Yesterday, I had the chance to fish with a new sport, which is always fun. Wallace has been fly fishing for a while but wanted to learn some new techniques–specifically, streamer fishing. We set out with learning as the main goal. We got the cast down and got after it. We got a few rainbows and had a couple of good browns follow, but they just wouldn’t commit. We ended up pegging this nice brown to make it all worth it. We then decided to play a number game and just bend the rod for a while. The nymph bite was pretty strong. With the high flows we certainly had to work for them but that was not a bad thing! –Matt
Last Sunday I got the chance to fish with a good client, Norm. It was a super fun day. Norm got things going with some pancakes and bacon. Any morning that starts with pancakes and bacon is a good day! Water was fairly high but the weather was pretty decent. We decided to stay committed to chucking streamers looking for a lurker. We ended up catching quite a few fish in the 16-17 inch range. We had some serious swipes of larger fish and had a super solid eat from a good 21-22 incher but he managed to spit the hook. We did not find the monster we set out looking for, but we did have a great time, ate good food, and got some good tugs from some sweet brown trout! –Matt
Went out yesterday with Randy and Paul. To get away from the continuous generation on the Little Red, we decided to haul to the Lower White. What a beautiful trip–60 degree high, impeccable scenery, and great company. The Norfork had been shut down for a few days and the White was at very low generation. It made for incredibly perfect conditions. We absolutely destroyed fish. Caught a bunch of hard fighting rainbows, about 7 or 8 browns, and the cherry on top was a 16 plus inch cutthroat. It didn’t really seem to matter how we fished them, they were willing to eat. We caught them swingin’, strippin’, and dead driftin’–YEEHAW! –Jamie
Justin Camp came and fished with me all the way from California this past summer. He recently launched a killer website–fly fishing and great music. It’s like bread and butter, wine and cheese, peanut butter and jelly. I have been a longtime fan of guitar driven alt country and Americana. These are fairly new names describing this sound. Now is a great time to be a fan because there are so many cool bands moving into this genre. So here it is, check it out and enjoy… REEL GREASE! 2 to 3 new songs each week! –Jamie
Over the past week I’ve had the chance to go fish with my man Hays from Jackson, MS. When we get the chance to fish together, we typically just throw big meat at the big boys. However, we have had such a good bite on nymphs the past week that we decided to get down and dirty with them a little as well. We turned and landed some nice fish on streamers, too. Despite the fact it has been uber windy and super cold we buckled down and got after it! Here are a couple of the fish we were rewarded with! Cheers to the new year! –Matt
The fun just keeps on going. The river has remained at a pretty constant flow…BIG. The fishing has also remained awesome. Yesterday I got the chance to take out a good client and friend of JRFFA, Dr. Usdan and his friend Allen. It was Allen’s first time to fly fish, but rest assured he had no troubles catching on. We landed a crazy amount of solid browns. I think we may have only landed 4 rainbows yesterday, two of which were over 16 inches. I think the Doc quit counting at 40 and that was before lunch! Here are a couple of the boys’ fish from their adventure!-Matt
A few days ago I had Sean Mckayfrom Smoky Mountain Troutfitters. He came with friends and family. Of course we were fishing the big high water, 2 units around the clock. Sean dialed into the high water technique and SHAZAM…BROWNZILLA came to the net! It was an epic fight down the river. No doubt, Sean’s experience played a huge part in this fish playing its role in the…Ode to the Shotgun Pose.
