# 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.

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.

Arkansas - 9th Annual Sowbug Roundup

Paisley pointed out The North Arkansas Fly Fishers web site and notably the photo on their front page of the 31 inch brown trout caught by one of their members, Dean Darling. The North Arkansas Fly Fishers will be holding their 9th annual Sowbug Roundup in mid March. Currently Arkansas' tail waters are the subject of much discussion as government officials try to balance the water flow needs of the trout fishery with the needs of boaters and fishermen on the lakes that feed the rivers. This club is doing it's part to represent all anglers and they outline some of their strategies on the site.

Arkansas Trip Pics

Here is a map of where we went to fish the famous White and Norfork rivers in Arkansas. Unlike others who went before us we went to Arkansas for the fishing not to get a truck load of Coors Beer with our friend "Bandit" in his Trans-Am.

Paisley and the trusty Toyota Corolla that carried us to Arkansas. Note the luxury accommodations in the background. The vehicle is not the Dodge Ram Paisley usually drives us around in but it sure made the gas bill cheaper.

Zugbug looking sunny and pleased at the thoughts of having his picture made. He got the honor of riding in the back seat all week. It would have been kind of like being chauffeured in a limo if Toyota Corollas were bigger.

Arkansas: White River Fishing Report

Paisley with an excellent White River brown trout

Garwood floating the White River in his White River Pontoon

FlyFishMagazine.com staffers Paisley, Garwood, and Zugbug recently float fished Arkansas' White River. Read about their excellent trip on FlyFishMagazine.com's Fishing Reports page.

It seems I am the only one not getting to fish in Arkansas this month. Tennessee contributing editor Jay Moore is fishing this week on the White River with one of his valued customers. We should have an up to date report from him shortly.

Remember we will publish just about anything around here so feel free to brag by sending us your own fishing reports and photos.

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

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.

North Fork in Trouble

The next time you visit Mountain Home Arkansas and fish the North Fork River stop off and say hello to the good folks at Overlook Estates. According to KAIT channel 18 and others, they are responsible for that layer of silt covering the rocks in this (for the moment) world class fishery.

Massive erosion from a north Arkansas developer's building site that threatens the prized North Fork River continues as state environmental regulators try to put together the funds to contain the problem.

Flyfishmagazine.com Contributing Editor, Jeff Paisley will be visiting the area at the end of March to check it out and report on it for us first hand. Last year Jeff told us he didn't see much of an impact (other than the closing of McClellan's Trout Dock) but judging from this post on the Ozark Angler message board it seems to be getting worse.

Looks like the state and this guy will fight it out as the river dies a slow death. I just can't believe that there is nothing that can be done to stop this problem right now. This is a disgrace to the entire state of Arkansas. I was fishing last weekend in the Moccassin Creek C&R area on the White and watched as the nasty Norfork water made its way down and muddied the river up and shut down the fish. This guy is not only destroying the Norfork but also putting the White below the confluence in serious danger

Arkansas Minimum Flow Problem Solved?

Could a new device be the solution to the lack of dissolved oxygen that can plague tail waters during the hot summer months? The Supersaturated Dissolved Oxygen or Ozone Injector invented by University of Arkansas Engineering Department, can shoot a stream of dissolved oxygen directly into a body of water without disrupting the natural flow of the water column. This could make it ideal an ideal system for oxygenating trout streams.

"This can provide habitat for fish and may allow oxygenation of tailwaters from hydroelectric dams so trout fishing can occur during summer months when tailwaters ordinarily do not have sufficient oxygen to support fish. The potential economic impact of a prolonged trout season in Arkansas may be a significant benefit to the state." And all the trout fishermen said, "Go Razorbacks!"

You Might Think Twice About Wading In Arkansas

Paisley found this great photo and story on the Arkansas Game & Fish website. It shows a 230LB Alligator Gar caught on the White River back in 1956 by Johnnie M. Gray. The fish was 6 feet 8 inches long and was caught on a deep sea rod with raw fish for bait. The fish took 2 hours to land. According to the AG&F website Mr. Gray, a professional photographer by trade, had the print made up into postcards which he later sold. Looking down and seeing something like this swimming by my knee caps might make me think twice about wading into the deeper holes. (photo courtesy Arkansas Game & Fish)

Hey Charlie, could you turn on the water?

