool. The small one is definitely spinning gear time. 7′ M or MH Spinning pole and some 10-15# braid with a 10# floro leader. Bang goes the dynamite. This thing is part senko, part fluke, part glide bait, and part swimmer. I just appreciate the simple yet super fishable and fish catchyness of this bait.
I have to admit, I haven’t fished a fluke on a standard roundball jig head enough. I haven’t fished a fluke or fluke style (meaning V or U shaped body when looking at bait head on), that don’t have a swimming tail enough. The swimming tail takes away from glide. The tail straightens the swim into a more uniform flow/engine. Fluke baits with a simple little fork tail (or no tail, ie Sluggo) don’t swim thru the water. They glide. The swimbait world is all blown up on, glide baits. Glide baits are something so simple but something we (well, me certainly) are just scratching the surface with. I’m so f@cking blown away on the Slide Swimmer 250, there’s no other way to put it. I got like 5 bites by MAGNUM brown trout in the span of like 2 days. It was sick and wrong. There are particular reasons it’s so good. I can kill it, stall it, etc that is very conducive to fishing current. The Slide Swimmer 250 kicks f@cking ass in current. Fishability. Net net, anything that ‘glides’ like a fluke rigged with a light lead head will catch fish. Try a 1/16 or 1/32 head on a Zoom Fluke sometime. It’s stupid how good that thing fishes (and catches). Mid-Strolling. Have you ever heard of that technique?
The video is of the 5 1/4″ version in guess what color? Hartwell Special/Blue Glimmer. You know somebody knows what time it is when they name something like that. This bait has blueback herring eaters written all over it. Likewise smallmouth and spotted bass. From creek fishing, to fishing steep walls / shade lines…boy …. this thing is super simple but looks effective.
Beginners
Think about this bait for kids or for somebody who is new. Good enough to cast, retrieve, and sorta gets the feel for jigging a bait with a rod, reel, and line. You set them up with the Mann’s Reel N’ Shad , they are gonna be stoked. Floating down a creek or fishing small water? The 3 3/4″ version looks killer. Great colors. Mann’s surprises me from time to time. I try to keep an open mind and never be snooty about baits, companies, and techniques. That sort of arrogance has cost me a lot of money! If you know what you’re doing this bait is sorta a new ‘indicator’ bait / approach. One of those specialty baits you have rigged up on a shad bite/herring bite where fish are suspended, chasing bait, on steep stuff, or need to probe the depths.
We’ve got a lot of tools to pick from. This one definitely will help you keep it simple. And might be a good suggestion to some beginners or something you take on a trip w you where you need to put some newbies on fish. Mann’s Bait Company is about as OG as you can get. I think about Hank Parker and those Gold Colorado bladed spinnerbaits he won the Classic with, and I think of Paul Elias and the big ole deep dredge crankbaits. I have to say, the 1-Minus series has caught me a lot of fish. Anyway, Mann’s has some good baits, at a good price and seems to be hanging tuff. I imagine they’ve sold 1 or 2 umbrella rigs too?!?!?!
Fishing for trophy brown trout on the White River in Cotter, Arkansas, is making me a better swimbait fisherman. There are new challenges of current, water fluctuation, baits, rigging, and access. This fish went 29.5 Inches and ate a 3 Dot Olive 10″ Triple Trout at the base of a shoal.
I haul a lot of water, with swimbaits, hunting trophy brown trout….but it’s all about learning. I’m still rigging my modified jon boat into a better river boat. I’m still learning the river, how to control the boat, and what angles the fish seem to prefer. The bait selection is easy: Huddleston and Triple Trout for the most part. Duh.
Above the Narrows, White River, Arkansas
The quiver of boats you need in the Ozarks. I love my Ranger Boat, but goddam I’m tired of burning fuel. Drift boats are awesome, and Honda 4 Strokes, are incredibly efficient.
River fishing, current, and the orientation of the fish makes casting angles and how you line and position yourself up so much different than I’d do in lakes, but it’s still very similar.
It’s safe to say Simms Fishing Products rock, and fit perfectly into the ‘cross over’ conversation. Love their products, their company and style.
Not lots of room to work with up on the deck, but shoot, room enough. Love how jon boats fish, and just love getting on the river and having access. Forgot to put the spare trailer tire in the truck, I don’t usually bring spare tires in the boat!
