Roger Time

Today I took Roger and Roger Jr Fishing. Again, we got an early start and had the water to ourselves. It was a super pleasant morning. Nice cool breeze and a heavy fog on the water, although it didn't last long. By 9:30am it was hot. We cruised up to a spot neither of the guys had ever been to on the river. We had some awesome water. The first drift they had already pounded on 7 fish. They were averaging 5 fish a drift for a while. They were getting into an incredible amount of action! We spent all morning without seeing another boat and just a few wading anglers. They caught tons of rainbows and as well as browns . At one point, Roger even caught two fish! One on each fly. You don't see that very often. By about 1:30 they had easily caught 60 to 70 fish. It was an awesome way for the Cole's to spend their Father's day and I was glad I got to be a part of the memories they got to make together.

Hit'em!

Saturday I took Mason and Terry Fishing. We got an early start, which I love to do. When you get out there at 6:30 am you can see tons of wildlife, it's cooler, and you almost always have the river to yourself for awhile. We headed up river to one of my favorite spots. The river gets narrow, the water was gin clear and low. You could see fish buzzing around left and right. We got into them immediately. It was great. Both the guys where staying hooked up. Eventually all the other anglers in the area woke up and started wading around the shoal we were fishing. We headed down river to another great flat. Again we crushed fish. They caught some fat and sassy bows and a few nice browns in the mix. Mason caught caught the biggest brown he has yet to catch. I got Terry's cast dialed in and he learned a lot. It was all around a super successful day. We caught somewhere near 75 fish, it was constant action and loads of fun.

The Best of Both Worlds

Yesterday I had the opportunity to take two lovely ladies fishing. My good friend Denise and my gal, Allison. We fished in the high leftover water from the day before, but got a good early start and used the fog to our advantage. Denise and I took turns throwing big-n-nasty streamers and rowing the boat. By about 9:30 or so we had each picked on a big brown. Our mission was complete, now we wanted to get Allison on some fish so we ran up to one of my favorite places and had perfect low water. Allison and Denise both banged fish all morning. We stopped and had some of Denise's Curry chicken salad wraps, fresh fruit and cookies. I got to wet wade for a while and play with a few nice rainbows as well. One of the highlights of the day was watching a 20 plus inch brown chase a rainbow that Allison had on her line, all the way up to the boat. It was another awesome day on on the Little Red River. Big Browns and Lots of sassy Rainbows. The best of Both Worlds.

Does it get any better?

So yesterday I went fishing with a friend of mine whom I have known for years. We spent all day on the water, after being chased off the day before by 70 mile per hour winds and nickel sized hail. We went to one of the most amazing places to fish anywhere in this region. We had hoped for clouds because it typically makes for a little more productive day throwing streamers, but the sun was shining high. We may have caught three fish under 18 inches all day. We worked our butts off for the fish, but man its so rewarding to see a massive flash of gold shine and then feel such a gigantic tug on your line. It was a real treat to spend time with Hays on the river. I taught him a little bit about rowing a boat and so I even got to fish. I mean does it really get any better? We caught probably 12 browns over 20 inches and Hays also caught a behemoth of a rainbow around 20 inches as well. The place we fished was so beautiful. We saw all kind of wild life. We caught massive fish. We only saw two other boats all day. We had great conversation. We had a blast. I am looking forward to doing it again soon. Real soon.

Allison's Little Red River Adventure

Last Saturday I got to take my lovely girlfriend trout fishing on the waters that mean so much to me, The Little Red River. I had taken her once before, which you might have read about on the post , A Little Bit Of Appalachia. This was her second time fly fishing. Quite a bit different from the small brookie filled creeks of the Carolinas. We had the obstacle of high water and the Corps had only given us a four hour period of no generation the night before, so it was very hard to get in front of any water. We started the morning out getting the hang of things and her first Arkansas trout was a brown. Of course that made me happy. She continued on the catch and had about a dozen fish by noon. I had a lot of fun showing her what it is I love about the Little Red River and I think she is already ready for some more...

Tom & Tom

Last Tuesday and Wednesday I had the pleasure of taking Tom and Tom Fishing for their first trip to the Little Red River. We had a Blast. Tuesday we fished all day. We were able to stay in front of the water until about two o'clock. We stuck it out, fished the high water and pulled out a nice brown at the end of the day. Wednesday they just fished a half a day and it was amazing. We went out around 6:30 am and had a beautiful boat ride up river in a thick fog. We had the whole beat to ourselves and didn't see another boat all morning until our way back down. We fished in water that was about 2 feet deep and as clear I've seen the river in a long time. They smashed fish on everything they through at them. The guys where amazed at how many fish they were catching and even left me with the comment, "It was our best day of fishing ever". I couldn't even begin to say how many fish the guys caught, but it was near a hundred! The Fog burned off and we fished our way down bent rods the whole way. What a day.

Living the Fly Life

Saturday was a real adventure for Tim and Justin. We had perfect weather. Summer Sun and a small breeze. The pattern continued for the generation schedule of a little high water in the morning and perfect fish water in the afternoon. About 9:30 am we had dropped the anchor for a bathroom break and a little rigging. Justin's rod was in the boat but his fly's were in the water. He went up to the front of the boat to use the restroom and when he came back his rod was gone. We were sick about it. We think maybe a fish pulled it in! The water was still high and we could not see the rod and reel anywhere. Then we caught a break and saw the two strike indicators. Justin dove in and came up with the leader around his toe! The water was so cold it knocked the breath out of him. We saved the rod and continued to pound on the fish. They caught close to a hundred fish. A few of them where super nice fish, including a nice brown and rainbow by Tim and a couple of pig rainbows by Justin. It fires me up to see some 17 and 18 inch rainbows in our river! I know they are there, but you just don't see them. Maybe our new trout management plan in working after all.

Sweet Summer Fun

The summer is kicking off and the fishing is fantastic. Friday I had two anglers and we had a blast. We started off our morning with a little high water. Fishing was constant but as the day progressed and the water dropped out, the fishing got better and better. One of the guys wanted to fish his 7 foot 2 weight. It was a blast to see his rod bow over almost in half. The other guy Robert, who like me has a case of the yellow belly fever, really wanted to catch a nice brown. We were drifting through a deep pool and his strike indicators dove deep into the pool. The rod bent and I knew it was a big brownie. After a good fight, a picture, and then a successful release we were all pumped. We spent the last few hours of the day drifting a sweet shoal that never seems to get a whole lot of pressure and pounded several fish every time. It was awesome. The Summer Fun is here for sure.