Davy Wotton

Sadly that is the truth of the matter. The incidence of didy is not so apparent at Norfork, and to be honest here it is only the upper sections of the White below BSD for around 20 miles that it is a problem. By far the trophy zone at BSD has the worst incidence. So far as what you can do to avoid spreading this, very little to be honest. I cannot for one do much about the fact that l trailer my boat from one river to the other and move possible contamination from one system to the other. It can attach to the trailer for one when l leave the White, and then float free again when l use it at the Norfork ramp. It would largely enter the river from Norfork lake to start with. But you can of course, after fishing and when you get home wash off your waders and net. And allow for them to dry off. At least you are one of those that does have some consideration for the issues we have here, many thanks. Davy.

OK, Tom lets go for it and see what the results would be. Davy.

Just had my friend here Kelley Galloup, he reminded me of something l had forgot. Fishing by rod and line and by legal methods is not the reason for the demise of the fish species for the body of water in question if it has the resources of water quality, food base and means to allow those fish to propagate and survive. It may well of course reduce the numbers of fish !! But it will not wipe them out total. Davy.

Tom, You are so right about WD40 gumming up firearm actions, one of my friends had a very costly repair job done for his prized Westley Richards sidelock. It also damaged the stock of that gun. As for its use as means to enhance fish to eat your lure, not sure about that. I would like to see something to convince me of that. That its use does increase the odds in your favor. I do know that aniseed was at one time banned in the UK for course match fisherman and so was hemp seed in some cases. It was considered you would have a advantage with its use. I have no doubt that any additive at some time or the other will be the reason why a fish takes the bait, no different to flies used no matter how awful they are tied, and any other means that a fish can become hooked too. I know of guys back in the UK that would use only chicken guts to catch eels and flounders with, night crawlers worked fine for me. So l guess we all need to soak out flies in a pot of scrambled scuds, crawdads and sculpins. And l would not mind to bet some one will try that one !!! You never know what may happen. Davy. http://davywotton.com

I am not going to choose sides here either with Moose or the moderator concerned. But will add this. Within the guide community here on the White river, river talk runs fast. Each and very one of us may well have some personal issues with another, one way or the other, that is human nature. As a general rule we all get along one way or the other, the river is like the factory floor in many respects. There is also if you like accepted practice in the way guides expect to be treated by way of using their customer base for referrals to accomodations in the area. And also how trout docks, lodges also there after work with either the guides they hire or the clients that are housed by the resort. And that mainly relates to financial issues and soliciting to take that customer base away from either guides or places that provide accommodations. And in some cases l well know that that has not been dealt with in a right and proper manner. You do not hand out business cards when working for another for one. The use of a site such as this or any other for promoting your business activity by using names and so on should not take place. And more so if those persons names used are not aware of the fact that they are being used for that purpose. However, where do you draw the line. Believe me, l have had some of that in the past myself, in in some cases to the law courts. I may well write a post here on this site or any other, only to find that it has been used for a site l am not associated with, copyright !! without my consent or permission. I am not so concerned with issues of say a general nature here by the way, so do not think l am over the top with this, as l am not. What ever l write in general l have no issue with for use. In the case of promoting your own business activty, then pay what it takes to do it. And if you feel inclined set up your own board and make your own personal choices so far as deleting posts you do not care for. Accept that if you write something for another they may also have the right to delete that post. Davy. http://davywotton.com

