White River Rainbow

Our buddy and founder of @Kayakmonsterusa, Jeff Paisley is taunting us today with pictures of trout he is catching from a kayak on the White River in Arkansas.  All the while, I remain stuck behind a desk.

Better work on your roll cast boys and girls...

 My fellow Colorado anglers might want to think about sharpening that roll cast this winter.  It looks like plans to "suspend 5.9 miles of silvery, luminous fabric panels high above the Arkansas River" by artist Christo may be good to go.  The artist's website (which has pictures of the project) reports :

On January 2, 2015, the Federal District Court upheld the Bureau of Land Management’s approval of Over The River. The dismissal of this challenge marks a major victory toward making this two-week temporary work of art a reality. The only legal challenge still outstanding is now being heard in the Colorado Court of Appeals.

No word if it's going to be a nice shady fishing spot or a big tangled mess. Dibs on all the flies caught in the "silvery, luminous fabric"

Trout Dynasty: White River Edition

Some of the OG members of the Blue Ridge Fly Fishing Association recently made their annual pilgrimage the the trout infested waters of Arkansas. Instead of fish pictures, Paisley sends us this picture of JD and Shep taking part in the day's beard growing contest. He indicated that these two lost the contest.

Birds fall from the sky in Arkansas

The last time we fished Arkansas we caught some great fish and left town on the heels of a class five hurricane. The next trip we planned was canned by major flooding. Recently, we got an email from our North Carolina fishing buddy, Paisley, inviting us to the 2011 White River trip. Shortly thereafter we see news of what what can only be described as signs and wonders....

"Around 11 that night, thousands of red-winged blackbirds began falling out of the sky over this small city about 35 miles northeast of Little Rock."

and if that wasn't enough to get you started digging the TEOTWAWKI shelter...

"the bird deaths were not related to the roughly 85,000 fish that died a few days before near Ozark, in the western part of the state, the biggest fish kill in Arkansas that anyone can remember."

Via The New York Times

Ebay Watch: White River Arkansas - $297k

Alright Paisley and Zugbug - count me in for a third on this if the due diligence checks out. Found on Ebay:

"This beautiful two-story home, located on the banks of the famous White River, is just six miles from Mountain View, Arkansas, the folk and blue grass center of the Ozark Mountains. There is a riverside deck with cement steps to the water and the river bank has been reinforced with rip-rap stones. "

"The property consists of 2 1/2 lots (250 ft) all fronting the White River only 40 feet away. You can catch trout from your back yard, tie up a boat on your own property or look out your front door at the National Forest. Other features include central heat and air (heat pump), 10x16 workshop outbuilding, in-ground concert storm cellar, and beautiful landscaping with a circle drive."

Alt View: Snakehead Eradication in Arkansas

Bryan Hendricks of the Northwest Arkansas News takes a tongue in cheek look at the recent eradication of a colony of invasive northern snakehead from the pro-snakehead point of view.

Those who knew them say the snakeheads were some of the most industrious, hardest-working fish they ever met. Some also say they were delicious, much more so than their distant cousins, the bowfins, which, coincidentally, endure their own indignities in the form of slurs such as "cypress trout" and the spiteful and demeaning "choupique."

It is true that leaders of the snakehead community expressed a desire to someday migrate into the White River watershed, where the full promise and potential of the American Dream awaited. That proved too much for the AGFC, which quickly deployed its armed forces to squash this exodus before it mobilized.

The rest of the article is certainly worth reading with our favorite qoute being:

Sadly, the snakehead seems to have gone the way of the ivorybill woodpecker, just as Brinkley was on the eve of launching a marketing campaign proclaiming itself "Snakehead Capital of the South."

Fishing Quote of the Week

This week's fishing quote and reason to post yet another instance of our infamous Dam Bait Shop photo taken a few years ago in Arkansas, comes via Reuters:

I'm seeing a lot more fishermen down here," said John Miller, owner of Bob's Sport & Tackle in Katonah, New York. "With the economy the way it is, people are getting laid off from work and don't want to sit at home and do nothing.

"The cheaper alternative," he said, "is to go fishing."

How about it fly fishers, are we about to see a rebirth of Eagle Claw glass rods and inexpensive fly gear?

Fly Fishing Quote Of The Week

This week's fly fishing quote comes from an article in the Arkansas Times about incentives for film makers.

“Most people in this country haven't been to Arkansas,” Gordy said. “Nobody cared anything about Montana until they saw ‘A River Runs Through It,' and then everybody wanted to go there and go fly-fishing. So there's a benefit there, not just in terms of tourism, but in terms of our reputation and showing people what this state is like.”

Extra points if you can tell us the location of the sign pictured above

Best Natural Disaster to Ruin A Fishing Trip..

