BERRY BROTHERS GUIDE SERVICE
Fly Fishing For Trout

We have had no rain and unseasonably hot weather (high nineties). Most of the lakes on the White river system have fallen. The lake level at Bull Shoals Dam fell eight tenths of a foot to rest at fifteen and six tenths feet above power pool of 654.00 feet. This is twenty five and four tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Up stream, Table Rock Lake rose one tenth of a foot to rest at one and six tenths feet above power pool or fourteen and four tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Beaver Lake fell four tenths of a foot to rest at eight and one tenth feet above power pool or one and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. The pattern on the White was for round the clock generation of varied flows (3,000 CFS to 12,000 CFS). During the night and morning we have been getting lower flows. The flows have been much heavier in the afternoon during peak power demand. This created some challenging conditions for drift fishing and some limited wade fishing. Norfork Lake has fallen two tenths of a foot to rest at ten and five tenths feet above power pool of 552.00 feet or seventeen and five tenths feet below the top of flood pool. Generation on the Norfork has been limited, which has created some excellent wading. The flows are heavier in the afternoon during peak power demand.

Remember that there is a new size limit on Brown trout. All browns less than twenty four inches must be released immediately no matter where they are caught on the White and Norfork Rivers. Only one brown trout may be kept in the daily limit of five trout.

It has been dangerously hot this last week. If possible, fish early in the morning to avoid the heat. If you must fish during the heat of the day, wear loose fitting, light colored clothing and drink plenty of fluids (water is best). Wear a broad brimmed hat and do not forget the sun screen.

The Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam has been productive this past week. With the moderate flows we have been getting, anglers reported success on midge larva patterns. The most effective were zebra midges in black with silver wire and silver beads and red with silver wire and silver beads. The best sizes were sixteens and fourteens. Copper Johns and pheasant tails have also been quite productive. On higher flows, the hot patterns have been hot pink San Juan worms and egg patterns.

The sulphurs are still in the upper river. They were sighted from the Dam to the Narrows in numbers but were thinning a bit in the Rim Shoals to Cotter area. This is our major mayfly hatch of the year. They are yellow/orange insects. The hatch generally begins with size fourteen and ends next month with size eighteens. The best way to fish them is with copper John or pheasant tail nymphs before the hatch begins, when the nymphs are more active. When the nymphs rise to the surface and begin to emerge, switch to partridge and orange or pheasant tail soft hackles. When the trout begin keying in on the adults, switch to sulphur parachute dry flies. With the higher flows we have been getting the best action has been on the copper John or pheasant tail nymphs.

The section from White Hole to Cotter has been very popular for float trips. The preferred technique in this section is to bang the bank with large streamers. The hot flies have been Kelly Gallop zoo cougars and other similar oversized streamers. The secret is to get the fly down. Most anglers use heavy full sinking or sink tip lines. To cast these huge flies and heavy lines most anglers are using eight weight or larger rods.

Rim Shoals has fished particularly well this past week. The sulphur hatch is still coming off on most days, but is diminished. The trout have not keyed in on the adults but have been very active on the nymphs. The best fly for this situation has been the copper John before, during and after the hatches. With the higher flows we have been getting here in the afternoon, the hot flies have been the hot pink San Juan worm and Y2K.

Crooked Creek and the Buffalo River have fished extremely well this week, particularly on Clouser minnows. The water has reached a much safer level and has cleared substantially.

The Norfork River has received a lot of pressure this week. There has been some great wadable water every morning and a lot of anglers have been taking advantage of it. The most productive flies have been small black zebra midges, Norfork beadheads and red micro San Juan worms. On higher water, fish brightly colored San Juan worms and egg patterns. Olive woolly buggers accounted for several nice trout. Remember that the water rise happens very fast here. At the earliest hint of rising water, get out. Hopefully, you can exit the river on the side where your car is parked.

