Author: arkansastravelerflyfishing

The giant grass carp had to die. I pondered a well-placed .22 bullet to its skull as it swam just under the surface of the pond, nosing its snout into the air to pluck fresh-fallen leaves from the water’s surface. Or I could try and net the monster fish and hope to bash its head with a rock as it flailed on the shore. No matter the method, it wouldn’t be easy to murder the venerable carp, but it had to be done.

Fly fishing can be a dangerous obsession. Anglers are compelled to travel down unknown roads and rivers while on the quest for ever-more elusive fish. In fact, some wise fishing writer, whose name is long gone from my memory, once identified five stages that all fly fishers pass through on that often-perilous journey.

After more than 30 years fly fishing, I’ve learned that the White River does not need any more gasoline motors. Besides being loud and disruptive, motors use both gasoline and motor oil. Every gas-powered motor trickles a steady stream of oil into the river as the engine runs. Water is pumped through the engine for cooling, and the water expelled leaves an oily sheen on the surface behind every boat.

Tony hated his hole getting banged so hard. Who could blame him? That’s because Kyle Faulkner and I had just caught nearly every trout trapped in a shallow, White River side-chute near Tony’s house. Helplessly, Tony watched from the shore, and paced back and forth as our rods bent repeatedly with heavy trout on nearly every cast. “You don’t have to keep them all,” Tony cried from the riverbank.

They do not make anglers or friends like Kyle Faulkner anymore. He will be missed. Kyle Faulkner admires a fine bluegill caught in Fayetteville, Ark., 2012.

I am a fly fishing guide on the White River in Buffalo City, Arkansas, and I need your help to improve boating safety on Arkansas rivers. I have lived in Buffalo City since 2017, and been a licensed Arkansas fishing guide since 2011, but I have fished the area more than 30 years, since the late 1980s. There have always been a good number of motor boats and non-motorized watercraft on the river, but in recent years that number has increased to the critical point. In fact, I have never seen so many boats of all kinds on the White River.

For those anglers who want to know about the water conditions on the White River and North Fork River before you travel long distances for fishing, contact me by email and I will provide a current water, weather and fishing forecast for your upcoming adventure. Even if you’ve fished these rivers many times, and use …

Continue reading "Now Offering Custom River Reports"

Recent news that 2021 chinook salmon runs on the Nooksack River in Washington State have all died due to an algae in historically low and hot river water, does not bode well for any of the Pacific Northwest salmon species, including wild steelhead.

To say that the last year and a half has been difficult for fishing guides would be an understatement. Covid-19 and the economic shutdown nearly destroyed my business and many others in America. Happily, after months of lockdowns, shutdowns and downturns, people are getting back to normal life, and that means chasing fish on the …

Continue reading "Fly Fishing During Covid"

Many years before the improved boat ramp and parking lot were built at Rim Shoals Public Access on the White River, a fun and now-forgotten resort for anglers was located there along the shore in the early 1990s, called Brainard’s Bend. If you didn’t mind camping near the railroad tracks – and bolting awake when the midnight train blew its whistle as it rolled through the valley mere feet from your tent – the small resort was the perfect place for budget anglers.