Tale waters - North Arkansas Fly Fishers

Tale waters
The Voice of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers
North Arkansas Fly Fishers
August 11, 2015
John Berry - Hopper Fishing
Tale Waters
Casting Class This Month
North Arkansas Fly Fishers meetings
are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each
month. Meetings are held at the Van
Matre Senior Center located at 1101
Spring St Mountain Home, AR
72653. Membership meeting starts at
7:00 pm. All members and guests are
welcome and encouraged to attend.
NAFF Board of Director’s meetings
are held on the first Tuesday of the
month at 2:00 pm 1st Security Bank
on 9th St. All members are welcome
and encouraged to attend.
Visit North Arkansas Fly Fishers
Online at
www.northarkansasflyfisher.org
Officers
President — Ken Sickels ……(870) 321-2661
Vice President — Tom Emerick (870) 499-3382
Secretary — Pat Smith ..…..(870) 425-1755
Treasurer — Wayne Buck….(870) 305-4104
Directors
Conservation — Tommy Hagan ..(870) 430-2091
At Large — Mark Burgess……..(870) - 421-7804
Education — Fred Stumpf…...870-421-3746
Membership — Paul Ashton …(870) 425-9230
Past President — Mike Tipton ..(870) 404-8845
Appd. by President — Vern Berry (870) 421-0720
Tale Waters is published 2nd Tuesday of each month. Article deadline is
1st Tuesday of the month.
Staff: Mike Tipton & Rita Billbe
Contact:
August is the time to fish hoppers.
And at out August meeting John
Berry will explain just how to do
that on the White River.
John has been a fly fishing guide
in the Ozarks for over twenty
years. He is a member of NAFF
and organizes the annual Sowbug
Roundup Fly Tying contest. John
has been active in the Mid-South
Fly Fishers, Federation of Fly Fishers and Trout Unlimited.
John teaches fly fishing and fly
casting at Arkansas State University and has taught fly fishing at a
variety of other venues. He is a
popular speaker and fly tyer at the
Sowbug Roundup. John has spoken at FFF Conclaves and other
outdoor festivals.
John is a fly fishing columnist for
the Baxter Bulletin and wrote
three chapters of the highly suc-
[email protected]
Cont. Pg.2
On Saturday, August 29, Certified
Casting Instructor Chuck Easterling will give classes to help you
improve or tune-up your fly casting. There will be two sessions.
The sessions will be based on the
skills and needs of the participants.
The classes will run from 9:00 am
to 4:00 pm. NAFF will provide
soft drinks and lunch. There is
room for twelve students in each
session. The classes will be presented at Wayne Bucks home, 129 Little Lane, Cotter Arkansas (his
home is on the river just downstream of the Valley Airport). You
can sign up at either the July or
August membership meetings or
contact Ken Sickels at 870-3212661.
Tale waters
Page 2
Ramsay — from page 1
cessful fishing guide, Home Waters. He also writes for several
sporting journals such as Drake.
He has received numerous awards
for achievement from the Federation of Fly Fishers and the MidSouth Fly Fishers
August President’s
Message
The Club approved sharing our
membership list with a corporate
sponsor contributing $1,500.00 or
more. Within the next few months
every member will be given the option to Opt Out. If you opt out,
your name, address etc. will not be
shared.
Sulphurs …. Wow. The sulphur
hatch on the Norfolk has been unbelievable the last five or six weeks.
I thought the caddis hatch was
great. The Sulphur hatch has been
fantastic. On one of our trips I literally could see 15 to 20 fish actively
feeding on the surface. Until this
year I didn’t realize what a Sulphur
actually was … sure do now.
Remember to join the Tiers and
Liars at Dally’s Fly Shop in Cotter.
It’s an informal tying group. We tie
every Friday starting at 1:30. A great
way to share tying techniques, learn,
shoot the bull, etc. with fellow fishers. Personally I have learned a lot
from various members.
Ken Sickels, President.
Casting Lessons at Cabela’s Opening
AGFC Public Meeting
August 13th
The AGFC Trout Management
Program will be hosting a general
public meeting on Thursday August 13th, 2015 to discuss the current status of the Bull Shoals and
Norfork tail-waters. The meeting
will be from 6:00-8:00 PM in the
McMullin Lecture Room, Dryer
Hall, on the Arkansas State University campus in Mountain
Home. I will be giving a presentation about data collected during
recent years and discuss upcoming
projects planned for the rivers.
We’ll also discuss recently completed projects. There will be
plenty of time for questions at the
end of the meeting. Multiple representatives from AGFC will be in
attendance, including our new
Chief of Fisheries, Chris Racey.
We look forward to providing you
all with this information and hope
you will be able to attend.
Christy Graham - AGFC Trout
Biologist
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August Fly of the Month
A Simple Hopper
Page 3
This is a very simple tie! Fly and
recipe courtesy of Jim Traylor at
Wishes and Fishes.
