Timing is everything (A day on the Little Red River)

Sitting in my kayak eating lunch, thinking through the first hours of the day, I find myself questioning my decision to throw streamers all morning.  When I started, I was excited and convinced myself I was in search of one real bite.  But now I’m feeling foolish.  There have been zero flashes, misses or signs of interest in my offerings.

Peanut butter crackers and apple sauce, that’s what I grabbed as I ran out the door the night before.  Somewhere in the middle of the week my wife mentioned something about another sleepover.  I must have been preoccupied because I hadn’t prepared and wasn’t ready when she said they were leaving when she got home from work. 

Man, those extra special nymphs I tied earlier in the week would have been nice right now.  They’re kind of useless sitting beside my vise at home.  Thinking back, I was probably tying flies while she was talking about the sleepover.  Timing is everything.

It’s been raining off and on all day but it’s a steady mist now.   I can’t decide if I want to wear the rain hood on my jacket or leave it down.  Every time I put it on I get a shot of cold rain water down my back.  The last one was just enough to make me not want to do it again. 

With my hunger pains defeated, it was time to find some brown trout.  They must have sensed it was lunch time as well.  A few drifts through one good run resulted in several browns in the net.  I worked a few other areas that also held willing trout.  Sensing the day was ending and I had two-mile paddle back to the launch, I started to move back to my kayak.  There was only enough time to work one last area.  On back to back presentations I pulled two nice browns from that last run.  Timing is everything!

There is a short video I made from the trip here:

http://looknfishy.blogspot.com/2017/01/video-from-my-last-trip-to-little-red.html

Video from my last trip to the Little Red River

I've really enjoyed making videos in 2016.  They are much more time consuming than writing a post but they give you a visual to go along with the read.  With that said my wife purchased me a real camera for my birthday/Christmas gift.  It's a Nikon dslr so I'm going to try and share some better quality images soon.   But until I can get that read up here's a video from my last trip in 2016.  If you open it in YouTube and run it there it'll play much better.  Let me know what you think.

Last day of 2016

Found some time to sneak away and chase brown trout on December 31, 2016.  It was cold and rainy, but the browns were active.  Here's a short video of a small brown with little fish syndrome.

Got a bunch of cool footage and caught some nice trout.  Look for a longer edit soon.  Happy New Year everyone.  2017 will be very exciting, several trips already in the works.

The day I got lost in Brown Town on the Little Red River

Last weekend some friends invited me to the Little Red River.  They only had room in their boat for three dudes and a giant cooler of beer.  So the plan was for me to start up river on Saturday morning and float down to them in my kayak.  We'd meet for lunch and fish the afternoon together.  If you know me, you can see where this is going...

When I got on the water and started fishing I knew I was going to detour from the plan.  But these guys know me well enough and being fishbums themselves understand that plans are just a good idea not meant to be taken seriously.  That's my understanding anyway.

On the 3rd drift, I hooked and landed this beautiful bow.  A guy fishing near me was kind enough to snap a picture.  I spent 20 minutes with it and watched it swim away strong.  If my day had ended right then, I would have been good with it.  

The area was starting to attract some attention and became a little too crowded for me.  I prefer to fish without an audience.  I decided get in my kayak and find some new water.  I had only planned on fishing through the next area quickly and moving closer to the meet up.   Looking back, I realize that was where I took a wrong turn.  The first brown caused me to miss my exit.  I should have made a u-turn and got back on track.  However, I failed to notice it because a second brown was steering me down a new road.  When you're really lost, there's a point that you stop caring and say "Oh well (or different word), I'm taking the scenic route today."  That's where I was when the third brown ate.  The day got away from me here.

I had good intentions but the fish kept distracting me.  I'd be ready to leave and then I'd get an eat.  It was like they knew I was suppose to be somewhere else.  Not every eat resulted in a brown caught but seeing those wild browns scream across the river and leap into the air re-set my internal timer and led me in a different direction.

I tried to call and check-in but I ended up taking photos of trout instead.  Hours passed before I realized how off schedule I was.  The rainy, overcast conditions helped hide the progression of the day.  Before I knew it, it was completely lost in Brown Town.

The next day my buddies let me in the boat and we fished until lunch.  I guess the boat will hold 4 occasionally or they didn't want me getting lost again.    

Overnight trip to the Little Red River

The temperatures are falling and the days are getting shorter.  It's time to get out and chase some trout.  That's the idea a buddy and I had a few weeks back.  We made a plan to hit the Little Red River at the end of October.  Like most long range fishing plans, it quickly fell through.  After discussing the, not many, options with our significant others a new plan was put into effect.

The boat was loaded with 4-9 weights.  The cooler was packed with calories and attitude enhancers.  Dozens of fly condos were included, everything from 8" double articulated streamers to size 22 emergers found their way onboard the hog island.  We were covered for high water or no water...

