Fox Statler

How many of these motors have you heard run?? They are not as noise as a lawn mower. They are quieter than a jet and if you want you can order a special muffler that is even quieter. Besides, exhausting a motor in the water puts the noise in the water where the fish are. Exhausting into the air is not as noisey for the fish and it does not pollute our water with unburned gas and oil.

My knots of preference are the Trilene and Universal knot. When fishing big fish I run the line through the loop on a Universal knot 5-6 times, 4 times on small fish. There may be better knots, but these two are easiest and best for me. Your choices are probably different, but they work well for you.

Brian, Thanks, I might drive up there tomorrow or next Sunday or Monday. I want to look around a little. I will stop in the shop.

Is this a fly fishing tournament?? If so what does it cost to enter??

The growth rate for rainbows at cow shoals is 0.3 inches a year according to the AG&F. It always covered up with people. Its pretty mossy everywhere in the Little Red. The Dissolved Oxygen has been a real problem this year. I haven't heard any good reports about it all of this year.

With a tunnel they will run in less than 4 inches of water. For shallow water running I would suggest an eighth inch (0.125 in) smooth bottom (no keels) and at least 48 inches wide bottom. The 25 horsepower will work on boats from 14 foot to 20. The motor also comes in 35 horsepower. Use the 35hp on boats 16 foot and up. The motors are commercial grade, 4 cycle, air cooled. They run with only half of the prop in the water, they throw a 10 foot rooster tail. They will start the boat off that is sitting in mud. They jump logs. They eat weeds. They are the greatest for duck hunting. They get about eight miles per gallon. The prop is driven by a Kevlar belt rated at 103 miles per hour. They have never broke a prop or a prop shaft. They can hit a rock at 25 miles per hour and not brake or tear the transom off of your boat. They are advertised to go anywhere an air boat will go except dry land. Options include reverse, electric tilt-n-trim, remote steering, rock guard, tall transom, camo paint job.

You know that just about any knot retains about 80% of the line strength, so what makes one knot better than another? The way you tied it. Here are a couple hints that I have found that really make knot tying easier and stronger. First, use monofilament tippet material that has not been exposed to the sun. Fluoro-carbons are not affected by UV rays and will still be in our rivers a 100 years from now. I don't use it. Second, when tying the knot do not tighten the smaller tippets of 8X - 5X. Simply snug the knot and make sure it is tied correctly, the first fish caught on it will tighten it perfectly. Anglers often over tighten it making a flat spot in the tippet which weakens it. Third, if you catch a large fish, cut off the fly and re-tie it on before attempting to catch another fish. The large fish did the same thing that most anglers do, over-tightened the knot creating a flat spot in the tippet material. Quite often after catching a large fish, the very next fish will break the line even though it is a small one because of the damage done by the preceding larger fish. Fourth, when fishing for large browns with small tippet material (8X-6x), use a open loop knot like an improved figure eight knot (an open loop knot should not slide down to the hook-eye but remain open and the knot is stationary). This type of knot will double the tippet where tooth abraision is caused by the browns teeth and give the angler twice the strength of the tippet at this point. Don't worry about the double line being seen by the brown and scaring it away from the fly. The portion of the tippet that flashes the light that the brown see is much farther up the tippet than the knot. Fifth, spit on your fingers before snugging the knot, this will moisten the tippet material and lubricate it so that you don't burn the tippet when snugging the knot. Inspect your tippet after breaking off by looking at it and running it between your lips. Your lips are very sensitive even on the coldest of days and will detect knicks and cuts in the tippet material. Solution: replace the tippet. Look at the tippet where it broke off, if it is stretched and curled on the end the angler exceeded his tippets strength and caused the break off. Solution: use a longer tippet which will put more elasticity in the tippet, use stronger tippet, or a lighter drag, or best of all, a lighter rod. If the knot is still on the tippet after the break off then the hook cut the tippet in the loop of the line that goes through the hook-eye. Solution: buy better quality hooks. Mustad hooks are the worst to cause this type of break off. Practice tying knots. Take a pencil and a piece of light tippet material. Tie a knot to each end of the pencil using the tippet material. Use the same knot but tie it on a good way on one end and a better way on the other. Put the tippet material over a doorknob and pull down on the pencil until one of the knots break. Repeat this until neither knot breaks, you have learned how to tie the knot the best way possible because your knots exceeded the strength of the tippet material. Most line records exceed the line strength by 10-12 times. So when using a one pound test tippet, the angler should be able to land a 10-12 pound fish. All things are possible if you believe you can do it. You set the limits of your abilities because you don't think something is possible. Is a 50 pound fish on 2 pound test line possible? I think so if given the right species of fish, the right water, and the right fly fishing rod and reel. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

