It was a busy year (my busiest ever). The holidays and some very brutal weather have conspired against me. I have been able to catch a day on the White but I had not been able to fish on the Norfork for quite a while. Yesterday I saw my chance. The temperature was in the fifties, there was a light wind from the west and the sun was shining. The river was on the absolute bottom. I knew that all of the out of towners would be leaving the river early in the afternoon.

After lunch, I gathered up my wife, Lori, and my yellow lab, Ellie. We drove over to the Norfork. When I arrived at the Ackerman Access, I noted that the parking lot was full. I noticed there were several anglers wading back to the access to head home. We finally got a spot to park the car. We hopped out and carefully donned our waders, strung our rods and let Ellie out of the car.

We waded far upstream and found some great water to fish. Lori started fishing woolly buggers and had some quick success. I located myself a bit upstream from Lori and started with a worm brown San Juan worm. It took several casts before I landed a trout. The going was slow. I had been watching another angler fishing a favorite spot and saw him walk away. I cranked up my rod and headed up stream. Ellie had seen me put some dog biscuits in my jacket when we were packing up for the trip at home. She followed me with the idea of collecting those treats.

This spot was greatly changed since the flood. It was scoured out and the footing is tough. It still holds some really nice fish. I decided to spend some time there. In my haste to begin fishing, I had left my polarized sun glasses in the car. I was wearing my beloved cowboy hat, which provides a lot of shade from the sun, but doesn’t help much with glare on the water. I could only follow my strike indicator for a few feet before I lost it in the glare. I carefully waded up stream and then across the run. Now I had the sun on my back and could easily watch my strike indicator.

My first fish was a fat sixteen inch rainbow. I released it and continued fishing. It was one of those days when the trout could not decide what they wanted. I caught six more fish on six different flies. I took fish on red San Juan worms, sowbugs, olive scuds, black zebra midges, Y2Ks, and copper johns. I tried a few other flies but they did not produce the desired results.

I decided to walk back to where Lori was fishing. She had taken several trout on the woolly bugger and was now fishing a Dan’s turkey tail emerger. She caught a couple while I was talking to her. I studied the surface of the river for a while and saw a small caddis hatch coming off. I didn’t have an elk hair caddis that small. I searched my fly box and came up with a small partridge and orange soft hackle. I tied on a fresh 5X tippet and the fly. I moved up stream and started working my way down. I picked up four or five fish. I had caught enough trout.

I cranked up my line and waded over to the bank. I found a nice clump of grass at the water’s edge and sat down. Ellie came over and sat beside me. I fed her a couple of dog biscuits. We just sat there and watched Lori fish. Ellie hasn’t been out with us much this year because of the high water earlier in the year.

She lost the vision in her right eye. She developed glaucoma but luckily it has now been stabilized. I have the same thing. In fact, we take the same prescriptions. Her vision has slowed her down a bit and she doesn’t terrorize the trout as much as she used to. She still lives for a day on the water and is always ready to go.

As we sat there, I thought what a perfect day it was and how lucky I was to be there. Lori fished for another hour and caught plenty of fish. I was in no hurry to leave and she was content to nail a few more trout. As the sun set, we walked out hand in hand with Ellie leading the way.

My fishing buddy, Jeff Trost, called me on Friday Night. “Are we going to go out for beignets at Angler’s Coffee Café tomorrow morning?” “No”, I said “I just read the generation forecast and they are going to have both rivers on the bottom for twenty four hours”. We had not been able to wade in a long time and were eager to take advantage of the great conditions so we hatched a plan to meet early the next morning to make the final decision as to where would fish.

Jeff arrived before six thirty. David McCray and Scott Berringer got there a few minutes later. I had a pot of coffee ready and was feverishly studying the various generation charts on my computer. This is the most reliable and informative source of river conditions available. The White and Norfork had been off since 10:00 PM the night before and there was a dizzying array of options. After some spirited conversation, we decided to fish in the morning at the Narrows and the afternoon at Rim Shoals with our wives, who were all sleeping in as we chatted.