Luck was on our side and the predicted generation schedule was actually, accurate.  We waded the shoals during the morning hours and threw streamers in high water each afternoon.  It was an interesting trip.

The mornings were very productive, which made it easy to foolishly throw every streamer in the boat during the afternoon.  The blue bird skies had the browns on lock down.  I had two really nice fish rush out and give the illusion of interest only to disappear back into the flow.  That's the game...

Aside from he normal residents, two lost tourist were found near the dam.  The first nearly pulled the 6wt out of my hand when it ate.  My heart was pounding with the excitement of a potentially huge trout running away from me.  I gave chase and attempt to turn it, that's when I saw the silver flash under the surface, his identity was no longer a secret.  A hybrid bass had stolen my joy.

I guess watching me stumble across the slippery rocks was entertaining to the fish because the next eat I got was from a smallmouth bass.  However, he didn't have the strength to get my heartrate up or confuse my senses.  In fact, there wasn't much of a charade at all.  Smallmouth bass aren't coy.  It immediately surfaced, as if to say, "I'm the coolest fish in the little red."  Maybe so...

Like I said, "it was an interesting trip."  I'm really looking forward to the Fall fishing season.  More people in the woods hunting and less people on the water...that's why I love Fall!

What a week

It was a crazy fun week.  The girls were out of school for the week of Thanksgiving so I wasn't able to fish much.  Instead, I took them to the "Refuge" a few times in the canoe.

I started the trip explaining to them if they saw something that can fly, swim, run, or magically disappear and they wanted to see it for more than 1 second.  The best strategy was to whisper and point it out slowly.  I further mentioned that the creatures in the "Refuge" are terribly afraid of children...aren't we all!

Play time in the swamp. I checked the area before I let them out of the canoe.

 As we're paddling?  Not really, what we were doing was slapping the water and banging the sides of the canoe with our paddles.   But were covering water and sure enough, I see a beaver sitting on top of its floating fortress.  Surprised to see anything, I didn't react quickly enough.  Just as I was about to whisper and point it out.  The silence was broken by the excited voices of my 2 little girls, "dad, it's a beaver."  The beaver, startled and confused, freaked at the sight of a 17' canoe that was bearing down on it and went away real fast.

Astonishingly, we didn't have any more close encounters as we explored the backwaters.  From a distance we saw lots water fowl, turtles, and whatever else brave enough to not run for cover as the kids screamed in delight at every natural wonder that spotted.  It really was fun.

In the middle of the week I got the invite to fish the Little Red and travel to Grand Isle, LA.  The Grand Isle trip got dismissed really quickly as my wife said something like, if you don't understand why you can't be in Grand Isle on Thanksgiving day, then we don't have anything to talk about.  I lost my decoder ring (wedding ring) like 3 years ago, so I wasn't exactly sure what she meant.  What I heard was..."I'll cut you if you're not home on Thanksgiving."

I thought about it for a few days (seriously-I'm not that bright) and eventually decided fishing the LRR during a flash flood warning was a safer alternative.  In spite of the constant rain and cool temperatures it was a stellar day...perfect streamer weather!  Not many pictures taken b/c I was busy throwing streamers to hungry trees and a few browns.  Of course my cousin sends me this picture on Friday with the caption, "Sunny and 80."

It wasn't sunny and 80 in Heber Springs but I wouldn't have traded the day.  I was with good friends and the fishing didn't suck.  I even enjoyed the weather but that's just me.  

I ended my last post mentioning some good news I wanted to share.  I'm excited to announce I teamed up with FROSCH Outdoor Travel (FOT) to develop a network of kayak related travel destinations.  Being on the water (canoes, boats, kayaks, the Navy, etc) has been a passion since I was a boy and I'm thrilled to be part of the FROSCH team.

FOT, “FROSCH sees kayak fishing and competitive tournaments in the kayak area growing rapidly, and we wanted to address the interest of our travelers and fan base. Drew was the perfect choice to help us design a program that would tick all of the boxes in the kayak world. We couldn’t do it without Ross organizing and assisting with logistics. He has been instrumental in picking the right waters, destinations and seasons for our 2016 launch calendar”.  

Last minute trip to the Little Red River

I was sitting at the dinner table Sunday night when the school called and left a message.  Lots of school activities going on this week and they were updating parents on the times and such.  I'm sure there was some important information on that message.  However, what I heard was a field trip I had planned to be at on Tuesday was really on Wednesday, meaning I could fish Monday and Tuesday.  I looked at my wife and asked her what her plans were for Monday and Tuesday?  We decided that I had some time free as long as I was home on Tuesday before 5pm.  Done!

