We got some brown on the ground...

We had the crew out all over the state again over the weekend. Most were hunting, others were fishing....all that matters is we got out. Rifle season has opened up for deer which has most of the guys out in the deer woods.

Crik and Squatch went out west to Crik's grandpa's place to chase some whitetails. Squatch had a rough go of it after missing 2 deer due to not hunting with his own gun as his is at the gunsmith. Crik was successful in his pursuit and took down a fat doe as well as a decent buck. I forsee lots of venison for our future camping trips. That's what I'm talking about...

Cole is also out west chasing whitetails in hopes of bringing down a big buck. As of today, there is still not a deer down on the ground. All in good time though, he is hunting some primo land out there.

As far as the fishing goes, DonnyB and I loaded up the boat and the streamer rods on Sunday morning to go fish the Lower Illinois tailwater. Our hopes for floating were dashed when we arrived at the dam to low water. So much for a projected generation schedule. We geared up and hiked in away from all the people to a nice stretch of water that rarely gets fished and ripped some stocker rainbow faces. It wasn't pretty, water was very dirty from the lake turning over so we were chuckin' bright meatballs (eggs) under a thingamabobber to get any eats. It worked though and we were content...

Thanksgiving is upon us this week and that means I will be going out west myself for a few days of duck hunting. The old college room mate has the monopoly on various ponds in the Butler area and we usually end up killin some waterfowl. Can't wait...

Happy Turkey Day everyone if u don't hear from us...

How to tie a Sex Dungeon

On the water and in the woods...

CTD was all over the grid this weekend, in pursuit of all things with fins, feathers, and fur. It was a successful weekend for us to say the least. Corey and Joey were chasing the brown trout spawn on 1 of our local tailwaters, DonnyB was in SW Oklahoma with his smoke pole chasing whitetails, and Chris and I were looking to the sky for all things fowl. It was a good weekend to say the least...

Corey and Joey hit up the less famous Beaver Tailwater (White River system) over a couple days and got into some nice browns that are upriver for the spawn. Beaver isn't a favorite amongst us but sometimes it can really shine if the water and weather is right. I forsee a streamer trip to this piece of water sometime soon if we can get some generation. The boys did well...

DonnyB took his annual trip home for muzzleloader season to put some brown on the ground and get some venison in the freezer. Luck was on his side as the 1st morning out he put down a pretty decent buck and filled his tag. Then a few days later, his hunting buddy got a shot on a 150"+ buck but sadly missed the big boy. 325 yards is pretty far for a muzzleloader, even for an Encore. There is meat on the freezer though, that's all that matters...

Chris and I hooked up with the rest of our duck hunting crew for opening day in our part of the state. Sadly, waterfowl numbers was way down this year for opening day. It took us all week to find any birds to make it worth even going out. We were able to scrounge up a few ducks on a new lease we picked up the week before. Having 23 ponds to choose from has its advantages! We didn't have a stellar morning but we were able to put down some birds before calling it quits on Saturday. On Sunday, we found a few birds on one of our local holes and just a few us got after them for a couple hours. Again, just a few birds were put down but it was worth showing up. Got some redheads in the bag which is kinda uncommon for our area. We were content...

Lots of options to fish or hunt at this time of the year in our area, so get outside and go get 'em! You know we are...

T-minus 24 hours and counting...

Tomorrow morning, the other "dream" for a few of us starts. Duck season opens tomorrow and the anticipation is almost killing us. Although, up until this morning, we couldn't find any ducks at all on any of our normal haunts. We were beginning to get discouraged and was contemplating other activities (streamer fishing, deer hunting, etc) but thankfully we found some birds on a new lease we just picked up this week.

Things are looking promising for us so we r gonna give it a shot. I will apologize in advance if the blog suffers due to duck season, it is the only thing that will make me put away the fly rods for an extended period of time. Look for posts of ducks and fish in the coming months.

We r gonna do some filming this year too, so I might be tossing up our first hunting video this winter sometime. On the topic of videos, still have the MT footage to edit and work on so please be patient. We have some really good stuff there...

4 days...4 rivers...

Recently, our own Corey Dodson (aka The Professor) ventured out for his annual trout tour that we like to call "Fishapolloza". Fishapolloza is simple, cover as much water as possible. This years trip covered venues like the Current, North Fork of the White, and then the White/Norfork tailwaters. The rest of us were jealous...and we still are...

This year, Corey gave himself 4 days to cover these 4 rivers, which allowed him a full day to fish each river and then travel by night. Trout Bums everywhere would be proud to take this trip. Corey went prepared as he had the kayak loaded up on top and the Hyde drifter in tow behind the ol' Toyota for this trip.

