It’s taken this long for the reservoirs to all get back to conservation pools. Greers Ferry reservoir has been around pool for some time and so generation there has been relatively light, mostly in the late afternoon and evening for a brief few hours.

Wade anglers will be happy to see some shut down at the other powerhouses too. Drift boat anglers will be happy to have the daily peak hydroelectric releases for several hours which will keep temperatures down and flows from bottoming out downriver. Great nymphing and some dry fly action ought to make every angler happy. About the only thing in the weather pattern that may monkey with lake levels will be a big rain event from a hurricane from now until the first end of summer cold front.

Don’t rush the hopper fishing. They aren’t ready yet and are still very small in my yard. Although, there seems to be a good crop of them. They should become a factor in late August. Until then any hopper you fish should be small and very impressionistic. Forget the large, hard bodied patterns. Madam-X style patterns work just fine. A Dave’s Hopper can be good, but keep it small. Don’t forget ants, beetles and some secret terrestrial patterns I tend to like. Use your imagination.

This hopper camouflages into the bark of the tree.

Algae and trash will still be a factor on Bull Shoals tailwater when generation starts up hard. Stay in the tailout window and you should be fine.

Enjoy the Independence Day weekend and our hard fought for freedoms. Thank a vet!

See you on the river.

© 2010, Scott Branyan

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 30th, 2010 at 10:33 am and is filed under Fly-fishing Forecasts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.