Fishing is picking up on streamers. So yes, I guess you can say I'm back to streamer fishing. I haven't been back up at the dam, and maybe that's a good thing because of what we did last week. We hooked alot of fish and made a few people angry at the same time. What really made them mad was the fact that my client's were having to much of a good time. Like I always say, I'm here to make sure my clients are happy, bottom line. I mean isn't that what it's all about? That's the most important thing to me. I also like to teach so I can make people better if they are willing to learn. Here's what "doc" wrote about the trip. I'm sure this will rub some of the guides the wrong way, but it is what it is. Sorry if this offends anyone. I will say this, I'll be back up at the dam putting another hurting on those fish real soon.
Mr Cook,
I believe you are the owner and operator of the fly shop that employees Jeremy Hunt. If so then I am speaking to the right person. I have been an avid fisherman for years in Texas. My favorite fishing buddy is my friend Rodney Prast. We have had a unique relationship as friends and as fishing buddies. When we fish we have had an ongoing friendly rivalry and camaraderie that has progressed over the years into yelling "woo-hoo", whenever we catch a fish. We have enjoyed this but it sometimes has annoyed other fishermen especially when we are catching more fish than them. I think this might have become an issue recently on our trip to the White river with Jeremy. We are repeat customers of Jeremy's and we really value our experiences with him as a guide. I would fish with no other guide on the White. Every time we have fished with him he has directed us into remarkable fishing experiences. We have yet to catch less than 60 fish in a day with him on the White. On April 17th 2009 we hired him to guide us and we started catching 16" to 20" rainbows on nearly every cast. He showed us his secrets and we caught fish over and over while the guides around couldn't figure out what we were doing different than them. They crowded us over and over but we kept catching and catching. There was a specific secret that we were doing that Jeremy figured out on his own. He is an excellent researcher and works very hard to understand fish and their habitat and what makes them bite. We of course, were in hog heaven. We were "woo-hooing" constantly until the other guides would leave the area because they couldn't match what we were doing. We weren't being rude, we were minding our own business. We had no verbal exchanges with any of the other guides, we were too busy pulling in trophy trout constantly. Jeremy was noticeably embarrassed by our "woo-hooing" but we were having way too much fun to stop. We caught over 60 fish, all over 16" long, in about 3-4 hours up by the Dam, and we were not in illegal waters. I want to thank you for employing Jeremy. He can out guide any other guide I have ever fished with. He is constantly working to improve his skills and knowledge. He is your best asset. Do him honorably and you will succeed in being one the best guide services in the country. Listen to him and you will do well. I will find him and hire him several times a year for the rest of my life. I will also continue to "woo-hoo" every other guide off the river whenever I come. Thanks again for the excellent guide service you provide by employing Jeremy Hunt. He is destined for fame as a fly fishing guide.
April 28th 2009
Got a few emails that were very generous. I thought I would share them with you. It sure makes you feel good about what your doing for the sport. Thanks guys!
Jeremy,
I have been following your site for some time now and let me say...WOW am I impressed!! I have never taken a trip with you or floated the White for that matter but I have logged some sygnificant time on the Little Red. I am finishing up school at OU here in May and then blasting off to guide on the Taylor in CO. After that I am gonna be heading to Ft Worth to work probably and trying to save up for a boat, oars, and motor to maintain my sanity. All that doesnt mean much to you but I have really enjoyed your site, especially the streamer stuff! Streamer fishing is my calling and I will be doing alot of it this summer (especially at night) using my 8 wt. and 250 grain line with the articulated big boys. A cheaper conversion of my saltwater rod. I just wanted to compliment you on your willingness to share information and even though I have not taking my tying abilities to streamers, mainly because of the lack of and cost of available materials in Okla., I think your how-to videos are great. I haven't dropped the $ on Kelly's tying video with free demos like yours out there. Whats the story on the magic head your putting on some streamers? I am intreiged by that but does it keep fish from eating the the fly head first? Will it work on the faster rivers in CO? I am in no way an innovative tyer of streamers nor am I in the know on the White but I just wanted to stay in touch and possibly learn some stuff from you. If you had any old flies you wanted to test out I would kill to try that. Keep up the good work and check out my blog if you get the chance as I've got your site mentioned on it. Best wishes.