Lost my post.Continued. Why on earth is something not being done. Why should it be that concerned citizens have to front organizations to bring the issues to public attention, and even then what percentage of the public at large really does care. I know l have said this before and l will say it again. Remove from the Rivers all fish stocked within the past 6 months and see what you have left. You will have a rude awakening, certainly there will be some fish out there, but bear in mind, at least for the BSD tailwater and Norfork we are talking some 100 miles or more of water. What are we left with, 2/3/4 100 fish per mile !! A good fishery would be well able to support 3000 or more per mile, in some cases 4 to 6000. That number of fish could not sustain long term life here. It is the constant harvesting and restocking that largely maintains the fishery, at least so far as making it worth while to go fish and cast a fly or by what ever else means you choose to fish. It is unable to sustain good fish growth and long term survival, at least for the Bows, we all know that a large Brown can use the food base of stocked trout, they are the minority by far. For myself, not only have l made a living from fly fishing for near on 40 years, l also have great concernes for the enviroment that those fish need to survive within. Like l say, it is a sad state of affairs, and to say the least the approach to deal with the on going decline is pathetic. At least that is the way l see it at this time, at least so far as water quality issues are concerned. Certainly we have some forward direction so far as developers are concerned, it remains to be seen the out come. Davy. http://davywotton.com

Hi guys, My original post as read here was in response to another post that grossly exaggerated the real situation here on the White and Norfork rivers, frankly l have no time for that kind of BS or any other that in some way promotes a belief that all is well and we have rivers swarming with trophy fish. As many of us know, that is far from the truth. I was not fishing here in the hay days. But many of my friends were. Such stories have been told of the fish that were found here in those times. No doubt the issues of water quality were not then as they are now, neither was the pressure of fishing through the 100 miles system as it is now. Interesting that the record Bow for the White was caught way below Calico at that time. As the now President of the Friends of the Norfork National Fish Hatchery, l have had plenty of opportunity to discuss with Ken the manager ,how the hatchery was managed in the past, which interested me, such as the stocking policies by fish weight or numbers way back. Which by to days numbers were way less. I have in my life time seen the demise and the resurrection of fisheries to become what they are to day, and l have also seen waters l used to fish disappear for ever, due to water abstraction. And l know many of you who read this would have also, be they warm or cold water environments. On the other side of the coin we also have man made environments that are stable and those that are not. And the essence of that is due to having both good water quality, a sufficient food base and regulations related to conservation in which ever direction they are required for all species that thrive within that environment. The sad state of affairs here for the White river system is that the causes of the problems are well known, they did not appear last year, with the exception for the past few years of didy. Despite one individual who maintains it was here 20 odd years ago. It was not. There may well have been some other algae on the substrate, but it was not didy, for if it was the effects would have been well documented and known about way back. It will be very interesting to see the outcome in the law courts so far as the Overlook estates issue is concerned. Will he be made to pay, who knows at this point in time, that remains to be seen. In so far as the rivers suffering from the continual effects of bad water quality, here again l fail to understand why, given that the folks at AGFF are well aware of the situation why something is not done in some way to correct the problems, other than l realise the political BS and all else that is related. Something is screwed up here when you think about it. Chain of command, who gives a s---, deal with it by what ever means is necessary, at what ever the cost is. If this is considered to be, which it is, a valuable resorce for tourist and community activty. W

In past years l have worked for many of the high end fly shops in Germany. I assume it is trout fishing you are looking for here. That is not so easy to find and obtain access. Much of it is private and in some cases very costly. Many Germans travel to Norway and Denmark to fly fish. Also fly over to UK and Ireland to trout fish. Rudi Heger owns very good fishing on the river Traun, and you could also travel down to Austria also there good fishing but costly for the day. My friend Roman Moser has a fly fishing operation there fishing the traun and other rivers. Eric Brinkhoff owns a fly shop also, and you could contact him for further directions as to what is available. I trout fished many palces in Germany, but cannot recall the exact places that l was taken too for the fishing. Davy. http://davywotton.com

Have not used the stuff Rio imports, the brand l use is Optima, from Germany. By the way, some clients we have to up grade to 6lb BS or more to avoid break offs !! Davy. www.davywotton.com