The sun was just peeking through the clouds as we walked through the cane thicket to arrive at the river. The wind was howling and it was about forty degrees as we waded upstream to the island. I opted to walk to the top of the island. The others stayed at the bottom.

I found my favorite run and began fishing it with a Y2K. I was rewarded on the fourth cast with the heavy weight of a good fish. I worked the spot for over an hour hooking plenty of fish in the process. I decided to try something different. I stripped off the fly, lead, and strike indicator. I cranked in all of my line and switched spools on my reel to one that held a sink tip line. I strung the line through the guides and tied a three foot 4X tippet to it and knotted an olive woolly bugger to the end of the tippet.

I began casting down stream at a forty five degree angle and let the line swing in the current. I was stripping the line to impart a bit of movement in the fly. I concentrated on the deeper water and worked my way down to the guys. The amount of time you will spend with a particular strategy is directly proportional to the amount of confidence you have in it. I have caught thousands of fish over the years with this strategy and I was determined it would produce in this situation. However, when I stopped a bit over an hour later I had only landed three fish with it. Sure there was the big rainbow that I had hooked, but it had spit the hook on the third jump. I waded to the bank and walked down where the guys were fishing.

They had experienced varying degrees of success but all had caught fish. Scott had the hot hand (he finished the morning with 53). I concentrated on what he was doing, which was high sticking Y2Ks. I took a few minutes to switch spools back to my floating line. I carefully rigged a Y2K and noticed a really good run that had not received any pressure in a while. I caught a trout on the first cast and stood in the same spot for an hour and absolutely nailed them. The run finally played out and I suddenly realized that I was famished. We had skipped breakfast in our haste to arrive at the river. I gathered up the guys and we headed back to Cotter.

Scott and David had to run. Jeff and I collected our wives, Lori and Shelley, and headed for the Sands. The home made vegetable soup and Rueben sandwich was just the thing to gird me for an afternoon of fishing. We left the restaurant and gathered up our gear. We donned our waders and headed for Rim Shoals. David rejoined us there. The wind was still howling, but it was a bit warmer. We strung our rods and waded across to the island. I was still fishing the Y2K. I caught a few fish but the going was quite bit slower than the morning.

Lori waded well below the island and was doing very well swinging an olive woolly bugger in her favorite spot. I, on the other hand, was experimenting with a variety of flies. I had some limited success on small olive scuds and sowbugs. I finally pumped the stomach of one of the trout and noted that it contained small scuds and sowbugs.

I glanced at my watch and noted that it was about 4:30 PM. Sunset was to be at 4:52 PM and I wanted to wade across the treacherous top riffle before it got dark. As usual, Lori wanted to make one more cast. It was a long walk out and she eventually agreed to leave. We arrived at the truck as the sun was setting. I had fished from sun up to sun down and I could feel it. I had been fighting fifteen to twenty five mile an hour winds all day and they had sapped my strength. In the process, I had landed around forty fish. It was good to wade through my favorite spots on low water again. It seemed like it has been a long time since I have done that.

BY JOHN BERRY

To say that it has been a high water year is at best an understatement. We began the year with a hundred year flood. High water down stream prevented drawing down all the impoundments on the White River for a long time. Months later, when we were just beginning to make headway, we got hit by two hurricanes. As a result, there has been precious little wading for the entire year. I have been fishing from a boat. We have been catching fish but it is just not the same as wading.

On first day of a two day guide trip, we started on the White River at Rim Shoals. We landed six fish on the first drift and I thought to myself that it was going to be an easy day. The next three drifts yielded three fish. After that, we couldn’t buy a trout. When we stopped for lunch, we decided to trailer the boat over to the Norfork and try our luck there. The fishing was much better and we caught a little over thirty fish before dark.

While we were drifting, a fellow guide stopped to tell me that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would be conducting test of an oxygenation system and there would be no generation for the next few days. I figured the fishing would be awesome and I decided to take advantage of the situation. When I got home, I went online and checked the South West Power Administration generation prediction schedule and it confirmed that the Norfork would be off. I also checked the fly fishing forum and verified that there was to be a test of the aeration system the next day. There were however conflicting reports as to whether the test had been postponed.