Dry Run Creek has particularly well this past week. The hot fly has been the sowbug. Use heavy tippet (4X) and work a short line. This is a great place to escape the heat. The creek is in a tight little valley with lots of tree cover and deceptively cold water. It is always several degrees cooler than any place else around here. It is even cooler, if you are wet wading. Do not forget the camera. This is where your youngster can land the big one.

Fishing with a Strike Indicator

Generally, I get the inspiration for my columns from my most recent fishing trip. This one is a bit different in that I got the idea for this column at the barber shop. I was getting a little shaggy and my wife Lori suggested it was time to get a haircut. I went to my barber, Kelly Kyle and she was pretty busy. There were four guys ahead of me. Like any barber shop worth its salt Kelly’s has a huge selection of magazines mostly about hunting and fishing.

Since I had a little wait, I picked up a recent copy of Field and Stream. It was a fishing issue, so I was interested to see what was in it. Field and Stream is one of the oldest and most respected hunting and fishing magazines published in the United States and has the largest circulation of any outdoor magazine. It is the one periodical where all outdoor writers aspire to be published.

I quickly found an article about fly fishing with a strike indicator. The gist of the article was that fishing with a strike indicator was way too easy and that the use of strike indicators had dumbed down the gentle art of fly fishing. It just doesn’t present enough of a challenge to be considered fly fishing. I think that it is writers like this that give fly fishing a reputation as an elitist sport.

I, of course, took issue with the article. I often fish with a strike indicator and have my clients do the same. It is not that easy. It took me years to master the technique. There are many ways to fly fish that are easier such as swinging a soft hackle or a woolly bugger. What differentiates fishing with a strike indicator is that it is dead on effective when done properly.

The hard part for most novices is that you have to set the hook. This isn’t like crappie fishing where the bobber heads for the bottom and stays there. When fishing for trout, the strike is much more subtle, particularly when fishing a size eighteen or twenty two, as we often do here. The indicator may not go down at all. It might stop momentarily of move slightly up stream. When in doubt set the hook. There is just not that much time to think about it. You basically have a half a second to lift the rod.

Another aspect of fishing with a strike indicator that is difficult, is achieving a perfect drag free drift. The trout are basically lying on the bottom facing upstream. As the food comes down stream, they will take the morsels as they pass. Often there are multiple currents in the water. There is a bit of fast water here and some slow water there. Often the fly is in faster or slower water than the fly line. If the current grabs the fly line, it can cause the fly to move too fast or too slow. If the fly does not drift down stream at the same speed as the water, it will not look natural and the fish will reject it. To compensate for drag, the angler must lift his line and move it up or down stream to compensate for the difference in the line and fly speed (mending). Therefore, to properly fish with an indicator, you are constantly mending your drift.

All the while that you are waiting for the strike and constantly mending to ensure that you are achieving a perfect drag free drift, you have to keep in mind one more thing, line control. The concept of line control is that you need a certain amount of slack in the line to achieve a proper drift. If you get too much slack you will not be able to set the hook. As the fly drifts down stream, you must strip in any excess line so that should you get a strike you can effectively set the hook.

The writer did offer a couple of acceptable methods for fishing nymphs. One was to fish them quarter and down. To accomplish this you face down stream and cast a nymph on a weighted leader down stream at a forty five degree angle to the bank. You let the fly swing in the current until it is directly down stream and then recast the fly. It is a tight line technique and you will feel the strike. This was the technique that I used when I started fly fishing. It is easy and effective but not as effective as fishing an indicator.

The other acceptable technique is high sticking nymphs without an indicator. You fish it just as you would with an indicator except you watch the end of your fly line instead of the indicator to identify any strikes. This is an effective method favored by serious, accomplished anglers. My only problem with it is that it requires the eyes of an eagle to identify strikes. There are a lot of people that just don’t have good enough vision and reflexes to fish like this. I fear that I am one of them.

