kevin January 22nd, 2010
Once again the fishing community is closing ranks to take care of one of its own. Tiffany Johnson, the wife of local Cotter, AR fly fishing guide Chad Johnson, was diagnosed with invasive Meningioma tumors.
One of them was on her spinal cord and several are on her brain. She has been in intensive care or acute therapy since the Monday before Christmas. She underwent surgery to remove the tumor from her spinal cord. Tiffany spent almost 9 hours on the operating table to remove the six inch tumor from her spine.
Several sections of vertebrae were removed to allow the neurosurgeons access, which were then able to remove the tumor, of which, three inches was entwined in her spinal column. Tiffany is paralyzed from the waist down and has limited movement and feeling on her left side.
This surgery is so rare that we are told less than 100 have been performed worldwide. She will be hospitalized for quite a while. Tiffany will then face a further six months to eight of painful physical therapy in order to regain the ability to walk with the aid of a walker and twelve to fourteen months of therapy before she can walk unassisted. She also has to endure further surgery to remove the brain tumors.
Luckily all tumors are benign. She will require home care for some time and Chad has recently moved to a new home that is wheelchair accessible to prepare for Tiffany’s return from the hospital. The family is encountering a mountain of medical bills and has no health insurance.
What can you do to help? Find out in the Arkansas Fishing Forum
kevin January 12th, 2010
How many fishing trips have you been on in your life that were ruined by cold weather? I can’t begin to remember 
how many times I have frozen to death trying to catch a fish. Now that I am older, I sometimes wonder why I ever fished on those arctic weather days and always tried to justify my suffering to others and myself. In reality though, I know exactly why I fish in inclement weather and the reason I will continue to do so for as long as I am able.
The answer is simply that — like many of you — I am a fisherman. I love and live to fish, and I’ll do anything humanely possible to chase and catch fish. No expense has been spared or activity shunned that would aid me in the hunt for fish. Having said that, one of the least expensive and most helpful aids to a successful fishing venture is the hand warmer.
Often overlooked, a small pack of hand warmers can bring instant relief to numb hands and fingers that will put a sudden halt to any fishing trip. Regardless of how warm the rest of your body stays, if your hands and fingers keep freezing, you can’t fish and be comfortable. This also applies to your feet and toes. A small warmer pack is available and can be slipped into your boots that will keep your feet from going completely numb. These packs are cheap and are activated by simply removing them from the packaging and shaking them back and forth for a few seconds. They quickly warm and stay heated up to 8 to 10 hours.
Several companies make this product and I have never found one to be superior to another. You can buy different sizes and place them inside socks, gloves, boots, pockets, toboggins…. really anywhere you get cold. They don’t get hot enough to cause a fire and slowly grow cold.
Check out the rest of this article by Arkansas fishing guide Shane Goodner in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin December 29th, 2009
Trout feed on the bottom of the stream approximately ninety percent of the time. The main foods there are the 
nymphal form of aquatic insects, crustaceans (sowbugs and scuds), worms and fish eggs. These various food forms are generically known and fished as nymphs. There are also bait fish, which we imitate with streamers. The trick to fishing all of them is to deliver them to the bottom of the stream in as natural a state as possible. That is where weight comes in.
There are a few places to place the weight, on the fly, the leader or the fly line. I generally weight most of my nymphs. One way to weight flies is to wrap lead wire around the hook as the first step in tying the fly. When I first started tying flies, we would use Buss fuse wire to weight them.
The classic method to add weight to the leader is to use split shot. I don’t know about you but I tend to drop them. In addition, I do not like the fact that I have to use my forceps to crimp them on. Once you get them on they are difficult to remove. Despite these failings I find them really effective for adding weight to leaders quickly, particularly in deep heavy flows.
Read on for more strategies on how to effectively catch trout using weight in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin December 18th, 2009
I do most of my guiding for rainbow trout in the tail-race waters below a hydroelectric dam here in Hot Springs, 
Arkansas. The majority of that time is spent navigating my boat in and out of shallow water and around rocks and sandbars that are made more hazardous by the swift currents that are present from the release of water from the dam.
I learned early in my fishing career the value of safe boating and this knowledge has made me a better fishermen — not to mention saving my neck more times than I care to remember. I think that discussing a boating safety checklist has value and will increase your chances of having a successful trip.
For most of us, we’ve’ been in a boat and on the water so long we don’t give safety a second thought. Things like wearing a life jacket are obvious. But there are several other safe boating tips you can exercise that will help you enjoy your time on the water, and more importantly, could possibly save your life.
Check out the full list of safe boating tips from Arkansas fishing guide Shane Goodner.
kevin December 16th, 2009
We have some pretty tough fishing conditions here in North Central Arkansas. The lakes are unseasonably high. In an 
effort to bring Bull Shoals and Norfork under control, the Corps of Engineers are running both dams at near maximum levels and have opened several flood gates at each dam to increase the flows further.
As a result, both the White and Norfork rivers are extremely high and treacherous to boating. Wading is out of the question. We have had some very cold temperatures that have put the smallmouth down on the Buffalo River and Crooked Creek. It is time to consider alternatives. One inviting nearby option is the Spring River.
The Spring River is formed by the outflow of Mammoth Spring in North Central Arkansas and is the second largest spring fed river in the world. Although there are two dams on the Spring, they are relics of the Rural Electrification Program and are no longer used to generate electricity. Therefore, this is a free flowing river and is not subject to the fluctuations of our tail waters. It is very popular with canoeists, particularly novices. It can get quite congested during the summer but the boating crowd thins significantly as soon as the temperatures drop. You will see few if any canoes this time of year.
The trout water runs from Mammoth Spring State Park to Many Islands Campground near Hardy, a distance of eleven miles. In addition to brown and rainbow trout, I have also caught walleye, bream and smallmouth.
Come inside the Arkansas Fishing Forum for the rest of the column from fishing guide John Berry.
kevin December 6th, 2009
Until you hook a big fish, the fly reel is simply a line storage device. However,hooking a lunker quickly turns it into the 
most important piece of gear you own.
There are a lot of different types of reels. When you go to a fly shop or look in a catalog there are literally dozens of choices. They vary widely in price, come in a variety of colors and shapes, and all make some pretty impressive claims.
From reels with single and interchangeable spools, to drag systems and arbor size, choosing the fly reel that best fits your needs can be tricky.
So … which one do you buy?
Taking a bit of time when choosing a fly reel and making sure it compliments your rod and your fishing style will help you become a better fly fisher.
Come inside for a breakdown of several different types of fly fishing reels and discover the advantages and disadvantages of each one in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin November 29th, 2009
If you only have one fly line it should be a weight forward floating line. If you buy a second line it should be a sink tip. The sink tip is basically the combination of a floating line (on the rear of the line) and a sinking line (on the front of the line).
The major advantage of the sink tip is that it will be easier to cast than a sinking line and still be able to deliver a fly deep into the depths of the body of water you are fishing. A sink tip will get a fly down deeper and faster than a floating line with weight on the leader.
The sinking section can be various lengths (from four to thirty feet). Generally the longer the sinking section the deeper it will sink. When you buy a sink tip the package will indicate the length of the sinking section. There are also a variety of sink rates, Type I to Type VI, (it is also assigned a sink rate in inches per second). The higher the sink rate the faster it will sink.
This all sounds great but what sink tip should you buy? The sink tip that I have found the most useful is the ten foot Type VI. This is the one I use when I dredge the deeper holes on the White River or the Spring River.
Come inside the Arkansas Fishing Forum for the rest of the column by Arkansas fishing guide John Berry
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