I answered the alarm at 4:00 AM. My fishing report was due and I needed to make a few changes and send it in before I started my day of guiding. I showered quickly, dressed and sat at my computer. As it was booting up, I called the dam and learned that they were running water on the Norfork. I was totally bummed out. I filed my fishing report, loaded my car and headed out. When I arrived at River Ridge Inn, my clients were waiting for me, excited by the prospect of wading. Just to make sure, I called the dam and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Norfork had been turned off at 5:00 AM. They had run about a quarter of a generator for one hour. Conditions were perfect.

It was just before dawn, as my clients and I carefully made our way up stream to the Catch and Release section of the Norfork River. The fog was so dense that we could only see a few feet in front of us. I looked down at the trail as we walked in. The only foot prints that I saw were the result of raccoons, great blue herons and a deer. It had been a long time since any anglers had walked here.

When we got to the Catch and release section, I quickly rigged the guys, one with a scud and the other with a zebra midge. Instead of the heavy flies, copious amounts of lead and long leaders of the previous day, we used size eighteen nymphs, 6X tippet and a tiny amount of lead. This made for easy casting. They both caught a nice fish on the first drift. This was an omen of things to come. We settled in and proceeded to catch one good fish after another. People started to arrive but it never really got crowded. One client was satisfied to stay in his original place all day but Tom wanted to move around and try different water. I took him to several places and he did well at each spot.

The fog didn’t burn off until around ten o’clock. The fishing was steady all day. Around noon, we waded back to the access and set up our lunch on a nice picnic table with a good view of the river. The sun had come out and it was warming up. There was no wind and the temperature was in the mid sixties. I shucked my wind shell and fleece jacket leaving a heavy flannel shirt that was just perfect. By this time, the guys had landed around a hundred trout between them.

After lunch, we waded back up stream and continued fishing. The fishing had slowed a bit but not by much. One of my clients caught a grand slam, (a brook, brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout all landed on the same day). We tried a variety of flies and were successful with all of them. We caught trout on black zebra midges, pink San Juan worms, orange micro eggs, and olive scuds to name a few. We did not try a single fly that didn’t catch a trout. We even landed a couple of large suckers. It was the most productive day I have ever had on the Norfork.

We fished until dusk. As we walked out, I drank in the beauty of the Norfork. Where else is there fishing like this? It had been a perfect day.

I was recently watching the weather channel to prepare for my guide trip on the White River the next day. I noted that I would be starting the day in freezing temperatures. I was about to work through the change of seasons and I needed to prepare for it. The change had come rather suddenly and I was still dressing to fish in warm conditions.

My choice of foot wear for warm weather is boat sandals. They are comfortable, dry quickly and afford secure footing on the wet decks of boats. They are not very warm. With the cold weather coming, I switched to a pair of L. L. Bean gumshoes. They are waterproof and warm. They also provide sure footing in the boat. I wear a pair of heavy wool socks with them.

My warm weather slacks and shirts are lightweight and designed for the tropics. I only wear long pants and long sleeved shirts. This is to afford me full sun protection. I am very fair skinned due to my Scots Irish heritage and I burn easily. As the weather cools, I switch to jeans or if it is very cold to pile pants. In lieu of the tropical shirts I wear fleece jackets. I have several of them in different weights and try to match them to the weather. The colder it is the thicker the pile I choose. Pile is not wind proof, however. I wear my waders and a rain jacket on windy days to break the wind and stay toasty warm.

In the summer, I generally wear silk weight boxer shorts. They are cool and non-chafing. When the weather shifts, I switch over to poly propylene long under wear. They are warm and wick moisture away from my body. If you are dry, you are more comfortable.

