Your Biggest Brown Trout Ever

JOIN our guide team this streamer season on the hunt for the biggest brown trout of your life.

Streamer season is kicking off and we are expecting to beat last year’s haul of 14 browns over 24″ in 10 weeks, and a multitude of browns from 18″ and better, fish which would be trophies on most rivers in the US..

We have a few new tricks up our sleeve that we are ready to put into practice and all of streamer season ahead. Rods are prepped, loaded and a whole bunch of new streamers in our fly bins.  Check out our Trophy Trout on Streamers’s page and pick your dates. Then give us a call on 870 435 6166 to book your trip

Someone is going to beat Gabe Levin’s 32″ 15lb brown record from last season, and everyone of our guides is keen to be on the sticks when it happens.

So grab your warm woollies, your streamer sticks (or use ours) and climb aboard its going to be one heck of a ride.

AND Check out the new STREAMER ADDICTS section on our web store.

Bill’s Big Brown

 

IF you have met Bill Thorne you know he is one of the good guys.

After all any guy who is willing to take on the presidency of two TU chapters should be accorded trout sainthood. But Bill hadn’t had much of a shake on big browns, and Bill being a big fella needs to be holding a really big brown.

We have scored plenty of fish over 2’ long in the last 3 years, Chad, Ben, Alex myself and a bunch of customers but as hard as he tried Bill couldn’t crack the 24” mark.

Today Bill, Alex and I put in plenty of river miles for little result, the bite was a little timid, lots of fish flashing on the flies “drive-bys” and even those that ate didn’t seem to some with commitment. Then Bill moved a real Hawg a behemoth of a fish which levitated up off a log pile _ would that be Bill’s only shot of the day?

We were way downstream and I was on the sticks when he set up on a good fish, a very good fish, one we were keen to tape, 26.75”. I don’t think Bill has stopped smiling yet.

 

 

Fishing Report 1-25-12

White River Brown Trout

I’m typing this report from the ramp at Rim Shoals, with a soft orange glow to the west.
It’s chilly but a gorgeous evening, a fitting end to a great week.
Bill Thorne stuck his first 2 footer today, you can read about that here, a great achievement after a lot of work.
We’ve had some gorgeous days, some big fish, a day of downpour, some guys catching a bunch of fish on low water and our first hint of shad for the year.

I  had a mate in town Rick from Texas, and spending water time with good friends is awesome even if we missed out on the big streamer fish. But having him come back from Norfork with a monster grin from having his best day ever on that river, having adopted a few of my tricks was pleasure enough.

The fun is too good to miss out on

The Hippy Chick Shad

 

IT WAS very nice of the North Arkansas Fly Fisher’s Mike Tipton to choose the Hippy Chick Shad pattern for the January Fly of the Month.

Hippy Chick, so named for the ethereal veil of white, has been a handy heavy shad fly for me over the past couple of years, either on its own or as lead fly transporting a worm or unweighted shad fly to the depths.

With some reports coming in of a shad kill on the Norfork last week, and shad kills up on Bull Shoals Lake, it might be time to add a few to your box. Look for the Hippy Chick in our custom fly section.

We are going to be adding unweighted and floating shad patterns shortly.

Streamers with Balls _ Fly Tying

 

THAT is one hunk of macho Michigan meat up above, wearing a nice set of Dally’s Streamer Balls, and fated shortly to be flung in the direction of a White River brown of substantial proportions. 

WHEN I sent Matt Grajewski a few of our Streamer Balls _ our line of metallic beads for articulating streamers, to tie with I was expecting something pretty cool. I’ve watched photos of Matt’s musky and brown trout flies, and seen the results. Matt and his brother banged some nice fish down here last year, in the midst of the February snowstorm. I even purchased a handful to add to my own meat boxes _ they are that nice.

Glad to see he likes the Balls.

Campaign For Better Water Release Information

Bec at Bull Shoals Dam ‘08

LOCAL fly fisher Don Allenbaugh is mounting a campaign for a better telephone system on water releases from Bull Shoals, Norfork and other White River Tailwaters.

Don is urging river users to lobby local Members of Congress and the Senate to force the US Army Corp of Engineers to implement a better telephone information line, based on the actual cubic feet per second water releases (cfs), and keep it updated in a more timely manner.

Journal readers might recall Don was instrumental in rescuing a 71-year-old woman from rising waters on Norfork Tailwater in 2010.