Phil, Why don't you tie it with the red thread from begining to end, that way you could leave a little red butt on it? Good fly no matter how you tie though. I like quick and effective flies. Here's one of my favorites. http://www.willowford.net/Fox's%20Worm%20Scuds.html I drop it behind anything of fish it with a small shot about 14-18 inches above it. Is that how you fish your scud? Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

Brian, I carry them in my shop but you can order them online at http://www.staminainc.com/spinnerblades/inline_regal.html. These are the best inline blades because they are real silve and gold finishes which reflect the light better than nickel. For painted inlines this is the link to the premium blade finishes, the chartreuse and black are great for muddy water, http://www.staminainc.com/spinnerblades/inline_premium.html Surprisingly they catch trout as well as bass. I use #1 and #2 size blades. A stiff action four weight rod can cast a #1 blade but you will need a seven weight and bigger for the #2 blades. I need to revise the article that I wrote on them because I make them three ways to adjust them for the types of fishing I do. Light for trout, medium for bass and bigger trout, and heavy for tiger musky and pike. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler P.S. Almost for got the Michigan and Indiana fishermen are using them with great success for Steelhead.

Brian, Loved the pictures on the site. I have fished the Eleven Points for thirty years but only from the Arkansas State line down to the Black River. I made a trip up to Riverton this summer just driving around. When I came home I told her we were going to move there when we retire because the river is so beautiful. I was also interested in the Eleven Points Fly Box. Do you have any pictures you could post or email me of the patterns like the crawdad and the others that are unique to the river. I plan to fish up there a lot this summer, I have built a canoe especially for the small river fishing. Where is the lodge and fly shop at? I missed the address. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

I heard from the a knowing member of the walleye club in Mt. Home, that the walleye fishing in Norfork and Bull is poor because the fish are over 40 feet deep. Ialso heard that the river walleye in the Spring, Eleven Points, and Current is good right now on cloudy days. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

When the Dry Run Creek was first proposed to be open, it was going to be open to everyone, kids and adults. However several people fought the opening. Many people claimed that the big fish in the North Fork were raised in Dry Run and then came out into the river. The AG&F did a mortality study and found out that the trout rarely left the creek and the death rate was a lot less than the river. Even with this information, several fly fishers, spin fishers, and especially bait fishermen fought its opening. At this time I was writing a syndicated bi-weekly column named 'Fishin On the Fly' that was published in five or six newspapers in the area. I must have wrote 25 articles with pictures on the benefit of the creek to youngsters. I would spend my Sundays that I didn't guide taking some kid and his father and or mother up Dry Run to catch some fish so I could take some more pictures. It was a long battle to keep it open but we won. We all should thank Mark Huddy for proposing this idea along with the stocking of brookies, the 16 inch limits on brooks, cutthroats, and browns, and surveying the river and getting the first stocking program for browns. Mark had great vision, too bad they run him off. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

Hey Al, Fox Statler here, Larry Grisham's friend. I provided you some pictures for Arkansas first real trout stamp.

Hi Al, Fox Statler here, Larry Grishams friend.

Troutn, The State Park area is fished the hardest and it is pretty hard wading, granite rocks about the size of basketballs. Don't fish right up next to the dam at the Park. The water from the spring contains so much nitrogen that only Ozark Sculpins and Grass Pickerel can live in it. The Warm Fork of the Spring comes in just downstream from the dam and cures this problem, but the two waters need time to mix. I have fished alot past the island down by the parking lot on the town side of the river. There are lots of mayflies, caddis, crawfish, sculpins, and minnows (the bleeding shiner being the most plentiful). This portion of the river is stocked every Thursday. As you get downstream where Dam #2 used to be the water slows and begins to form the Clear Springs lake. In my personal opinion, I think the biggest fish in the river can be found in the lake. Why? It isn't fished hard and there is plenty of food in the area. There are still several very large Tiger Muskies in the lake. You can often see them lounging around over the weeds. My favorite flies for this area are #6 olive River Bottom Colored Sculpins, Bleeding Shiner Clousers, and Bleeding Shiner Spinner'd Minners. Olive Woolly Buggers also work but I won't use one. Hope this helps. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