It was also time to put away my panama hat. The sun protection afforded by it and the soft comfort is without peer. I have another straw with a chin strap that I wear on windy days and a light weight rain hat for stormy summer days. Now as the seasons change, I once again turn to my beloved cowboy hat. There is something about it that looks and feels right. I have been fishing in it for twenty five years and it is starting look its age. It has a broad brim to protect me from the sun and since it is beaver felt it keeps me warm in cool weather. I added a rattle snake band years ago as a bit of whimsy. I throw a fleece hat with a short bill and ear flaps into my wading bag for bitterly cold days. It will fit under the hood on my rain jacket and easily fits into a jacket pocket. I also carry a wax cotton baseball hat for rainy conditions. It repels the rain and it also fits under the hood of my rain jacket.

I wear sun gloves in the summer to protect my hands from the harmful rays of the sun. They are not very warm. Now is when I switch over to fingerless wool gloves. They allow me to tie knots and rig fly rods without removing them. Wool has the ability to keep you warm even when wet. I generally carry an extra pair in my vest. When it is a bit colder, I switch over to full pile gloves with a wind proof shell. I find these particularly handy for long runs up river in my boat.

My waders of choice during warm weather are waist highs. The water is generally lower during the summer and these are much cooler as your torso is not covered by the waders. In cold weather, I switch over to chest waders. They cover more of your body and you can wade deeper. The ones I use have hand warmer pockets which are a welcome feature on bitterly cold days. I use wader boots that are one full size larger, in the winter. These allow me to wear two pair of socks. I use one pair in my regular size and another one a size larger.

I switch over my rain jacket from the light weight one I wear in warm weather. My cold weather one is a lot heavier and has fleece lined hand warmer pockets. It is also a little longer to cover more of my torso.

In addition to changing up my clothing, I also throw several packages of chemical hand warmers into my wader bag. I pull my big stainless thermos out of the cupboard and fill it with hot coffee every morning before I leave the house. Nothing can make a big difference on a cold day like a cup of hot coffee.

Take note of the changing seasons. If you prepare for it, you will be more comfortable.

BY JOHN BERRY

As a professional fly fishing guide, I spend a lot of time on the river. During the past year, most of that time has been in my river boat, due to our seemingly never ending high water conditions. When on the river, it is vital that my engine is operating at the peak of performance, particularly in high water. Recently I have encountered some problems with my outboard motor.

It would start fine, but when I put it in gear and revved it up, it balked and sputtered. It would eventually get under way but not at maximum output. I had a dilemma. I was in the first day of a two day guide trip. I only have one boat and motor and it was not operating at one hundred percent. I needed to put the motor in the shop but I needed to finish my trip. I somehow managed to finish the day. Luckily the trout were cooperating and we had a good day fishing. That night, at the lodge, I discussed my motor woes with my colleagues. I heard a few opinions but the consensus there seemed to be spark plugs. I pulled the plugs and they looked okay.

The next day I returned to the river to finish the trip and my motor really started acting up. I limped back to the ramp and borrowed a motor from Gary Flippin at Rim Shoals Trout Dock. I was able to finish the day. Once again we were able to boat plenty of fish but I was a nervous wreck from hassling with the engine.

The next day I was at Bearskin Marine as soon as it opened. I explained to Floyd what was happening and he went to work. I picked up the motor the next day. Floyd said the motor looked pretty good and the spark plugs showed little wear. We discussed the engine problem and he suggested that the problem could be the fuel that I was using.

A number of our local gas stations had begun carrying gasoline that contained approximately ten percent ethanol. Ethanol has several qualities that make it a poor fuel for outboard motors. It attracts water. Since outboard motors do not have sealed fuel systems they can take on water if ethanol is used. Water and gasoline don’t mix. The water settles to the bottom of the tank where it enters the intake tube and goes into the motor. You can imagine the results.

Ethanol is also a powerful solvent. As we walked through Floyd’s shop, he showed me several fuel lines that had been put out of commission by the use of ethanol. One fuel line was inoperable because the ethanol had dissolved the glue connecting the intake tube to the line itself. This allowed air in the fuel line which severely hampered operation. Another intake tube had stretched and when the owner had pushed it into the fuel tank bending the now too long tube and crimping it in the process. This cut off the fuel supply to the engine.