Don wrote on the Fly Fishing Arkansas and Missouri Forum:

I need your help. Many of you fish the White and Norfork tailwaters and have probably been as frustrated with the COE messages on the phone concerning water releases as I am. We get days when they are not updated and then days when we get simply "2 unit are on line" announcements. It is extremely frustrating trying to plan an outing with the current announcements and their lack of information. I would like to have current meaningful announcements that can let me have some idea of what is happening at the dam. I know we can go to the SWPA web site and look at the release chart but that is a little hard if you are on the water.

I am tired of going to the COE office in Mt Home and asking them to do something and get a “we will try answer”. This brings me to asking each and everyone of you for help. It will only take a moment for your help.

I have put a request on Congressman Rick Crawford’s (the local congressman for Mt Home area) Facebook page requesting he do something about the recordings. If all of you would take a minute out of your day and get on his Facebook page and write something asking for his help, perhaps we can get this problem resolved.

Please help me out, I know there are hundreds of you if not thousands who could overwhelm him causing him to help us out. The power of the internet is awesome. Thank you all so much.

After speaking with representatives for Congressman Crawford, Don updated the Forum

I received a call from Washington this morning from the congressman’s office and I met with his local representative in Mountain Home. They are getting inundated with calls and emails etc and very much want to resolve this problem. Your help is greatly appreciated.
I have now pushed it even further by contacting Congressman Womack of AR and Senators Pryor and Boozman. You people in MO need to call your congressmen: Billy long and Jo Emerson and Senators Blunt and McCaskill.
The local congressman’s rep stated he got a call from Washington and they are getting lots of calls and emails etc. and they want this fixed. I think if we get the other congressmen involved and the senators from MO we will have a hoard of people putting pressure on the COE. Tell all your fishing and boating friends and don’t forget the lake people as they need timely reminders of the elevation.
We got this rolling and it is gaining momentum, keep it up and we can triumph.

BAXTER BULLETIN FLY TYING CONTEST

WHITE RIVER fly tiers thread your bobbins.

You have until March 15 to submit your favorite, your best and your newest patterns to the inaugural Baxter Bulletin Fly Tying Contest. Bragging rights for the winner of the overall best fly are sure to be huge, and we are in the process of securing some very cool prizes for the overall winner and 7 category winners.

WHEN fellow guide John Berry approached me with his idea for Fly Tying Contest to celebrate the vibrant history, present and future of fly tying surrounding the White River my first thought was why hadn’t anyone thought of this before.

The White River, drawing as it does passionate fly fishers from the Midwest and South, has been a nexus for incredible talent. Few other watersheds could lay claim to 2 winners of the Fly Fishing Federation’s highest fly tying award, the Buz Buzek, but from the White River system came Dave Whitlock and Tony Spezio.

Tony Spezio has agreed to be part of the judging panel which will select the winners, other judges will be named later. The winners for all categories will be announced at the Trout Nature center Hall of Fame Banquet on April 14 at Arkansas State University Mountain Home.

The North Arkansas Fly Fisher’s annual Sowbug Roundup and the FFF Southern Council Conclave are both sustained and nourished by the talents at the vise from our fly tying catchment. The are also supports numerous commercial tiers who supply fly shops, lodges and customers, like Teresa Van Winkle, Ron McQuay, Randy Sublet and David Knowles. And Mountain Home is of course the headquarters for the world’s largest fly tying materials company in Wapsi.

Then we have fly designers, to use the modern nomenclature, whose patterns have been taken globally by major fly tying companies: tiers like Whitlock, Davy Wotton, Dale Fulton, Mike McLellan, Knowles, Joe Nicklo, some Aussie import named Dally and others.

Then there are some incredibly skilled, passionate and inventive tiers, some tucked away tying only for themselves and their friends, whose patterns deserve greater recognition. This contest is for y’all.

Already we are seeing our fly tying community coming together behind John’s initiative with sponsorship from our local daily newspaper The Baxter Bulletin; North Arkansas Fly Fishers;  the FFF Southern Council; Trout Unlimited White River Chapter #698 and the local industry like ourselves and Wapsi.

Get out the vise and start tying!

You can read John’s article on the contest here.

THE DETAILS:

Entry is free. Submit 2 flies of each of your intended patterns. The flies must be intended to be used in our region, the White River and Norfork Tailwater, tributaries like Crooked Creek and the Buffalo and the White River system lakes.

