Danimal

This past weekend my wife Bobbi and I loaded up the gear and our two dogs Buddy and Caddo, then headed to one of our favorite Western Arkansas smallie streams. We took separate cars to allow us to run our own shuttles. After arriving Saturday morning, we set up camp at a nice but little known campground along the river, then drove my truck w/canoe up to the put-in for the 7 mile float back to camp. Bobbi caught a nice little 14 incher just down from the put-in and I followed it with a slightly smaller one.The action continued with several fun but small fish. About a mile in the dogs decided to jump from the canoe and go for a swim (never fails). They made their way to the nearest gravel bar while Bobbi and I fished the deep pool we were in. A few minutes later I felt a tug and set the hook on a beautiful 19 incher. After a great fight I landed the fish and cheesed for a photo. Just as I released the fish, our dog Caddo (named for the river he "found us" on a couple of years ago) fell to his left side at waters edge and began wailing hysterically while holding his right-front paw in the air. Bobbi looked at me and said "Oh s#!+ I think he got snake bit", so we paddled over as fast as we could. When we got to him he wouldn't let us touch his paw. Within two minutes he wouldn't let us touch anything on the entire leg. We guessed it must have been a very small cottonmouth or copperhead because we couldn't find a bite wound. At that point, we got the dogs in the canoe and headed for camp. Within 20 minutes or so his front right leg was twice the size of the left one,but when we got to camp an hour and a half or so later he was actually starting to put weight on it. We drove to a nearby mountaintop for cell-phone service and made some calls to people in the know who said due to the lack of a visible bite wound it probably wasn't severe -- give him benadryl and keep an eye on him, so we did. as time went by he started to put a little more weight on it. He slept in the tent with us that night and snored a lot. By morning he was getting around a little better but was limping and the leg was still pretty swollen, So Bobbi opted to run shuttle for Buddy and I and then get Caddo back to Ft. Smith and the comforts of home. Day two consisted of lots of small to medium brownies (except for the 18+ incher that broke my line on a root wad in a swift run),a 17 inch largemouth, and some spotted bass that are in my belly as I type this. Caddo is still limping and a little swollen, but was moving pretty fast when I called them in while this mornings storms approached. Quite a weekend. Dan-o

It usually takes about 45 minutes from the time of the first horn for the rise to hit the Watts area. My guess is you probably got there just after the horn stopped blowing then crossed the river just as the water arrived. Whenever I fish the Watts area, I always drive up to the dam first to check things out. Hope this helps. Dan-o

I'd go with the 6# to better handle weighted flies or split-shot. Water's still pretty cold so you may need to fish somewhat deep. Might even want to use a sink-tip line if you have one. Hope this helps. Good Luck. Dan-o

A few years ago me and a buddy were fishing on the Elk when I managed to cast my countdown Rapala over a tree limb. Carelessly, I gave it a good yank, at which point lure flew towards me and lodged the front treble hook firmly in my upper left butt cheek. I knew the fishing line trick, but the lure was in such an awkward place that I couldn't perform it on myself and I didn't trust my buddy to perform it correctly. At that point I decided on plan B, which was for my buddy to cut the hook at the shank and then push the point on through (yeah, it hurt). What made the situation even funnier is the fact that, as some of you may know, a rather busy highway runs right along the Elk river. Sure enough, as I stood there hunched over on the gravel bar, hands on knees, with my buddy apparently doing something to my butt with a pair of needle-nose pliers, a group of kids drove by and honked at us and yelled something that's considered politically incorrect by today's standards. I won't type it here but it rhymes with "BAGS!!!". In hindsight (no pun intended), it reminded me of the scene in that Austin Powers movie where he and the blond chick were in the tent together, but in this case it wasn't a hot blond, unfortunately, it was a dude. Dan-o

Rick shuttles my vehicle occasionally and is a really good guy but I have to disagree with him on this. The problem on the Ouachita is NOT due to a lack of gravel mining. The problem, like Justin said, is stream bank erosion in the upper watershed (well above where Rick runs his canoes). Since I started fishing that river in the early 80's, I can take you to at least a half dozen locations where the river is roughly 3 times wider than it was back then. Some of this is actually a RESULT of hit and run mining, but for the most part, it's simply bad property stewardship by landowners. I stood slack-jawed one day about 10 years ago when I personally watched a 15 ft. high, 60 to 80 yd long, 4 ft. wide section of dirt embankment just fall off into the river (glad I wasn't wading under it). When I first started going there, it would take the river 4 or 5 days to clear up after a good rain, now it takes 8 or 10. I've also noticed that I catch more spotted bass and fewer smallies than before. The spots are not invasive in that river, but I think the habitat is changing in favor of them. I've decided to float the river this coming spring and mark problem areas on a map, then contact Steve Filipek and the Arkansas Stream Team to see if something can be done(I regret not doing this years ago). It won't work if the landowners don't agree to it, but at least I can say I tried. Dan-o