Hey Jeremy,
Hope this finds you well. Just wanted to drop you a note and thank you for another GREAT trip. Fishing was awesome. Doc and I , WOO-HOOed until we were horse. Hope that didn't cause you to much grief. The other guides seemed to take offense to our having fun with each fish we caught. And boy did we ever catch the fish. You once again proved your skill at locating fish, and getting us the right presentation to catch them. Blue Ribbon Fly Shop is definitely blessed to have you as one of their guides. I will recommend you to anyone I know that wants to fish the White River, and most importantly CATCH LOTS OF FISH.
Again, I hope you don't catch to much grief for our WOO-HOOing, that's just us. We do that where ever we catch fish. Thanks again, we're looking forward to seeing you again this fall. We can hardly wait.
God Bless, Rodney Prast
April 26th 2009
White River - Dam
Fishing has slowed down a little bit at the dam. Still hooking fish, but not like last week. The crowds have also died down so you pretty much have it all to yourself. You'll see boats come up, but move out after a few drifts. It's a tough bit so you have to switch it up to stay in the game. I fished it the last two days with Scott who's from St. Louis. We didn't hook anything bigger then 18 inches and all rainbows. Today he let me try a few other flies while he stayed on the drift. I tried a shad pattern and hooked a brown first cast. I had a few more bites then nothing. All I can say is these fish are fighting hard and mostly what you catch is above 15 inches. So quality is definitely there.
I keep hearing stories about the Norfork still fishing bad. The numbers are there if you like catching 6-11 inch fish, but you can have grand slams everyday. They're stocking quite a few fish and there's a lot of cute little cutthroat and brookies, which I think I'll go give it a try sometime next week. That seems to be the only place you'll find some wadable water. We're expecting heavy rains this week and if that happens we might be in store for some high water for awhile. Let's just hope it isn't too much rain. Bull Shoals is rising and is now up 4 feet above pool. Still running low CFS with a steady 4-5 units, but not max. Great water if you have a boat. I haven't done much in the way of streamer fishing, but I have a few clients next week who are fired up to learn more about this bite on the White. I kind of hope we get some rain because that can be some of the best streamer fishing hands down.
Taneycomo
I really feel bad not getting any reports for Taney, but not too many people I know have great things to say because it's still running a lot of water. So most people are fishing along the banks doing fair. The people in boats are doing better. My dads been fishing it everyday and he's been keeping me posted. He's having the best luck fishing along the banks and behind islands where there's breaks in the current. Midge fishing can be really good in those areas. Fishing along the banks he's doing well on different colors of SJW and egg patterns.
Fly Tying Videos
So we have the rest of what we've been working on uploaded. It takes awhile when you have a little boy around. You have to do the recording when he takes naps, if you know what I mean. I'm looking forward to doing several more so keep checking back.
Good News & Bad News- Trout Talk Forum
Since I moved down here I'm a lot busier guiding and don't have a lot of time to put into the forum. So I'm not going to renew my term when it comes due. I truly apologize for this and hope my readers understand. However I'll be doing more with Ozark Anglers forum when I do want to go visit a forum. But most of what you'll find on Phil's forum will also be right here on this site. I think you'll find these new fly tying videos very informational, not only for learning how to tie the patterns, but I'll talk more in detail about the material I'm using. I'm also working on the new way I'm going to do reports. I'll go ahead and tell you how I'm thinking about doing them. I'm going to start doing "live" reports. No more writing, but more talking through the video screen. Plus, I think they'll be much more in detail and I'll also be including other guides so you can hear what they have to say. I'm still working on the name, but I'm leaning towards, Flys and Guides "LIVE" reports. Should be a lot of fun and I'm really excited about it.
April 24th 2009
General Report
Another day of wind. This whole month has been windy and sometimes aggravating when you're trying to stay on a drift, especially in a drift boat with a upstream wind. Today they pushed a little more water on the white while the Norfork was shut down for most of the day. The lakes are up, or should I say Table Rock and Bull Shoals. Not by much, but we are expecting heavy rains that could bring 5-7 inches next week. Lets hope not or we could be in another year of high water months. Which isn't to bad considering what the outcome would be, bigger fish and more pushed to the sides of the banks for streamer fishing. I'm not a fan of rain fall, but it really isn't that bad if you have a boat. It sure puts a damper on wade fishing if that's what your after. It has it's ups and downs, either way, we have to take the good with the bad if that's what we're faced with.
Today I worked on a few how to step fly tying videos. Something that I've been wanting to do, but haven't got around to it. You can find the link on the side margin of the page in the sub titles under "on the vise". Since I'm on the new streamer kick I think I'll touch on this subject for awhile. I also plan on doing some instructional techniques on the water, how to fish these with different grain lines and how to run these across the water correctly. The last report I touched on the difference between rabbit and marabou, and what makes these unique in their own way. I talk more in detail about this and also talk a little bit about materials to use to get your fly looking the best. I'm sure you've heard me say, material can make or break a fly pattern depending on what you use. And lot of the time it's when you substitute a certain material that the pattern calls for.
Another thing I wanted to bring up. I don't know if you've been to the fly section where you can see tons of fly patterns. I just uploaded a few more streamers for you to check out.
April 23rd 2009
White River
Since the last time I wrote I was talking about the new way I'm going to do reports. Well, I'm still working on the process and it's taking a little longer then I suspected. So not to keep you hanging I'll give you a scoop on how fishing is in general on the White. I haven't fished the Norfork in awhile so I really can't say how fishing is except that you can usually find some wadable water.
The White River has been fishing great. With 4-5 generators online makes for some of the best fishing "I think" up top at the dam. We're hooking a lot of fish and the last week it's usually been over hundred fish a day. Also hooking some nice rainbows in the 19-21 inch class. The other day we hooked a 24-25 inch rainbow, but lost it right at the net. I sure wish I could've got that one to the boat. It's the biggest fish I've caught up there this year. It didn't have extremely good color but looked good in size. A lot of the fish we are catching are putting up a good fight as well. So all in all the fish seem to be healthy even though they are facing didymo. I've also pumped a few trout's stomachs to only find the majority of what they're eating is very small midges (size 32) and few sow bugs mixed in with a lot of moss. Not good signs for the scuds and sow bugs up at the dam. With saying that they are still hitting our scud and sow bug patterns. Here lately I've been switching up. From throwing midges to streamers, we've been doing it all. I've been learning a lot since I've been fishing this river hard core. This river is truly amazing in the since that you can do a lot of different things and you'll get responses. Streamers have been my main focus and I've been coming up with some really cool patterns. I've invented a new sculpin pattern that is kicking butt!! It's bigger then what most people would consider a sculpin, but I'm trying to target bigger fish and bigger fish want a bigger meal. The profile of the pattern is top notch and I think I'll submit it to Rainy's for commercial tying. I tie it in a few colors, but the one that I find works the best is some variation of olive. To me, I think it's one of the best looking sculpin patterns I've ever seen. I'll let you see for yourself.
Most of my fishing has been at the dam all the way down to Cotter. Spending a lot of time in the evenings looking for big fish to eat my streamers. I've found out one thing that I know for sure moves big fish and that's yellow. You get a lot of followers, but every once in awhile you'll hook a big fish unexpectedly. Streamer fishing is fun, but you'll miss a lot of fish, which will sometimes leave you with a sense of why. Why didn't I hook these fish, is it the wrong hook? But what I have found out is, it's just fishing and it's going to happen. I've excepted that because I've done it too much to think otherwise. It's just a great feeling knowing you turn a huge fish that you otherwise wouldn't have even seen if it wasn't for a big streamer. Fishing the bottom is great and you hook a lot of fish and sometimes a big fish, but not like you will fishing streamers.