The entrant must tie the fly submitted for judging. Each entry must include the name, address, phone number and email address along with two flies for each pattern submitted with a recipe for the fly and instructions on how to fish it. You may submit as many patterns for as many categories as you want. All flies submitted for judging will become the property of the contest and will not be returned. Any fly that contains natural insect parts (wings, legs, etc.) will be eliminated from competition. Commercially tied patterns will not be accepted.

The Best overall fly will be chosen from the winners of the 7 categories, flies can be submitted for. The categories are:

· Trout Nymph

· Trout Dry

· Trout Streamer

· Trout Wet Fly

· Smallmouth Fly

· Bass Fly

· Youth Category (under 16)

The decision of the judges is final. Committee members and judges are not eligible to participate in the contest. To participate all you have to do is send the flies to John Berry at 408 Combs Ave. Cotter, Arkansas 72626. All entries must be post marked no later than March 15, 2012.

If you have any question John can be reached at (870) 435-2169 or via email at berrybrothers@infodash.com.

Streamer Class IV _ Photo Essay

Mark’s timely fish

SATURDAY’S Streamer Class 2012 was definitely our biggest and probably one of our most fun, despite drawing the worst conditions of about a week.

As usual we should have been on the water in the morning, if we were fishing. But the name of the name is learn the craft, rather than catch the fish, and pretty much everyone got to feel a tug on the line. More importantly was their exposure to sinking lines, larger flies, how to make them move and why they are eaten. And we finished up on a gorgeous winter afternoon, rather than the dreary & cold morning shift

The was a bunch of highlights for our class of 11 students and 6 guides:

• Mark nailing a very nice brown under the eyes of everyone watching from shore.
• Ralph’s hat, plus the bamboo rod and silk line.
• Jan hooking up off a Cotter Bridge piling in the midst of 5 boats.
• No-one hooked themselves, but Jan did manage to bounce one off Chris’s hat.
• The sight of 10 drift boats (6 of our and 4 others) coming into Cotter.

An awesome day and a lot of fun, but thanks to Alex for leading the class, and Chad, Ben, Marc and Todd who were out guide/instructors for the day . Now enjoy the rest of the images.

The Whole Crew

One Vacant Seat For 2012 Streamer Class Sat.

 

UNFORTUNATELY we have received news that one of our participants for our Streamer Class 2012 has had to withdraw on last minute medical advice, leaving one vacant seat.

Get prepped for streamer season 2012, with MI based streamer guide guide Alex Lafkas, and our guides, on January 21.

The class includes a morning classroom session with Alex, be here 8.00am for 8.30 kick-off,  which will cover brown trout behavior and habitat, fly selection, reading water, and a demonstration of streamer tying techniques.

Join our guide team after lunch for an afternoon on the water putting the techniques into practice. Learn to cast sinking lines and streamers under the patient and eye of our drift boat guides Chad Johnson, Ben Levin, Marc Poulos, Alex and myself. The float concentrates on learning the techniques, holding positions, retrieves and presentation under on water conditions rather than purely hunting fish. The goal of these classes is to give each participant a head start on their own trophy hunt, either on your own or with one of our guide team, in prime conditions.

We also think its particularly cool the numbers of fishing partnerships which have evolved out of these classes.

Cost for the full day is just $200. Due to limited seats, and the generous reduced rate from our guides, we request the full fee upfront, with no refunds.

Call 870 435 6166 to secure the last  spot.

White River TU Cabin Fever Fundraiser

Catherine Cunningham and our own Bill Thorne, and the immediate past president of the local TU Chapter enjoying the annual summer kid’s camp at Dry Run Creek.

 

Trout Unlimited White River Chapter #698 has scheduled a fund-raiser for Saturday, February 25^th, 2012. Labeled Cabin Fever Fund-Raiser, they figure by the end of February everybody will be ready to get out of the house and celebrate impending spring weather!

The event will be held at the Elk’s Club in Mountain Home. Plan to enjoy a fun-filled evening with dancing and karaoke as well as raffles and prize auction.

Ticket prices remain the same as last year: $50 per couple, $35 for a single ticket, $10 for a child under 15 (accompanied by adult). Your ticket includes two drinks, appetizer buffet and entertainment. There will be a cash bar through-out the evening. A sponsor table seating eight is available for $500.