I use a 6# Launch for all my smallie flyfishing. I personally find it to be the best compromise; light enough to keep things fun on the smaller fish, but just heavy enough that I can throw anything on it (though it ain't always pretty). It even handles a 12 ft. sink-tip pretty well. Oh, and it handled this 19 incher caught on a Hada creek crawler in late October just fine. Dan-o

Daddy-o is spot on in his description -- as far as numbers go it's a really good river. I caught about 30 or so yesterday from one spot swinging soft hackles before giving it up to a gentleman who happened along. When I walked back by him about an hour later while heading to the car, he said he picked up 21 on an olive bugger. Your numbers will go down on the Mountain fork, but if you want a shot at a 20+" rainbow that's the place to go (especially if you can hit it during the week). Hope this helps. Dan-o

Is that a stickbait yer pocket, or are ya just glad to see me?

She actually had a bit of a belly on her (like me). I guessed her weight to be about 2 pounds. I've caught a few over there, but none over about 12 inches. She hammered a #18 soft hackle (gray) on my second cast of the day. I was pleasantly surprised. Dan-o

Did he happen to say what size the browns are when stocked? I caught (and released) a 16 incher Christmas day in the riffle upstream of the stocking tube. I am wondering how long it's been in the river. Dan-o

Ditto. Dan-o

Just got from the Watts area.Caught 20 or so mostly on #18 zebra midges. Also caught a couple of pretty nice ones on a small egg pattern right under the power line. Dan-o

Caught Mofro in Fayetteville Saturday night, as always a great show. Dan-o

JJ Grey & Mofro will be playing at George's in Fayetteville Dec. 4th. Seen em many times and it's always a great show. Dan-o

Indeed there are. Had one on my foot after fishing the Elk a couple of years ago. It was about an inch long and I didn't even notice it until I was taking off my sport sandals about an hour after leaving the water. Peeled it off with a knife then couldn't get it to stop bleeding for another half hour. Itched for about 3 days. Dan-o

Nice fish you guys (& gals)!! Been wanting to fish that section for a while. Maybe Bobbi & I can get together with ya'll before it gets too cold. Thanks for sharing. Dan-o

I fished the upper for the first time this past weekend and wound up with just a few small spotted bass on a hellgramite pattern.I hear there are some good smallies in the river but here is the problem -- that river is a nightmare to wade. It's mostly solid bedrock that pushes up diagonally then drops back off into deep water every 20 or so feet. If the river were high enough to float right now I'm sure you could get to some good fish but it needs at least another half foot to be floatable. I usually pride myself on being able to bushwhack farther than most but I literally wore myself out at 2 different access points over the weekend (went about a mile and back each day). I saw lots of worm boxes and such at both places which might explain the poor fishing. You might want to check with Sid or the folks at Three Rivers Fly Shop to see if they know of any other access points on the upper. As for the lower, the Evening Hole offers your best shot at a big fish. I've caught several 3 to 5 lb rainbows on basic #16 and #18 zebra midge type stuff. If that doesn't work bounce a small crawfish pattern along the bottom. Oh, and if you find any good fishing on the upper, please let me know. I hope this helps. Good luck. Dan-o

I know where that is. Don't worry, I won't tell. Dan-o

Never tried that but always wanted to. Let me know what you find out. Dan-o

Welcome. Lots of great info here. Dan-o

I went to the watts area sunday at about 11:oo AM and started fishing about 11:30 then the horn sounded so I fished a little while then drove home. When I looked at the guage last night it looked like they only released about 130 CFS from noon till 6:00 PM.What's up with that? Dan-o

Great report. Thank you for sharing. Dan-o

Cool pics.

Arrowhead campground to Glenwood.Discussed it with another guy who was floating downriver and he said he saw a pod of rainbows taking bugs on the surface so there were definitely a few in the river. I don't think they could survive the summer due to warming water temps. Dan-o

I caught a rainbow on the Caddo a few weeks ago. Maybe they stock them in Lake Degray. The only other scenario I can think of is if the towns of Glenwood or Norman put on a fishing derby of some sort and have a few stocked. Dan-o