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Today was a good day on BTW. While over all it was slow, there were periods of steady strikes. Not as much feeding on top or in the film. My sowbug did very well, about 2/3's of my catches. The other 1/3 on a pheasant tail. Brassies were of no help. I have to say that several of the fish were thick and in the 12+ range. Not many dinkers. Very fun. And to top it all off, there was a little comic relief around 230pm. Just check out these photos below. It was about 50 degrees today. I guess this guy didn't need waders.

My friend Trey snapped these photos yesterday (3/3/06) on BTW just below the Dam. This eagle stayed within 50-75 yards of him for about 2 hours. At one point when Trey walked away from his stringer, the bird swooped down and hovered over it for a few seconds and then flew away. It was both the strangest and amazing experience he'd ever had while fishing. Enlarge them to see some great detail.

If you don't take your kids fishing more, they may start doing this around the house....haha. (actually this is pretty cool). http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HSoVKUVOnfQ

That is a lot, and with the food source as limited as it is, the average size trout wasn't much to talk about. Hopefully with fewer stocked, the average size will increase over time. We're keeping our fingers crossed.

If anyone needs to see a map of the no bait zone, as well as other info on river management topics on Beaver, check out this link: http://www.planford.org/beavertroutmanagement.html

Packman I'm not so sure that's correct. The only "no-bait" section is the former "catch-n-release" zone (between the lower end of camping area C and extending a few hundred feet passed Crane Roost Bluff). Is fallcreek in this area? If so, then using bait is illegal. Sounds like they were fishing up by the boat ramp just below the Dam. Bait fishing is allowed there.

I guess I'm too lazy! I just use my ultra light for trout and since I release them anyway, why not just permanently alter the hook? But that's just me. But replacing the hook would clearly be the way to go if you plan to use a particular lure elsewhere. Thanks for the hook recommendation. I will pick up some for just that purpose.

This is a pic of a Rapala countdown per 2006 regulation modifications- Removed the upper treble hook and then clipped 2 of the 3 remaining hooks on the tail treble and smashed the barb. Not an easy thing to do after paying upwards of $5 for such a lure....but hey, it still catches fish!

No, it's not permanent. I simply undo the ratchet strap and it pops right off. It's much safer than loading the boat in at an angle and then tying it down and driving 65 mph. I can put equal pressure all around the boat with the bunge cords, thus making it more secure.

For those of you who fish out of a one man pontoon boat, maybe this idea will be of some use to you. It does require a truck bed with internal hooks and a ratchet strap to properly attached it to the front of the truck bed (DO NOT ATTEMPT TO SECURE RACK TO TRUCK WITH BUNGE CORDS!!). The lumber to build this cost about $25. I used it all summer without any problems. My boat only weighs 60 lbs. assembled, so it doesn't require much to support it. However, I do secure the boat to the rack with bunge cords. And no, Tim "the tool man" Taylor is not my uncle! Below is the end result of all your efforts.

Brian, I've only been to Taney once and I took a look around to see where would be a good place to put in. I just don't know enough about the area. At a later time, please email me and let me know some particular put in and take out points below the dam. I live in Springdale AR, so it's about a 2+ hour drive for me, and any info. would save me a bunch of time when I got there. As far as transporting my boat, I built a special rack for my truck and it sits on it with bunge cords holding it securely on. Never had any problems. Plus, the rest of my gear can be stowed in the bed of the truck below the boat. -Patrick

Brian, When I purchased my boat in '01, they only had pontonns in the 8' and 10' sizes. About a year later the guy who build my boat merged with another company. My point is that now all they build are bigger boats with 10' and 12' pontoons. I haven't seen my particular style of boat on their website since then. I too was thinking about going to a 10' pontoon. But I bet if I called the guy, he could replace the pontoons I have now with the exact same ones. The cost to do so would be about $500. Big bucks I know. The guy who build my boat started out making them exclsively for an Alaskan guide service back in the mid 80's. They are rated for class 3 whitewater as well. No other one-man pontoon boat (as far as I know at any rate) on the market has that high a rating, if any at all. Moreove, the pontoons themselves measure 18" in dia. All others measure only 16". The 10' and 12' pontoons measure 19" in dia. This provides more stability and keeps more of your leg out of the water, thereby staying warmer. I'll check out the out site you posted just to see any new product lines. I've been very happy with mine. Here's a close up pic. -Patrick