August Raffle
August Membership
Report
A warm welcome to the latest
members joining us since last
month:
George Miller of Loves Park, IL
David & Tracey Hea of Mountain
Home, AR
Morgan Bearden of Rolla, MO
Hook - #10 heavy wire
Thread - Black 140 denier
Body – Peacock chenille
Upper Body - Black foam cut with
beavertail cutters from Hareline
Indicator - Small foam strip –
bright color of your choice
Legs - Black or pink Spanflex, Sililegs, or round rubber
Smash barb and place hook in
vice. Tie-in chenille behind the
hook eye and run the thread back
to the hook bend. Wrap the chenille back to the bend and secure
with the thread. Cut off excess.
Smear the chenille with head cement and wrap the thread forward
even with the hook point. Tie-in
the body and the rear legs. Run
the thread forward to 1/3 hook
length behind the eye. Tie-in the
body, the forward legs, and the
indicator. Secure the thread behind the hook eye.
Special Raffle
Fishing Shirt – size XL
Scientific Angler Reel
Regular items
Landing Net (New)
Bag of tying tools
Book: “Trout Magic” by Robert
Travers
Candle with a trout on it.
Bag of assorted yarns and a box of
size 14 dry fly hooks
Box of glitter yarn and a Wapsi
Sample Pack
2 Wapsi Sample Packs
Current club count is 366 memberships with 500 members with
one member moving away, and
another 32 members that are past
due. 3rd qtr. renewals are in progress, with hard copy renewal notices sent out last month and reminders going out electronically.
Paul Ashton—Membership
Fly Tying Every
Friday
1:30 to 3:30
Dally’s Ozark Fly
Fisher All NAFF
Members Welcome
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Jimmy T’s Fishing
Report - August
Heavy generation continues on
the White River with flows up to 8
units at times and not much under 6 units. During this past full
moon phase, the catching was
tough for 3 days. Fishing tight to
the bank on shallow grassy areas
with structure did pay off using
San Juan Worms and small eggs.
Nearer to the dam #14 sow bugs
in grey and tan were productive
fishing close to the banks on the
inside bends where the water slows
and allows the flies to get down.
Did spot some fish on grass (a
mowed yard) in a couple of areas
but these fish were extremely
spooky; so we didn't spend much
time on them.
Choosing spots on this
higher water seems to be the key at
the moment unless the fish are
keying in on hoppers, which can
be a ton of fun. Cicadas have died
and fallen out of trees and some
hoppers managed to land in the
water; so tossing these flies close to
the banks can also be productive.
Use heavy tippet and fight the
brown trout like you would a bass
to get it off the bank and out of
timber and rocks.
The Norfork has been
much more wadeable due to the
flows and channel capacity (just
started hearing that one this year)
of the White River. I guess what
they are saying is that if the Norfork also generated at full capacity
it would cause a problem somewhere down stream. The Norfork
then gets a bit crowded unless you
use a kayak or other transport to
get down below long hole and into
the C&R area. Red in your midges seems to be the go to fly.
Don't forget to drop by
Wishes & Fishes as we have a ton
of Cortland products all of which
are at least 35% off with most at
40 and 50% off. We have 1000s
of flies at the moment, of which
90% are only a $1.00. Lots of dry
flies. Fluorocarbon tippet in 30 M
spools are only $9.00. 1,000s of
leaders, hundreds of reels, 40 or
50 rods, and lots of fly line for
both salt and fresh water. We are
now open Friday and Saturday
evenings till 7:00 PM
Good Catching.
Jim Traylor
1000's of flies $1.00 each
Cortland Line Co. Authorized
Warehouse liquidation.
Fly Lines-Leaders-Tippet-Reels-Rod Tubes
More arriving every month.
Lots of fly lines from $20
Fluorocarbon tippet spools from $9.00
3 pack leaders from $8.00
Single leaders from $2.00
Salt water and fresh water.
Where?
Wishes & Fishes Fly Shop
627 Central Blvd
Bull Shoals, AR 72619-0751
Shop # 870-445-3848
Tale waters
Bull Shoals Master Plan
Update
Mountain Home Project Office and
Little Rock District staff members
recently held a series of open houses
about the Bull Shoals Lake Draft
Master Plan and Draft Environmental Assessment. Five open houses,
one held in each county where Bull
Shoals Lake is located, provided an
opportunity to share information
about the draft documents and to
collect public comments.
A master plan is the guidance document that describes how the resources of the lake will be managed
and provides the vision for how the
lake should look in the future. The
master plan also provides the basis
for the operational management
plan, which guides day-to-day management activities of natural resources, and shoreline management
plan, which guides private uses of
public land and water. After the
master plan is revised, the operational management plan and shoreline management plan will be revised to be consistent with the goals
identified in the master plan.
