Clint Wilkinson Fishing Report- May 12
May 14, 2008 by mountainriverjournal
HIGH water means lots of food and fat bellied trout like this one landed in the last week by Clint Wilkinson’s client Clay. Read his fishing report …..
“Moderate to heavy generation continues and the fish are still growing at amazing rates. The size average is increasing and I’ve been catching alot of nice browns and rainbows. Rainbows and browns from 16-20 inches are being caught daily on both rivers and almost all of them are very FAT and fighting like smallmouth.
I fished the White today from the dam down to Gaston’s with a couple from Oklahoma. He was mid level angler and his wife completely unfamiliar with high water fly fishing. Oddly enough, she landed a 20 inch brown and lost a 20+ inch brown and rainbow. They both caught several other rainbows between 13 and 18 inches.
As I mentioned, all were very strong and had fat bellies. The greateast thing about this scenario is that it’s only the beginning. The high water will continue throughout the Summer and, most likely until Fall. The fish will continue to grow and not nearly as many will be removed from the rivers.
Fishing will be tough for those not intimately familiar with these waters but the guides are loving it.
I still get excited about large, hard fighting trout and I’ve seen a bunch of those in the last few weeks.
I predict that by the end of the year these rivers will hold more big fish than we’ve seen in the last 10 years.
The next six or eight weeks will offer the best opportunities until September as it seems that the water is being held back for the time being to relieve people much further downstream and maximize profit for sale of electricity at a later date when demand is higher.
June will be a great month to fish here if you want to take advantage of both rivers. I would expect to see eight generators around the clock on the White which will make Norfork the easier choice for most of July and August.
Regardless, we have a great year of fishing ahead of us and hope you can be a part of the experience. _ Clint Wilkinson