If you are looking for solitude, beautiful scenery, and great streamer fishing, the Spring River in Arkansas is the place to be. Since I live only twenty miles from the Spring, I fish it quite often from September to May. Why? Well it's too cold for the weekend canoers, warm weather fishermen, and the summer drunks get frost bite falling in this time of year. While having the whole river by yourself is nice, it is not the reason I fish the Spring in the winter. I winter fish in the Spring for these reasons: Rainbows, Browns, Smallmouth, Shadow Bass, Spotted Bass, Walleye and the occasional Tiger Musky. My favorite stretch of the Spring is from Dam 3 downstream to Bayou Access. This portion of the Spring has lots of fast rushes that empty into deep pools. During the Christmas Holidays I fished from Bayou Access upstream to Needle Eye and back. There was a cold front moving in so the trout fishing was excellent. I caught the majority of my fish on a Spinner'd Minner with a Black Olive back, Electric Banana belly, Gold Holographic Mylar Motion mid stripe, Gold #1 Inline Blade, and a Gold 5/32 bead. If you are not familiar with the Spinner'd Minner pattern you can find it on my site at this link, http://www.willowford.net/Spinner'd%20Minners.html This pattern is always a great producer on cloudy days in the Spring River. The day after Christmas was a wonderful day, I lost four of these to a couple of large Browns and two gigantic Tiger Muskys. One of the Muskys I never raised except for seeing his fleeting tail. The other one (about 45 inches long) did a thirty second tail walk before breaking me off. I would suggest fishing 20# Steel Leader, 13# just doesn't cut the mustard. I caught about 15 Rainbows of 16 inches and 5 Browns about the same size. I am heading there tomorrow and try my luck again. It is suppose to be windy and overcast so the same pattern should work again. If it is a clear windy day a Cop Colored Spinner'd Minner (black back, white belly, silver blade and bead) works the best. I hope ya'll decide to stay at home so I can have the river to myself again. Fishin' What They See, Fox Statler

Fly Reels http://www.willowford.net/Acid%20Test%20fo...%20Article.html Try a $40 Granger, you will love it. New 5 weight rod. Dorber's new 'D Reach Ultra Weave' are going to replace Sage, Winston, Scott, and all the others. They are lighter, stronger, cast with little or no sine waves, don't breakdown during the cast, and are almost unbreakable. I am working with them to make them better. Fox Statler

Did you know that in Europe they do not practice catch-n-release? In England they report the number and size of fish that were taken out and they are replaced with the same size and number. They do practice no cull. However catch-n-release is not as welcomed as it is here. Why? Because of the mortality rate of released fish and they believe the released fish are wiser and harder to catch at first, then become so practice at being caught that do not fight well. I really find no problem with an angler keeping his legal limit that is caught in a legal manner. If it is a problem, then the legal part of fishing needs to be changed, the limit or the method. Often fly fishermen become snobbish, arrogant and better than others. Remember, every angler goes to the river and fishes the best way they know how. If taught a better more productive method of fishing, most anglers will welcome it. The best candidates for new fly fishermen are people that already are fishing some other method. I find that most exceptional fly fishermen started with a cane pole and a Prince Albert can of worms. Few are the great fly fishermen that started off fly fishing. If you teach a good angler how to catch as many fish as he/she wants, soon the desire to keep fish everytime they go fishing is no longer there. Strange isn't it, the more we catch them, the more we respect them, and the more we want to save them for someone else who can enjoy them as we have. Just the opposite of what one would expect. So I suggest that we teach them fly fishing instead of cramming it down their throats. We tempt them by catching more fish than they and soon they will ask to be taught. If they don't ask, they are not ready to be taught yet. Fishing teaches us all humility and patience, if it hasn't taught you that you are not fishing enough. Fox Statler

Hey Phil. Fox Statler here. I tried to post a fishing report on the Spring River forum but I keep getting the error that I don't have permission to start a topic. What did I do wrong???

Hello, my name is Fox Statler and I have been fly fishin' a couple of times. I have caught a couple of trout, a few smallmouth, one or two longeared sunfish. I don't own a woolly bugger. I built a couple rods and guide for a while. Phil said he need some help on the Arkansas Spring River forum and since I have been there and fell in a couple of times he thought I was qualified enough to forumize on it. So look for me over there. Fox, "Mr. Sowbug", Statler P.S. I also own a store called Willow Ford in Mountain Home, AR. We sell Gator-Tail Outboards, Legend Craft Aluminum boats, Spirit River Tying Materials, Fox Statler's Innovative Fly Fishing Instruments (fly rods), Dorber Blanks, Crocs Footwear, Jammer Canoes, and Willow Ford Signature Series Boats and Canoes. I design flies for Spirit River Inc., fishing instruments, boats, and canoes. Our first canoe is a Jammer Riverglide HF (hands free, foot controlled bow mount trolling motorn canoe). Soon to come out is our Skim Jack Boat for both the rivers and lakes. Next we are considering developing catamaran fishing vessel. My web site is www.willowford.net My site is filled with minnow recipes, tying articles, fly fishing articles, boats, motors, canoes, and more. So come visit us.