The current Bull Shoals Lake Master Plan was developed more than
30 years ago and is outdated. The
master plan revision classifies public
lands around the lake based on environmental and socioeconomic
considerations, public input, and an
evaluation of past, present, and future trends. Four alternative plans
have been developed for consideration. The planning process has included an analysis of potential effects on the natural and social environment, including fish and wildlife, recreation opportunities, economics, land use, cultural and historical resources, aesthetics, as well
as public health and safety.
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Picnic in September
Wow! Summer hit with a vengeance, but will soon be behind us.
We have had some great dry fly fishing from late spring til mid summer.
Hope many of you got a chance to
get out there and enjoy it.
Public input is vital to the planning
process and all interested parties are
encouraged to provide comments
during the public comment period,
which closes Sept. 11. Comments
can be mailed to: Army Corps of
Engineers, Little Rock District,
ATTN: Dana Coburn, P.O. Box
867, Little Rock, Ark., 72203.
Comments may also be faxed to 501
-324-5605 or emailed to [email protected].
More information about the master
plan and the revision process is
available on the Internet at http://
go.usa.gov/3fZsG.
Mark down SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH on your calendars.
That day we will hold our annual
fall picnic at the Bull Shoals lower
White River State Park pavilion no.
1. (Same place as usual). Picnic
will be from 11am until 2pm.
NAFF supplies the great burgers,
brats, chips , soda, water and all the
fixin’s for the burgers and brats.
Members are asked to bring a side
dish, salad or dessert of your choice.
Jon Hiser
NOTE: The picnic will serve as our
September general meeting, so the
club raffle will be held at the picnic.
Hope to see you there.
Food will be served between 11:45
and noon. Come early and swap
fish stories. Bring one of your favorite flies to show others. We all like
to learn what others are using and
what has been working for you.
Vern Berry, Activities Director
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Sowbug Report
Steve Blumreich is responsible for
identifying the program for Sowbug. He has to wrestle with the
ongoing issues of striking a balance between the tried and true
programs and identifying interesting new programs. Some suggestions that came up were kayak fishing and a Wapsi program about
their business. If anyone has a suggestion for a program, please contact Steve. He would love to hear
from you. ((417) 839-0193
[email protected])
We are about ready to send solicitation packets to potential corporate sponsors. There was some discussion about the corporate sponsor scheme at the last membership
meeting. I don’t think that I explained the reasoning behind the
idea very well.
The Sowbug Roundup is NAFF’s
only fund raising event. The profits from Sowbug allows NAFF a lot
of flexibility for providing for both
community events and club members: $8K in scholarships, $2.5K
for a “name” speaker, support of
fly fishing classes with the home
school and Alternative School
kids, fly tying classes by Davy
Wotton, and a low cost Christmas Dinner. This year (2015)
our gross revenue was about
$30K. Our expenses were about
$13K and our profit was about
$17K. So every $1K that we can
get by corporate sponsorships is
$1K that we don’t have to spend
ourselves, giving us another $1K
in profit and enabling us to keep
up with expenses and inflation.
The Sowbug Roundup Committee meets the second Tuesday of
every month at 1:00 pm at the
Baxter County Library. All club
members are welcome to participate or observe. Come a little
earlier and join us for lunch
Mike Tipton - Sowbug Chair
Riverside Retreat on the White River
Cabins with hot tubs and fireplaces
Lodge that sleeps 20~Guided Fishing
10 minutes from the North Fork River
www.whiteriverresort.com
870 499-3056
Tale waters
Early Morning at the
Ackerman Access on the
Norfork
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North Arkansas Fly Fishers
PO Box 1213
Mountain Home, AR 72653
Activities of Interest to NAFF members
JuAugust
Monday, 3rd Trout Unlimited 6:00-8:00 El Chico
Tuesday, 4th NAFF Board Meeting 2:00-4:00 First Security Bank
Tuesday, 11th Sowbug Committee Meeting 1:00-3:00 Baxter County Library
Tuesday, 18th NAFF Club Meeting 7:00-9:00 Van Matre Senior Center
Saturday, August 29th. Chuck Easterlng will be conducting a casting session for members only
September
Tuesday, 1st NAFF Board Meeting 2:00-4:00 First Security Bank
Monday, 7th Trout Unlimited 6:00-8:00 El Chico
Tuesday, 8th NAFF Board Meeting 2:00-4:00 First Security Bank
Saturday, 12th Hatchery Outdoor Adventure 8:00-3:00 Norfolk Hatchery
Tuesday, 15th Sowbug Committee Meeting 1:00-3:00 Baxter County Library
Saturday, 19th NAFF Picnic 11:00-1:00 White River State Park Pavilion
Every Friday, 1:30 – 3:30 Fly Tying at Dally’s Ozark Fly Fisher