Zack Hoyt

Water temperatures are near 40 degrees and water levels are moderate. Walleye should be staging to come up out of Beaver Lake to begin spawning. Water temps will have to rise several degrees for the fish to begin moving.

Water level 3.99 feet. Good floating and fishing level, but water is cold, 39 degrees. Walleye should be staging in Table Rock to come up the King's and spawn.

Generation has been lowered offering alot of wade opportunities. The fish are very healthy and eating generously. Warmer days will bring about smaller midges, so a zebra midge or cadion midge in a size 16-20 will do the trick. Lots of scuds and sowbugs have been seen. These flies need to be fished bouncing along the bottom. Larger fish are taking streamers stripped or dead drifted along river bottom changes. Woolie buggers, clouser minnows, and slump busters in olive or white(when the shad come through) will get the more selective fish. Generation can start at any time, so be aware of the horn. Possible rain events later on in the week might make this low water a short gift. Get out and enjoy.

Bull Shoals is running around the clock with 7 units currently. Lake level is 656.31 as of 2/15/'10. Drift fishing nymphs for numbers of fish or streamer fishing for fewer but larger are the two more popular techniques. For high water nymph rigs, use split shot and larger indicators and keep adjusting your indicator to maintain the proper depth that will garner strikes. Use San Juan Worms, scuds, Copper Johns and egg patterns. Grass beds, channels, drop offs and in stream rocks or logs are areas to look for. Streamer fishing with integrated shooting taper sinking lines with 3-4 foot 0x-2x leaders and large flies are producing large fish in the 18-24inch range and larger. Try dead drifting shad patterns with a twitching action near the dam or pound the banks with sculpin patterns further down river, looking for rock and log cover to target casts. Fly patterns for streamer fishing should include; Butt Monkey's, Sex Dungeon's, Circus Peanuts, Zoo Cougars, Fat Head Minnows, Arkansas Bead Head, Davy's Shad, white zonkers and woolly buggers.

Havent fished James much, but down in Beaver you are looking for water temps in the mid to high 50's before they start moving. With the shad kill being on and off below the dams, water would be a bit cold. I have heard reports of Walleye and Hybrids edging that way.

If you are meaning the COE graphs, they will be down till early March. My understanding is they are doing some upgrades.

As with any animal, retreating of a possible food source triggers the predatory instinct. A bug doesn't lie still on top of the water when it falls in, a mouse doesn't do back strokes when it falls in......they know they are in a very vulnerable position and get out of it as fast as possible. I am of the opinion that there are times for a slower retrieval.....but the bigger fish in the hole are keyed in on how a food source should react. As far as it is from being the same.....its like encountering a bear or other large animal. Worst thing you can do is retreat quickly.

I tend to agree with what FW said. I find bass to be highly aggressive, so a slow target hasn't yielded many results for me.

Really looking forward to it.

Today they turned on at 6pm. Tomorrow should be down all day. I didnt fish today, but heard they were not overly picky. With the nasty weather coming in tonight, I would shoot for zebra mimdges or san juans in the morning. Pheasenttails and hares ear in he afternoon.

Bump.....still for sale.

Water is still very high in Newport, so they are holding of the draining of the lakes. Beaver is backing to a half day. Also BS is still rising from the rains, so we will see where it stops.

Welcome Jeff from your neighbor to the North. If you ever need volunteer instructors, please drop me a line. We have done both fly fishing and spin fishing workshops with kids of all ages.

Lanyard arrived today. It will be used alot come spring. Thanks.

Would love to have you come down Don. I plan on updating as we go along. I wanted to get the word out so people could plan for it. We are shooting for some good prizes for the one fly and neat raffle/silent auction/auction prizes. Last for donations we got a bunch of hackles from Denny Conrach, a signed print from Dave Whitlock, a Reel Recovery TFO rod, a few guide trips, and a few resort gift certs. This year we add the one fly and hopefully a good bit more people.

Here is a link to pictures from the retreat we had last year: http://reelrecovery.org/photos/main.php?g2_itemId=4512 This is what all the money made from the tournament is going towards.

Reel Recovery Day at Beaver And One Fly Contest Saturday, June 12th at the Beaver Dam Store Eureka Springs, AR The event will run from 7:00am to 3:00pm and will feature A One Fly Contest, fly tying from local experts, casting instruction, and auctions The One Fly Contest will run from 7:00am to 11:00am Entry fee is $10.00, extra flies up to 5-$5.00 each Pairings will be drawn at 6:30am Free hot dog lunch Free fishing weekend – No license required 100% of all proceeds will go to the Reel Recovery Retreats in Arkansas for men in AR, MO, OK, KS and TN Reel Recovery is a non-profit group that provides a fly fishing retreat for men with life threatening cancer free of charge For more information on Reel Recovery please visit www.reelrecovery.org If you would like to contribute or would like to ask additional questions Zack Hoyt at 870-5772781 or zmhoyt@gmail.com Bryce Cadion at 479-253-6154

Level is 3.96 feet and is very good for floating. The water temperature is a bit on the low side at near 40 degrees. Any fish caught will be on the bottom in the deeper holes where the water temperatures are a bit more stabilized. Look for fish to shallow up when the sun comes out and warms things up. The down side of that is the snow will melt and cool things down. It is a great time to just float and take in the snow covered scenery.

