Ham

TI’ll try to get your payment in the mail today. I apologize for the delay. I’ve been fishing.

That Hardly seems fair. Shipping is stupid these days. I’ll add $10 to help take the sting off a little. I’m guess you’ll get em both in a cut to length cardboard tube.

I'd like to buy the Shimano Casting Rod and the TFO 9 foot spinning rod. Please Check shipping cost to Flippin, AR 72634

One year closer to retirement

he's not always an iconoclast.

Maybe one year I’ll invest time in catching trout again.

I really appreciate y’all working with the bees.

As y’all might know, I bought a 3 weight Flyrod Laker67 was selling. I hated that his cancer came back and he was selling his gear, but I understood why. I wrote Rick a note and promised to take of the rod and try to catch a bunch of fish on it. He passed away the day after I got the rod in the mail. I didn’t get a chance to tell him I got the rod. I’m not sure that he even read my note. He probably mailed the rod before he got my check. I never met Rick. Marty says he was Good People and that’s Good enough for me. I wish I had met him, but that’s the case with a lot of the Good Fishermen on this site. so I went to Norfork today. I planned on Power fishing the flooded brush for bass. I rigged out Rick’s old 3 weight just in case. The bass didn’t want to play so Waldo and I headed up a creek off the map. I ran until I found a riffle I could not run. I found spawning Gizzard Shad. Spawning Longnose Gar. Micros. And I found the last of the White Bass run. I tried for the Gar and Shad. Not surprisingly, they were to busy having sex to eat. I saw that distinctive White Bass surface strike and fired a small swimbait over there. It got whacked immediately. I confirmed the location and tied up a new leader (12 pound fluro/10 lb fluro/6 pound fluro tippet) and one of Marty’s perfect Clousers. I missed the strip set on the first cast strike, but I made up for it on the second, third, and fourth casts. my first fish on Rick’s rod it was fun watching them eat and figuring out where they were holding. The bite got tougher as the day wore on, but I can be stubborn. I caught quite a few. more males than sows, but I caught some of those too. they are Marty’s Clouser really well. I never changed my fly. I stumbled across a Hybrid too! I am Very Happy with the rod. I planned to stop at 60 fish, but I had to rig a rod to make sure it did not get tangled with loose line. I made one cast and it got eaten. Phil’s House rods are pretty darn Good for trout, crappie, and White Bass. RIP Rick! Carpe Diem everybody ; Life is Short, Fish All You Can!

FWIW, I don't think BVK's are offered anymore. I bought an TFO Axiom II which I think is the BVK replacement. I think the Reddington Crosswater will be fine. It is certainly a nice starter setup and you can decide how far into this hole you want to jump.

There are some really good beginner set ups that are not very expensive. If you decide you like it, you can spend as much as you want to later and have the starter rod as a back up. IF you are going to focus at first on warm water stuff, my advice would be the 6 weight. The weight rod delivers that weight line well. The heavier line the heavier flys it can carry well. spinning and bait casting use the weight of the lure to carry the line out. Fly fishing uses the weight of the line to carry the lure out. Curtis Creek Manifesto is a Great read to lay out the basics. Lots of you tube videos as well. My only casting advice is to start with a roll cast, don’t do a tone of false casting, and don’t be in a hurry. Let the line go fully behind you and load the rod before you come forward. Marty’s Clousers are awesome and catch everything.

Thats Awesome Marty! That does a lot for those folks, and it does a lot of Good for you as well.

That is a generous offer

Yeah, I don’t know how the diameter compares to more popular line or it’s break strength compared to 4 lb Trielene XL, but I do know that the 2 lb SOS has been a good line for me that casts well and has Good abrasion resistance.

I love their 2 lb. I was going to get some 4 lb soon.

That would be awesome. If I was looking for a skinny 8 lb mono, I’d be all set.

I tried Invis X on 6 lb on a 3000 Daiwa Tatula LT because Super Dave loved it. I hate it. Nope. I’m freaking done with that idea. Spro finesse braid is good. Pricey. I’m using the 10 lb. Daiwa J Braid 8 strand is Good. I’m using the 6 lb. Power Pro V2 is Nice. I’m about to spool up 10 on a 2000 Size Daiwa BG. the fish might not need you to use a leader, but I need the leader. It’s good to have a weak link to break when you need it. It saves you the pricey braid on re-ties. I really don’t have issues on the braid/leader connection. Alberto or Uni/Uni or triple turn surgeons knot

I had a post almost done last night and something glitchy happened and I was too tired to try again. with more rain in Central Arkansas overnight, I really had no idea what to expect we would find water wise. I opted for Bald Knob NWR. Talked to a gentleman that worked at HQ and got some intell. I had seen Poke Break on Google Earth and it looked like Bowfin Central. I hoped it would not be chocolate milk. we had to detour around a low water bridge. It was about a foot deep but flowing hard. I opted to turn around and not drown. but before we left I threw a Baby Brush Hog over by a current swept point in the ditch. I got that solid Bowfin thump. Hard hookset, Bowfin jumped and threw the hook. I was excited and mad at the same time. Dave missed a good bite at a culvert, but that was it. We got to Poke Break and it was like a foot high probably, but everything I hoped for. I doubted we would get to sight cast them, but thought we would get it done. long story short. We didn’t. I got a few bass on a Chatterbait. I managed to micro fish one of the Starhead Too minnows. but we gave it plenty of time and we had other stuff to try. Back to the ditches. I caught a small bass. I jept expecting more, but no. walked up a culvert and there was a Grass Pickerel posted up. I quickly rerigged with a trout magnet and dabbled him out of some flooded brush. Rolled down the road to the low water that vexed us earlier. On the way, I spotted some Gar high in the water column. Dave had one that was interested. I had one that totally ignored my fly. I did pick up a nice Largemouth on fly trying for the Gar. nothing at the low water bridge. I watched like a half dozen ppl cross the low water bridge so I manned up and went across. I pushed all my chips to the center of the table and rolled the dice on a Lake Des Arc. A local said he had caught a bunch of bowfin there a few weeks ago. We added another 90 minutes of driving for an hour of fishing. Dave almost got his Lifer Spotted Gar. I added a Black Spotted Topminnow to the annual tally. I appreciate Dave coming down to fish with me. We gave it a lot of effort, but flood conditions and some missed chances for both of us were too much to overcome I guess. We had fun and saw some new water for sure. I added a couple more counties to the ledger and developed some intell that will help me going forward.

