Tale Waters the Voice of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers
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Tale Waters The Voice of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers June 9, 2020 North Arkansas Fly Fishers Tale Waters AGFC Report Bass Flys North Arkansas Fly Fishers meetings Tiger Trout and are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each Drag Chains month. Meetings are held at the Van Matre Senior Center located at 1101 Spring St Mountain Home, AR 72653. Membership meeting starts at 7:00 pm. All members and guests are welcome and encouraged to attend. NAFF Board of Directors’ meetings Bass (largemouth and small- are held on the first Tuesday of the mouth) are the most sought af- Hello Everyone! I hope everyone is month at 1:00 pm 1st Security Bank ter gamefish species in North on 9th St. All members are welcome doing well and finding time to en- and encouraged to attend. joy outdoor activities, while still America. While conventional “social distancing”. The Arkansas fisherpersons clearly make up Visit North Arkansas Fly Fishers Online at Game and Fish Commission the majority of the anglers pur- (AGFC) continues to be operating suing them, the number of fly www.northarkansasflyfisher.org in “remote mode”, meaning offic- fisherpersons seems to be grow- es throughout the state are still ing, as many have discovered closed to the public and most of Officers us are still working from home. how exciting it is to catch these President — Dave Boyer (972) 670-2425 hard fighting and for the most Vice President — Susan Parsons (618) 791-3638 Despite that, we have continued to Secretary — Patty Lueken ((501) 681-0198 provide anglers with multiple op- part readily available fish on fly Treasurer — Pat Smith (870) 425-3968 portunities and have stocked ac- gear! An added bonus to their Directors cording to plan. Within the last strength and numbers is the Conservation — Tommy Hagan (870) 430-2091 few weeks, we have also stocked large variety of flies that can be Property — Kevin Boddy (870) - 421-7804 additional Rainbow Trout in the Education — Ceil Gasiecki (219) 776-9620 used to catch them. I’m not say- Membership — Paul Ashton (870) 425-9230 White, Little Red, and Spring Riv- Past President — Mike Tipton (870) 404-8845 ers that were purchased with FE- ing that they are necessarily easy Appd. by Pres. — Danny Barker (870) 424-4110 MA money allocated to AGFC to catch, but a bass’s diet can be after the 2017 flood of the Spring fairly broad. Fish, frogs, cray- River Hatchery. Those stockings fish, insects and even small Tale Waters is published 2nd Tues- included the ever popular, Golden birds are on the menu. If you’ve Rainbow Trout. We are also hap- day of each month. Article deadline is ever walked thru the fishing de- 1st Tuesday of the month. py to announce that this week, for Staff: Mike Tipton & Rita Billbe the first time ever, we will be con- partment in a large outdoor Contact: ducting an experimental stocking store, you’ll see the sheer num- [email protected] Cont. Pg. 14 ber and variety of lures de- signed and used to catch bass Page 2 (yes and fisherman too!). Simi- larly, but certainly not on such a grand scale, fly fisherman have a variety of flies to choose from as well. Timeless Patterns designed by legends like Lefty Kreh, Bob Clouser and Dave Whitlock (and many others) have caught countless numbers of different bass species over the years and continue to do so Bull Shoals Dam Flood Gates today. In addition, there seems to be a whole new generation June President’s With the lakes at high water, several of angler/tyers that are coming Message boat ramps are closed, or if open, up with their own designs using minimal parking for trailers and cars. Hope you are dry as we have had a both traditional and newer to The shoreline is now high enough heck of a wet year so far. The lakes the world of tying, synthetics, that a lot of trees/shrubs are sub- are full with high flows expected merged under 30 plus feet of water. in their own produc- from the dams that will probably Cont. Pg. 16 The fish will not be where you would tive designs. make wade fishing on the White normally find them. I went out on and Norfork difficult most of the Lake Fork a few days ago and at the summer. If the rain will stay away, edge of the tree line, it was more other areas will become easier to than twenty feet to the bottom with wade, like Crooked Creek and the little indication