Fishing with 2 Fly Fisherman this day, out of a drift boat, you have to understand how different they fish. You have 3 people in a small boat. You have shuttles to run so you have a truck at the end of your drift, and maybe a trailer too. You need someone to row, and 2 guys to fish and you rotate. I can cast 4 X further than these guys, so I am rarely at a disadvantage, even from the back of the boat.
You don’t grip a brown trout by the jaw. Their mouth and teeth could probably eat a tin can. Trout fisherman are super careful about fish care and handling fish. These big White River brown trout are healthy and hearty, and this one was released unharmed.
The Trophy Brown Trout in the White River are eating the stocked rainbow trout. The browns are wild fish, and savvy fly fishermen are using streamers to get big browns. For a guy like me, swimbaits and bigbaits are a no brainer.
BigBaits, Simms Fishing Products, Drift Boats and a slowed down pace of fishing. This isn’t tournament fishing. This is trophy hunting, and brown trout are an excellent cross over opportunity. The White River in Arkansas is accessible to most of the MidWest and South very easily.
You could say I was stoked. Look how black that fish is. Really dark brown trout, up around the bend, Cotter, Arkansas White River.
Just wanted to share some more pics of the ‘big catch’. I’m still undecided how big the fish is. Bummed I was an idiot and didn’t measure the thing officially. I don’t typically measure or weigh fish unless they are giant, which is weird I suppose, but you sorta just go cool, I got a good one, and enjoy it for a while and keep planning more trips and well timed assaults.
The White River in Arkansas is a trophy brown trout fishery. Quite possibly the best brown trout fishery in the United States. Anytime you have a legit shot at a >24″ brown trout, you are trophy hunting, and in the White River, you have a legit shot at >30″ brown trout. The above fish is approx. 27″ long, but doesn’t weigh that much. Long and thin, but don’t get me wrong, one of the finest catches I’ve made in a while. 8″ Huddleston Deluxe Rainbow Trout swimbait with the Southern Trout Eaters trap rig setup with gills added. The brown trout fishery that exists here is a wonderful story, and includes the names of people like Dave Whitlock and Forrest Wood as well as bunch of agencies, volunteers, State and Federal fisheries, and the Corp of Engineers…all working together and compromising. The White River has many secrets, many bends, many shoals, many miles and many fish. You need at least 2 probably 3 different boats to fish it properly, not including wade fishing. Brown trout are just an amazingly fun fish to hunt and catch. They are very gamey and eat moving baits, and definitely eat bigbaits. They are known to attack rats and birds and other terrestrials as well as other trout. Hmmm, that breaks my heart to hear!
Leviathan. The mouth of a brown trout from this angle can look like some crazy eel or serpent mouth. Very different mouth, tongue, teeth and bite than a largemouth, but still trout eatin’ lips!
Trophy Brown Trout Fishing with Swimbaits on the White River, Arkansas
We first broke the ice on the swimbait bite on the White River in what was documented in our film Southern Trout Eaters. Now, two summers later, we are living on the White and spending a whole lot more time and energy to really dial in the fish. We have a long way to go. Fishing in current is a new challenge in itself. The above is a short clip of an approx. 26-27″ trophy brown trout caught near Cotter, Arkansas, on the 8″ Huddleston Deluxe Rainbow Trout swimbait, using our Southern Trout Eaters Huddleston Rig, with the added gill modification, ROF 12. We got some nice footage of the release and just wanted to share our ‘personal best’ with you. It isn’t often you wake up at 5am with swimbait fishing on your mind when the calendar tells you it’s July and the forecast is well into the 100+ degree mark. But that is what happens when you understand some of the nuances of Southern swimbait fishing. Trout Eaters are where you find them.
The Southern Trout Eaters rig works well with brown trout I’m finding. Like bass, big brown trout don’t always inhale the bait or eat it head first. Lots of swipes, kisses and short bites by those super smart brownies. ST-66 treble hooks are perfect for the rock hard bone razor teeth laden mouths of trophy brown trout.
Trophy Trout are not easy to catch or hold onto for a picture. Notice the size of the head and jaws vs. the rest of the body. A cool 104 degree July afternoon in Arkansas, contrasted by 58 degree water temps in the mighty White River.