Pre-dawn start

I threw some stuff in a bag, grabbed my hammock, and went to bed.  I woke up at 12 am and started driving to the Little Red bright and early Monday morning with plans to camp anywhere I could find 2 trees or sleep in my truck if needed...we have lots of trees so I wasn't concerned.

I arrived around 4 am and was on the water around 5.  I wasn't expecting the skinny water that I found.  The COE hadn't generated in a few days and the water was about as low as I have ever seen it.  I drug through every shoal and had to walk a few.  Good news was I probably wouldn't see any boat traffic (only saw a canoe on Monday).  Bad news, I like fishing moving water more than dead calm...and there wasn't much in these conditions.  I decided to basically leap frog all day from shoal to shoal hitting all the moving water I could find and skip the in between flat sections.

The fishing was off and on all day.  But from 3 to 6 pm...epic.  It was so good I think I could have caught a fish on the bank.

Fished until I couldn't see, no chance I was leaving that bite, and paddled out in the darkness.  Found those 2 trees I needed and was out before 9 pm.  Woke up to a heavy mist on Tuesday.  It was so thick I thought I was being waterboarded.  It was 4 am and I was excited about searching for the browns I hadn't located on Monday.  I packed up my camping gear.  5 minutes later (the beauty of hammock camping) I was rigging up my 5 and 6 wts and driving to a different section of the river.

I only had until noon on Tuesday so I skipped to a place I thought might hold some browns.  As I got close to the area I could see and hear that I had made a good decision.  Browns were jumping out of the water, waving huge "come catch me signs."  Done!

Now you're probably hoping for a awesome fishtale, but it was a day of disappointment...sort of.  I caught several browns but the big brown I stalked for an hour got the best of me.  Fly fishing from a kayak has it's up and downs...this was a down.  I got the eat, the brown went real far, real fast, jumped over a tree...not really.  But high enough to get a good view of an angry ~22" brown.  It's powerful run put the kayak in motion...but I was moving perpendicular to the run and straight at the pod of browns.  I didn't want to spook all those browns.  Time wasn't on my side.  I didn't have much time left to fish.  Certainly didn't have time to scout new areas from my kayak.  And the kayak was easing closer and closer to the other browns.  What to do....

I made the decision to correct the kayaks path and maybe save the hole I had found.  I made a bad decision.  I picked the paddle up with my right hand and tried to play the fish with my left hand.  As soon as I did it ran again and I couldn't manage the line properly.  Wasn't long before I was holding a kayak paddle with my right hand and a tension free fly rod with my left.

Oddly, I wasn't bitter.  Yes, the feeling was about as enjoyable as drinking spoiled milk.  But I got the eat, played a beautiful fish for a minute or 2 (seemed like a lifetime), and learned something valuable.  Don't be a dumb a$$...catch the fish you have on the line before you think about the next.  I made myself repeat that phrase over and over again on the 3.5 hour drive home.

Playing catch up...

Seems like this is the story of my life the last few weeks. But I'm not complaining...I'm just fishing.

 Last weekend I was invited to a birthday party for my niece in LR.   As that's a can't miss invite I found a way to squeeze in a trip to the Little Red on Sunday.  Went to bed nice and early around 10 pm, and woke up for the last time about 4:45 am. 

Grabbed my stuff and started out the door.  About that time my brothers dogs went crazy.  I forget they put them in there at night to protect the pull-up bar that's really acting the part of a drying rack for laundry.  As I was hushing the dogs with my softest and most serious dude shut up voice.  I hit the garage door opener and waited for it to open.  Like you would expect, I hit the button again to close and made a run for it...trying to out run the door and sneak through the ever decreasing opening.

Remember that pull-up bar from earlier, well it's strategically placed to ruin your day.  The garage door was closing at mock 10.  I realize I've got almost no chance to make it...so I'm in a full out, trying to out run my buddies to the last beer sprint.  I'm carry a bag of clothes on my left shoulder, breakfast in my left hand, and a giant cup coffee in the other hand....

It was "THE" perfect form tackle.  I led with my right shoulder...head on the front side...left arm followed through and I crushed that pull-up bar...coffee went flying, and the bag of clothes went sailing through the air.  It was a fine moment in my athletic career.  Unfortunately, I was too slow and missed the opening to the outside world.  Do it all over and hope for different results.

After successfully navigating the garage from hell.  I enjoyed a great day on the river.  It was a little crowded but the browns were out in force.  I sight fished almost the entire day.  Couldn't convince any of the +20" browns to eat but I had fun trying.

As I was paddling out, the sun was almost gone, and a huge...22-25" brown breached the surface about a paddle length from my kayak.  It went about a foot in the air.  My jaw hitting the kayak kept me from going higher than the brown.  That sight left me thinking I need to move...but I'll settle for a return trip soon.