Another thing I found out is marabou and rabbit ride different in the water and have two different actions to them. Finding out which one works the best for what situation your fishing is key on when to use the right one. Marabou has a lot of action and the flies usually sink a little faster. Rabbit seems to suspend a little longer and after a strip the fly pauses in the water column. An to be honest with you, that's when I'm getting the explosive strikes from the bottom. I found that even though the fly is riding higher then the water column when fishing deep the fish can still see it from deep. The other day I was fishing in about six feet of water. The fly was getting down about 2-3 feet on a quick strip using 250 grain streamer express (which we're having problems with because the coating on the outside is falling apart) and the fish are coming up from the bottom and hitting from the head. Usually the fish will chase it from behind, but sometimes you have be to ready for that fish you didn't see coming. You loose a lot of those fish and sometimes I don't know if they are hitting it. I think they are knocking it out of the way or nosing it.
The other day I was fishing in the rain and had some of the best streamer fishing to date. That's really when you need to fish streamers. Bad weather plays an important roll on getting the big boys to strike. Also heavy generation pushes them to the banks. When they're doing the two hour pulses the fish will move back out in the middle on the drop and won't come back to the banks until they get a heavy surge of water an that sometimes takes them awhile to finally get on the banks again. I've actually been stripping streamers right in the center of the river if it's shallow enough. I tried it at the dam the other day and got a few responses. Also throwing white shad patterns getting a few bigger trout's attention. Anymore I'm focusing more on how to get bigger fish to feed all the time. Still in progress, but I feel comfortable taking anyone out who wants to streamer fish and hooking up with a few nice browns. It's up to you if you can bring them to the boat. I would suggest using a stiff rod because 6wt isn't enough. I'm fishing strictly 8wt because I don't want to loose fish on the hook not barring in their mouth. I found that out the hard way when I was throwing 6-7wt rods that didn't have enough bone in them. The TFO rods are great for streamer fishing. The two I have found to be the best is the Jim Teeny series and the Axiom. Blue Ribbon is carrying both right now. The Teeny rod is a 10 foot rod and that's what I like about it. Also stiff and that was probably designed that way for big steelhead.
Well, going to bed, but I'll talk more about this when I get this new way I'm doing reports figured out. I'm thinking sometime next week, but you do have my word that I'm going to put a video together tomorrow about the materials I like best when tying certain streamers that I think you'll find very helpful when you're trying to tie some of these articulated streamer patterns. To be continued..
April 9-10, 2009
Spending most my time at the Narrows to Tucker Shoals.
What a last few days its been. Just when I thought the wind was gone, it's back! I didn't mind the rain because it was some of the best streamer fishing I've done since I've been fishing the White.
I had Micah from Texarkana, Tx. He was a real trooper when it came to weathering out the storm. The first day we had rain, but the wind wasn't too bad. The thing we had working on our side was water generation. They kept it pretty stable without spikes or surges and that made all the difference in the world for this technique. Most the water we were burning streamers in was between 3-4 feet and we could see the fly the whole time, which made for some exciting fishing. Micah has never seen streamer fishing so it was a thrill for him to see these fish attack it. They were chasing everything. Some would commit and some wouldn't. We were throwing 250 grains and that was the perfect weight to get it down and stay in the water column. We had nine browns for the day and a ton of rainbows. The bad part was I forgot the battery for the camera. I left it on the charger because I got in a hurry. One of the days I really needed it. The biggest we caught was around seven pounds.
Today we started at 7am because we wanted to go back and do it again. We thought it was going to be the same results, but rain made the water a little dingy and the fish weren't chasing anything. Until I switched over to another color and they were all over it. Only a few browns today, but a lot of rainbows. That was a huge learning experience for me. Trying to figure out the color schemes along with where these big browns hold during water generations. It'll probably take me a few years because there's so much water, but it's a lot more fun figuring out the White verses Taneycomo. It's no joke down here and I know for a fact you catch bigger fish on a regular basis. I'll never know it all and that's why I keep going. I LOVE THIS SPORT!!!
April 8th 2009
Went back up to the dam that evening.
Since the bite has been really good up top I decided to go back and try throwing my switch rod just to see what I could hook on the surface. It's really fun sailing out 60-70 feet effortlessly. I was throwing a floating shad on the surface. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, why are you fishing white when there's no shad kill? I think they always see white throughout the year and I always try it just to see. And today they ate it up. It's fun setting the hook 60 feet out and especially on the surface when they come up and hit it. Nothing big and no browns, but still a blast.