Rob, I only use one knot and that is my Davy knot, do not underestimate its strength. I have hooked and landed many trophy fish in my lifetime using this knot and fine tippet, 6/7x and 8x at times. There is no knot that is 1005 perfect, and when fishing with real fine tippet, you are not going to land them all. I would suggest that you spend some time while in the house during this cold spell paractising to tie your knots. Always moisten a knot before you snug it taught. And when you have done so give it a test to make sure there is no slip. The only other explanation is you may well be using way too much force with your hook sets, that costing you the fly and the fish. You will figure it out.. Davy. www,davywotton.com

Guys, I have written a great deal about this subject matter in the past. So a quick recap here from my point of view. Why do l use yarn. It can be seen at great ranges in any water conditon from flat glass to high wave, provided you have, color visibility and the yarn qty used is balanced with the terminal rig, and weight, be it fly or added is the deal here. You can fine tune yarn to sit at degree of angle, that will show you the most subtle of takes from a fish. I dislike personaly hi vis indicators, as often as they can spook fish or draw the attention of the fish away from the fly. My choice of yarn colors are white, cream, gray, olive, tans, brown etc. It will land on the surface without causing either a splash or a audible plop And so on. There is a wide choice of yarn out there, some of which l would never use. You will have more or less two types of material, nylon or poly. Both have value. Some of the 0 ring type indicators are produced with very coarse poly, they do have a place, but as a rule when fishing high water situations and when larger flies and weight are used. They are in my book no use for fishing slower shallow water zones, or when small flies and delicate takes are the order of the day. The type of yarns l use contain very fine filaments. That alows for the filaments to be attached tofine diameter tippet, 7/8 x at times. In some cases the addition of Mucilin or Aqua will enhance floatability. In others they can be prior treated before you fish and are ready to go as such. The bottom line is this, yarn can be fine tuned, and maintain high visibility both at short and long ranges. I do have material that l have used for years myself. If you go to the Fly South website, which is a fly shop in Nashville, they have a yarn, that takes some beating and available in sombre shades. On the matter of how far you should place a indicator from the fly. I do not ever use the principle fo 1.5 times the depth of water. For these reasons. Unless you are wading in shallow water it not always easy to know the exact depth, and in the case of drift fishing it will vary every yard or so. What is need is a happy medium. The trick to setting up the rig is simply 3 factors. Diameter of line used. weight added related to distance from indicator. In the case of drift fishing the boat will move with the current, wade fishing differs here, as you have only a short period of productive drift. Fine diameter line enhances a quicker sink rate. Weight is the key to get the fly down. The indicator used must be able to support the weight and drift factors without sinking. In the case of wade fishing, which is as a rule what the majority of guys do. I may well be fishing in 2ft of water. There are times l will have a indicator fixed 6ins from the fly, in others 3 to 4 ft away from the fly, and l relate that to how the fish wish the fly to be presented. You may well find when midge fishing that the fish will more so rise to take pupa as they are rising to emerge, and look for pupa within 6 ins to the surface. At other times, they wish to see the fly at depth, and having a indicator too close to the fly will draw the fishes attention from your fly, so in this case it needs to be well away from it. To be honest here by the way, l will likely not use a indicator, when fishing these situations. I will sight fish or use a greased up tippet, as that is way less likely to alarm wary fish. And l will use a very long leader/tippet section, at least 12ft or more. Particularly in cases such as BSD when the water is at low level, and the fish are sipping and taking micro chironomids. In 6ins of water close to the shorlines. You will be surprised at the difference this can make. There is no doubt in my mind that one of the reasons why many have problems catching fish is that they do not have a balance in the way they have the rig set up. Typically a big bulky indicator is not condusive to fishing shallow, slow moving clear water with small flies. Not having when fishing deeper faster water flows sufficient weight added to get the fly down to start with. Not for the period of drift having the fly fish at the productive zone for long enough. Using a indicator that does not allow for good take detection. Not all fish will sink a indicator. There are many more reasons granted. You will be surprised how small changes can dramatically change the day. One added no 6 shot can do that. Reducing the diameter of the line you are using. Fine tuning or using the right indicator. Extending leader/tippet length etc. I will bethe speaker at the Boliver Fly Fishing day, 17th Feb. This will be one of my topics. Tight lines guys. Davy. www.davywotton.com

AK. if you can get that blank for 200 go for it, well worth it. I will buy it for that myself. let me know if you do not want it OK. Cost you less than 50 bucks for rod fittings, if you can build it your self. I have the 10ft XP series in 4/5/6 myself. They are great rods, and the 6wt certainly does have many uses here on the white as well as most other waters, rivers or lakes. Davy

AK, call Rick Pope at TFO, they will take your rod back and sort that problem for you. Or the dealer you purchased it from. The cork problem will only get worse as time goes on. Robert. I use long rods most of the time, 10ft as a rule and up to 11.6, these are single handed rods not double handed, Spey they call em here in the US. A single handed long rod will allow you more or less to do anything cast wise that you wish, in many cases way better than a shorter rod. It also allows for me to fish and control how l fish my flies, that you cannot do in the same way with a short rod, that is a fact. The interesting thing about the longer rods is that the casting stroke has to be adjusted to the slower action, saying that long rods will also allow very long casts to be made, 100ft is not out of the question either. They can also allow you to cast very accurate presentations, amongst other things. So far as wind is concerned, l would rather have a long rod in my hands over and above a short one, at least for general trout fishing, saltwater would differ, but here l would not be using 6x and 20 hook flies. Davy. www,davywotton.com

Robert, I have nothing to say but good things about TFO, they are great value for money, no doubt of that. I have a bunch of them, granted TFO are one of my sponsors. In fact l worked with them to produce the new 11ft 5wt. The Ticrx series are unreal rods for the money. They have great casting performance and positive actions, provided you match the line weight correctly for the rod in question. Which is often a issue with performance rods to day. Davy.

Robert, TFO, had a range of rods before Lefty moved to them from Sage. Jerry Siem is the rod designer for Sage, after Don Green. If anything the SP series that Jerry designed was the first series of rods with new technology and advancement. Many more have followed on since that time What really takes place in the industry is this, that the rod companies will pay a well known to endorse the products, hoping that will influence the market to buy their products, it does not follow that the person in question has much imput so far as the product design, but the company may well listen to you for recomendations. I know this from personal experience as being a paid endorser myself in the past. My friend Dave Whitlock has recently moved to Loomis from Sage. Davy Wotton. WWW.davywotton.com.

Midge fishing, and choice of hook size to use. There is no doubt in my mind that midge fishing, or shall we say when the food base is small is overall the most demanding of fly fishing skills, at least for trout, and the reason it is is that there are so many variables that can apply here. In the first place, as a rule the food base be it midge, mayfly, broadwings etc, will cause the fish to be looking within a very small window or zone of vision. There may also be the choice by the fish to take that food base as emergers, or emerged, be they chironomids, sub imago, or other, which may also be terestrials such as ants, aphids etc. You never know at times what the fish may do, they may well take a size 16, even if the natural food base is a 22, on the other hand they may not. My way of thought, and l love midge fishing, is to watch the fish and see what they are doing as that will tell me what l need to know. The food base concerned and how they are taking it, from that point on l will determine how l will make up my system to catch those fish, and from what position l will wish to make my presentations, as that is, if not more important than the fly at times, one that many go way wrong with. If you allow the fish to become aware of your presence you may never catch them, even though they still continue to feed, unless you do put them down or spook them off. further to that, l also wish to fish very light fly lines, l will use a 3 or a 4wt with a 5wt rod, distance is not a consideration here, and a light line is way less adverse to spooking surface feeders here. And other reasons such as reduced effects of drag when fish are hooked and so on. That avoids losses by hooks pulling out for one, it also allows for a more speedy hook set. Longer leader/tippet configurations are overall a must and also fishing with 6 or 7, and at times 8x long tippet sections, as much as 4 to 6ft at times. You may not think that this makes a difference, believe me it does, after more than 45 years fishing for trout around the world l have learned many things to my advantage. Accepted that your fly choice is also is also important. One very good tip l will give you is this. If you frequent zones that are fished by many, the odds are many will be fishing the same fly, in the case of midge, typically zebra and stuff like that, aim to use other fly patterns as fish do become wised up. The larger fish here at BSD are well wised up l can tell you at times, and the kind of flies that l use l know no one else has. In the case of what size l will use, the answer to that one is years of experience, but as a rule look at it like this. If the fish are taking emerger midges flies less than 20 are the best bet, if they will take a pupa well below the surface 18 to 20s. Avoid the urge to move the fly, overall the best results from fishing micro midges is to let the fish find the fly, which it will if you allow it to do so. Often as not these fish will cruise around in shallow calm water looking up ward, the can see a pin head, your fly presents no problem. If you move it at the wrong time, you will often spook them. write more on this subject later. Davy Wotton. World wide fly fishing. www.davywotton.com.

Chioce of fly lines, as bad as making a choice for which rod. Bottom line is this, the fly line used with a given rod needs to be compatable with it. If you are more or less fishing for trout and possibly smaller warm water species then the choices are well narrowed down. Saltwater fishing does require more consideration of lines to deal with water temps, large flies and species etc. And that would also be the case for the larger freshwater species, pike, stripers, salmon and fish of that nature. In the case of general trout fishing , the dry line is your no 1 choice here. Accepted that there are many configurations of profile out there, but unless you are into casting ranges in excess of 60ft do not let that bother you. A dry line will cover you for at least 80% of the fishing you will do. Intermediate, sinking and sink tips will make up for the other 20% Most trout caught are within 40ft, and the only major consideration is profile of that line for the first 40ft, by that l mean, front end taper. Look at it like this. If you want the best options for delicate turnover and presentations then you want a line with a long front end taper. This is ideal more so for fishing shallow water, small flies, midge, scuds, dry, emergers etc. If you wish to fish larger flies such as wooly buggers and nymph rigs with weight then short forward tapers are the better. But saying this, there is of course a difference for the same line between a 3wt and a 6wt. As a general rule here a 5wt line with either taper will work for most trout fishing scenarios. And there are many out there. You will not go far wrong with SA or Courtland lines to be honest. SA produce very good lines at a moderate price for your needs. I know this issue is very confusing to many fly fishers, but in reality it is not. To be honest for the majority they will fish only at moderate ranges to start with, and like l say the issue of lines that do allow, if you have the ability to cast long ranges, is not needed. www.davywotton

No doubt, TFO are great rods, they are one of my sponsors. Have a bunch of them, the pro series are well worth the money the Ticrx even more. Davy.

No doubt about that in my book either, a high end fly fly is well worth the money. Matters not if l am fishing at 10 or 100ft. I am not saying l would use my high end lines for perch jerking on some of the warm water creeks we have here, as there is not a need for such a line here. Good lines are a pleasure to cast and fish with, if you can appreciate the difference. Davy.

What Steve posted is right , forget it, l have a ton of flies out there that I have innovated over the years produced by commercial companies. They pay me a royalty check each month for the percentage of sales they make for those flies. If you have innovated something you believe is unique, publish it before some one else comes up with something similar. Davy.

Correct, these are UK style midge, we call them buzzers over there by the way. They have been around for a very long time. Chironomids are a very important food base for trout in still waters. As a rule they are also way larger than you typically find on river systems, anything from a size 14 hook to as much as a size 8 round bend. It was a friend of mine who came up with the superglue buzzer concept, and that was mainly due to allow for the fly to sink at a fast rate. You cannot add lead without taking away the thin profile of the pupa. Competition fly fishing is a big deal also in the UK, and you are not allowed to use lead or bead head flies. So far as how effective such flies here are concerned, very much so. I use them all the time. You also have to adapt to the fishing conditions at the time. A low water scenario at the dam, would as a rule determine using very small pupa and emergers, high water flows are a different matter. So far as zebra midges, well like many other flies they are at this time the favoured fly. I know the dam zone at Taney is way different to BSD at my end. Fish are not stocked at BSD,and there is a higer percentage of larger fish here. If you want to catch the better fish at BSD you will need more than a zebra to do that on a consistant basis. The naturals vary in both color and size to start with, not only that the fish may have a choice between taking rising/emerger/adult midge, you have to be able to cover all of those, and one fly is not going to do that. Fish wise up to the same old fly, l Can guarantee you that one, particularly the better fish, stockers are a different deal, until they also wise up. If you check back on John Wilsons site l did post some images of the type of pupa that l use here below BSD, and for the rest of the river. One very good tip l will give you is this. Fish long leader/tippet configurations, at least 12ft if not more at times, to 6 or 7x, which is needed at times to fool fish, they can see any filament you use, be it FC/MONO/COPOLYMER. The choice of filament used is also very important. Davy.

Fly rods, for sure are to some extent a very personal item. My first rod was in fact a Sharpes 88 bamboo, perfect for the stream techniques of fishing in the 50s and 60s. Then came along the stillwate scene and my trusted 88 did not have the means to allow for long range casting, 80ft plus at times. Deal with monster Bows and Browns that would take off 30 to 50 yards of line at times. From then on l fished with Hardy fibatube, rods till the innovation of carbon fiber. The first rod of that kind l obtained in 1974. What a revelation to say the least. How things have changed to day. How does the average guy make a choice. I know what l demand from a rod given the technique l choose to use. There is no rod out there that allows for all variables of choice. What l reguire for fishing midges and light lines is one thing, what l demand for throwing 100ft and streamers is another. Are your options dictated by price, what species you intend to fish for and so on. l have to say that l am very pleased that l am not entering the fly fishing world to day. I cannot pretend to imagine what mind boggling thoughts one has to suffer. Given the options of choice out there. I know this for certain, l could still catch fish with a bamboo pole cut from the bank side, but it would limit me to some extent. Davy.

What ever next. Saliva weakens knots, that is about the last thing that would concern me. i wonder how that factor was established, nonesense, even if it was true. I wou;d have more concern about the quality of the metal used for the hook. In the majority of cases it is the human element that is the weak link, one way or the other when it comes to the loss of fish. My DVD is available via my web site, for those of you looking for it guys. http://www.davywotton.com Davy.

Terry, Yes, know of that castle, rampant with wenches and goings on. Some great cheese comes from Cheshire, the original chedder, and not the procesed crap you get to day. Check to see if your family name has a coat or arms. Were they of a knignted order or peasants. If they were, knighted you can trace that back some. DW.

Yes, that is about right how line is stored, same thing also for a fly line that is not used often, also related to how it was produced by the way here. Often during fishing, particulary fly fishing you will cause a line to twist and that aggrivates the line to stay straight. Same thing can happen with a fixed spool reel of low quality. It is very good regular policy to strip say 60ft from the reel and while holding the end of the fly line stretch it. Needs tow of you of course. The other means is to find something round that will not damage the line, place the line over that object amd walk back releasing line from the reel, 30ft gives 60ft of line. Wing mirror works good, and fence posts, not some ones neck by the way !!! Like wise if your line has a tendancy to twist you can reverse that twist. Do that by , as much line as you can deal with. 20/30/40 ft Swing the line above your head with a circular motion as such, using the rod of course, clockwise if you are right handed, counter if left handed. That will twist the line in the opposite direction. Take the fly off first by the way. It is caused by a number of things, but due mainly to how you are casting. Memmory with a leader can also be dealt with if you draw the leader through your warm hands, but do so with care as you can cause burns and cutts doing this. IOt is the heat and tension applied that will sort it. Will not work so well if the temps are too low. Do it before you go fish. I will write something added here later for fly lines. Davy