I had been trying to use pure gas but often for convenience sake I would fill up at my local gas station that carries fuel with ten percent ethanol. On at least one occasion, I had stopped at one of the area stations that advertises that they carry pure gas only to find out that they had been delivered fuel that contained ethanol. I was short on time and I filled up any way. It was a bad idea.

I put my motor back on my boat and filled my gas tank with fresh pure gasoline. I took it to the river and launched. My motor was running better but it was still not up to par. I was concerned. Once again I discussed the problem with my colleagues. Gary Flipin suggested using high octane gasoline. Gary maintains several rental boats and he said that he had experienced the same problem and had switched to high octane (93) pure gasoline and the problem had gone away.

The next time that I filled my tank I bought high octane pure gasoline. The improvement was instantaneous. My engine is now running at peak performance and I am much more confident in its general operation.

I have since learned that there are additives (made by Stabil) that you can add to fuels containing ethanol that will overcome its problems and help the engine run properly. They are available locally and cost about twenty dollars for enough additive to treat three hundred and twenty gallons. I have not tried any of them. I will take a more conservative approach and will try to only run pure high octane gasoline in my motor from now on. I think that I will also buy a bottle of the additive to use if I get stuck with some ethanol fuel.

If you are experiencing any problems with your outboard motor check the fuel that you are using. A change to better fuel may cure your problems.

By John Berry

One way to improve your catch rate is to fish more than one fly. When I first took up fly fishing, lo these many years ago, one of the first things I learned was to fish a dropper. Back then it was a popper on top and a bream killer below. We would cast the rig into a bream bed. If we did not get any action immediately, we would gently twitch the flies and would be immediately rewarded with a strike, usually on the bream killer but sometimes on the popper. From time to time, we would get a bream on both. Now that was exciting. One bream would go one way and the other would head in the opposite direction.

I found that the same technique also worked for trout. I found droppers to be especially effective when fishing soft hackles. To rig them up, I would start with a seven and one half foot 4X leader on a floating fly line. I generally prefer a nine foot four weight fly rod for this type of fishing. I tie on a one and one half foot section of 5X tippet to the leader with a surgeons knot. I then tie on a two foot section of 6X tippet to the 5X tippet using a blood knot. I make sure that the tag ends of the blood knot are at least four inches long so that I will have plenty of material to work with. I trim off the 6X tag leaving the larger 5X tag. I tie a soft hackle (lets say a partridge and orange) on the four inch long 5X tag. I tie another soft hackle (a green butt soft hackle) to the end of the 6X tippet. I could conceivably tie on additional sections of tippet and additional flies.

I fish this rig basically the same way that I would fish a solitary soft hackle, except that when the fly hits the water and I strip a bit of line to sink the fly into the film, I do so with a bit more pressure to ensure that both flies sink. I never know which fly the will take and occasionally the take both resulting in a double.

Another way that I fish droppers is below a large dry fly. I was introduced to this technique several years ago when floating the Madison River in Southwestern Montana. We banged the bank using a hopper with a dropper. We tied the grass hopper on to a nine foot 4X leader with a simple improved clinch knot. We then tied a two foot section of 5X tippet to the bend of the hook. To finish off the rig, we tied a small pheasant tail nymph to the end of the 5X tippet. We set the hook any time the hopper sank or moved unnaturally. All of the fish seemed to take the small nymph. I do the same technique here. I prefer to use large foam hoppers as they float like corks and do not require dressing. To fish larger flies like grasshoppers, I prefer a medium fast six weight nine foot fly rod with a weight forward floating line.

The final way that I fish droppers is with nymphs. I am particularly fond of them in high water. I think that they significantly improve your chances of catching fish under these conditions. I rig them much like I do when fishing hoppers. I tie a two foot 5X tippet to my normal high water fly (usually a brightly colored San Juan worm). I tie a brightly colored egg fly to the other end of the 5X tippet. My regular leader tippet combination for fishing San Juan worms in high water is twelve feet long. This additional two feet makes it quite long. This length not only complicates landing the fish but makes the rig a bit more difficult to cast. The rewards can be great, however. This is a killer technique that has accounted for a lot of great fish in high water.

