Incident at Jenkin’s Creek

By John Berry

Recently a couple of my neighbors, Mike Wilhelm and Scott Berringer, were up for the weekend from Memphis. They both have weekend homes in Cotter and come over to fish and relax whenever they can. Mike is a retired business executive and Scott is a school teacher. They are both avid anglers and are really nice people to be around.

The day was nearly perfect. The temperature was around seventy three degrees with a light wind out of the South East. The Corps of Engineers were running one and a half full generators or about 4500 cubic feet per second (CFS). This is an almost perfect flow for drift fishing. It is deep enough for easy navigation but shallow enough to use the same rigging as you would for no generation. You are not required to use massive amounts of lead, heavy flies and huge strike indicators that the higher flows require.

They were fishing in the area of the White River just above Jenkin’s Creek near the Rim Shoals Catch and Release section. This section had a lot of work done to it in previous years. The Arkansas Game and Fish Commission brought in tons of big rocks to create fish habitat. It has had a positive effect and it now holds quite a few trout. Though it can only be accessed by boat, it receives a bit of fishing pressure.

There was no insect activity on the top, so the guys were fishing the bottom. They were concentrating on deep pockets and structure. Scott was fishing his version of the Y2K. When he ties them, he trims them in a round shape. Not the conical shape, to which we are accustomed. He gave me a box of them for Christmas and they are deadly. Mike was fishing a high water San Juan worm in cerise. This is one of my go to flies and I fish them often. This was the perfect tactic for the conditions and they were having a great day, catching trout after trout.

Mike hooked a really good fish. Most of the fish they had been catching were in the twelve to fourteen inch range. This one was different. He was quite a bit larger and was fighting ferociously. The guys figured that it was at least an eighteen incher and settled down for a protracted struggle. They were in Scott’s river boat and were dragging a short length of chain drifting backward. This is a common way to fish on this section of the river under these conditions. The idea is to carefully play the fish as you drift and to gently release him after the struggle to avoid any damage to the trout. They were at a critical point in the struggle where you cannot make any erratic movements with the boat or you can easily lose the fish.

About the time they drifted down to Red Bud Shoals, they heard the roar of an engine up stream. They glanced up and saw a boat quickly approaching and seemingly headed straight toward them. It was obvious that the guys were into a good fish. Proper boating etiquette gives the right of way to the boat that is not under power and certainly a boat in the midst of an active battle with a good fish should be given plenty of room. To Mike’s amazement, this rude boater roared past him running right over his line and fish, in the process.

As the other boater passed by, Mike yelled over to him and said “next time go around the other side”. He was answered with a few curse words and “I am not going out of my way just so you can catch a fish”. You could see Mike and Scott’s jaws drop. They could not believe what was happening. Needless to say words and gestures were exchanged. Of course, in the process of the confrontation, the fish was lost.

While this other boater was doing this, the two ladies and young man in his boat sat silent. Surely they were embarrassed by his behavior. I was raised in the Deep South many years ago and was taught not to use language like that, particularly in front of a lady.

The sad part of the story is that the whole mess could have been easily avoided. There was plenty of water for the other boater to just come around giving Mike and Scott plenty of room to land the fish. Or maybe, he could have just slowed down and given them a couple of minutes to clear the shoals.

Behavior like this on the river or lake is wrong on many levels. While I am sure there were no laws broken, conduct like this should not be tolerated. For locals, what we want is a nice quiet place to spend a sunny afternoon catching a few trout. Anglers from throughout the country will not spend their hard earned dollars to travel here and fish with people like this. Luckily this does not happen often. Most of the boaters I see are far more courteous than this.

To the rude boater, I ask that you reconsider your attitude toward other boaters and practice a little common courtesy. It could make the river a more pleasant place for all of us.