Zack Hoyt

You're Invited to Reel Recovery Day at Beaver Dam Store Saturday, June 13th Fly tiers from across the area will be there demonstrating various fly patterns. There will be a silent auction to raise money for the Reel Recovery program. For more information about Reel Recovery please visit www.reelrecovery.org 100% of all proceeds will go to Reel Recovery. If you would like to volunteer as a fly tier, casting instructor, or would like to contribute to the auction please contact: Toby Vaughan at 479-899-2774 (cell) 479-524-2412 (home) or email tobydee@cox.net or contact Ken Richards at: 479-531-5741 or email at justfishinguides1@cox.net

Looks like you are basically tossing a long leader and tippet out there. Rods look similiar to the crappie rods. Interesting.

Any time I have a friedn or client new to fly fishing, I take them to some bluegill water. There is nothing funner than to catch a bluegill on a light action rod. The above pretty well covered the high points. I do differ in that I have a ton of luck with top waters. Mainly terrestrials and my favorite is a grasshopper/cricket pattern with a large parachute for easy seeing. I love throwing dry flies. Cast the dude out there, let it set till the ripples are gone, and twitch it. They will hit the top of the water and suck that dude in. This is not so good when it is windy, so wrench's idea about a slow falling fly or one that is just supmerged works well. I have alos had luck fishing dry flies with an intermediate sink line. It ends up suspending the fly a tad below the surface. Harder to see strikes, but works on a windy day. Check out breambugs.com for some killer top water patterns. Don is a super guy, and loves fishing for these little buggers.

Well you have a good start with one of the guys who posted in this thread....and his name doesnt start with a Z or a T. Might check out the North Arkansas Fly Fishers. There is alot of info there regarding guides and fishing areas. Mr. Davy Wotton is another option for classes in all reagards of fly fishing. http://www.davywotton.com/index.asp There are really so many good options in your neck of the woods, its hard to narrow down. Just paruse the White River forum here and visit some of the links. Many of the guides will have links to other area guides. That way you can kinda narrow down what your looking for, be it price, experience, gear, etc. Best of luck. You are about to start a never ending, but highly rewarding journey.

Mr. Berry is spot on. Getting direction in casting will eliminate alot of frustration down the road. A good guide will be able to help with your cast as well as teach you about the do's and dont's of fishing. There is no shortage of good guides in your neck of the woods. Look over this board a little bit and also seek out a local fly fishing club. A majority of what I have and will continue to learn has been helped along by the guys from our local fly tying/fishing club.

Stuff like this cracks me up. Am I seeing 10 times more fish than you.....probably not. Am I seeing them before you or not having my glasses fog up or not having the lenses all scratched up or having to repurchase glasses because there is no warranty with them......... How many of you die-hard cheapo sunglasses fans have ever had the pricier on the water? Trying them on in the store does about as much good as setting in a sports car on the lot. It may feel good, but you have no idea what it is really capable of. Opinions being what they are, I respect yours.

It was great fun prying this info out of you. Keep up the good work.

Looks like a woolie worm setup with foam underlayed and legs out the back. Stinkin thing ought to float forever.

At about 1128 now......probably going to open over the weeeknd.

Heard they may have opened all the gates tonight......any word?

MAy be a tad late, but check out the Redington RedFly2 outfit. I dont think they are bad priced concidering you get rod, reel, and RIO Mainstream line. Also the travel case. The quality of rod is great and it is very forgiving for beginner casters.

Just a bump for anyone in the area. We now have a Facebook page setup for the Club. if you happen to be on Facebook, search Tightline Flyfishers under groups and swing on by. We will be posting reports, outings, meetings, and general information.

Congrats!!! I missed this years.....but not next.

Welcome from Nw Ark. Taney is a great area and that Phil guy is pretty good about taking care of you. Some of the best memories of my short life are fishing and I try to revisit those areas as much as possible.