The sponsor and his guests each receive free raffle tickets and a souvenir of the evening; there is a special gift for the sponsor as well as special recognition during the evening.

The White River Chapter provided $25,000 to fund restoration work on the Norfork River this past fall. They are working on a 5 year egg planting project to develop a spring spawning season for a new strain of rainbow trout in the White River. They operate a summer youth camp and will be provide tanks and chillers to any area school that wishes to implement a Trout in the Classroom program.

You can purchase tickets through our fly shop or contact Kurt Sleighter, treas@whiterivertu.com or  870-580-0089. Donations for the auction and raffle can be made online. For more details visit www.whiterivertu.com

Fishing Report 1-19-12

WELL as you might have read from our posts this week its been a big week for big fish. And there’s not going to be many fly caught fish surpass Chad’s 12.2lb hen caught on Sunday _ but I reckon there’s going to be a few of y’all trying.

Daytime or nighttime there aren’t too many places where you can even hope to be casting in the general direction of fish like that, let along have genuine chances. But of course here on the White anything is possible.

The first step is being prepared of course, having the right gear, flies, and mindset. “ I don’t care if I touch one fish. I want full commitment to 1 trophy.” was an email we received this week, that is the kind of attitude you need to go after a fish like Chad’s. And over the course of 2011, a phenomenal year for monster browns around here, we (guides/fly fishers and customers) touched just 5.

Gear is another thing, most of us will be on 5x tippet our there most days and by Chad’s description of the explosive nature of that fish, you would have needed a generous slice of luck on 5lb to have landed her, and he said anything less than the 8wt would have not been enough rod.

And you need to be hungry enough to put in the hours: I’ve always felt genuine trophy fish deserve some blood sweat and tears. I wrote for a magazine once that it would have been an injustice for me to land the 30”+ rainbow I lost on the Kenai my first second day in Alaska. And Chad has put in a lot of hours for this fish.  But then again sometimes being lucky is just good enough, right place, right time can = big fish.

And some days you don’t want to put in that gut busting effort, days when just being on the river picking off a bunch of rainbows is all the fun you need to take a big grin home to the house and sleep like a baby.

The more time you spend on this river to more you realize that it offers tremendous variety, almost unparalleled, trophies, great streamer fishing, dry flies, nymphing, Wotton’s traditional wet fly …. the list goes on. .

We are incredibly lucky to have the White.

BIG NOTE: KT’s Smokehouse in Gassville is back open, which means more smokey, porky awesomeness, whether your packing lunch for the river or sustaining yourself for the next day. Don’t miss the pie!

Chad’s Hen Up For SOTM

Chad Johnson’s “Tuna” Hen from Sunday night is in the running for Moldy Chum’s awesome Slab Of The Month which features monster fish from all over the country.

Voting on the best slab will start at the end of the month, we will let you know when. Be nice to see the White, and Chad, get some love. So far he is up against one really nice chrome steelie.

You can keep track of all the entries here. And its way worth adding the Moldy Chum to your blog favs. its one of the few we hit every couple of days for some entertainment.

Four Feet Of Trout: 2 fish

BY THE time we hit Cotter this morning, with three so-called sticks, all guides, in the boat, it was looking like a tough day ahead, the early morning enthusiasm giving way to plain hard grind.

Streamer fishing can be a matter of sheer perseverance, sticking “another quarter in the slot” and pulling the handle. And yesterday we rang the jackpot twice adding two more 2 foot fish to the season’s score.

Yeh, I’ll have to admit Ben’s fish, just over 25” had an inch and a bit on mine, but either hen was a fish to make a trip. But always the one that got away perhaps is a more vivid memory, the bigger brown that I comprehensively screwed up by losing my grip on the running line.

Meanwhile Alex, was spanking a bunch of browns to around 18, but the bigger fish eluded him yesterday, though it wasn’t for lack of effort. Even better though was getting to spend some water time with both these guys, during streamer season, we tend to see each other early or late, or perhaps pass on the river.

There was some trash talking, discussion of flies, rods and catching up on Alex’s season on the AuSable in Michigan, while he was asking about the 10lb dry fly browns Ben and I had guided on this year. These are good guys to spend a day in the boat with same as the rest of our guide team.

You want to book one of these to chase streamer browns, learn to nymph, dry fly or wet fly for caddis, we can hook you up. Call the shop on 870 435 6166 for your White River adventure. Now enjoy the rest of the pics.