Thursday, March 29, 2012

Arkansas Tailwater Fly Fishing Report Thursday, March 29th


  I was able to sneak out to the river today and found the fishing to be really good. I got to the water about 1:00 and with a few high clouds was expecting to see tons of Blue Wings. The water was running 345cfs from the dam and another 40 at the hatchery outlet. Now that the river has been up for a week, it has cleared up nicely but be careful when wading. There were no significant hatches going on when I got there so I started with my normal FOD, RS2 and Ninja midge combo. First cast I hooked up but he popped off almost immediately. I caught a few small fish in that hole and then decided to make my way upstream to another spot. A few casts in and I hooked and landed my biggest fish of the day, only 18 inches but quite a ride. Between 1:30 and 2:30 I was hooking fish constantly. I hooked one that got me as excited as a Tim Tebow press conference, he took it, all shoulders and then he was off. Heading back down to my car, I was able to stop at several of the rock clusters. Each cluster seemed to be holding two nice fish and half a dozen 13 inchers. The hard part today was trying to get your flies only in front of the big fish because if not, the smaller ones would grab the flies, thrash around and spook the larger ones. I wish I could have stayed but work was calling.

  A couple notes from today; I only saw one adult blue wing above Valco, I think the water is still just a little too cold but getting close. I still saw a lot of fish on redds today, the spawn should end shortly. They are neat to watch but there are tons of other very hungry fish in the river. And lastly, stick with Fluorocarbon because the water is clear. With the quicker water, you really need to go to 4 and 5x tippet. 6x and you will be donating your flies to our river. I had one fish take me across and down river before I was able to slow him down, I couldn’t believe it when he came out of the water and he was only about 15 inches.

  With the other waters starting to open up around the state the river seems to be getting less use from fly fishers but seeing more bait people. The nice thing about fly fishing is that most bait people can’t get to where the fish are.hehe.  We at the Drift Fly Shop are passionate about fly fishing and everything that goes with it and we would love to make your time on the water more enjoyable. This is a perfect time to book a trip for someone that you want to learn how to fly fish. The weather is nice and the fish are feeding. Thank you for reading, Connell 719-543-3900


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