Here is a great map of the Buffalo. It gives you a pretty good idea of what distances are. http://home.nps.gov/applications/parks/buf...aps/ACF5567.pdf And a list of rental places. Alot of the smaller outfitters ahve went out but these are all still going. http://www.ozarkmtns.com/buffalo/canoe.html Drive from Ponca to Wild Bills is a stretch. Take a look at the floats and match an outfitter with it. Every campground there has camping spots avalaible.

Thanks MA. That book is definately on my list. The Cutter book just happened to be on the shelf already(was looking for a book that night).

Definately going to make it next year.......I may need an earlier fix though. Any plans for a spring/summer/fall get together??

Check Craigslist Phil. Plenty of older boats floating around there.

Bill Scruggs at Wild Bill's is a super guy to rent from. He keeps guides on staff, so he always knows where the fish are biting. He is lmimted to the lower Buffalo though. Buffalo Outdoor Center is in Ponca and does alot of the upper Buffalo. The lower has better fishing, but the upper buffalo is much more scenic. If you meant Lower Wilderness instead of Ponca Wilderness, you are looking at the lower section. Let us know which area exactly you were meaning or if you were just open to any ideas.

I used the WalMart brand for years....then splurged on a pair of Costa's........worlds of difference. You wont be able to tell the difference in the store, but I wont go back to a cheap pair. Plus the guarantee is hard to beat. I like the Costa's for the different "sizes" they produce(I have a melon head).

A couple places I caught 11" bluegills last year. We may have too hook up for a few trips. A few local smallie streams are looking very nice as well.

Next meeting will be on May 18, 2009. We will be discussing the happenings from the Smallmouth Rendezvous that a few of the club members will be attending in Talequah, OK. Also, we will be sharing trip reports from our White Bass outing last weekend. Feel free to join us, it is extremely casual and very entertaining.

This club was started in 1996 by Sallyann Brown when she saw a need to draw local fly fishers together. We currently have around fifty active members from the Northwest Arkansas area. We are a Federation of Fly Fishers associate club and are members of the Southern Council. We meet on the third Monday of each month at Jim’s Razorback Pizza in Springdale on Highway 412 (1528 West Sunset). Our meetings are a social hour starting at 6:00pm and meeting starting at 7:00pm. We have had beginning fly casting and fly tying classes. We have had three rod building classes and there were several very nice custom rods that came out of these clinics. We have an on-the-water fishing outing once a month. And whenever we can talk someone else into going. We have been trout fishing on the tail waters of Beaver, Bull Shoals, Norfork and Mountain Fork. We have had smallmouth trips to Lee’s Creek, Crooked Creek, Sugar Creek and King’s River. Our white bass trips to War Eagle, Richland Creek and White River are legendary. We go largemouth bass fishing at Lake Leatherwood, bream fishing at Lake Fayetteville. http://www.tightlinesff.org/

I picked up this book at Barnes and Noble this weekend. I had ran through all the Geirach books and needed a change of pace. I have been re-evaluating my edumacation on fly fishing so far and decided I needed to know more about why the fish were eating this and what it was supposed to look like. No use matching the bug if you have no idea how it lives and morphs. Anywho, I was afraid this was going to be a dry book, but find Mr Cutters writing style to be very good. The macro images of bugs are great and his descrtions of what makes the insects different are very helpful. Just thought I would pass this along. http://www.amazon.com/Fish-Food-Fishers-Gu...s/dp/0811732193

If you have never had the joy of confronting a raccoon at your house or while camping, you are missing out. We need to train them to run militry black ops!!! We have had "less experienced" campers not secure their food and wake up to a mess. Zippers are no problem for these guys. Nor are bungy cords or latches. Also, just as an FYI, looking tough in the middle of the night with a flash light and miniscule clothing is hard. I am pretty sure the group I ran into the first time camping laughed at me as I retreated. Honestly, most likely raccoons.