Many thanks to those of you who have fished with me this year. I am looking forward to seeing you again next year. Book early to make sure you get the dates you want and for Christmas hint around to your other half about fishing and what a better way to get a hall pass than to have one handed to you in the form of a Fly Fish Arkansas or Wishes & Fishes Gift Certificate. Give the shop a shout at 870-445-3848 or call my cell phone 970-404-8906.
You may have been wondering why the frequent updates have slowed down? A few of reasons. Lots of fishing and any spare time has been spent in the shop. October got pretty busy. In fact I was starting to wonder wether our economic woes were coming to a rapid end but then I started watching a bit of T.V. news again. Boy can that stuff ruin a good attitude. Take my advice and when watching T.V. stick with the outdoor channels where the news is much better. Another reason updates have slowed is the fact that they have been pretty worthless lately. The generation schedule has not been as accurate for the White as it has been for the Norfork. It is frustrating to say the least and makes it much more difficult to plan a day but then 15 years ago we didn’t have cell phones on the river to even call the dam to see what was going on. The only accurate reports we seem to be able to get are from other guides moving down from upstream or via a web-cam in the third hole of the river. At least with that web-cam we can actually see what the water is doing and it has become a great tool in my decision process.
Our spawning process on the White never ceases to amaze me and is much like trying to predict generation in that it looks as though the fish are gearing up to go at it hot and heavy and then all of a sudden it stops which is what has happened this year. Of course higher water temps and warmer weather and on and off water fluctuations don’t help in this matter much but alas at least the water and air temps have been dropping this past two weeks and our Brown Trout are starting up their thing again. This process normally takes place through January and February and I have seen it go into March a few times. The spawn is very important on the White River and especially the upper end as very few brown trout are stocked at this end which makes this process even more important to the population levels.
Winter is the slowest time for fishing related business and January pretty much is non-existent which makes it the best time to be here if you can catch the weather right or you can put up with it. As our fish complete spawning they are pretty hungry and that should give you the answer you are looking for.
See you next week. Don’t forget to check out the fly shop page for specials and tungsten beads.
Great Fishing: Jimmy T.