It has swept across every fly fishing publication over the last few years. It is an ultra cool ultra hip alternative to the broadside classic grip and grin pose. Over the last week I refused to only allow the hipsters the joy of this fascinating pose. A tribute of sorts to the ultra trendy SHOTGUN POSE…
Last week I got a chance to fish with Tyler. It was our first time to fish together, and we were both pretty pumped up. The Corp was bouncing the water from 2 units to 1 and back to 2. It was weird water to fish, but we dialed it in and got down and dirty with them. Tyler wanted to pursue some browns and was interested in learning some new techniques. He had a good rod on him, so we got out the big guns. Not only did he catch the best brown trout he’s caught yet, he caught 3 of the biggest browns he’s caught yet. We had countless monster fish eat and swipe the fly. It was flat out crazy! What a stellar day to be chucking streamers on the Little Red River! –Matt
I normally wouldn’t say this, but we have been loving the high water. I am having 75+ fish days with well over half being brown trout! These pics were from this past week. –Jamie
A few days ago I fished with my man Stewart and “ The Farns”. The night before we got an absolute torrential downpour, and the river was a muddy muddy mess. We started the day off right with some good Rustic Inn for breakfast. Then we dug into the mud and made some magic happen. We landed probably 17 or 18 fish between 18-22 inches. Several rainbows and this Monster brown that Stewart thumped! All things considered it was a pretty incredible day of trout fishing, even if the water was the color of chocolate milk! –Matt
Nathan thought he hooked the bottom and handed me the rod to get it unstuck. I quickly handed him the rod back and told him he had hooked a pig. This beautiful rainbow taped at 25 inches! –Mickey
Recently, I was asked to travel to St. George’s Prep School in Memphis, TN to do a fly fishing school for their Angling Society. As the date drew near, I must admit travelling outside my coccoon did not seem as interesting as it did when I booked the event months before. We had Orvis send 15 beautiful rod and reel combos for us to use in our school. Logan Young, one of the supporters and parents of the Angling Society, had purchased Orvis gift certificates for casting awards and catered the event with Central BBQ (De-licious!!!) The event was awesome. I had an absolute blast as I normally do when I am asked to preach and teach about my passion. We started in the classroom about fundamentals and physics (That’s right, I said physics!). Then we quickly moved it outside for the fun stuff! –Jamie
Fall is always one of my favorite times on the river. The leaves are changing, and the browns are starting to move and feed ferociously. Chucking streamers is typically my favorite way to fish. I love the hunt, the chases, the eats and even love the misses! There is just nothing more exciting than to know I am forcing the fish to come out of his comfort zone and eat out of aggression! It just fires me up. Loads of fish are chasing flies right now. I took Rich, who is my mate from across the pond, and we did some serious chuck and duck fishing. We also pinged a few nice fish on nymphs as well to break up the day. Here is a photo of one of the amazingly beautiful fall trout Rich caught!–Matt
I spent this afternoon on the water with Josh and Preston. Josh has been with us a few times, and Preston was out for his first trip with the fly rod. We got on the water later than usual, so we hatched a plan that would keep us fishing until dark. Josh, as a more experienced angler, was on fish out of the gate. Preston and I spent the first part of the afternoon working on the basics and getting him comfortable with a flyrod. Once we felt like Preston was ready, we motored to our next run. Then the fun truly began! Both Preston and Josh were nailing fish, and doubles were often. The good but spotty early action had given way to downright silly fishing. We fished until dark and could no longer see to tie knots. The dark drive back was a fun and unique way to end the day. It was great fishing, and for this afternoon we had the river to ourselves! Hard to top that! –Tony
Went looking for something a little different today. Seems like brown trout get all the attention this time of year. For a change of pace we went looking for brownies–that is, Ozark river smallmouth. We ended up finding quite a few smallies. The cool part was–awesome drive with all the changing leaves, a 10 point white tail, a big fat mink, a dozen different eagles, and ABSOLUTELY NO OTHER ANGLERS!!!!! I’m pretty secretive about my smallmouth spots because I like them to be exactly what they are–getaways.–Jamie
Yesterday I had the pleasure of fishing with Jake and Doug. It was the first time I had ever fished with these guys. Conditions in the sky were perfect for streamers-low light and super cloudy! Our only drawback was the screaming 30 mph winds almost constantly! This style of fishing was new to the guys but they buckled down and did well. We caught quite a few nice browns and several feisty rainbows! Here is one of the nicer fish Jake brought to the boat! At the end of the day Jake told me he caught more browns today than he had ever caught in his fishing career! and They were all by far bigger than he had ever caught! Sure made me feel good to be a part of his fly fishing experience! –Matt
River Jack, the Dirt Dauber–you pick it, he’ll answer to all. Jack moved to the Little Red many years ago. He is a constant pursuer of trout. I kid with Jack often that he fishes 365 days a year. His answer is usually, “Naw, about 360.”
Over the years I have learned a tremendous amount from Jack. When I am fishing in the same area, he is my weather vane. Simply put, if he is not catching fish, you might as well go home–because you certainly won’t catch any.
This is not to say that Jack is not without his quirks. He eats pimento cheese with ham for lunch every day. His hat is his fly box. He wears two pairs of waders at the same time in the winter. And he refuses to fish out of a boat.
I can honestly say after many years of being around this sport, he is the best nymph fishermen I have ever seen. Being self taught, there are no terms or names for the way Jack can manipulate a rod and a fly line to achieve the perfect drift. When I have an opportunity to watch him fish as I float down the river, I am in awe of watching his fly line travel through the air. Jack’s pseudo underhand reach/mend/serpentine cast usually lands in perfect position followed by a fish on.
Jack has recently expressed an interest in guiding some trips with a couple of parameters: One angler only with a willingness to wade fish and eat ham and pimento cheese. So, if you want a big slice of Americana Pie, I’ll get you set up with River Jack.