I did notice that access was limited to non existent. I apparently love a challenge

I saw that on google maps and I would like to fish it When it's not flooding. Does the water ever get close to clear?

St Francis County in Arkansas. We were fishing around Hunter, AR.

Weather has really screwed us up on this deal. I was totally confident in my Black River backwater. But that got Shut down. Day 2 is officially scrubbed. I love to fish, but I can’t make myself dive 6 plus hours to fish 5 hours in a steady rain and a 15 mph wind. Real Feel is upper 40’s. Dave might fish close to his lodging. I’m not.

It’s kinda weird. The AGFC is still monitoring them closely, but people have gotten so used to them that they aren’t reporting them as much. Snakehead can be found in the ditches alongside the farm fields near Hunter and any creek, slough, bayou, or river might have them. They can get thick in an area and then wane. People on FaceBook have been posting some impressive fish from backwaters of White River and Little Red River. They have been found in sloughs associated with Cache River also.

So much driving. I left the house before 0700. I think we were fishing by 1100. Pointed it towards home at 1700. Got home at 20:30 we fished a weird little place in St Francis County. BFE. It was as advertised. It had bass, Gar, bowfin, and snakehead. I was concerned that two guys waving fly rods in a canoe = broken rods. I fished the long pole from shore, but conventional gear in the boat.I put Dave in the front of the canoe and tried to ease him along letting him take shots in the slope. It was such heavy vegetation that the flyrod thing was difficult . I threw a Jackhammer, Baby Brush Hog, and a Teckle Sprinkle Frog. The frog is the only thing that got bit. missed a couple tentative bites from under the mat. I had a huge blow up waited a second nudged it forward and got the eat. Set and Fish On! But it was a stinkin bass. I fished a little further and got a strange bite where the fish rushed the frog horizontally. Fish kinda pushed the bait away on the strike. I never felt it. A few minutes later I got another hard horizontal strike. This fish seemed larger and struck much harder and got the frog. I set and felt weight fir just a second before it came off. I am pretty sure it was a snakehead and that was a bummer. I did get another massive strike from a bass that I was able to hook and land. We shifted gears and took the boat out of the water and tried a wide variety of areas from shore. Dave spotted a bowfin was able to get an eat. Sadly, Tge bowfin took the fly down, but didn’t fully engulf it. The hook didn’t grab. You are are not going to hook 100% of your bowfin bites, but I really wanted Dade to get that one. tough to be scouting and fishing new water on a compressed day. The fishing was Good, but the catching was terrible. I did get my fish from St Francis county and I did not have to settle for a Western Mosquito fish to do it.

With Dave along, there will be Good pics of my fish if I catch anything I need a Good picture of. And.... Dave takes Good Selfies too.

So, I’m just Full of Great ideas. For the second time, I put the wheels in motion for another Bowfin centric trip. You may remember how my Bowfin Expedition with John at Big Cypress Bayou turned out for me, but at least one of us got bowfin in the boat. If you didn’t catch the trip report, I’ll try to link it. Bowfin trip to Big Cypress Bayou. So Last year I found a Great backwater area that is Full of Fun and unusual fish species. Even a scrub like me managed to catch some of them. I even managed to target and catch a Bowfin on fly. So, this gets @FishNDave ’s attention. I fed the hype train enough that we planned for a Spring Trip. wellllllllll, we committed to the trip being next week and heavy rains have created flood conditions. My special little place is under 10 foot of muddy water. I’ve been looking online, calling lots of AGFC folks, and studying maps /aerial photographs. I am scrambling to find us a place to catch some bowfin. I have pretty firm plans for Day 1. I have lots of ideas for Day 2 and Day 3, but there is no telling where we will fish. This was gonna be an Eastern Arkansas deal, but even money that we end up in Missouri for a day. Will we fish from shore? For Sure! Will we fish from a canoe? Will Do! Will we fish from Waldo? I don't know. You guys need to remember that If Dave can’t catch them on fly, then he will just do without. I want more Bowfin on fly, but I’m not legally nor morally bound to only fly fishing. I’ll fish fly/spin/ and baitcasting. I try to not go anywhere without a micro rod. Dave is traveling down on Monday and may get his Lifer Bowfin without me. I get to start fishing on Tuesday. Dave has also abdicated all responsibility for choosing where to fish. #nopressure One thing is certain: It’s going to be long, hard days with as much driving as fishing with minimal food and sleep. (Iheartfossilfuels). As always, I hope for the Best, but I can handle and survive lots of frustration. Regardless, there will be daily updates starting Monday from Dave or I or both. It should be photo heavy. I only hope we will be able to develop a Scratch and Sniff card to go with the trip report. Hmmmm Swamp Mud My Favorite! Y’all Hide and Watch. It’s gonna be stupid.