Back From Arkansas - Lessons Learned

Well the guys from Flyfishmagazine.com have returned safe and sound from last week's trip to fish the White and Norfork Rivers in Arkansas. We managed to escape the state just ahead of the rain from hurricane Rita. We caught a lot of fish and had several adventures that I am sure you will be hearing about in the near future.

Lessons learned from this trip:

We learned just how much stuff a Toyota Corolla can hold and still carry three people thousands of miles.

We learned not to eat at the McDonald's that was under renovation with the porta johns outside unless you get the keys to the car from Paisley so you can make a hasty retreat to the restrooms later.

We learned that pretty much every fisherman in the free world fishes the same mile of river in Arkansas at the same time. (The really cool thing is that you can still catch fish standing shoulder to shoulder if you know what to do. ) Luckily Paisley knows what to do. He calls it "Combat Fly Fishing."

We learned that Rim Shoals has some big fish AND big snakes.

We learned that people in canoes sing show tunes and sometimes others call fishermen rednecks as they paddle through the middle of the fishing hole in front of you. (it was all Zugbug could do to keep from bouncing a size 8 woolly bugger off the guys head).

We learned that spending a total of 35 hours in the car driving, fishing from daylight to dark, and sleeping in a tent in 90 degree heat, makes you tired....but in a good way.

We learned the hard way that Armadillos will sneak into camp and steal your beer while you sleep.

The hits of the trip fly wise were the red bead head midge nymph and grey sowbug. Probably 90% of the fish we caught were on some variation of these flies.

More to come .....stay tuned.