The Arkansas News Bureau had a good story about the history of trout fishing on Arkansas' White River. They had a novel way of handling the "minimum flow" issues that everyone is arguing about down there these days,

"In extremely dry periods, the trout had trouble. Not enough oxygen was in the water. For a number of years, the solution took a phone call. A local fisheries biologist with the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would call someone at Bull Shoals Dam. "Hey Charlie, the fish are hurting. Can you give us some water?" A valve would turn. The extra water flow would last a few hours, maybe a day."

Oh the good old days!

Arkansas Trip Pictures

I am working on adding a new section to Flyfishmagazine.com about the area around the Norfork and White Rivers in Arkansas. Tonight I have been cropping pictures and thought I would share some of them with you.

If you are not a Fly Fisherman then you probably should stop at The Dam Bait Shop before you get to the river. Zug made a note to be sure to look up the scriptures that were referenced at the bottom of the sign. He felt sure he had read Bud 17:29 at least once before.

Here is the view from the top of the dam on the Northfork River. Paisley stopped the car right under the sign that said to be sure not to stop on the dam. I think that the island in the middle of the river is at least remotely trout shaped.

Here is a good one of Paisley looking all "guidelike" with a very nice Arkansas Rainbow trout. There is absolutely no truth to the rumor that he bought it at the Dam Bait Shop. The only reason it looks all frozen and lifeless because Zug used a really high shutter speed on the camera when he took the picture. One of the perks of being the Editor is that when someone else catches a bigger fish you get to say whatever you want to about it. All kidding aside though, that was one nice Bow and Paisley did a great job of landing it on 7x tippet.

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.

Arkansas Here We Come

I have spent this evening getting my gear ready to go to Arkansas for a few days of fishing on the White River and the Little Red River. As you can see I have entirely too much stuff to take and this is even after deciding to leave the tying box at home to conserve trunk space. There will most likely be little or no blogging for the next few days as the entire staff ( Me, Paisley & Zug) of Flyfishmagazine will be waist deep in some rivers between here and Mountain Home, Arkansas. I plan on taking many pictures and our resulting adventures should be blog fodder for many months to come. Note the glow of my shiny sneakers!

North Arkansas Fishing Report

The Morning News has published a new North Arkansas Fishing report. It has lots of talk of spoons and powerbait but also contains a bit of information for the fly fisher.

White River:

Scott Branyan at Ozark Fly Flinger guide service said trout are slow to bite flies, but can be caught with nymphs and streamers downstream from the Bertrand Access.

McLellan's Fly Shop in Fayetteville said the best low-water flies are midge patterns like the Jujubee, the Poison Tung, and the zebra midge.

Any fly called the Poison Tung is apt to catch our eye. Here's a link to a description and photo.

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."

Head'em up, Move'em out!

It's sowbug roundup time in Mountain Home, Arkansas! The North Arkansas fly fishers have invited 120 fly tyers to demonstrate their art during their annual three day festival that honors the favorite food of those big White River trout.

Greater Cotter Trout Fest - April 20-21 2007

This heads up comes from an alert commenter on our previous post about Paisley, Zugbug, and Garwood's recent trip to Arkansas to fish the White River.

"White River Lover said...
We'd love to see all you fisherfolks at the Great Cotter Trout Fest this weekend. It's the sixth annual fishing party at Cotter, Arkansas, Trout Capital USA! "

The Great Cotter Trout Fest will be held this weekend "under the Rainbow bridge in Cotter's Big Spring Park." Here is a link to the press release with all the details about the event.

We would attend but we have an appointment this weekend to match wits with a wild turkey. Most folks are putting their money on the turkey.

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

Arkansas Fishing Report

Fresh from the electronic pages of the online editon of the Pine Bluff Commercial comes their latest Arkansas fishing report. Paisley and I have been talking about a Spring trip to the visit the White River.

White River: The holidays and mild weather have put power demand at a minimum, so the water conditions have been low with one generator turned on for an hour or two. Trout fishing has been excellent, with a lot of trout being caught on red worms, wax worms, nightcrawlers and Berkley PowerBait. Fly anglers have done well with little generation.