Thanksgiving Fishing Trip to White River, AR
Tuesday, 11 December 2007, 10:29 a.m. CST
On the Friday after Thanksgiving Dan Daly and I left Omaha for Cotter, Arkansas and the White river. We left at 5 a.m. in the morning to make sure that we had a little time on the water before dark. We drove straight through only to stop for gas and heed the call of nature and made it to Cotter in 8 hours. We stayed at Cabin 9 at His Place resort. That is important for two reasons. One, it is on the white river and there good fishing right there. Second, cabin number 9 is a modern clean roomy two bedroom cabin that both genders would enjoy. There other cabins are small, rustic, and old. (In the future I will probably stay at the Brass Door Motel at 621 E Main St. Gassville, AR. It is more modern, spacious and cost substantially less.)
On entering the White river in our waders, the outside temperature was in the lower 40’s. A lot of fishermen have put their waders and rods away for the season and we saw about 10% of the river traffic compared to our trips last year in April and October. I am always surprised to find the water warmer than the air and how I actually feel warmer in the water than on the shore. The fishing was slow and it really was because both Dan and I are a little stubborn and were not following the advice of the staff at the Mountain River Fly Shop who suggested that we use some very tiny and forgotten name nymphs or the goofy looking Y2K fly. We both went are own way and hooked and landed a few trout.
On Saturday, We met up with Scott Branyan of Ozark Fly Flinger. We had fished with him last spring and had a fantastic day of fishing. He is a large man with a gentle voice and is great teacher and really knows how to read the White River. The drift boat he uses he built out of wood and it is truly functional and a work of art at the same time. Fishing with Scott is like getting fly casting, history, and biology lessons all in one package. We got his name from one of the Cornhusker Flyfisher members.
We put in at Rim Shoals, a little ways south of Cotter and went downstream. The morning was cold and temperature in the lower to mid 30’s. We caught a few fish to about midmorning when we were all getting cold. Scott put in at a small island and gave us both a successful lesson on how to nymph in fast flowing shallow water. We each caught about a half dozen trout between 8 to 15 inches and then motored up river to fish some more and had lunch. After lunch, the temperature had climbed into the forties, with no wind, and there must have been no generators on at Bull Shoals Dam for the water was running flat and crystal clear. As we motored up river we saw hundreds of fish with some very large rainbows and brown trout between 5 and 8 pounds. We experimented with a variety of flies for a while and then hit on a winning pattern. That being a size 18 pheasant tail nymph below a small indicator.
For next two plus hours we drifted back down stream and it seemed that there was very little time than that we did not have a fish on-line. There were a lots of strikes that we missed from watching each other catch fish, telling stories, and the ongoing ribbing of each others technique. Scott during the whole time was calmly coaching and our nymphing technique continued to get better. We had to finally quit because it was dark. Of the many guides that I have fished spent times fishing - I rank Scott as one of my top 2 guides.
On Sunday morning, we awoke to cold, cloudy, and drizzly conditions. Scott and the guys at the Mountain fly shops recommended that if we had only a couple of hours to try the shoals above the Cotter Access and Boat Ramp Area. By the time we got there, it was raining hard. I learned a lesson that day. That is that it is a lot easier to get gear on and equipment ready in a warm dry cabin. I will not forget that lesson soon. We both put on the same small pheasant tail nymphs and slip and slide down the muddy bank to the river shoreline. Dan got out first and so I walked up river a short distance. The rain was steady and cold and I decided to ditch the gloves as I was having troubles casting. On my first three casts, I had a trout come up and tried to inhale my indicator. I remember the guys at Mountain River Fly Shop saying that the Y2K had been productive. I waded back to shore and got under a tree for some relief from the rain. My hands were cold and therefore it took about twenty minutes in the rain to replace the nymph with the Y2K fly. I then proceed back to same spot and on my first cast hooked and landed a 12 inch plus rainbow. After releasing the fish, I casted perpendicular to the river and let it down river with an upstream mend. After a few more casts, I caught my second trout as my line swung and straighten out down river. I yelled out Dan to change to that goofy looking Y2K fly and he too started catching fish.
For the next two hours the rain was relentless, I know it was cold because ice was forming on my rod guides. I lost track but I believe I hooked twenty fish and managed to land between 6 to 8 fish. The interesting thing was there was no pattern to when and where they would strike. Sometimes it was within 1-3 seconds of landing on the water, sometimes on the swing, and other times when I was just goofing off. I believe that a Y2K fly without weight might have been more productive, but I will have to test out that hypothesis on the next trip. After two plus hours of non-stop fishing in the rain, I had a large fish take off with my fly across the river stripping out my fly line and putting me into my backing for the first time on this trip. I knew it was large because it was making a wake in the shallow water. I did not land this fish as it ran my leader over a rock and you know the end to this story.
We got out off the river around 11 a.m. with me having little feelings in my hands. Dan had caught a number of fish and we both were please with the morning. On our way out of town we stopped at the Mountain River Fly shop to thank them for their advice and to strip out of waders. Two hours later the feeling came back into my fingers.
On the way back to Omaha the holiday traffic was flying and we made it to Omaha in about seven and a half hours. Below is the contact information for Scott and the Mountain River Fly shop.
Who is up for a mid February or early March Trip? Let the club know through the contact page.
See you on the river!!
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