FlyFishMagazine.com's Western correspondent and resident Sultan of Slabs, Ali Hassan, wins this week's award for best natural disaster to cancel a fishing trip. Ali was scheduled to fly to one of our day job's Alaska locations for a "work trip." In addition to the grueling work related functions on his plate, he had managed to sneak in a recuperative salmon fishing excursion. However, the fates were against him as his flight was canceled due to no less than a volcanic eruption in the Aleutian Islands.

From Reuters.com

Alaska Airlines said it canceled 44 flights between the most northern U.S. state and domestic and Canadian destinations after ash from the Kasatochi Volcano in the western Aleutians drifted over the southeast Alaska panhandle and parts of western Canada.

Apparently volcanic ash is heck on jet engines. Ali's adventure unseats the previous record for largest natural disaster to disrupt a fishing trip which occurred when the FlyFishMagazine.com crew had to flee Arkansas' White River just hours ahead of Hurricane Katrina.

Our own (non company funded) Alaska trip is set to leave the tarmac in 10 days. We are relieved to see the calamity getting out of the way early this time.

Photo via Buy.com

Go To Flies: Spaghetti & Meatballs

photo courtesy FishingFliesOnline.com


Today's Baxter Bulletin from Mountain Home, Arkansas and the White River talks about the effectiveness of fishing Spaghetti & Meatballs. I will give you a hint, they are easy to tie.

Blobs...Steroids for Fly Anglers?

Photo Via SportFish.co.uk

When our NC Fly Fishing Team goes up against some of the UK's finest anglers they might want to check their fly boxes for "Blobs." According to an article in the Telegraph the blob shaped flies, which look nothing like natural insect life are so effective that traditional nymph fishers are crying foul.

Traditionalists claim that the brightly coloured "blob" trout lure is unsporting and should be banned. They accuse its users of adopting aggressive tactics, with the new breed of fishermen described as "yobs with blobs".
The highly effective, ball-shaped blobs, made from various fibres, promote an aggressive, chasing reaction from trout when pulled quickly through the water. Unlike traditional flies, such as "nymphs" or "daddy-longlegs", they do not resemble a living insect.
Purists argue that blobs, which are permitted in major contests, give an unfair advantage over conventional methods and make trout fishing too easy. England fly-fishing champion Chris Ogborne was so opposed to them that he left the England team, and says he has received hundreds of letters of support.

Here is a link to a video where a still water nymph fisher takes a thrashing from the blobber lobber.

We are a few hours late posting this one so check out posts from Tom at the Trout Underground and New Zealand's Tony Bishop of Bish on Fish about blobber fishing.

How is this any different than drifting a Y2k bug on Arkansas' White River?

Time for a National Fishing License?

With anglers traveling more and more in search of fishy pursuits has the time finally arrived for a national fishing license? We recently received an email from David Grace of NationalFishingLicense.org, a group dedicated to starting a grass roots movement for just that purpose.

Our proposal would offer a cost effective alternative. If you were licensed in your home state, you would be eligible to purchase the National License. For $110.50, you could fish any state in the Union so if, on your vacation to America’s west, you fished California (7 days), Oregon (4 days) Washington (6 days) Nevada (4 days) Idaho (7 days) Utah (7 days) and Colorado ( 6 days) you would save over $300.00 Now consider the old guy at work who just retired. He and his wife not only love to fish, but they are one of the 20,000,000 RV enthusiasts who live in the US and they plan to spend months each year, traveling and fishing. Would a National License be important to them? You bet it would.

In the past few years I have purchased my resident North Carolina license, Tennessee, Arkansas, Colorado, and Florida non-resident multi-day (SC salt from shore doesn't require one)permits so I would say a 110.50 national permit could make sense for me. Couple it with a travel rod and some of my business trips might just take a bit longer to complete. You don't know how many times I have scoped out a likely looking pond or ditch only to be rebuffed due to my lack of a handy license agent or Internet connection.

To read more about the movement for a National Fishing License visit the NationalFishingLicense.org website. Also check out their handy table of fishing license fees across the fruited plain.

Arkansas "Open for business."

If you are planning on fishing Arkansas White River in the near future you might want to check out this press release proclaiming the state to be "open for business" even in light of recent flooding in the area.

Trout Fishing in Arkansas

"The increased water flow is helping the fish grow. We should have an excellent lake spawn," Linck said. He added that trout fishing on the White River is good right now even with all the high water, although for now, it is being done by boat.

Linck said people planning a trip to Arkansas should call ahead to the area they want to visit to determine the best time to go based on the water activities they want to enjoy, whether it's wade fishing, skiing or scuba diving.

A tip we learned from first hand experience, be sure to consult the US Army Corps of Engineers before planning any near future trips to fish the White River. A simple email to them got us very helpful response that gave us an accurate heads up about their generation plans.

Maybe we made the right decision...

When we decided to skip Arkansas this week. Paisley writes us with news of the generation schedule.

