This is a late report, so I’ll apologize in advance. Since Thanksgiving, I haven’t been able to find the time to fish … or even write about fishing. But, here goes …
A few weeks ago, I traveled west to visit with family, celebrate Thanksgiving and to do some fly-fishing on the Little Red River in Heber Springs, Ark. My wife and I made the long drive through west Tennessee and eastern Arkansas and met up with my parents, my younger brother and my uncle on the Tuesday before holiday. Despite some crazy weather, we managed to get several days of good fishing in before heading back home.
On Tuesday night, my dad, brother and I took advantage of the lack of generation to fish a section of the river characterized by a wide section of riffles, followed by a deep cut with nice flow, an island in the middle and deeper holes at either end. My brother used his trusty spinning rod with his even-trustier grasshopper-colored roostertail (with a single, barbless hook, per the stream regs) while Dad and I chose to flail away with the long-rods.
All of us realized success, with my brother scoring the biggest fish, catching and releasing a nice brown in the 22-inch range. Dad and I caught several fish on black woolly buggers (No. 8’s) with a little flash, before switching to bigger profile offerings later in the evening. My best fish came on a rapidly-retrieved muddler minnow (No. 4, maybe, black/silver/gray/red, fished with sink-tip line to gain a little depth), while Dad duck-and-chucked a large zoo-cougar. We had a blast, catching a number of fish in the 14 to 18-inch range. All were released, and we eventually hit the hay around 2 a.m.
Day 2 brought warm conditions and no generation, but pre-Thanksgiving stuff kept me pretty occupied during most of the day. My brother and Dad didn’t feel sorry for me, and chose to fish all day long in my absence. They caught and released a bunch more, including several rainbows. I joined them in the river late in the day, and had continued success with the muddler. I didn’t land anything huge, but fishing was consistent and fun. Browns were everywhere, as expected, although we didn’t observe any redds. We did see several very large fish breaching the surface on occasion.
On Thanksgiving morning, a cold front blew through, dropping temps from the 70s to the 30s … and bringing along some big-time winds. Undaunted, we bundled up, welcomed my uncle to the stream, and got back out in the river in the early morning. Changing conditions meant changing tactics, and we had to fish deep and slow. Sowbugs (gray, with a little green flash, No. 16) were my most successful fly, as I landed several fish – including a few in the 18-inch range. I also scored a first – catching browns, rainbows and a cutthroat in the same day. My brother continued to ply away with the roostertail, although the post-cold-front high pressure seemed to dampen the aggressiveness of the fish and subsequently reduced his numbers.
Mid-day, a giant blue-winged olive hatch occurred and the fish went nuts. But, our dinner bell rang as well, so we reluctantly left a river which had literally come alive. Dad managed to collect a couple of samples of the bugs, though, and post-feast, he tied some nice imitations.
Friday was brutally cold, and fishing initially slowed as the fish changed their dietary habits. Speaking of dietary habits, Thursday’s binge made the waders significantly tighter on Friday. Should’ve gone easier on the gravy, but man, was everything good.
Dad’s freshly-tied flies didn’t work as planned, but by mid-afternoon, the bwo’s reappeared and a concurrent hatch of midges got fishing going. Realizing that it was going to prove difficult to attract attention with a stream surface full of little bugs, I ignored the rises and focused underwater, drifting a No. 22 black zebra midge through the deep cut. Cookie-cutter browns in the 14-inch range regularly fell prey to the midge pupa as I enjoyed another productive day. By late-afternoon, the hatch was over and things calmed down again. Exhausted and satisfied, we called it a trip.
I can’t begin to list how many things I’m thankful for, but fishing with my family is sure high on the list. We certainly lucked out with the lack of generation (not one turbine turned during the four days of fishing) and with the active browns. But, as usual, I learned a lot too.
I hope these come out (it's my first time to try this), but here are some photos from the trip:
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