Keith and Scott

Sunday and Monday I got the chance to fish with a couple of guys from Nebraska, Scott and Keith. Scott came down with his son earlier this month and had a bang out of a trip. This trip was pretty great too!Sunday we fished the Red and Monday we fished the White River. Scott landed his first Arkansas brown trout on the Red and Keith landed his on the White. Caddis were coming off strong both days, on both rivers. The Caddis bite should only get better and better folks!

Buddy and Pam

Saturday I got the chance to fish with an awesome couple. Pam and Buddy. They had been fishing the white river the two prior days and Pam landed a 26 inch brown! Our day was pretty stellar. We certainly had to work for our fish but we had some extremely hot bites through out the course of the day. Buddy landed this amazing rainbow mid morning. He said its the best rainbow he has ever caught. The fish fell for a size 16 caddis emerger! FISH ON!

Cold, Rain and Brown trout!

So I apologize for the lapse in blogging. The River has been keeping me busy! We are now seeing low water all day and great fishing! Last Wednesday I got to run a group trip with Tony. It was a crazy day as far as weather goes. We had been having temps in upper 70's and all of a sudden a nasty front blew in. I had Nathan and His pops and the boys did great. Despite the temps in the lower 40's and cold rain! We landed bunches of fish and even 5 or 6 browns!

Gary and Rich

Earlier this week I had the opportunity to fish with a couple of fellows, Gary and Rich, both of whom have been fishing with me for several years now. Gary owns Team Trek and Rich is one of his clients. We had a small window of falling water that we took advantage of to give it a try. The name of the game was to stay in front of the water and do as much damage as possible. The water eventually caught us but it didn't slow us down. They clobbered them even in high water. They guys probably landed close to 80 or 85 fish!  Gary took the fish of the day award with this nice Rainbow. Rich had one on that would have easily gone 22 or 23 inches but we got snookered under a dock! Another amazing day in paradise folks!

Orvis Endorsed Guide Service of the Year!

Last weekend Jamie Rouse Fly Fishing was awarded the Orvis Endorsed Guide Service of the Year award. We traveled to Montana to receive the award and we are all still on cloud nine since its one of the most prestigious awards a crew of guides could hope for. A huge props goes out to Jamie Rouse for taking me in under his wing and teaching me the ways of a Jedi. Another huge props goes out to Kati for keeping my calender in check and for all of her behind the scenes work. Tony Simmons deserves a big ups in addition for all of his hard work since he has joined us on the team! I appreciate all of the folks who came to fish with me this past year and for all of your positive feedback to Orvis!

Mr. Lee

Yesterday I fished with a long time Client of JRFFA, Roland Lee. Roland loves Brown Trout. We decided we would get a few fish under out belt nymphing and get the skunk off, then spend some time chasing larger fish. Conditions were not in our favor with high sun and tons of water but it didn't seem to bother the fish at all. We had lots of interest all day long with several monsters following our flies to the boat and several good eats! Here are just a few of the nice trout he landed yesterday!

Amy's First Small Mouth!

On Sunday Amy and I decided to go hit Syllamore creek.  We just wanted to get out a for a bit and enjoy Easter from my favorite Sanctuary...Nature! Lots of  White River water was backed up in the creek and it was strange... backwards flowing and deep flat water. We did manage to pull out a few smallies, some goggle eyes, and a few sun fish out of their holes though! This little fellow may not be big but it was Amy's first small mouth ever!

Dry Run Creeking

Saturday I worked a group trip with  fellow guide Greg Seaton. It was my friend Logan and his family's Easter weekend trip. He brought the whole crew with him. We put lots of kids on lots of fish! Kids ranging from 3 1/2 to 16 year olds who were getting their last Dry Run Creek experience in before they were too old! Of course the younger ones had a little help catching one fish and the adults were tickled pink to take plenty of photos. Unfortunately, I had my hands super full and was not able to get many pics. I did however get to take one good picture of Coleman and this nice cutthroat he landed as well as a photo of Mckee and a fish he was very proud of!

A Little Bit of Bowen

Friday I had the chance to take out The Bowen's for an evening of high water fishing on the Little Red. It was the whole family, so fellow guide Randy Goings helped me out with the trip. I took out Colby and Michael. Randy guided Mike and Susie. We pulled into the Bowen's dock around noon thirty and Suzie had made up a fantastic lunch! After the feast, we went up river and got everybody dialed in and were catching fish! We all had a great time bantering back and forth between boats and loving life! Here are a few photos from the afternoon! This was Michael's first trout ever on a fly rod!

The Mahoney's

Ok Ya'll, I finally have a few posts for you guys that are long over due. As most of you know, the water has been high and the 3 flood gates are cracked. The River is now running as clean as I have ever seen it, but when this new water pattern first started that wasn't the case. I got the chance to take out a father and son duo that I have guided before. The guys had never fished Norfork so it seemed like a good time to take advantage of the fact they had a little less water running. Ryan and Bill did great in the big flows. We caught several nice browns and even a few cutties. It was hard to get many pics because of how fast the current was that day, but the boys wore them out! Here are just a few fish from the awesome day they had on the fork!

Moldy Chum

The chum poll is up. I know I keep saying Ive got some postings to do, and I do. But I just wanted to re-post this slab for all of you guys out there to remind you to go to www.moldychum.com and vote for my man Jack Barton. His is the young man holding the monster cutthroat. Jack is 12 years old and if he wins he will be the youngest angler to win the Slab of the month yet. If he wins we will move into the "slab of the year" contest.  Thanks for the support!

Big Thompson

My good friend Frank Barton took out his long time friend Mike Thompson ( of the Patagonia company) yesterday for some streamer fishing. Mike was greatly rewarded with this prehistoric looking wild brown trout on the Little Red River. The fish ate one of Frank's secret streamers from his personal arsenal.The water may be high but she is running clear and the fish are acclimated to it! We are predicted to have lower flows by mid April. Once the water drops, you guys be ready for the caddis!

High water and Moldy Chum

Hey Ya'll Ive got some posts backed up and will get them posted soon for your viewing pleasure...Just wanted to give you a heads up that the Little Red is fishing GREAT right now in high water. Jamie, Tony and I all guided today and all had 50 and 60 fish days. Also please go to moldy chum and vote for my man Jack Barton and his monster cut throat we landed last month! Thanks a lot!
 Tight Lines!
 Matt

Bass Action

My man Tony got himself a new lake boat the other day so we took her out for a spin on Greer's Ferry. We got to the lake mid day, which as most of you know, is not your peak bass fishing time!  We did manage to sneak into a few spots and find a few fish. Nothing crazy, but still on fun tug. Here is a nice little large mouth and a small mouth I was able to tag!