Fly Fishing Report _ 1/12/2012
WHAT A change in 24 hours. Winter has snuck back in overnight dusting the river, like icing sugar across a muffin, whetting our appetite to get on the river and start chasing some big winter browns.
Yesterday that was our plan with our mate and Musky Country Outfitters man Brad Bohen in town for a little RnR. The plan fell apart on low flow and a short float time but it was truly one of those days when the fish didn’t matter. Blue skies, good company with Brad and his gf Gretchen, and two dogs Madison and Penny Sue the Musky dog _ we probably spent more time laughing than fishing.
But we got to swim a bunch of new flies, yakking over fly design, retrieve rates and the Ozarks and running the two dogs up and down the bank. And Brad got a taste with a big follow from a good two-footer that sped the heart-rate and got us all psyched, also got to give Gretchen her first fly fishing class and while she didn’t get one landing got connected to a handful of rainbows on a bugger. The grin on her face and the excitement was a nice reminder that “tug is the drug” that fuels us all.
As for serious fly fishing its been good with plenty of low to light flows over the past week. I spent a nice Friday floating to Cotter on under a unit of water with Ken and Jim from Missouri and the nymphing was awesome, we could barely float 20y without a fish. And we had a bunch of reports from other fly fishers over the weekend of similar conditions all over the White.
There is some warmer weather coming for the weekend, the flows should be light and lots of fun to be had.
Now onto the rest of the Fly Fishing Report for the White River and Norfork Tailwater from Dally’s Ozark Fly Fisher.
WE have been back on some lighter flows through the later part of the week on the White River which could signal some wadeable water this weekend, to ease the burden on Norfork.
Norfork has had most of the wade fishing pressure this week but the flows are easing on the White, with the warmer trend.
As usual I’ll make the disclaimer that my crystal ball was washed downstream in the last flood but the signs are good. Fishing has been well received on Norfork and the streamer guys have been smiling on the White. Looks like a fun weekend ahead
We are a little late with the report this week since I was out of town, down in Fort Worth to speak to their fly fishing club, which necessitated 16 hours out of 36 in a vehicle. But that is a pretty strong club, with a bunch of outings and events and seemingly an active membership. If you are in the area you might want to check out their web page.
Bec and I also spent some time with a bud, Mr. Clear Cure Goo himself, Brian Carson, and his 3 boys (Mrs. Carson was out of town on business) and not only picked up some awesome new tying materials, restocked our CCG inventory but picked up a bunch of handy tips on incorporated more of this stuff in our own flies. There may have been an adult beverage or 2 involved. Appreciate the hospitality mate!
I also couldn’t procrastinate any longer over past of the Holiday season honey do list and have spent most of the evening cursing while screwing together Swedish designer furniture, and my right arm feels like a balloon. Hence if you see a drift boat doing circles down the White tomorrow you might launch me a bottle of ibuprofen.
So here’s hoping you can duck your honey-do list this weekend and spend some quality time on the White or Norfork
WELL this is the last fly fishing report from us for 2011 and what a year it has been.
It still blows my mind that there has been so many big fish caught this year: high flows, the extended slot limit on brown trout, the skills of our guide team and the passion of y’all have all contributed. Five 10lb+ brown trout for our guides, their fly fishers and shop customer. One at night, 2 on streamers and incredibly 2 on dry flies.
Then the are the hordes of 20” plus fish which have been caught and released. Perhaps we get blinded by the bigger fish, an 18” to 22” brown is a tremendous fish in many parts of this country, even with all the fly fishing riches available. Release them fast and healthy, but don’t disrespect these fish, take a moment to admire their colors and wild nature.
And there is the White herself, change irrevocably by the introduction of the Dams, but still young and growing in substance. Remember back to spring, before the floods, and the bounty of the caddis hatch, it was as good as any I have seen anywhere, and if it continues in this form, with won’t be long till it is spoken of alongside that on the Arkansas River in Colorado.
The cicadas this year were awesome in patches, and sparse in others, perhaps victims of flood in ‘08 and ‘11. And the hopper season was again spectacular, as a whole, if you worked at it.
And while we as fly fishers venerate wild stream born fish, truly it’s a miracle that any survive the odds stacked against them on the White and Norfork, we shouldn’t disdain the stockers either. Their very entry to the river ecosystem, dead or alive, fuels the river in the same way as Alaskan salmon. Our rivers would be a very different place without that biomass.
But now its time to finish off the 2011 and celebrate the arrival of 2012. Seriously this year has been so awesome, on and off the river, I cant wait for the next one.
And now onto the rest of the fly fishing report for the White River and Norfork Tailwater: