Ham

So, a few years ago a local Fly Shop came up with a Multi-Species fly fishing tournament. You try to catch each fish that is on the approved list of target species. You can read all about the rules etc on The Ozark Fly Fisher Journal. So, of course, as soon as I hear about it, I start scheming on how to fish it. Apparently, I am a little competitive since I wanted to only fish it IF I could have a respectable chance to win it. Several of the local Big Sticks in the fly fishing community fish it as well as several of the guides. It is not a walk in the park. Some of the big stipulations are no soft plastics, fly rod only, and has to be public water in Arkansas. Two man team and you have to fish “together”. they had an AGFC fisheries biologist doing the official ID work. Bonus points to act as a tie breaker are awarded to each species. The more difficult the fish the higher the bonus points. I conned FishNDave into joining me on the event last Summer and started prepping for the event back in August Last year. I did a lot of pre fishing to determine what species could be reliably caught where and time/distance to travel to these fish. I didn’t always use fly gear, but I did start fly fishing more. well after what seemed like forever this weekend was the tournament. Shotgun start on Saturday at approximately High Noon. Photos of your catches had to be received by 8 PM. Then the Tourney resumed Sunday morning at 0600 and pics had to be received by 12 noon. Saturday after our Shotgun start we drove to the wilds of a Black River backwater slough. I call it the Bowfin Hole. Dave needed a bowfin and we needed one for the tournament. Between last year and this year, I was pretty dialed in. Once on location, it took Dave 2 minutes to land his Lifer Bowfin. Which was a Beautiful Baby Boy.we could have caught a bunch, but we needed to get more species. Things had changed dramatically since I was there on Wednesday. I had multiple gar species biting my flys on Wednesday, but we could get no love. We did rally and get a Bluegill, Redear, and a Crappie. I know many were tiny fish, but in this tournament Size Does Not Matter. I also got a strange fish that I thought was a Redear and the biologist agreed.I had allotted a certain amount of Swamp time and then jump and run to the Spring River. Well, everything went as well as we could have hoped on the Spring River. We had minimal time, but dropped a hammer on them. Day 1 ends and we are in First Place. Felt pretty darn good.so so so after a short nights sleep (5 hours maybe) we rolled to Lake Norfork. I had a bunch of fish and a bunch of species located BUT the water just kept coming up flooded all my fish out. I was VERY disappointed. Dave saved our Bacon with some last minute heroics and got a nice Largemouth Bass. we ran back to the house. Swapped out Waldo for the No Name Canoe. Headed to Crooked Creek to see what we could get. I wanted an Ozark Bass and Smallie for sure with hopes for a Northern Hog Sucker. locals were swimming and fishing with live bait and doing what they do right where I wanted to fish. Part of what you have to work around. we got an Ozark Bass much quicker than I could have hoped and then STRUGGLED to get a Smallie. I was mortified at the prospect of failing to get a Smallie, but at the last minute I got a little Smallie for the needed picture. #crisisaverted At that point, it was all over but the crying and the woulda shoulda coulda. We awaited Final Results as we drove to the Wrap Up Meeting. So, we finished third. 5 bonus points away from Second. We each won a Custom Color Nautalist XM Fly Reel. I had a Great Time! I really wanted to win, but I just didn’t work the mental game well enough. I really would encourage you guys to come play. I’ll do my best to fish it in 2023. Thanks to Dave for being my partner in this endeavor and previous adventures. Next Year.

I’d love to Jeff!

Always Fun to see and fish new places!

Thanks Guys! I’ll be headed into work here in a little bit. Days off coming soon. Plenty of fish on my mind.

#toosoon

only 7 of the 9 days. I wasted the other two.

Lucky for me that I live too far away to participate

Payment is in the mail.

I had friends put a Big Flathead in a pond FULL of small Green Sunfish. Before too long, there was just the Big Flathead. they still could not catch him. I really think putting a Flathead in there would be a terrible mistake, but it would be interesting to see it play out.

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