The article also included some illustrations of a couple of methods for rigging nymphs. Both were two fly rigs. I like to fish two fly rigs because I think it doubles your chances to hook up. The only problem is that they are not allowed in the Catch and Release sections that I favor.

The writer did not change my mind. I don’t think fishing with an indicator has dumbed down the sport. I feel that it is just as challenging as other techniques. I will continue fishing with a strike indicator as will my clients because it is an effective way to catch trout. The best use of my time that morning was spent getting a haircut.

Anthonee's Kitchen

I am always on the look out for new restaurants, particularly small locally owned mom and pop places. I also want to find locations near places to fish. The idea is I want to identify places to stop for lunch or on the way back from fishing accesses. I had listened to Anthonee’s commercials on the radio and I don’t really have a favorite dining spot near the Bull Shoals Dam Catch and Release section. This is an Italian place, which Lori and I both love. I asked her if she was willing to join me for lunch recently and she said that it sounded good.

We made our way to Lakeview and easily located the restaurant. We didn’t really know what to expect because no one we knew had eaten there. It is a small brightly lit place. It is quite boisterous. All of the patrons and the owners seem to talk loud and joke around. This is not the place for a quiet romantic dinner. You order your food and pay at the front counter then seat yourself. A waitress brings your food to the table. Everything is served on plastic plates. Luckily we got real metal flatware with the items we ordered.

I ordered the daily special, chicken parmesan ($8.00), which came with penne pasta and home made marinara sauce. I also ordered a serving of tiramisu ($4.00). They had home made carrot cake that I also wanted to try but I decided to try that on another occasion. Lori ordered the spinach penne ($7.00), a pasta dish with sautéed spinach, garlic and ricotta cheese.

I really liked my entrée. The chicken breast was thick and juicy. This dish is usually served with a chicken breast that has been pounded until it is thin and flat. I really liked this thicker version. It was covered with melted cheese (Mozzarella) and slathered in their home made marinara sauce. The side of penne pasta was really good. The marinara was excellent. I gave Lori a bite and she was really impressed.

When she tried her entrée, she was a bit disappointed. The spinach penne was a bit bland for her. She really liked the taste of marinara I gave her and decided to ask the waitress for a bit of it for her pasta. The waitress brought it out and Lori poured it over her pasta. She took and quick bite and decided that was the way to go. She found her entrée excellent with the addition of the marinara. When the owner dropped by our table to ask how everything was, Lori told him about the addition of the marinara and he agreed that he liked it better that way. He had the dish without it on the menu because several customers requested a pasta dish without tomato sauce.

I turned my attention to my tiramisu. This is possibly my favorite Italian dessert. It was brought to the table in a plastic cup. It had been frozen and was slightly thawed. I am used to this being chilled and not frozen. I was a bit put off by that. It was OK, but I wished that I had ordered the home made carrot cake.

There were several offering on the menu that we didn’t try. They seem to specialize in sandwiches. In addition to hot dogs and hamburgers they offer polish sausage, Italian beef, pastrami on rye, Ruebens, patty melts, meatball subs and gyros. They have other Italian specialties like Lasagna, Spaghetti with meat sauce or marinara and spinach lasagna. They also have baked potatoes, French fries, soups and tamales. Additional desserts include Italian rum cake and cheese cake. Then there are the daily specials that include meatloaf and stuffed pork chops. I want to go back and try the spaghetti with meatballs and meat sauce. Most of the other patrons on the day we visited had ordered sandwiches and fries and were consuming them with great gusto. I want to try the pastrami on rye and the meat ball sub, on a later trip. So much food, so little time.

Anthonee’s Kitchen is located at 6180 Highway 178 W. in Lakeview, Arkansas. They open at 11:00 AM daily for lunch and dinner. They are closed most Tuesdays and Wednesdays. On Sunday, they are open for lunch only. They have free Wi-Fi with your meal. There is no smoking and no alcoholic beverages are served. The staff is friendly and attentive. I would recommend Anthonee’s for lunch or dinner after fishing the upper White River.