Heavy generation this week has made fishing challenging. High water techniques from a boat is the only option. Drifting nymphs under a large indicator and split shot or fishing streamers with a fast sink-tip or full sinking line are two of the better techniques. Flies to try: egg fly (orange, pink or peach), San Juan worm (tan, pink or red), copper john, red fox squirrel nymph, humpback scud, simple sow bug and zebra midges all in sizes 10 - 16. Flies for streamer fishing include: zoo cougar, wooly buggers, slump buster, Arkansas bead head, Davy's shad and zonkers in sizes 4-10. Keep an eye out for shad to start coming through the generators and fish white streamers, either under an indicator or with various retrieves on a floating or fast sinking line. For safety, always wear your pfd during high water and maintain control of your boat at all times.

State moves to get sewer fixed at river Buffalo’s spring popularity cited in repair of lift station By Robert J. Smith Wednesday, February 3, 2010 Print item NORTHWEST ARKANSAS — Arkansas Attorney General Dustin McDaniel on Tuesday asked a circuit judge for a preliminary injunction to stop untreated sewage from flowing into a Buffalo National River tributary. McDaniel’s request, filed with the Newton County circuit clerk’s office, is intended to force the Marble Falls Sewer Improvement District into finding short- and long-term solutions to prevent about 3,600 gallons of sewage a day from reaching Mill Creek. The creek flows six miles before it enters the Buffalo River. Buffalo National River Superintendent Kevin Cheri said he wants the problem with the district’s faulty sewer lift station resolved before spring when the river is filled with canoes and fishermen. “Pollution is always bad, but from a public-health standpoint, there’s some time to get this corrected before the heavy visitor use of the river,” Cheri said. According to the state’s motion for an injunction filedon behalf of the state Department of Environmental Quality, the untreated sewage elevated the amount of fecal coliform bacteria in Mill Creek. The level posed a “substantial risk and irreparable harm to public health and the environment,” the state wrote in its court filing. “There’s irreparable harm here, and we don’t have time to wait for the entire trial process to be complete to figure out if they violated the law,” said Justin Allen, McDaniel’s chief deputy. The Marble Falls sewage lift station is meant to force waste up a hill so it can flow down the other side to the community’s small sewer plant. The lift station failed during last year’s ice storm, and the Marble Falls Sewer Improvement District hasn’t repaired it. The sewer district, which serves 25 property owners who live about nine miles south of Harrison, took over the sewer system, which once served Dogpatch USA, a defunct theme park. The sewer plant is permit-ted to treat up to 6,800 gallons of waste a day, and its main line’s faulty lift station is no longer pushing through the 3,600 gallons of sewage it receives each day. The flow comes from six- and 24-unit apartment complexes and some homes, said Donnie Crain, a sewer district commissioner. In a Jan. 19 letter sent to the Environmental Quality Department, Crain said commissioners determined there are no immediate or short-term repairs that make sense. “The only financially feasible option for the district to pursue in the immediate/short-term is the continued development of a long-term solution to the faulty lift station,” Crain wrote. Crain said in an interview that the goal is to replace the lift station by May. That’ll cost about $60,000, he said. “I want to do what I can to find the solution,” Crain said. However, Environmental Quality Department spokesman Aaron Sadler said May isn’t soon enough. “For the environment’s sake and for the tourists, that’s too late,” Sadler said. Crain said he’s contemplated short-term options since sending the letter to the Environmental Quality Department. One would involve allowing the untreated sewage to collect in the faulty lift station, and then trucking it about 2,000 feet to the top of the hilland allowing it to flow to the sewer plant. “That’s fairly expensive,” Crain said. The Newton County case against the Marble Falls district was assigned Tuesday to Circuit Judge Shawn Womack. Womack isn’t scheduled to hear cases in Newton County until next month so the state will ask him to hold his evidentiary hearing in another county, Allen said. “We need to get this shut down,” Allen said. Northwest Arkansas, Pages 9 on 02/03/2010

Off topic...... I cast the 4wt and couldnt tell alot of difference. I could between the 3wt and the 4wt though. That's why I opted for the 3wt. Have you cast all three? What were your thgoughts? I am really just leaning toward a slower action rod, why I am selling. It is great series of rods.

This is the Tab: http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/Reports/Data/Beaver.htm And this is the graph: http://www.swl-wc.usace.army.mil/WCDS/plots/Web/bea.htm

Beaver shut down yesterday around noon for a few hours. SWPA site shows the same for today and tomorrow. These fish ought to be ripe for the catching. They definately havent been hammered like usual, so there might be some larger fish schooling around.

Like SO3 said, we are close to pool. Beaver shut down today at noon. It had been 24/7.

Dropping the price of the rod down to $425.