kevin November 20th, 2009
Last week I took Phil and three of his old college buddies fishing at Rim Shoals. Phil has a cabin on the Norfork and he 
brought his riverboat. The idea was to take the guys out and switch them around between Phil’s boat and mine so that they could get a couple of different takes on fishing the White River. They had fished the Norfork on the previous day and done well.
The day was near perfect. Though we had a cool start (fifty degrees when I left the house) the high was to be around seventy one that day. We had light winds in the morning and ten to fifteen mile per hour winds in the afternoon. There was light generation, around 3,500 cubic feet per second, that held steady all day.
We began the day with Monte and Paul in my boat. They were fairly inexperienced but enthusiastic. Monte was into fish almost immediately. Paul struggled on the first drift but boated five trout on the second. He was beginning to get the feel of it. The morning went well and we caught stacks of trout.
The guys saw something bright in the water and both sight cast to it. On his second attempt, Paul hooked it. As he brought it to the net, I got my first look at it. It was like no fish I had ever seen. Its back was a bright yellow and its belly was snow white. There was a garish pink stripe down its center. Though it was a rainbow, it looked more like something that belonged in an aquarium.
Read the full story in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin November 2nd, 2009
One of the most crucial aspects of any fishing trip is the performance of the chosen fishing line.
Modern technology has produced so many different types of lines that it can be very difficult to choose the right one for the job. Regardless of the situation, there are a few things that you can do to insure maximum performance from the line you choose to go with.
For example, monofilament lines are one of the most popular choices for anglers and offer the most flexibility overall; however, they are not without drawbacks. Line memory (circular coiling of line caused by being on a spool for long periods of time) can greatly hamper your ability to cast and fish effectively. One highly effective cure for this problem is to troll this spool of line behind your boat.
Simply pan out line without any hook or lure attached behind a slow moving boat until you are close to the end of the spool. Gently sweep your rod up and back with the tip close to the water as if you were trolling. The many twists your line has accumulated will be undone as the tag end of your line freely spins in the water.
For more tips on reducing fishing line memory, check out the full article in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin October 24th, 2009
One of the most misused and misunderstood pieces of fly fishing equipment is the reel. Most anglers consider it some sort of glorified line storage device. I must say that I feel the reel doesn’t really matter until you hook a good fish. Most people choose to just strip in most, if not all, of the fish they hook. In fact, I often ask: “why did you spend four hundred dollars (or any other astronomical amount) to buy that reel, if you are not going to use it.” If you are going to successfully land a big fish, you must fight it on the reel.
The other day I was guiding two gentlemen at Rim Shoals. One of them hooked a trophy trout. I got a pretty good look at it and it was a righteous twenty four inch rainbow with broad shoulders and a bad attitude. The fisherman was stripping in the fish, and I suggested that he fight the fish on the reel. He told me that he would just strip it in. As you can imagine, the rainbow easily broke the 5X tippet and quickly escaped. I said nothing.
Two hours later my other client, who was on his first fly fishing trip, hooked a good trout. In this case it was a stout twenty one inch brown. I suggested that he fight it on the reel. He carefully listened as I explained how to get the line on the reel and fight the trout and did exactly what I suggested. Four minutes later the brown was in the net and we were taking pictures and swapping high fives. Both of the anglers learned something important that day, if you hook a big fish, fight it on the reel.
Discover tips on how to effectively land trout with your reel inside the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin October 16th, 2009
During the recently held Federation of Fly Fisher’s Southern Council Conclave there were a few incidents that came very close to being tragedies. As you know, we have suffered through two high water years in a row. There has been precious little wadable water during the last couple of years and there is a lot of pent up demand among anglers to get in a little wade fishing.
On Thursday morning, several anglers were fishing low water below Bull Shoals dam. They were doing well. This section is popular with fly fishers because of the quality of the fishing and the proximity to the dam which has a horn that is blown five minutes before generation to warn of rising water. This makes it one of the safer places to wade on the White River. As they were fishing, they noticed that the water was rising. It came up fast and they had to scramble for the bank. Luckily everyone made it. They looked up and noticed that three gates were open. About that time, they heard the horn and two more gates were opened.
This incident was not too serious but could have been worse. The powerhouse operator is supposed to sound a horn before generation begins. It was not done until the additional gates were opened.
Read more of Arkansas Fishing Guide John Berry’s column in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
kevin September 29th, 2009
Blood knots and Nail Knots. Perfection and Duncan Loops. Clinch and Improved Clinch knots. Tying on lures and flies. Connecting leaders and tippets.
Because many different fishing setups require knowing a number of different nots, tying fishing knots can be tricky.
For a quick reference, check out our new fishing knot page showcasing videos on how to tie some of the most most popular fishing knots used on the water today. The videos cover everything from a basic lure to line connection, to knots allowing you to quickly and easily change leaders when fly fishing.
Click here for fishing knots videos. You can find them anytime under “Tools” in the main menu up top.
kevin September 10th, 2009
A Rockford, Michigan angler has broken the world brown trout record with a 41-pound, 7-ounce brown caught from the Manistee River. The new brown breaks the old world record, which was set by Arkansan Howard “RIP” Collins in 1992, by just over 1 lb. 3 oz.
Tom Healy, a retiree, caught the brown using a Cabela’s brand rod and spinning real, and a large black and silver crankbait while fishing with a local guide service. It’s length measured at 43.75 inches long, and took 15 minutes to get into the boat.
Seventeen year ago, Collins reeled his monster 40 lb. 4 oz. German Brown Trout from the Little Red River using only a 1/32 oz. jig and an ultralight rod.
Come inside the Arkansas Fishing Forum for a nice photo of this brown monster.
kevin September 4th, 2009
Last week, I finally got a chance to wade fish Rim Shoals on low water with my wife, Lori, and my yellow lab, Ellie. I caught a lot of good fish including a twenty inch rainbow on a grasshopper.
The biggest fish of the day, a much fatter twenty inch rainbow that put me into the backing before I finally landed it, was caught on a red San Juan worm.
It came as no surprise that I landed my biggest trout on this particular fly. Earlier in the month I had guided a client to a twenty six and a half inch brown while he fished with a hot pink San Juan worm. In fact, I have caught a substantial portion of my bigger fish on them. It is a fly that I personally fish every time I am on the river.
Our local rivers have aquatic worms. They tend to be small and either red or worm brown. Most of the worms available to trout come from the shore. Whenever it rains, worms are flushed out of the ground and washed into the river. Just after a rain is the best time to fish San Juan worms.
When is the best time to use the San Juan Worm? Read the rest of the article in the Arkansas Fishing Forum.
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