April 6-7th 2009
Bull Shoals Dam - 17,000-20,000 CFS Great fishing at Bull Shoals Dam
I had two days with a big party staying at River Ridge Inn on the Norfork. There was a total of seven guides taking two people in each boat. From reading my reports last week I didn't want to gamble with the Norfork. I decided to take Terry and Dale to the White and fish up at the dam. I was thinking to myself, it can't be any different as far as numbers, but thought whatever we caught was going to be quality instead of quantity. Well, to be honest that wasn't the case at all. We were hooking lots of fish. There wasn't any other boats for most of the day. At the end of the day we had 40 in the net and missed a few as well. Pretty good considering we had heavy winds and had really high water.
Even though we had a 40 minute drive to get there, we were glad we did. The Norfork did not fish well, the bite was tough and not to mention we all had first timers to the sport. I'm sure it really wasn't the guides fault as much as the rivers fault. The NORFORK is in BAD SHAPE. Low water is a different story, but high water it can be a bummer. I know I'm not going back for awhile. I would rather spend my time fishing the White and trying my luck for big browns or rainbows. I just love fishing the Fork because it's such a great looking stretch of river.
There's a few things wrong with the Norfork. It's filling in big time and bait fishing is a real problem. I won't go into details because it's a touchy subject, but I know it needs some help. Also when the lake turns over the d.o. becomes a major issue and will continue to if they don't do something about it. I hate talking about it, but it is what it is. The quality of fish are disappearing by the handfuls. Where's all the nice cutthroat and brook trout you used to see? I haven't seen any this whole year and a little bit of last year. I really believe the high water we had during the floods pushed a lot of those fish out. I was talking to John Gulley over the last few days and asked him what his thoughts were. His reply and this is what he speculates is happening. There used to be cold days and a lot of them, and that would bring shad kills. The Norfork hasn't had a good shad kill in a long time. The climates changing and warmer days are plentiful in the winter months. He believes strongly that is why these bigger fish aren't coming in the Fork like they used to. It does make since to me because he knows a lot about this area. Fishing here for is entire life, he's seen it all first hand. He told me he used to catch big fish by the numbers on any given day. The shad kill would bring bigger fish that would come downstream from the White River out of Calico. They would come for miles to get in on this bite. I got a lot to learn about these fisheries and it's always nice hearing what the true locals have to say about these awesome fisheries. I just wished I could've been a part of it back then.
The next day it was colder, but sunny so it actually felt warmer. Having no wind was a big plus. Not only because it wouldn't feel colder, but it wouldn't screw up our drift as fast. We went back up to the White and I'm glad we did because it was another hot day of fishing. And again, having it all to ourselves. The cfs was actually running about 4,000 less which made for easier drifts and more pocket water that was holding fish. That was the key. I bet most of the fish we caught were out of four holes. All we had to do is fish one spot about three drifts and leave it alone for 15-20 minutes and go back and hit it again. Always hooking fish every drift. All rainbows in 14-16 inch class. No browns which I couldn�t believe, but I'm going back out to try my streamer techniques. I haven't tried them up there to really get a idea if the fish would react to them the same as downstream on the river. I'll keep you posted. If you're coming down, GO FISH THE WHITE.
April 5th 2009
So cold is in store for the Ozarks and another day of high water. Wind has also been another big factor lately. Last week we had high winds everyday. I'm getting a little tired of it and it doesn't matter what kind of boat you have. You won't stay on a drift long enough to make it matter. I don't know if it's hurt fishing because we're still getting hits, but it does make it a little harder. Oh well, I'm ready for a week of fishing. I have to work all next week so I should have some stories to tell.
Today I'm working on some more articulated streamer patterns. My main focus will be sculpins. I'll probably end up coming up some new patterns in the process. Maybe I'll get one uploaded later. The how to steps for the T&A rainbow are finally complete so go CHECK IT OUT!! Great pattern and I enjoy tying it and you will to. I also tied this in all black, white, yellow, olive, and even a brown trout variation. I think this week I've tied over 1,300 flies for Blue Ribbon and even a few for me. Never ends, but beats any daytime job that's for sure.
