Here come the bugs! And more.....
Well, it’s been a while… but with all the weather we had this winter, my back finally decided it needed some epsom salt…. 😉 🛀
Some of you have seen my newsletters delivered to your email addresses, so this first part may not be news to you but I was joined, this fall, by one of my best friends, guiding mentors(for lack of a better word, David, don’t get too high on that), and one of the fishiest dudes I know …. introducing David Burgher.
David spends his summers in Crested Butte guiding for Dragonfly Anglers, and USED TO spend winter in Chile at El Saltamontes… now he’s here in Arkansas. He must have gotten word that you don’t have to cross the equator or travel to the other side of the world to catch world class browns! We will be tackling group trips together as well as handing off each others clients, but consider us business partners now! We are super excited to bring you guys over 20 years combined guiding experience as a team, and a STRONG one at that . We enjoy sharing our river/bug secrets with each other… and not too many others. 😉
Anyways, excited to have David on my team and go check out his bio on the website when you get a chance.
Let’s talk fishing! Where to start…. let’s just say we have been putting in a lot of “R and D” hours on the river for you guys… and Instagram, of course😆! It’s been an odd season so far. The browns gave us a great prespawn bite, but we never had the water to concentrate them on the banks for that “Arkansas Epic” streamer bite. A lot of long days but we generally managed to put everyone on a nice streamer fish….. see our instagrams for those photos…. if we didn’t, sorry, see ya soon! There is no “streamer season” like you’ll hear around here; those caliber fish will eat your fly no matter the time of year… promise . Long as you commit and fish it well, you still MIGHT see a fish hehe… see previous streamer fishing blog post for that reference!
Winter has seemed to fade away and we are now seeing more and more spring weather. A brutal winter it was, so this is a very nice change. It can be a stormy, rainy, windy time, but those days between are NICE AS 🥧! Those sh!tty days just mean better streamer and brown trout weather! So book it!
If you saw the fly in the fish’s mouth, seen above, you may recognize the color…. what is it?
Only almost every fly fisherman’s favorite time….. CADDIS!
The caddis come in thick and heavy. Sometimes to the point where you need to wear your coronavirus mask just to be able to breathe without inhaling some extra protein. We have already seen some action, but they have seemed to slow down a little bit… I say in preparation to take over the White River! Really soon the fish will start gorging, the bait guides will be scratching their heads wondering how to throw and chum a flying moth 🤣🤣🤣, and the fishermen with a fly will be bent and happy! Get your spring dates booked ASAP as we are getting pretty full and it will be slim pickens…..
The caddis hatch can be fished with a dry, but as you all know (since you’ve been in my bobber chunking boat) , the best way to fish PERIOD is nymphing. We will hope for a decent flow of water and most likely use short palsa indicators with a caddis larva/pupae and a midge underneath. For the dry fly snobs, you know who you are, I’ll allow you to toss them…. shoot, maybe we get a late start and fish into the evening for head hunting big lips and kypes!?!? Better tip well if I’m gunna miss dinner… just kidding 🙃
With David on board, we have double the availability. I highly encourage bringing your buddies or wife and kids and get that second boat! Also, I recommend more than a single day. This river has nearly 100 miles of trout water… make it a few days on the books! In all seriousness, the White River is a bit off the beaten path so you’re most likely traveling here… stay a while, learn a thing or two on the boat with us, and see your fish number go up on day 2. This is obviously directed at beginners or novices… you experts already know what you’re doing and don’t need any coaching…right!?!? Again, I joke, but love to fish all you guys multiple days always!
Can’t wait to get on the boat with you all…. remember, as of right now, we will be leaving end of may…. things could change, but that’s boat talk.
White River | Fly Fishing GuideGood, or great photo timing on David’s fish 🤣