Well folks here's the fly fishing in Arkansas report i promised. First of all on the White River and the Northfork River (trib. of the White), EVERYTHING is totally dependent on wheather or not they are releasing water. The White has 8 generators and even when half of them are being used the water levels are so high you cannot wade fish. Therefore most fishing is done from a boat, which means you have to hire a guide, or bring a boat. We arrived on Sat. March 6th, and fished for the next 5 days. My wife didn't outfish me this time, LOL. She actually got a fish on Tue. We fished on Sun. for about 2 hours and both got skunked. Same on Mon. both days we just got going late and found ourselves in fly shops and sight seeing most of the day. Both damms on Bull Shoals (the White) and on Norfork (the Northfork) are magnificent structures and we went driving all over the place to see the lakes (reservoirs) and take pics, etc. Tue. we went to the Northfork for the first time. Like i said she got a fish. At that point i was skunked for three days in a row. I did get one fish on Wed. My wife got none. So, for the first 4 days fishing we had one fish each. Although we had only fished a totall of about 10 hours during that 4 days. We had tried lots of different flies and had some success with Caddis emergers. I negleted to tell you that i had missed a number of strikes and lost a few fish while playing them. The main thing hatching all around were white midges. But i wasn't gonna try to land these fish with a size 22 fly. These fish are big. Finally on the last fishing day, (Thur.) i got it all together and had a "Killer" day. I got 20 fish and the largest was 25 inches. They were all Rainbows, and some of the MOST beautiful Bows you've EVER seen or EVER will see. The fins were pink. Just perfect fish.........not a mark on them. That big fat boy, (actually a hen fish) had an Adipose fin that was as big as my little finger. It may have been longer than 25 inches actually. The Northfork is only 7 miles long but it holds at least 40K fish. I saw countless pods of fish. In fact most fishing is sight fishing. There are fish EVERYWHERE. TONS of fish, browns, bows, cutts, and brookies. Some of the bowns are well over 30 inches. You need to night fish for them. Or use bait, or just get lucky. Not my dog Lucky, just fortunate, LOL. By the way guys, i have found an amazing pet sitter, (YES!!!!!!!!!), she did an EXCELLENT job while we were away, even took care of our mail..........and that's NOT in the contract. She's young too, so i'm set for many years. Anyone need her web-site url, let me know. Now, what fly was i using when i got all them fish? A bead head Wolly Bugger, LMAO. Cast up stream and let it swing all the way down below you, and then little short strips back to you, with the occassional pause, and a lifting of the rod tip, and then back down. Worked every time. I was smackin' 'em all day till we had to leave early to go help set up for the show. Actually i got those 20 fish in about 5 hours and we quit fishing around 3:00 p.m. I may have a 40 fish day if we'd stayed. Next year, he he he. It's very hard to tell if they are going to running the turbins and making electricity or not. It's a VERY strange arrangement they have with the states of Oaklahoma and whomever else it is they provide electricity for. The Sowbug Roundup show is a totally terrific show. We "Had A Ball." we were 2 of 107 tyers, and we both tyed both shifts (9 to noon, and noon to 4) both days. And boy did i come home with a LOT of new additions for the "Gallery." Also picked up an originall piece of artwork, two books, and a **** load of materials. The Wapsi company gave us a LOT of materials for free, alllllllll kinds of "Stuff." They are located right in Mt. Home and it was their way of thanking us for our efforts. We also participated in the Fly Tying Contest and had our flies framed up in a couple sets of flies by all tyers that were auctioned off. And we donated to the hats with flies by all the tyers that were also auctioned. I gave away all the flies i tied or swaped them with the other tyers. The Northern Arkansas Fly Fishers are the host club that puts on the Sowbug Roundup, so they use their club hats to hold the flies. Boy, i'll tell you guys.........get to a Sowbug Roundup sometime.........GREAT fishing, and a GREAT event. mark.........
03-16-2004
Fishing Arkansas report 
Similar Threads 
Threaded Mode
