Do What You Do

As most of you all know Hays and I took a pretty incredible trip this summer out west. We had Dave Hymel a friend of Hays  Family and professional editor chop together our less than average footage and he made what I think is a pretty sweet video. If you are wanting to get your western adventure on this year. Email me about the Western Waters Dream Trip I am hosting! Until then I hope you enjoy this video!
Do What You Do from Hays Doan on Vimeo.

Red Fish

Over the Christmas holiday I went with my family and my buddy Hays down to New Orleans for some good food, some great red fish and some great family time. The conditions were less than perfect but we stuck it out and fished anyways and landed some great fish. Here are just a few pics of some of the great fish we landed!

Sunday Morning...

This morning I fished with my man Henry Voorhies. It was a cold dreary Sunday. Perfect for fishing. We fished up river and I think it was a great choice. We smacked them pretty hard. Probably landed an easy 40 fish on our half day. Several of which were solid bows and a good brown. We broke off rainbow that would have easily gone 22-23 inches as well. The late fall/early winter fishing is shaping up to be pretty awesome. Be sure to get in on this action while its still on fire!

Bill's Big Pig

Couple of days ago I took out Montey and Bill. The Boys worked over some sweet fish. We started off  doing some nymphing and put a hurt on them. Even though the sun was shining we decided to burn up the banks a little and chuck meat. Bill certainly took the cake with this super fat pig who fell for a big ugly Olive Peanut....I don't typically like to give away my secrets but...fish more olive...

SHAD KILL

no the shad kill isnt happening yet..but it is just around the corner...Last year Jamie and I had some of the most amazing fishing I have ever experienced fishing Norfork Dam instead of Bull shoals. We were feeding over a 100 fish a day foam shad flies...on the surface. Browns, Bows, Cutties and even brooks. It can not be predicted when it will happen but I can assure you if it does you want to be on the water. Typically Feb is the month for it but depending on air temps and gen. schedules Jan has been known to spit some shad as well. We are already booking quite a few winter days on the White and Norfork so dont miss you chance and book your winter shad kill trip today!

Frank's Fine Fish

Yesterday I got the chance to fish with Mike and Frank. Frank's son Michael and I were great buddies in middle school so it was a real pleasure getting to spend the day with him on the water. The fishing was pretty on fire. We had a little bit of water in the river so we made a run up to a spot that I don't get the chance to fish that often and put the smack down on tons of fish. We caught gobs of smaller class browns and some good size rainbows. Frank broke off a really nice brown early in the day but had the chance to redeem himself with the solid brown at the end of the day!

Doc and Willie

Sunday my man Doctor Portera and young Willie came to fish with me. The weather was perfect fishing weather and the boys straight up studded out all day long. We boated 6 or 7 nice solid browns and gobs of fat and sassy rainbows. We couldn't have timed the day better about the time the boat hit the trailer the bottom fell out!

Jimbo and Chad

Last week Jimbo and Chad came down to fish during the farns-o-thon. They Both were super pumped about their trip and worked really hard for some nice fish. Chad took the cake for sure with the two nicest fish but they both caught tons. We spend some time chucking streamers on day on with some great love from the fish gods. Day two started off kind of slow so we jumped ramps and ended up picking on about 60 fish in the afternoon. It was an all around great trip with the boys!

Ricky and The Farns

Today was the start of the Farnsworth marathon. I guided Farns and his client Ricky today. We started off the morning chucking streamers while there was a little bit of generation but once the water fell out we switched to nymphs. The wind was blowing about 20 mph so we certainly had a few challenges to deal with but the boys did great landing nice fish using both techniques!

Stewart and Chad

The past couple of days I got the pleasure of fishing with Stewart and his pal Chad. We put in some serious effort to get a hold of a few nice fish. Last year Stewart landed a ten pounder so we were hoping for a repeat but it just cant happen every trip! The guys did push through some crazy winds one day and dead low water the next! Here are a few fish from their trip!

