WHITE RIVER (BSD)

Bug Munchin' Bonanza!!!

It's bug time on the White River System, and the dry fly anglers, and super solid fish are coming out of the wood works to capitalize on one of the bigger hatches I've ever seen.

Hatches are starting at about 10:00 am and running until 5:00 pm with another resurgence of bugs in the last hour of light.

It can be tough for the weekend warrior to really dial into as about four different subspecies of the bug are coming off during different times of the day.
Bugs vary from: tan, insect green, olive, to almost black and will also vary in size from 14's to 20's. Wing structure and color on the bugs are almost paramount in importance. With that being said, its almost more important to find the timing and rythm of the hatch and things to come to stay one step ahead of what an angler is seeing on the water.
Fish are absoulutely smoking theses bugs. Fish are litereally spitting water on the takes, and shark wakes are almost a common occurence in the shallow flats while fish are chasing down bugs in really shallow water.
Pupae droppers, and soft hackles will be very productive and more forgiving as droppers, but what's the point when they are cramming in adults as fast as you can put the correct representation and presentation on the water.

Hatch has hit peak in some stretches of the river, but haven't travelled the entire length giving anglers probably 2 more weeks of solid caddis crushing action.

I've seens sulphurs already popping in masses in the warm water fisheries pushing us into the three week away window for our trout fisheries barring in huge cold fronts.

We've also seen some good spring rains, pushing lake levels into a place for great hatch work and good flows through the late spring and early summer. These flows will be perfect for our 1 in 15 years foam and rubber legs hatch that will be present this summer...........CICADAS!!!!!

FORREST SMITH

WWW.TROUTANDTIMBER.COM

(479)684-9189

Arkansas winter duck season

Again,

I'm catching up with what went on since early in fall of 2010.

Duck season was great. Some drought conditions created for an interesting season. It was hard to find the birds, but once they were found they tended to be higly concentrated making for many a great hunt.

Gator (my black lab) and I, hunted all over the state: Arkansas River Valley, Augusta AR, Pocahontas AR, and some places that will not (never) be named.

Although the duck swatting was great last season in Montana, it felt good to get back in the swing of things in a state that is so rich in duck hunting tradition. It also didn't hurt that not one day afield was spent in subzero weather conditions.

I will say this before I start to blab too much about some honey holes. I have never seen so many mallards in the Western half of the state as I did this year. Maybe due to influx of OK birds.....but Oklahoma didn't have as many Mallards as the Arkansas side of the border boasted for some reason.

since we left off Fall BSD, duck hunting, and February BSD

I apologize for the very infrequent reports as of late. The crazy push of guide work in October/November followed by almost every morning spent in the duck blind affords me not much free time to report on my latest exploits.

October/ November below Bull Shoals Dam and the Norfork.

Fishing was absolutely nuts, and the guide work unrelenting. Lots of big fish came to the net during that time. My log book says that the hopper infestation pushed terrestrial fishing for me until October 27th.

Streamer fishing was fantastic. Lots of Nice Fish crashing some really big flies. When I say big, streamers I typically throw make a circus peanut look like a size 24 midge. Here's a couple pics for your enjoyment.

Thanks to all my fishermen who made this one of the best Octobers to date. The great thing about fall fishing is not really the fishing itself or the Ozark fall foliage, but the comradery with anglers that I have guided for several years. Some of those have been fishing with me for 10 years. Top photo is courtesy of Matt Jones at www.theflyphoto.com. The bottom several pictures are courtesy of my friends/clients Ed and Lindy Ruggiero. I was lucky to meet and fish with them during my three year guiding stint in Southern Chile, and have enjoyed their company ever since. You can find more of their pictures of their trip with unbiased commentary of their trip here to Arkansas and other places abroad at www.ruggieroweb.com.

On to Winter Ducks in Arkansas ditches.....