John Berry

I bought and used a TFO four weight Finesse rod while I was having my Sage four weight Light Line repaired by Sage. I found them to be very similar but give the Sage a slight edge in it's ability to cast heavier flies.

Dano, I understand that there has been discussion along those lines but it has not resulted in a break through. TU was trying to put together an offer that included a grant from the Walmart Foundation but was unable to get Ruby and John to negotiate.

I don't know if you have heard or not but McClellans, the best trout water on the Norfork, will close to the public on January 1, 2007. We talk about various threats to our rivers but loss of access is the worst. I don't care how clean the water is or how many big fish there are, if you can't get on the water it doesn't matter. In the six years that I have lived here, we have lost walk in access at an alarming rate. The water between the bridges in Cotter, Jenkins Creek, and now McClellans. The loss of Mac's is of course is the most painful. I have personally been fishing there for over twenty-five years and I vividly remember my first visit. This is my favorite place to fish on earth. I will now have to launch a canoe or river boat and float down to it. The heady days of sticking five bucks in the mail box and driving over to the pasture are now gone to be replaced by no tresspassing signs. There have been attempts to purchase public access there by several groups including TU. They have not been successful. I am afraid that my favorite water is gone.

Lori and I went to Rim Shoals a little after noon. We had been out of town for a few days to visit family for Thanksgiving and it was nice to get back on the river. As we walked in, we passed a friend that said he had fished for two hours and had caught nothing. That concerned us but we waded to our favorite holes to give it a try. The early going was slow for me, but Lori was into fish almost immediately. I finally zeroed in on sowbugs and it started happening for me. At three o'clock, I looked up and noted that we were the only ones there. We stayed untill almost dark and caught around thirty fish between us the largest being a fat sixteen inch rainbow. It was nice to be back!

I carry midges in size 14 to 22. I have found that they hit the 14s when I am drift fishing in the river boat. When wading, I generally pump the stomaches of the first few fish I catch and then match the contents by size shape and color. I have found some really small stuff.

That is what I have heard from several reliable sources. If you want to fish McClellans you better do it!

There is some sediment there but it is not as bad as up stream. The disolved oxygen is better down stream because the water goes over riffles and picks up oxygen as it goes down stream. I chose the Norfork because my client wanted to catch big fish and I consistently catch my big fish there. I think that the Overlook Estates debacle has had a negative impact on fishing on the Norfork. If we get the slightest rain the river muddies up quickly. The sedimentation problem is much worse up stream where the Brown trout are trying to spawn. Will the sediment choke out the eggs and spoil the spawn? I don't see how it can help.

My client told me that he wanted to land a twenty inch fish. I took him to the handicap access and walked up into the Catch and Release area. We fished a half day (morning) and we caught twenty trout. The biggest was a twenty two and a half inch male brown. The hot fly was a copper midge size eighteen. We also took several on a small brown worm. Most of the fish were sixteen inches or better. We only landed a couple of dinks. That far down stream we didn't notice the sulphur odor that was present at the dam and I believe the disolved oxygen was a bit higher. We took special pains to land fish quickly and not to remove them from the water in order not to stress them.

I fished Rim Shoals with a couple of clients, one of whom had never fly fished. We mostly fished up at Jenkins Creek. In the morning we used size fourteen black zebra midges. In the afternoon we used Y2Ks. We caught a total of thirty trout the biggest was maybe sixteen inches. It rained in the morning and cleared up a bit in the afternoon.

We fished the Norfork on Saturday and found it pretty tough. I did notice a fish with a lamprey on it. I also noticed a really bad smell that could only be accociated with the turnover on the lake.

The rod I reach for most often is a two piece. That said, I now only buy four piece rods. The travel thing is the factor. The small weight premium is offset by the convenience of carrying a smaller package.

It seems like the Norfork is under attack from all sides. The disolved Oxygen is a perenial problem that occurs every year. I have heard a great presentation on the problem from Darrel Bowman. I think it would be prudent to close fishing in the Quarry Park area during the spawn as this coincides with the DO issue. As for organizing another organization, isn't the Friends of the White and Norfork set up to look into issues like this?

Phil is dead on. It was a tough day! What saved us was the fact that Phil is an excellent caster. We cruised the banks and he put the fly really close to the bank and then mended for a perfect drift. He was casting 60 to 75 feet on most casts and we were tagging trout on large flies. It should be noted that Phil won second place in the distance casting competition at Conclave. There is a good bit of competition there and he did extremely well. The cigar was in my vest. I was so busy handling the boat, I didn't get a chance to fire one up.

If anyone wants a reprieve from fishing go by conclave. I will be tying either with the other tyers or at my booth. Stop by and I will tie you a fly.

My wife Lori Sloas is a guide and fishes with me a lot. She has tried them all but now will not wear anything but Simms. She prefers the Orvis Henry's Fork Wading Boots(with studs).

In my experience as a casting instructor, I have noted that wind knots are caused by throwing tailing loops. This is caused by allowing the line to drop below the tip of the rod on the back cast. When you bring it forward, Bang, a wind knot. This is usually a timing problem but can also be fixed by making sure that your back cast is going up.

I was fishing about three miles down stream from the debacle and it didn't look that bad. The water was clear and the fish were biting

After the busiest summer I can ever remember, my wife,Lori, and I realized that although we had spent a lot of time on the water guiding, we had not been fishing together in some time. Yesterday we set about to correct that situation. We drove over to the Norfork and waded into the Catch and Release area. We were the only ones there. Lori was almost immediately into fish and caught a twenty one inch rainbow on an olive scud and an eighteen incher on an emerger. I took a twenty inch Cutthroat on a hopper and an eighteen incher on an olive scud. In all, we took maybe thirty fish between us and thoroughly enjoyed the outing.

There have been some major changes with the Dam Generation number for Bull Shoals and Norfork Tailwaters (870 435-2169). You can now get through on your first try. That is great but I have found that the information is frequently unreliable. This Morning I called the number and it said that they were running two generators at Bull Shoals and had been doing so since 9:15 the previous day. Then I went on this website and checked the graph for Bull Shoals. It indicated that it had been turned off at midnight. Both sources are from the Corps of Engineers. Which one is accurate? I take clients fishing and I need accurate information to determine where and when to fish safely. The White is one of the most dangerous rivers in the United States and it will become more dangerous with unreliable generation information.

He doesn't know for sure. How much harm has been done and how much more will occur before this thing is fixed? It is very hard to say now. What we do know is that one irresponsible developer has caused a lot of damage to the premier trout stream in Arkansas that will take years to repair.

I talked to my Buddy, Donald Dunn, a hydrologist and former head of the Corps Of Engineers in Little Rock. He said the would have to run a double butt load of water through the flood gates to flush out all of the sediment and then restock the river.

I am relieved that something is being done at long last. This is the right course. I hope that this is taken seriously and things get straightened out. I hope and pray it is in time.

Dano, This is news to me. I will see what I can find out.

I just got an email informing me that the Baxter Bulletin was going to run a story tomorrow stating that the ADEQ filed a civil suit against Homeport Land Company (The development company responsible for the devastation at Norfork Overlook Estates)today. This might get Mr. Doyals attention.

This is good news. This is exactly what needs to happen to get Benny Doyal's attention. Let's see what ADEQ does. This is definately a great start.