I've been using my one-man pontoon boat since '01 and it's great. I highly recommend it. However, there are some things to remember. First, don't be cheap. Be prepared to spend $800-$1200. You always get what you pay for (or so I believe), and the last thing you want is to be in a cheap rig when the water rises or if an unexpected situation occurs. I've seen cheaper boats on the market, but my peace of mind and safety are worth more than $500. Second, if you do buy one, practice fishing out of it in low water conditions first so as to get used to controling the craft and rowing it around the water. Fishing out of a pontoon boat takes some getting used to, so be paitent. Third, make sure your craft has a fly rod holder and anchor system, unless you don't mind dropping that $500 rod to the bottom of the river or getting blown around like a kite on a windy day. You'll thank me later for mentioning these. Finally, I've used my boat on the Beaver, Norfork, White, and Little Red rivers. The White, however, is a special case. Since it has 8 units, be very careful. I would be weary of floating with any more than 4 units running...the current becomes too swift. Check with the locals there to get a better idea of just how fast the current can get. This past summer a friend of mine and I floated/fished Norfork with 2 units. It was the fasted ride of my life! Just know your river conditions and your skills. My boat has put me in some great spots and I've caught lots of fish in it. You won't regret it. Check out (shameless plug coming up) www.blackbearpontoons.com In my opinion, these are the best on the market hands down. They're good people to work with. Quality product. Good luck.

My story is not so much about what happened, but instead about what was said. Some 4 years ago I introduced my wife to fly fishing. She was a fast learner and we managed to avoid divorce court in the process. However, I failed to explain clearly the names of the different flies. Not long afterwards, we went fishing on a nice, warm Saturday morning. It was fairly crowded as you can imagine. We were about 15 or so yards apart. A fish had just broken her off. She had been fishing a beadhead sowbug. She checks her fly and then turns down river and yells to me (and in front of everybody on that stretch of river), "Sweetie, I need another one of those sowpig things." Heard lots of chuckles. Well, the name stuck, and to this day the sowpig is her favorite fly. And it does catch a lot of fish too. I'm just glad she wasn't using a red butt that morning!

Today's fishing was slow, both just below the dam and in the catch and release zone. Even the spin fishermen weren't catching much of anything. I did manage to land two very nice 14+" bows that were quite thick. Fun. Like last time, lots of fish feeding in the film. About the only fly that worked with any consistency was a beadhead pheasant tail. The snow covered landscape provided a nice backdrop for a relaxing day on the water.

Curt and my dad are probably sharing the same river....and I'm sure my dad could use some advice on fly selection.

They canceled my school for tomorrow Is there anybody that lives in the Eureka Springs area who can give me a report on the road conditions near Beaver Dam? I'll be going up on Hwy. 62 from Rogers around 9am (after the sun has been up for a bit). I did notice that Eureka Springs High School wasn't closed for tomorrow, at least not yet. Let's keep this simple and use a scale from 1 to 10, 10 being really bad. Thanks.

Trey and I fished the upper portion of Beaver, mainly around the the boat ramp. Extremely cold at first but it warmed up nicely. With the warm-up came a nice midge hatch at 11am. The fish went nuts! Trey was using a #20 emerger and did very well indeed. My beadhead sowbug produced lots of hookups too. Trey also had success on the wooley bugger. Not me however. We each caught 20+. All-in-all a very fun day....we had that entire stretch of river to ourselves for several hours. Here are a few of Trey's fish.

Hey now Motor, our Beaver tailwater trout have feelings too. You're going to give them an inferiority complex or something

That's a neat shot!

Taken last summer below Beaver Dam. Left click to enlarge.

In grad school, I spent an entire semester writing my masters thesis on just this topic. The PETA people are way off the mark with wanting to ascribe "rights" to animals like fish. Feeling "pain" is neither a sufficient nor necessary condition for having rights (that's philosophy speak for saying they lack a certain moral standing). Yet, it doesn't follow that just because an animal lacks "rights" that we may do what we want to them. My dog doesn't have rights per se, but obviously it would be morally wrong to torture her just for the fun of it. My experience has been that most anglers, especially catch-n-release anglers, value the fish they catch and accord them with proper respect. Thus, I think we ought to give ourselves a pat on the back. But the PETA spokesman was right when he said, "Fish socialize with each other and have very long-term memories." darn straight they do! I'm pretty sure that they've tipped each other off on occasion when they saw my fly go by....

A really cool shot! Excellent colors.

Hey all, Well, it was a perfect day to go fishing, but catching fish was another matter entirely. I fished in the main area of the C&R section. It was slow for most of the morning until about 130pm. Afterwards, it picked up somewhat. No real hatches to speak of, but some feeding in the film. I fished some dries but I caught ALL fish on my super secret sowbug pattern (just how mysterious can a sowbug pattern be you ask? Answer: not very). Overall, I landed about 10-15 fish, the nicest of which was right at 13". But it's grith was impresive for that size fish. Most were caught while casting near the North side of the river bank.

Bud, that's very true.