----- Original Message -----
From: Paisley, Jeffrey
To: zugbug, Garwood ; Lee Murdock
Sent: Thu Apr 10 09:24:17 2008
Subject: News Paper Article

Update: All Norfork floodgates to open 2 feet

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers said it will open all the Norfork Dam floodgates 2 feet each at 7:30 a.m. today, said Corps lake manager Jon Hiser.

The floodgates first opened at 4 a.m. and opened one foot each at 6 a.m., the Corps reported.

The 12 floodgates will release water at 30,000 cubic feet per second, Hiser said. With the generators running, the amount of water released will be equivalent to 11 to 12 generators, he said.

At 5 a.m., Norfork Lake was at 580.83 feet and Bull Shoals Lake was at 688.76 feet, according to Corps information

Thanks,

Jeff Paisley C.P.M., A.P.P.

Someone is trying to tell us something...

Did you ever get the feeling someone was trying to tell you something?

Paisley sends this photo of one of our favorite spots to eat BBQ when we fish Arkansas' White River. It seems to have been on the losing side of a dance with a tornado. Due to the flooding and foul weather I'll be sitting in my office next week instead of tossing sowbugs at big rainbows.

When it was intact, K.T.'s BBQ had some of the best beef brisket we have ever eaten.

Avant Moi Le Deluge: White River Flooding

My last trip to fish Arkansas' White River ended with a bout of gastric distress and having to flee our tents just ahead of hurricane Katrina. FlyfishMagazine.com tailwater chief of staff, Jeff Paisley, contacted me today to advise that this year the floods have preceeded our early April visit to the area.

Via the Baxter Bulletin:

Thirty feet of River View Road on the North Fork of the White River has been washed away, blocking the evacuation route for an undetermined number of residents living in homes up the river, Hall said. Residents in the area also reported River View Drive was washed out and River Ridge Road was flooded.

Among the roads closed were: Baxter County Road 510 and 10 near Midway, County Road 806 in the Gamaliel area, County Road 63, County Road 65 in the Jordan area, County Road 72 at Plum Tree Lane and County Road 7 and County Road 1 in the Cotter area, said Baxter County Road & Bridge Superintendent Vernis Miller. County Road 39 was passable late Tuesday afternoon, but the water was deep and the road may close, he said.

We will be keeping a close eye on the situation and are keeping the residents of the area in our thoughts.

Dam photo by Jay Moore.

John Berry: Fishing High Water in Arkansas

Cotter, Arkansas fishing guide John Berry has advice for those coping with high water situations on Arkansas' White and North Fork Rivers. With our own White River fly fishing trip coming up this April you can bet we are listening to what he has to say.

At this water level, the fish are in side channels or over weed beds. They are deeper, and the current is greater. Therefore I use a longer and a stronger tippet (3X or 4X) and larger flies. You want the trout to be able to see them.

I also use a lot more lead to make sure that the fly ticks the bottom. To float this increased weight, I use the largest strike indicators that I can find. Once again you cast out from the boat and drift the fly with the boat. The secret is to set up the boat so that you will float by the weed beds at the proper distance for you to present your flies to the fish.

Read the article complete with high water fly selections via the Baxter Bulletin.

# 2 But They Try Harder....

Mountain Home, Arkansas has been named the second best fishing town in America by Field and Stream.

MOUNTAIN HOME, Ark., Jan. 23 /PRNewswire/ -- One of the United States premier outdoor publications, Field and Stream, ranks Mountain Home, Arkansas, as the second-best fishing town in the country in its February 2008 issue. The magazine created its list based on each town's year-round fishing opportunities, cost of living, fishing culture, outdoor-related economy and overall quality of life. To qualify, each town had to have a resident population of less than 100,000.

Mountain Home, Arkansas is also the home of this year's FlyFishMagazine spring conclave hosted by tail water Editor, Jeff Paisley. We await the press release from the first best fishing town in American because based on our experiences in Arkansas it must be a heck of a river.

Happy New Year: 2008

I wanted to take a moment to wish a happy and successful 2008 to all of our fly fishing pals around the world. Thanks for all your input and help through out 2007. Let's hope that 2008 finds us all fishing more and catching bigger fish!

Plans for 2008 include:

Arkansas and the White River with the crew in April.
Alaska sometime during the year.
Adding Carp to our list of fly fishing hook ups.

Let us know about your plans in the comment section.

Pimp my Trailer: Part II

FlyfishMagazine.com contributor Jeff Paisley emailed us an update on the status of his ultimate fly fishing teardrop camper project. He tells that he is putting the finishing touches on it this week. Once completed the camper will be put to immediate use on the banks of Arkansas' White River during his annual trip.

Paisley is already planning another teardrop. Since he is an alum of Appalachian State University and still reveling in the upset of the century, he said he intends on panting the next one black and gold.

Here is a link to our original post about Paisley's pimped out trailer.

Have a fly fishing or outdoor related DIY project under your belt? Drop us a note with your photos so we can share them with our readers.