Annual TOSFly Trip

It's almost here.  The annual TOSFly fishing trip.  As you can tell, it has been quite some time since we last posted to this blog.  In fact, from what I can tell, it has been about 3 years.  But today is a new day.  We are at the dawning of a new era, and it starts on June 25, 2014, when our group meets on the Little Red River in Arkansas.  Stay tuned for updates from that trip!

I did some scouting last weekend, and the fishing was good.  My father-in-law and I caught a couple dozen rainbows a piece, and the browns were active too!  But, Arkansas has experienced a TON of rain over the past week, which will affect the flow substantially in early June.  Nonetheless, with any luck, the poor weather conditions will be out of here by the time our trip rolls around.  Here's a little snippet of what the river had to offer last weekend before the rain moved through.  Let's hope it only gets better as the weeks pass!

Until next time, cast to The Other Side!!!

- Seth

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Little Red Winter Trip

Last weekend, as many of you know, the TOSFly crew packed up their gear and took off for the Little Red River outside of Heber Springs, Arkansas. The crew included J-Ferg, Brett Ferguson (AKA B-Ferg), Chud, The Prez, Dean Rose (AKA Deano AKA the Prez's Pops-In-Law), and Deano's friend Bill Ray (AKA Wild Bill). We had an absolute blast fishing and just kicking it at the cabin. We spent hours at night discussing technique and strategy. The TOSFly crew sends out a special thanks to Deano for generously allowing us to crash at his amazing place. Here's a pic of good old Deano for you:

Deano with a nice brown caught at Cow Shoals

For those of you who have not visited the Little Red, you need to put this place on your fly-fishing bucket list. When they are not generating, the river becomes very small and shallow at most wadable fly-fishing shoals. We had to change our nymphing techniques for very shallow, fast-moving runs as well as semi-deep, stagnant water. The name of the game during the winter months on most trout fly fisheries is slow and small. Everything gets smaller in the winter, and this should include your leader, tippet, and flies. Most trout become lethargic during the cold winter months, and their feeding habits change. We caught the tail end of what seemed to be a late season brown trout spawn. Although there were no visible redds, a couple of the browns caught were depositing eggs as we netted them.

We spent most of the weekend nymphing with small (size 18-22) red asses and midges. The key to success for us was not using ANY split shot. The water was shallow and slow enough to forego the use of weight. The absence of split truly helped the fly get a more natural drift into the feeding lanes. We tried pulling streamers in some of the deeper pools, but we only seemed to land small stocker rainbows. Much of our pulling came up empty handed.

The Little Red is an extraordinary fishery. You can truly see the difference in stocked brown trout and naturally reproduced browns. All the fish that we caught over the weekend were full of life and put up a hard fight. If you want to land a trophy brown trout, the Little Red is hands down the place to go! Now, enjoy a little photo foursome for your viewing pleasure:

Until next time,

Cast to The Other Side!

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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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Little Red River Review

Last weekend, the Prez (Seth) and Chud (Chad) went on a two-day outing to the Little Red River. Our host for the weekend was Mr. Dean Rose (Seth's Father-in-law). We arrived at the cabin around 4:00 p.m. and immediately put all of our gear on to head to the river. Both of us were pumped to get on the river considering it had been a few weeks since out last casts. Chad rigged up a 5-weight with a huge black ugly with red dumbbell eyes. His first cast yielded hopes of a promising evening as a huge flash below the water began to take chase of my fly. For the next hour Chud kept throwing that fly in the hopes that a big piggers would want to munch. Nothing doing.... The Prez, on the other hand, decided to rip some face with his own streamer (a white wooly). The big brownies came out to party with Seth. He caught two nice brownies within the 1.5 hours we were out there. Needless to say, this was a promising beginning to our fishing trip indeed.

Friday night consisted of us three gents sitting around a dinner table that was littered with fly-tying material, courtesy of Mr. Dean Rose. The conversation flowed and the fireplace stayed warm for many hours that night. Experiences of past trips were shared as well as the techniques we would use for Saturday's outing. We had a great night to say the least.

We got up early Saturday to the smell of coffee and freshly baked cinnamon rolls, also courtesy of our host Mr. Rose. It was a brisk morning; it probably did not get above 25 degrees throughout the day. We fished some very shallow runs that did not get above the knees, which made for a difficult time nymphing. Chad gave a few casts but realized that throwing a streamer seemed more plausible. As a result, he transitioned to an olive bead head wooly that he had tied the night before. Second cast ... strip ... strip ... boom. Beautiful bow. The next couple of hours were exciting because the fish seemed to just attack the various streamers that he threw at them. Chad ended up catching some good bows with a couple of nice brownies occasionally thrown into the mix. It was a good morning of fishing.

Later in the day, Mr. Rose made his way to a rock point where he had success with some dry flies and some woolies of his own. It seemed like everytime he started stripping a wooly, a fish would strike! Seth had a slow Saturday, catching only two fish through the shoals. Nonetheless, we all had a blast. Overall it was a good day on the Little Red. Chad's trip was cut short as he had to head back into Fay-town for Sunday church. It is always hard to leave the river; after all, the river is our Saturday sanctuary.

          

Sunday was a different story all together for Seth. After having a slow Saturday, he experienced a Sunday full of success at Cow Shoals. Mr. Rose and Seth began their day around 8:00. After fishing through the shoals for about an hour, the two of them doubled up by stripping some white woolies through the shallows; Seth on a bow, and Mr. Rose on a brownie. Soon after they came upon a deeper pool where fish were constantly rising to the surface. Over the next few hours, Seth caught between 12-15 nice sized fish. Most were caught on a scud tied with golden ice dubbing. This fly seemed almost irresistible to the browns. Seth caught a few more on dry flies by throwing a BWO near a fallen tree.

Overall, it was an awesome weekend complete with great food, conversation and fishing. We enjoyed our time with Mr. Dean Rose, and we enjoyed our time on the Little Red River. This is an awesome fishery that every TOSFly reader should consider.

Until next time, cast to The Other Side!

Blessed Waters,

Chud & The Prez

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Little Red Trip Review - Teaser

Chad and Dean lit up the waters around Swinging Bridge on Saturday, while Seth blasted the browns on Friday night and Sunday morning. The full review of this trip will be posted soon, but in the meantime, how about a little teaser photo (or photos)?

Until next time ... cast to The Other Side! Check back soon!

- Seth

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