Dr. Albright and Brandon

My good client Doctor Albright brought Brandon back to the Little Red for a little bit more trout fishing. We had a pretty sweet day drifting from the boat catching some nice rainbows and browns. We worked hard for them but the rewards were certainly worth the effort!

Thumper Rainbows

So as the fall has progressed our brown trout have been moving a little slow. We had a hard summer and the fish were stressed enough. We have been spending some time chasing some super amazing rainbows and catching some sweet browns that are staging not spawning...check these fish out...super fun on a 4wt!

Allen's Brown

Again sorry for the delay in posting. I have been on the river pretty much every day and have been beat by the time the evening comes. Last week I took Allen out for a little fishing. We fished some slow water with his wife in the a.m. and then ran up and got in the higher flows in the p.m. Allen smoked them we caught rainbows at will and landed probably 15 decent browns. This picture came out sort of blurry but it was a nice aggressive brown Allen jerked out of a log pile on a streamer!

Doc and Travis

last week I got the chance to take the Predator skiff up to the Norfork with my boy Doc and Travis. The fishing was pretty silly. They ran water until about noon or so and we blistered them. I think by the time we ended the day we had counted over 100 fish to the boat...Lots of super sweet boys and even a cuttie or two were in the mix!

B-RAD

Last week I took my buddy Brad out on a walk wade trip...Typically I run most of my trips through the boat but since it was just one angler decided to take a little different approach. The walked in a couple of different places and proceeded to smack up on some quality brown trout. Brad has been fishing with me several times and the big was has shown his face to us on more than one occasion but has not made it to the net. I would say We accomplished our goal of getting Brad a few grip-n-grins!

lachapelle!

This week I fished with my good clients Norm and Angie. We fished for two days and caught some great fish...lots of browns and rainbows. The weather was great, the food was great and the fishing was even better. We fished all over the river and it was a great change of pace. Here are just a couple of the awesome fish the Lachapelle's landed!

brown town

Today I fished TJ and Cliff. We had a good front approaching us but we went ahead and tried it anyways. The day started off with a dozen or so super solid rainbows. It slowed down for a bit but right before the front came in we started smacking some big browns. Both of the boys got a nice solid grip and grin and TJ hooked a amazing 10 pounder but the fish schnucked us and broke off. The ride back to the ramp was a little spooky in the storm but it was a great day and well worth getting wet!

Little Red Lovin

Today I got the chance to take a friend of mine whom I have known since elementary school and his two brothers fishing. We had tough conditions on the Little Red with the River being about as low as it gets. The fish are spooky and there are tons of other anglers who are also trying to enjoy the wonderful weather. The guys prevailed and caught tons of great sassy rainbows. Alex's brown was certainly the highlight of the day!

Predator skiff

I recently got a new skiff, the predator. It is a locally made boat in Mt. Home. Rob of Shawnee/supreme brought out the new line of boat and my guide buddy Forrest designed it. The boat is super sick and perfect for our Arkansas tail waters and creeks as well as just about any river anywhere that has trout in it. I took my good client Dr. Albright and one of his residents out for a float down the Norfork and it was great. The fishing was stellar and the boys crushed it!

Daniel Brown

early this week I got the chance to fish with David and Daniel. Daniel had bought the trip for his father for his birthday. David Had broken his back about a year before and was concerned how the trip would shake out. The guys were awesome. They caught loads of beautiful fish and really enjoyed the great weather. This was one of the great looking bows that Daniel caught!

Bill and Ryan Mahoney!

So the fishing on the Little Red has been been good, The water has been low and the fish are not the easiest to catch right now but with some hard work you a day can be good. I have been on the water almost ever day for the past couple of weeks and have not much time to blog but I wanted to give you all a quick update on how the river was fishing. Ryan and Bill who fish with me often came out for a little brown trout hunting. The boys crushed it. We landed loads of rainbows and several nice browns.