Little Red BIG BROWNS!!!

Well TOSFly readers, over the past couple of weeks, a few members of the TOSFly team have been spending a lot of time on the Little Red River. And the result? ... BIG BROWNS. That's right, this little river has been producing some big fish. And the primary reason is the spawn.

For a while before Christmas, it seemed the browns were finished spawning. However, the week before the celebration of our Savior's birth, I received word from an associate that the browns had started again, and big fish were being caught all throughout the river! This was good news for me considering I was headed to the river the next weekend. The anticipation almost killed me ... literally. I think if I tied one more fly or talked about fishing any more, my wife would have taken my life.

Anyway, after being on the river the past few days, it is true. All of it. The browns are spawning, and big fish are being caught. My father-in-law and I have torn up the browns at Cow Shoals off of a variety of flies including red asses, white woolies, scuds, and sowbugs. However, the hot fly of the week has been the Holy Grail. I have spent the past several nights tying these flies, and I am very thankful that I did because the fish loved it!

Today started off great. On the very first cast, I caught a nice rainbow while drifting nothing other than the Holy Grail. However, the fishing slowed, and I decided to move upriver to a nice deep pool. I started by stripping a wooly bugger, and BAM!!! I had a nice brown trout measuring about 16 inches. I took a pic and let her go. Second cast ... strip ... strip ... BAM!!! Another 17 inch brown (I did measurements on my rod) with a nice kype. It was obvious this guy was spawning. I laid him beside my rod and took a picture. I fished the white wooly for a while longer, but I think they started to figure me out.

I switched to a scud and caught several fish. Dean, my father-in-law, caught a nice brown with a purple haze scud. Check it out:

Then, I switched to the Holy Grail. This fly was HOT all week long! They absolutely KILLED it! I must have tied a dozen of them, and the fish tore up 3! I caught one on the first cast with the new fly ... a nice brown in the 13" range. Then, I cast a little deeper to an area where the fish were rising and the river bottom seemed to change depths. A few seconds after the fly hit the water, my indicator went under fast. I set the hook, and I thought I was hung up. I wasn't; my line was moving, and this momma fish was fighting. After about 10 minutes of battle, I netted her. Check her out!

I wasn't able to snap any pictures besides this one. She was spewing eggs, and I knew I needed to get her back in the water. As a result, I was not able to measure her. However, if the big guy mentioned earlier was 17", she was pushing 21". She was definitely a full hand's width longer than him. She was an absolutely beautiful fish. I released her almost immediately, and back to the redds she went.

Overall, we have had a blast!

Check back soon for TOSFly's trip to the Little Red coming in mid January!

Until then ... cast to The Other Side!

Seth

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Fishing Report 11/11/10

It's that time of year when the air starts to cool off and the fishing starts to heat up. If I had half a brain I would of called in sick today...if you know what I mean. And now for our main event...The SPAWN! Brown trout are hitting the spawning grounds hard and if you're looking for a wall mounter now is the time to be fishing.

The white river is producing 100 fish days and the casual angelers are sitting on their couch drinking a beer watching Dancing with the Stars. So strap up and hit the river.

The browns are stacking in, and the bows are storing up for winter.

Guide Davy Wotton says the zebra midge is the go to fly and nymphs are producing big numbers. Sow bugs, olive scuds and streamers are also healthy choices. If fishing deeper water, throw on a smaller streamer and tease those browns until they can't take it anymore. If overcast, throw on the olive scud or sow bug. If you are forced to drift, the San Juan (of course) is producing miraculous numbers. Now...don't judge me, but if fishing darker water, don't be above throwing on a high vis egg pattern... as a last resort of course. Now let's get it on. Hit the river this weekend. Cast to The Other Side, and you'll have less bad days and more "Chad get off my leg we've only caught 50" days.

-Lukifer

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Ole Faithful

My late Grandfather had a saying, "if it ain't broke don't fix it". Terrible grammar I know, but when applied to fishing, the man was on to something. My Papa was a bass fisherman at heart and spent countless hours trying to figure out the perfect bait to entice the prey. I saw him pull out the biggest, ugliest lures you could find and somehow he would always catch the monsters. However, when the fish just weren't biting he would always go to the "ole faithful." For him it was the purple trick worm rigged Texas style. Now, if your like me there are good days and slow days on the river, but never a bad day on the river, and I like to chalk that stat up to my "ole faithful".

For Arkansas trout fishermen it's sometimes difficult to peg exactly what the fish are feeding on. Some days you might tie on 25 different flies before getting a nibble. When I'm losing confidence in my selection there is one fly that always comes through for me. The "San Juan Worm" (above). I've experimented with different colors and I've found the best color is blood red or wine color. There are a hundred different ways to rig this money fly, so I'll leave that part up to your creative mind. Confidence is key on the days that are slow, and a confident fisherman always catches more than a frustrated fisherman. So, next time you're on the river and the action is just not where you'd like it to be, throw on your "ole faithful" and see where your luck takes you. And of course cast to The Other Side, and you'll have less bad days and more I can't wait to show my friends these pictures days!

-Lukifer

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