April 4th 2009
Fishing high water, 20,000 cfs - still throwing streamers!
So I've had a few days off and decided to go out yesterday and try my luck with streamers. John went with me and since he knows the water better then me I went where he thought the best place on eight units would be. Finding dead or slack water is the key. Even if it's deep, fish are holding like crazy. It's pretty cool going out with someone who knows the river like him because I'm learning so much in such a little time. And when I get this streamer thing down, I think I'm gonna put a hurting on those browns. Not to mention these browns are going to grow to astronomical sizes because of the new brown trout regulation, all browns being kept have to be over 24 inches.
I've been talking with Albright and they actually want in on this whole streamer thing. They're sending me some heavier lines then what's on the market and a few outfitted rods with reels to see if I can get down deeper then what 400 grain lines will do. I keep saying and I will continue to until I get it, it's not getting down deep enough. You know it might come down to 10 wt rods throwing 600-900 grain lines, but I'm willing to do whatever at this stage in the game. I know I won't feel the fish if it's a 20-25 inch fish, but I know I'll feel the big boys that are in the 27-35 inch class and hopefully I figure something out by experimenting with all this. One thing I do know, I'll be fishing streamers most the year because it's truly a blast. Most the time we go out and fish streamers we either hook something big or turn something big. That's another thing I wanted to mention. These big fish we're hooking seem to get off and I belive it's the hooks we are tying these big articulated circus peanuts on. It's no problem keeping 20-23 inchers, but anything above that is getting the best of us. I'm going to start tying on shorter shank hooks and maybe circle hooks will be the ticket.
Yesterday the two areas we hit both had browns that took our streamers. We hooked one, but lost the other one. The one we lost was definitely a bigger one then the first one we hooked up with. We also had a few bumps, but that's usually smaller fish that can't get their mouth around it, or hitting the tail. Great learning day and any day your on the water should be a learning day. That's the word for the day, try doing something new and see what happens. You never know what might hit your fly. My new saying is, it only takes one fish to make it all worth while. So I guess you could say..I'm looking for Leroy Brown. I'll get him before to long.
Going out today so I'll let you know how we do. Also, this is a bummer. No tying class today. Sorry for such short notice, I guess there were some sort of scheduling conflict.
April 2nd, 2009
Norfork and White River - Had to get the jon boat out.
I've had a few trips the last couple of days and fishing hasn't been the greatest. We've had to work hard for every fish we caught. The key is changing up all the time. I've even gone to other spots, which means fishing both rivers. I don't know what's going on with the fork, but those fish are locked up. We are getting hits, but there few and far between. The evening bite seems to be better than the morning. I think what's messing us up the most is the way they are fluctuating the water levels throughout the day. If the water is dropping you can bet you'll be scratching your head wondering what happened to the hits. You would think by dropping it the fishing would feed more, but that's not the case. It has to stablize for a few hours and the fish will start up again.
The first trip I had we left Norfork and headed to Rim, but as soon as we got there we could tell we were fishing in the soup. We gave it a try for a few drifts with no luck and decided to go back to the fork. We made up for lost time catching fish after fish for the last couple of hours. A few browns in the mix made for a better day.
The trip I had yesterday was kind of the same way. This time we went to Bull Shaols Dam and fished the high water. They were running a total of six generators which had me thinking, is this going to be good or is it going to be the same thing we've been facing at Norfork. We actually had a good day fishing high water. No browns, but a few heathy bows which made the day worth while. So all in all, I think fishing is a little tougher then normal, but they're still out there to be caught. It's just not what it was a week ago. I'm ready for a little lower cfs so I can burn some more streamers.
The T&A Rainbow - How to steps
I got the steps done for the T&A rainbow, but still working on writing the instructions. I'll try to get them up in the next day or so. Right now I'm busy tying more flies for Blue Ribbon along with this new shop that is new to the area. It's not a full blown fly shop, but still, I'm focused in getting some really good patterns in there. Hope some of you are getting out there doing some fishing. The whites are running down here and it won't be long before the smallmouth get going. I'll keep you posted on this. I will be pretty busy with guide trips all next week. Let you know how we do...