of fish on the finder. Spring River. If you do decide to What fish there were are deep! wade, stay safe and please do not Tough to fly fish, even with full sink- wade beyond your ability. Way too ing line. Takes some techniques most easy to get too deep. Also be sure to of us trout fisherman are not used to. use a wading staff. As with the rivers, there is a lot of The shops are starting to see an in- debris and one of the worst is float- crease in business; so hopefully as ing submerged lumber. I hit one that the area opens, we can stay healthy was about 1 foot below the surface with more visitors. It is great to see and it almost threw me out of my Weather Cancellation more boats on the rivers with guides boat. As we get back into fishing the Policy finally getting some clients back. If local waters, we need to think safety, NAFF Activities or Meet- you go out on a boat during these so please take care and be safe as you ing will be cancelled or high flows, be careful and please head out onto the water. postponed when the wear a PFD. It does us little good if Mountain Home Public it sits in a locker when you have Schools Cancel Classes. problems and end up overboard. David M Boyer Check KTLO radio web- Also, take care as debris with the site for school closing high flows is fairly heavy. President, NAFF info. Tale Waters Page 3 Fly of the Month terns like the Wooly Bugger, Clouser Minnow Zonkers and marabou leeches. Then in 1987 these lead eyes were added to Bob’s favorite deer-tail flies and the old pattern took on a new look. According to Bob, “the most important component of the new fly was now in place. The eyes provided the weight that made the Recipe fly dip and dart in the currents Hook – Mustad Big Game size 6 like a natural baitfish escaping a Predator.” Eyes – Wapsi Pocket-Eyes Small Nickel with 5/32 Mirage Holo- Lefty Kreh once told Bob that, “he gram Dome Eyes had caught 86 different species on the Clouser Deep Minnow.” He Body – White and Shad Gray also wrote about Bob’s fly in an Bucktail Silver Flashabou Accent issue of Fly Fisherman Magazine or Krystal Flash in 1989. That article helped Thread – UTC 140 White spread the word about this now widely used and extremely effec- Glue – GULFF “Grand Daddy” tive fly pattern. UV Resin Michael Schraeder. Fly tied by Michael Schraeder Jr. I once read an article where the author said that if he had one fly to choose for saltwater it would be an olive and white Clouser Min- now. Personally I would agree, ex- cept my choice would be gray and white and would also be my first choice for freshwater as well. This versatile pattern can be tied in sev- eral color combinations in order to imitate several different species of fish. According to Bob Clouser, his first Clouser Deep Minnow prototypes began in the late 70s when he first crimped Water Gremlin split shot to the hook shank of his deer-tail streamers. Then in 1985, Tom Schmuecker (Wapsi) sent Bob an assortment of lead barbell shaped eyes which added to some popular bass pat- Dawn Schraeder with a Clouser caught Bass Page 4 Book Review Fish, but with a much more posi- to California). From Northern California to tive spin. I think that anyone who the Ozarks of Missouri How In the early days, the railways car- is interested in the history of our Rainbow Trout Came to the ried the milk cans of trout and sport will enjoy the book. From Show-Me State trout eggs for free or at a very re- Northern California to the Ozarks duced rate. The fishing commis- of Missouri How Rainbow Trout Most of us have caught rainbow sion employees rode with the trout Came to the Show-Me State can trout somewhere in Missouri, wild for free or at reduced rate also, be purchased from Amazon. rainbows in the North Fork of the “sleeping” in whatever available White or Crane Creek or stocked corner they could find. Soon spe- Mike Tipton rainbows at Montauk Trout Park cially designed fish cars were de- or Bennet Springs. There are a signed and built which included multitude of places to catch rain- tanks for the fish, storage for large bow trout in the Ozarks of Mis- quantities of ice, and bunks for souri. But, have you thought about the employees. But, as it still is how trout from the western US today, managing the stocking of ended up in the Midwest? I think trout was a very physical and that many of us have heard stories hands-on job. of young trout being stocked into rivers from milk cans carried by The salmon scheme never worked rail.