Fish were caught and plenty of them. He stuck some holes in a few really nice fish faces too! Browns and rainbows! If there is a guy that is in tune with the fish of the Ozarks, it's this guy. We don't call him The Professor for nothing...

A western showdown w/ some Golden Ghosts

Over the previous week, Cole and his family made a pilgrimage back home to the vast expanse of Western Oklahoma. The purpose of the trip was to celebrate the arrival of their first child, RC (short for Robert Clay), and get to see family. Well, luckily for Cole, his pops had plans to chase carp on their home water, the mighty Washita River...

No need for a long winded report for this little excursion. Cole and ol' Harv were able to put some flies in more than just a few rubber lips. They had a great weekend stalking some golden ghosts.

The guys really have this creek and these fish dialed in. Here is the proof...

Conclave 2012

After several years of trying to attend, CTD finally made it over to the FFF Southern Council Conclave (think mini expo) in Mountain Home, AR this year. I was flying solo on this trip as the rest of the crew was bow hunting or on dad duty for the weekend. So on Friday evening, I hooked onto the Clacka and pointed the truck east for the White River tailwater...

The plan was to hook up with Matt Tucker of The Ozark Chronicles and guide Jim Traylor of Fly Fish Arkansas to float the White River on Saturday morning before heading to the Conclave around lunchtime at the fairgrounds. We decided on the Dam to White Hole section so we could get off the water early and make the short drive over to the fairgrounds. With the SWPA putting the screws to us, we only had a half-unit of generation on the river as we launched Matt's Hyde drifter for the mornings float.

The theme for the morning was to throw streamers even with the crappy flows so we rigged up to chuck meat. With the low water, I resorted to smaller articulated stuff and started picking up rainbows off the nice looking banks. Matt and JimmyT kept with the big stuff in hopes of turning a big fish but only got a few half hearted tugs.

The fishing for the morning wasn't lights out but the fellowship was good. Always cool to fish with new guys and make some new fishing buddies. JimmyT shared his knowledge of the river with us and I was making tons of mental notes of different spots on the river. I learned a lot, very cool. Matt's stories kept us entertained the entire float, most of them not being PG-rated so I can't go into detail about them. All I can say is my side was hurting from laughing so hard by the time the float was over.

As far as Conclave goes, it was...OK. Got to see some familiar friends and meet some new ones as well. There was the usual fly shop booths showcasin' what they have to offer with gear and guides. Big tying table with guys tying all kinds of bugs. Just ur typical gig, nothing special. It was what I expected so I wasn't disappointed.

Afterwards, Tucker and I rounded up Brian Wise of Fly Fishing The Ozarks to go hit the river for an afternoon float in hopes of sticking a pig. We had hoped to fish the Norfork tailwater but, once again, the SWPA put the pants on us with no generation. We decided on just hitting the Dam to White Hole section once again.

We had awesome weather for chucking meat but the water just wasn't there. BSD was just running a half unit of generation, which has been the norm of late. We hit all the good banks once where we was greeted with a couple of hook ups and follows from some good fish. Wise landed a decent brown and I put some dink rainbows in the boat.

Highlight of the day was a moment of sheer panic when Wise stuck a Gama B-10S in his cheek. Tucker and I had a sense of urgency about us as we started to head for the boat ramp.
Brian replied with a "I'm good, I got it." Luckily, the barb was pinched and it came right out. We laughed about it after the fact...


That night following our float trip, we met up with Larry Babin of Hogs on the Fly, Dominic Zametto of Two Rivers Fly Shop, and our very own Corey Dodson (The Professor) for some dinner and adult beverages. We were later joined by some of the crew from Dally's Ozark Fly Fisher. The evening was spent exchanging good stories and plenty of shenanigans, thanks mostly to Matt Tucker. That guy is a riot. What a night...

The next day, The Professor joined me for a double drifter float trip with Larry, Dominic and Matt on the White River. We decided on an old favorite, Wildcat Shoals to Cotter Bridge, even though the flows were low thanks again to the SWPA and Bull Shoals Dam. With blue bird skies, it was basically a stocker rainbow kind of day. Corey and I stuck with small streamers on our 6wts and plucked out rainbows the whole day. It was fun to see these aggressive little guys just hammering our bugs, made for a good day of fishing.

We saw a few HUGE brown trout that looked to be staging up for the upcoming spawn. It won't be long at all. Other than that, it was a typical rainbow day with some beautiful weather and good company on the water.

It was a great weekend meeting new people and catching some fish as well. Not a bad way to waste a weekend...

BTW...sorry for the lack of pics. The pictures provided were taken by Matt Tucker of The Ozark Chronicles. Check out his blog, it's legit...

Until next time, keep chasing the dream...