Return to the Tailwaters...

As far as our trout fishing goes this year, we haven't really spent that much time over on the White and Norfork Rivers as much as we have in the past. Honestly, we got kinda burnt out and was looking for a change of scenery. Thus, we spent most of the late winter and spring over on the North Fork of the White in Missouri. It was great. Treated us really well with some epic streamer fishing trips for the browns and plenty of spunky wild rainbows on the bobber to pass the time. We loved it. Can't wait to get back over there this fall...

After that, smallie season kicked off and we have been basically spending most of our time on the smallie rivers chasing after those beloved bronze-backs. We have had a pretty good year too. Plenty of water after an awesome wet spring and lots of hungry fish came to hand. Its been pretty sweet. Well, here we are, its prime summer time fishing  and we have started to think about trout again. Especially catching big brown trout on that beloved foam bug over on our beloved tailwaters. From our previous post, you saw that the Professor and I had already tested the waters and found some hopper eating fish but it was time to get the rest of the crew involved. Lets roll...

Day 1  

With the primo conditions to throw hoppers happening in the evening with the higher flows on the White, we opted to start the trip over on the Norfork with a low-water float to wade fish all the fishy spots along the river. Most everyone dug out the 5-weights and rigged up a bobber with some kinda nymphy bug below it. We dumped the boats in at the dam and made our way down to the 1st spot where my boat started at the big riffle above the island while the Professors boats set up shop at the island. Things were kinda slow for us on the riffle  minus Crik finding his groove and plucking some decent fish out while Nathan caught a few and I was flat out striking out. Gotta love it...

We pushed on downstream from there, hitting all the fishy spots that we have wade fished for years during low water before we had boats. Its cool getting to see spots change that you have fished over the years but the fish are always there. Always. It was typical Norfork bugs as always....small streamers, eggs, scuds, and the odd mayfly variation (one in particular that I'm not gonna name cuz it works so good : ) thank you to my buddies in Montana for that one). All the guys were getting into the fish which is always plus. The Norfork typically treats us pretty well so we love the "princess of tailwaters" in all her glory.

Our final stop was the top island above the handicap access and everyone spread out on different water. It was good. Very good. Bent rods were seen every time I turned around. I even broke out the fiberglass glass rod rigged with a hopper/dropper rig just to see what I could do. Didn't take long as I plopped the foam nasty under an over-hanging tree and watched a fat rainbow come up to inhale the hopper. Brilliant. Had a few more eats on the foam bug but most were coming on the dropper in the fast water. Easy pickings. Man I love this river....

As the day wore on, we made a push to the boat ramp so we could make time for some lunch before sneaking over to the White in hopes of a foam bite. We loaded up the boats, stowed our gear, and headed over to Gassville to hit up our favorite pig out spot in the area, KT's BBQ. If you haven't hit this place up while fishing the White River, you are really missing out. Their BBQ is amazing and their sour cream potato salad is nothing short of epic. If I wore it as a hat, my tongue would beat my brains out trying to get to it. Anyways, we all made ourselves completely miserable with our lunch and enjoyed the AC for a bit before we loaded up to hit the White and chuck the foam....

As we made our way up to the boat ramp to drop in, our luck started to wear thin as a good ol' summertime thunderstorm started to move in. Isn't that just freaking dandy? I don't know what it is about the White but she can be a cruel mistress. When we want clouds and overcast skies to throw streamers, the sun shines bright as ever and when we wanna throw hoppers, the skies turn gray and it rains. Gotta love it. We stuck to your guns though and decided to see the trip through. We got to the ramp, rigged up 6-wts with foam bugs, and our 8-wts with big meaty streamers. Our target? Big brown trout....

Wish I could say that we had an epic float with several big browns to each boat on either hoppers or streamers but it just wasn't meant to be. We couldn't turn a fish on a streamer so we stuck to the foam bug and just kept hammering the banks. Finally, towards the end of the float, the sun tried poking out and it was like a light-switch for whatever reason. We started getting some eats on the hopper, missed a few fish here and there, and Joey finally put the 1st brown in the boat.

After a short streak of action, it shut back off again when the clouds returned. The fish were showing us no love at all for quite a while. We hit all the good banks, changed colors and sizes, and couldn't get it done. Frustration was beginning to set in and then it happened again, the sun decided to poke out again. It happened on 1 of the 2 last banks before the boat ramp so it was basically 4th and long for us to make it happen. I finally stuck a fat brown and wrestled it into the boat. Joey followed it up with a typical White River snake of a brown trout. Mix in a few feisty rainbows and a couple of LOFT inspired misses on some NICE browns right before the boat ramp to call it a night for us. It wasn't what we had hoped for but the river did show us a little love and gave up a few good browns so the trip wasn't a total loss...

