Will's Fishing Blog

Mud Creek Expose

2011-06-10T14:13:00.001-07:00

Guest photographer Lindsey plys her craft on the banks and knee deep in the tepid waters of Mud Creek as if flows through Lowell!

You're wonderful, Babe.

Look what I made.

2011-05-15T18:40:00.000-07:00

White Bass!

2011-04-18T14:36:00.001-07:00

The Vegan Clouser: The most humane way to torture small animals with a 9-foot phallic symbol for sport!

2011-03-04T10:48:00.000-08:00

We're into March here in on the Ozark Plateau which means that I, like most of you, am super pumped to join the hordes that descend on the White River near Twin Bridges outside of Goshen and the War Eagle below the mill for some of the easiest and most fun fishing of the year during the white bass spawning run. This is what I tie by the dozens to use and give away during the run. All the materials can be found at McClellan's Fly shop in Fayetteville, the best darned fly shop in Arkansas. And not just because they let me get high in the back room (kidding!).

Start with a Mustad 3407DT, size 6 hook. I used to tie all my Clousers on the the same long-shanked hook I use for most of my other streamers, mostly out of cheapness, but I've found that I really do prefer a short-shanked hook. I think it allows the body to move more, there's less space to be filled by the red throat, and I really do miss less fish because it puts the hook point closer to the head where fish attack. Use 6/0 thread the same color as the top-most color of the fly. Add eyes to the top of the hook shank. You can use the painted lead ones, but I've found that most of the paint chips off as soon as it hits a rock, so I use the nickel ones. Also, I use the extra small eyes. I fish these on a sink-tip line anyway, and I don't want them to sink like a rock to the bottom. I view the weighted eyes mostly as a positioning mechanism. They keep the fly upright. Tie them between two bumps of thread about 2/3 of the shank away from the eye. Add Zap-A-Gap, or they'll spin, no matter how many wraps of thread you use.

Add strands of white Flash-N-Slinky to the top of the hook, starting as close to the eye of the hook as you can get. It's hard to describe how much to use, and it's kind of a personal preference anyway. Tie a few, and you'll get a feel for it. Pull your thread past the eyes and continue lashing down until the bend of the hook.

Make a dubbing loop and add red Prism II dubbing. Or whatever your favorite flashy dubbing is. Twist, and wrap to the eyes.

Turn the hook over (rotary vice!), and add whatever stands of flash you prefer behind the eyes. I like two strands of red Flashabou, and two strands of medium silver Holo Tinsel, one on each side of the fly.

On the "bottom" of the hook, add strands of light blue Flash-N-Slinky. I like blue for the white bass, but of course you can use whatever color(s) you want. I also tie it in fire tiger.

Make a nice, clean, tapered head and whip-finish. Notice how the head does NOT extend back to the eyes. Trim the body. This is another personal preference, and I have a spot on my vice I like to use for reference. Once again, tie a few and you'll know what you like. Take the hook out of you vice and bar the back with a black Prismacolor marker. I know, I know, Prismacolors are expensive, but don't cheap out and use a Sharpie. You only have to buy whatever Prismacolors you need once, they last longer, and it gives you something to look at when your significant other wants to go to Hobby Lobby.

Add two coats of Gloss Coat Head Cement, or epoxy if you're feeling ambitious. And there you have it! Fill you box, try to find a place to park at Twin Bridges, and enjoy the spring.

Here is the Fire Tiger version of the same fly.

Norfolk River

2008-09-21T08:47:00.000-07:00

Caught on a Countdown Rapala. First time I've used spinning gear in awhile.

More Bass...

2008-09-08T20:34:00.000-07:00

...caught on crawdad patterns and sliders in Sugar Creek.

Chartreuse

2008-08-20T08:06:00.000-07:00

Growing up fishing for trout, where matching color to the real thing is considered important, I'm still fascinated that I can fish a chartreuse crawdad to overcome dirty water/darkness, and it will actually catch fish.

