Friday, January 29, 2010

A New Mark


Yesterday I took a good client of mine, Mason McWilliams, streamer fishing. Mason is a great nymph fisherman and just wanted to learn some new techniques. We knew with the water as high as it was, we would have some challenges in front of us. It was cold and only got colder as the day went on. It didn't take Mason long to get the hang of the meat stick. We fished every pattern in the box. We got a few flashes, a few tugs, and that was about it for a while. Mason had never caught a brown over 16 inches, so that was our goal for the day. At about 10 am, he jacked the rod up and I saw a nice hen. Mason had hit his goal, she was 17 inches! We worked real hard for just a few fish, but we had a good time and Mason got to learn a new trick or two.

Sunday, January 24, 2010

White River Streamers


Last Week Jamie and I decided to jump up to the White to Fish for an afternoon and spend the night and then fish the following morning. When we showed up, they had about 7 units running. We both caught some nice fish! We caught a ton of willing rainbows and some nice browns. At dusk, Jamie put the hurt on me and busted into several nice toads. The next morning, water conditions were perfect. Three units of water. We jumped a little higher up river and started pounding them. We both caught lots of fish and missed lots of fish. It was a great diversion from the full two units running around the clock here on the Little Red. This is the picture taken right before dark of the nicest fish caught!

A-team Adventures!







Last weekend Jamie and I had a group trip from St. Louis. We had these guys for 3 days. In addition, we had a full two units of water running all 3 days! The only advantage we had was that these guys are all awesome fisherman. They wanted to chuck big bugs on sinking lines in search of a hog. We fished them hard for two days and we didn't bring too many big fish to the boat. We did manage several rainbows and some cookie cutter browns. On the third day, my two guys decided they would like to leave the Little Red with at least some memories of rod bending so we rigged up the nymph rigs and tore them up! We consistently caught fish all day. We took one break from nymphing right before lunch and caught a 20 inch chain pickerel. We decided that was our omen to go back to nymphs. All in all, the guys had a great time and ended up boating alot of fish. They are coming back in mid February to try it again!

A High water alternative


Last week Jamie and I decided to go check out a creek in the northern part of the state. We had stopped in a music shop so Jamie could buy some new picks and were granted permission to walk in on some private property. It was super cold and super beautiful. We were down in a big canyon with huge icicles. The fish weren't huge, but they were feisty and pretty. All of the fish had all of their fins and amazing red stripes and pink gill plates. We only got to spend a couple of hours there and we both managed to catch close to a dozen fish. It was a nice change from fishing long leaders and heavy split shot. We have so many hidden secrets in the Ozarks and it was nice to get to take Advantage of another one of them!

Monday, January 4, 2010

Red Fish Baby




After Hays and I spent a week trout fishing, we joined up with my dad and good friend, Frank. We made the trek down to south Louisiana to fish with Captains Byran Carter and Shane Mayfield. We stayed at the old plantation called The Woodlands. We didn't have perfect conditions, considering it was 40 degrees and windy. The water was muddy and there was a little cloud cover. My dad and I went with Shane and Hays and Frank went with Bryan. We checked pond after pond, but couldn't seem to find the fish until we got right up on them. Dad and I each caught 4 or 5 fish and I think Frank and Hays did about the same. It is such a cool deal. Red Fish are strong and tough. We had a dynamite meal at the plantation and then turned around and came home yesterday morning. Louisiana Red Fish are awesome and I will certainly be back this summer!

White River Throwdown!




Christmas night my friend Hays came up from Jackson for an action packed week of fishing. Heber Springs had received lots of rain and the river was brown. We loaded up the Tent and camping stuff and drove up to the White River. We wanted to chuck some streamers the first morning but had to wait on the water to rise. While waiting, we suited up in our waders and did some nymphing. I caught the monster on about my third cast! The water rose and we pounded streamers. We caught fish pretty solid for two days. It was a lot of fun. We then went back to the Little Red, only to find a still dingy river and not so hot fishing! We still had a blast doing what we love.