Day 2

The next day, we returned to the 'Fork in hopes of another day of good numbers but it just wasn't meant to be. In all of the trips I have taken to fish the 'Fork, it has never fished bad. Never. It always produces for me. Well, I guess all good things must come to an end. It was a pretty tough day for us. The fish were just being weird and I'm still kinda wondering what happened. We managed to catch a few fish here and there but nothing like the day before. Of course, the Professor stuck more than his fair share of trout....the dude is fishy. It happens. We fought the slow bite for a while and then pushed on for the boat ramp as we had some time constraints to meet back home.

It was a good weekend. It was nice to get back to the Cotter/Mountain Home area and visit the old haunts both on and off the water. The hopper fishing wasn't what we had hoped for but it all worked out in the end. Everyone had a great trip and fish were caught. We can't complain...

Until next time, keep chasin' the dream...

The F3T Road Trip, Day #3

Day #3

The next morning, we all piled into the trucks for our final day on the water for our little road trip. We jogged south to Norfork, Arkansas to eat breakfast at our 2nd favorite greasy spoon breakfast spot in the Ozarks...the good ol' Norfork Cafe. Make sure and check it out. Its not bad! After we filled our bellies with pancakes, omelets, and biscuits n' gravy (Oh My!), we ran up to Norfork dam to dump the boats in while the COE was pumping out some good water for us. Shuttles were ran, boat spots were picked, and we were off....

To stick with the weekends on-going theme, we kept with the big sticks and chuckin' the big bugs in hopes of finding a unicorn. I don't know what it is about fly fishing and all the variables that go into making a presentation that will entice a fish to eat but on certain days, some guys have what I call the "touch". Doesn't seem to matter what bug they tie on, the fish are just gonna eat it. This day, that guy (or SOB if you're in the boat with him) was DonnyB. The dude was straight up being fishy and was dialed in. He was sticking rainbows and browns off all of the good banks and missed a ton of fish along the way. Cole and I just couldn't hang with him that day. It was pretty stupid, to be honest, but DonnyB is known to have days like this from time to time...

While DonnyB was having a grand ol' time sticking trout faces all morning, the rest of us weren't having the same kinda luck. Sometimes, you just have 1 of those days where nothing can go right on the river. Personally, while I was trying to clear out the line at my feet while fishing, my full sink SA line got hung up on a rock in the middle of the river. Before we could get the boat slowed down and headed back upstream, the rock it was on sliced the line in half. Just freaking great! I was able to retrieve all of my line but it was done. Gotta love it. In the other boat, JoeyC was having a few problems on his own. While tossing a big nasty double deceiver, he finally made contact with a unicorn (BFBT or big freaking brown trout). This wasn't your normal 2 footer either, it was bigger. According to The Professor, he fought the fish as well as anyone could and they chased the fish down with the boat but before they could get it in the net.....the fish just came off? Heartbreak...

We finished out the float and called it a day. We had plans to leave early enough to head back to Fayetteville in time to make a pit stop at McLellans Fly Shop and grab some dinner before heading to the F3T show. After squeezing 2 trucks and 2 drift boats into the cluttered parking lot where the fly shop was, we did some loitering in McLellans and BSed with Brock to kill some time. I picked up another spare spool for my Hatch Monsoon that I had ordered and bought a new SA Streamer Express full sink fly line to replace the broken line, brilliant! After some more loitering and BSin', we decided to go grab some grub and then head to F3T. Corey picked the establishment for which we would dine that afternoon and it was a dandy. It was a chain restaurant that's basically a spin off of Hooters and Twin Peaks, except the local talent wears kilts instead. Well, the food was alright and you could tell we had the Monday afternoon "talent" shift if you catch my drift. Yes, I'm still a prick...

We finally made it to the theater for F3T. The guys were pretty excited as Donny and Corey didn't attend last year and this year's film lineup looked to be pretty freaking awesome. We grabbed our seats and settled in. This year's film tour lineup was geared more to the freshwater crowd with quite a bit of "trout" related films as well as the normal exotic locales and exotic fish that probably 90% of us will never see or fish but they were still good films. Intermission was entertaining as always as the F3T crew do a great job and give away plenty of swag for the audience. Also, CTD as a group has been pretty lucky at these events. Last year, I won a free SA fly line of my choice but we doubled up on the swag this year. The Professor got a fly assortment from Montana Fly Company as well as a few other things and then Joey won a Montana Fly Company F3T Edition Boat Box! It is freaking awesome. We all hate him for it...

As far as the best films go, I would have to say that my favorites were "The Brothers Brown" and "Reel: A Day on the River". Both were geared towards the trout audience and had a really great story to go along with each film. "The Brothers Brown" really hit home with all of us as its about 3 brothers who go to the Lower Au Sable to chase the monster browns that live there with streamers out of drift boats. Sound familiar? It was an amazing film. that I think we all identified with. I will buy it when it hits DVD, no doubt. "Reel: A Day on the River" revolves around a handful of guides  and their daily lives up in the NorthEast that fish the Delaware River system which is kinda where modern American fly fishing was basically born. It's a great film as well. The F3T Tour is a great event, if you have a venue close by then you really should go. I think its an essential part of the future of our sport and where its heading. I think it helps to attract a younger generation of fisherman and to push current fisherman to enrich themselves deeper into the sport.