The problem that I encounter with fishing with droppers is that they are illegal in Catch and Release waters in the state of Arkansas. I have never really understood this law. I sometimes think it was an attempt to outlaw treble hooks in Catch and Release waters. They now allow trebles in the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam but no droppers. It is not logical. Droppers cause no more harm on trout than a single hook. As a member of the advisory board for the Trout Management Plan for the White and Norfork Rivers, I brought this point up but have heard nothing back on allowing droppers in Catch and Release areas. Therefore be careful and legal and do not use droppers of any kind in Catch and Release areas.

When fishing in non Catch and Release areas, try using droppers. It will double your chances of catching fish and double your fun catching them.

BY JOHN BERRY

Project Healing Waters Fly Fishing Inc. is a not for profit organization dedicated to the rehabilitation (both emotionally and physically) of veterans and disabled active duty military through the healing effects of fly fishing and fly tying. The organization was first started about four years ago by Ed Nicholson, a retired Navy captain who was visiting patients at Walter Reed. He was looking for something that they were interested in. It has since grown to twenty programs in fifteen states. Project Healing Waters is run in conjunction with two other not for profit organizations, the Federation of Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited. The concept is to teach fly casting and fly tying to wounded personnel at VA and military hospitals through twenty affiliated programs in fifteen states with volunteers from local fishing clubs.

My brother Dan, a Federation of Fly Fishers Certified Casting Instructor, has been working with some of the wounded active duty personnel on their fly casting in Memphis. I sat in on a session and was very impressed with the determination and positive attitude of the warriors. Other Mid South Fly Fishers Club members have been teaching them fly tying.

A major part of the program is to take wounded warriors fishing. In a couple of weeks, they are going to hold an outing here which will be coordinated locally by Rim Shoals. The idea is to take eight wounded warriors fishing for three days. These guys are all wounded veterans from Iraq and Afghanistan and most are amputees. They will fish both the White and Norfork rivers. There are a host of local groups that are providing meals or services including: the American Legion, Angler’s Coffee Café/Blue ribbon Fly Shop, Cotter Area Chamber of Commerce, Knights of Columbus, Mountain Home Veterans of Foreign Wars, North Arkansas Fly Fishers, the North Central Veteran Council, Trout Unlimited White River Chapter, Trout Unlimited Memphis Chapter and Wapsi.

The festivities begin on Monday the twenty seventh of October with a meet and greet at Rim Shoals. This is where the participants get to meet their guides and discuss the next days fishing. On Tuesday, they gather at Cotter Big Spring Park for breakfast sponsored by the Cotter Area Chamber of Commerce. At 7:30 AM, they begin their float and fished their way down to Rim Shoals. Lunch is at Rim Shoals and then they spend the afternoon fishing in the area. Dinner is at Rim Shoals. On Wednesday, they gather at Anglers coffee Café for breakfast and the shuttle to the Norfork River for another day of fishing. Lunch is at the confluence with the White River sponsored by the Mountain Home Veterans of Foreign Wars. They then shuttle back to Rim Shoals for a dinner sponsored by the North Arkansas Fly Fishers. On Thursday they begin the day at Rim Shoals with a breakfast provided by the local Trout Unlimited Chapter then it is a float trip down to Buffalo City. Lunch is provided by the Knights of Columbus and eaten during the float. As you can see this is a lot of fishing and a lot of coordination to make it happen.

The guides for this group are Duane Hada, Denis Dunderdale, Davy Wotten and Me. We are all working at reduced rates. I am especially pleased to be a part of this group. As a Viet Nam veteran, I feel a natural kinship with these guys and I look forward to spending some quality time with them on the water. If you see us out there, give us a wave. Stop and think about the service and sacrifice the guys have made for us.