Waterton Canyon

2008-08-16T14:53:00.000-07:00

We took a vacation to Colorado, my home state, earlier this month. Lots of running around, and I only got to fish for about 1.5 hours in the Waterton Canyon section of the South Platte River.

Recent Fishing

2008-08-16T14:45:00.000-07:00

Recent fishing trips. I'm really starting to understand the importance of crawdads here in the Ozarks. I've heard the smallmouth will eat almost nothing else during the summer. On a trip down the North Fork of the White in Missouri, I even caught a couple of nice trout on the Crazydads I was fishing with for smallies. That's Diggs. She's a great digger, but a terrible swimmer.

North Fork, White River

Sugar Creek in Bella Vista

Creek Hopping

2008-07-22T15:13:00.000-07:00

Not having a boat and outboard, and the trout tailwaters being too high to wade effectively, and given my limited tolerance for the overregulation and vast herds of fisherman sporting mullets and Powerbait jars at the trout parks, my fishing this spring has been mostly confined my favorite (read: nearest) bass creek and lakes.

Roaring River

2008-04-22T08:25:00.000-07:00

Camped Sunday night at Roaring River. Caught rainbows on red Soft Hackle Coppers, Red Asses, and Y2K Bugs. The fish on the bottom had a hole in his head from some kind of bird of prey (I think).

White Bass

2008-04-08T21:16:00.000-07:00

Went fishing Monday on the War Eagle below the mill. Apparently, this is a good spot in the spring for white bass, because they all run up the creek in the spring to spawn, and gather there because they can't get past the rock ledge under the bridge. Caught a few on chartreuse Clouser Minnows.

Top photo courtesy of Flip Puthoff.

Norfork River

2008-03-24T23:07:00.000-07:00

Fished a couple of hours Monday below the dam. This Rainbow was on a #14 Y2K Bug, which was brought to my attention by Zac.

Copper Soft Hackle

2008-03-18T21:25:00.000-07:00

I wanted to go to the stream after work today, but anyone anywhere near Northwest Arkansas knows how the weather turned out. So instead, I'm making my first post to this blog.

This is the first fly I try when I get to a trout stream. I would say I invented it, but it's so simple and obvious that I'm sure many others before me have already staked that claim. Just two materials, copper wire of any color (small), and a soft hackle. The best would be a grouse feather, but I use pheasant because, well, that's what I have a lot of right now. I really only carry it in a #14-#16. This one is tied on a Dai-Riki #305 hook, but any short wire hook will do. For standard short wire hooks I only buy light wire hooks, because I'm cheap and poor. I figure it's easier to sink a fly that is too light than to float one that is too heavy.

I like this fly verses other soft hackles because of the body. The copper wire is the least bulky way and fastest way to make a body that I have seen, and I like the sparseness of it. Plus, it makes a tight, segmented body every time.

Start the thread JUST before the eye of the hook, not the middle. Tie in the wire, wrapping BACK OVER the thread start.

Begin wrapping the copper back to the bend of the hook, making sure to keep the wraps tight.

When you've wrapped to just before the bend of the hook, tighten the wire and start turning in a circular motion. The heat created by the friction will break the wire perfectly. You won't even be able to see where the wire ends as you would if you had cut it.

Back at the head of the fly, trip the fibers off the base of your hackle feather and tie it in. Of course, you can tie it in palmer style (upside down), but I don't think this makes a difference since you are only going to make a couple wraps. I think it's easier to do the hackle in the conventional manner. I do tie streamers that require a hackle through the length of the body (like a Wooley Bugger) palmer style, because it is important in defining the taper of the fly. I don't think that is the case here.

Wrap the thread back when you make the head of the fly to push the hackle fibers back (but don't overdo it). Whip finish and cement both the head and the wire body.

I love this fly because I love swinging soft hackles. I think I do it differently (read:wrong). I do the standard dead drift on a long line, casting upstream and mending through the drift, like you would any other nymph, and I catch fish that way. The difference between this or any soft hackle and a nymph is that, at the end, you can follow the drift on a tight line downstream, raising the rod slowly. You'll often catch fish on this phase of the drift.