 

My Personal Favorite Film from F3T...

I don't really know what else to say about this trip that I haven't expressed in the previous blog posts. I guess all I can say is....it was a really damn good fishing trip!

 Until next time, keep chasing the dream...

 

Guide's day off = Guinea pigs

We'd just finished loading the boats up from our day on the NFOW and was headed south back to Mountain Home when I got a text from guide buddy Brock Dixon of North Arkansas Troutfitters. "Are we still fishing tomorrow?" I quickly replied, "Damn straight." Brock and I had been trying to get a day on the water together to do some fishing for a while now but with my limited amount of days to fish and his busy guide schedule, we just couldn't made it work. Finally though, we got a day scheduled to fish the upper White River in hopes of some decent water to do some streamer fishing.

Plans for the morning were laid out and it was gonna be game on for the 2nd day of our trip to the Ozarks. Turns out, all cheap, tight-wad fly fisherman enjoy the same greasy breakfast spots as we met for some morning grub at the White Sands Restaurant in Cotter, Arkansas. Just an FYI for you readers, if you haven't ate at White Sands on a trip to the White River...you are missing out. The food is good, the waitresses are cute, and its pretty dang cheap as well. The only cause for concern is you will want to have a toilet close by or at least have some toilet paper in the boat when it decides to hit bottom.

Anyways, after breakfast, we made the normal shuttle runs for our vehicles and then headed for the boat ramp to dump Brock's skiff in the river to get the float started. As we arrived at the ramp, we were all pretty stoked to see that BSD was bumping some really nice water out of the dam. Hopes were high for a decent streamer bite as we rigged up 8wts again with big nasty bugs. Then the inevitable happened just as we launched the boat...the water shut off and started to drop. This is where I'd like to point out that the COE and the SWPA are a bunch of douche bags, whats the point of broadcasting a proposed generation schedule if you don't stick to it even the least little bit?? Ok, off the soap box now, we made the best of it and fished some good banks with the streamer rods till the water fell out on us. We had a couple of bumps and a few follows from some decent fish but they were super spooky and not aggressive at all when chasing the bugs.

After the water dropped out, we dug out the 5wts, slipped on a thingamabobber, and dropped a couple of caddis-ish bugs off the back end. Brock had some new bugs that he had been wanting to try out and we volunteered our services as fly guinea pigs. From there, we just stuck with the bobber rigs and fished all the fishy seams and runs, pulling out stocker rainbows and a couple of decent browns as we went about our merry way. We took turns swapping out on the sticks and made Brock do some fishing so we could keep him out of "guide mode". It was a learning experience for us too as we got to pick Brock's brain about the fishery and learned a few new tricks. BS was swapped back and forth, crap was given to each other when the time called, and we just had a pretty good time. Also got a sneak peek of things to come as the day warmed up, big fluffy Caddis started to pop and buzz around. The fish really weren't keying in on them yet but its only a matter of time if we keep getting some warm weather. Although, as I'm writing this, its snowing outside...

I also did some filming with the GoPro throughout the day but the footage is nothing special like what I mentioned in the post before with our NFOW trip. You're not gonna be amazed by the footage but I hate to see footage go to waste so here is another quick video smasher of the day's fishing. Hope you enjoy....

If you're looking for an outfitter or guide to use on the White River system. Be sure and give Brock a call at North Arkansas Troutfitters or check him out on the Book of Face. The dude has a whole bag of tricks when it comes to catching trout on the White and Norfork Rivers. He is one fishy dude...

Flying Solo...

Now most of us here at CTD live a fairly normal life. We have real 9-5ish jobs, families, and all those other ridiculous adult responsibilities that comes with being a contributing member of today's society. Its safe to say that none of us are true "fish bums" in the sense but we like to think we get out on a fairly normal basis and catch a few fish. Then you have the member of CTD that we like to call "The Professor" due to his un-canny ability to catch fish and being a student of the sport, you could say. His name is Corey Dodson and fish tremble at the mention of his name. He's the closest thing we have in the crew to being a "fish bum", as the cliché goes. He has a normal job.....and he fishes. If he could figure out a way to not work and fish all the time, he most certainly would. The dude is always going somewhere fishy once 5:00 arrives on Friday afternoon. We envy him....and hate him.

This brings me to the most recent trip that The Professor went on a few weeks ago. In typical fashion, the dude was flying solo in the ol' 'Yota, headed south for our beloved tailwaters in Arkansas with drift boat in tow. The plan was simple, as it always is, fish from dawn to dusk to catch as many fish as humanly possible. Corey spent a day on the Norfork and a day on the White, floating from spot to spot to wade fish the good runs. The fish cooperated and he put some nice Ozark 'bows and browns into the net. There's not much of a story to tell with Corey's solo trips, the dude just catches fish. I will let the photos do most of the talking...

Until next time, keep chasing the dream...