Terry Beeson

DISCONTINUE THE OUTDOOR SECTION?!?!? OK... I hate to say it, but I have been very disappointed in the News-Leader since moving here. I can say that it may not be the fault of the paper, but they do not cover the area as well as the other papers I am familiar with. The Sunday section of the Jonesboro Sun was more interesting and covered more than the Springfield paper. I always felt it was the duty of a newspaper editor to make sure the local events and public interests were well covered and advertised. However, it seems I find out about many public events a few days AFTER they have gone on. And, yes, I do check the calendar section of the paper. But to discontinue the Outdoor section of a newspaper that SHOULD cover a region that is so saturated with outdoor activities just seems WRONG. Maybe advertising sales are down, but that may be due to the fact that a region with a fountain of outdoors to write about has only a few articles that could easily fit on one or two pages in the Sports section... Then again, this could be another sign of the corporate news conglomerates "USA Today" attitude... Less is more...

Jigging for trout Local fishermen discover that lightweight jigs, in most colors, are excellent lures for catching trout. By Steve Brigman For the NEws-Leader The sun had disappeared behind the ominously flashing clouds to the west. It took me back to a time on Taneycomo when Phil Lilley hooked a huge rainbow just as a storm was rolling in. On a small jig using 2-pound line, it would be a race between landing the fish and exposing ourselves to the dangerous weather. A glance at the fish as it surfaced out in distance ruled out any cut-and-run thoughts. With my rain jacket, I shielded the camera from the first huge drops. After a few exposures, Lilley released the fish, and we took a wet but contented trip back to Lilley’s Landing. Lilley had caught his largest ever trout, though the approaching storm didn’t allow us the opportunity to weigh it. On this July afternoon, the storm wasn’t as imminent, but Phillip Rice, Corey White and I were watching the clouds closely as we bounced our jigs along the bottom of Arkansas’ White River. “I've been catching them on Y2Ks,” Rice had explained before we launched. “But olive has also been good.” As we pulled into the ramp he commented, “I like a little more water … we’ll just have to go throw smaller jigs.” He started with a 1/16-ounce jig in the bright orange and yellow Y2K, but the morning was cloudy and he quickly switched to olive-and-orange. Immediately, he landed a fat 18-inch brown trout. White and I were soon trading in the smaller rainbows we had been catching on jerkbaits in hopes of catching larger browns on jigs. The time Jig fishing had been introduced to this Texas transplant four years earlier by Lilley. On that cold January day, trout were feasting on dead and stunned shad being washed through the dam. “They either die or drift down in the deeper levels of Table Rock and get sucked through a turbine in the dam,” Lilley said. “It is a natural occurrence in any lake when you have a large population of threadfin shad. Temperatures get around 40 degrees and a portion of those fish die.” Constant flashes of silver down in the water and shad leaping across the surface told of a feeding frenzy. “Anything white,” Lilley recommends when the trout are feeding on shad. But there are exceptions. “We have found that if they are coming through in large numbers, your white jig can get lost in the crowd,” he said. “We start throwing a little bit different colors at them and find them starting to hit chartreuse, pink, gray and even some darker colors.” Jim Brentlinger fishes the White and Norfork rivers in Arkansas in every season and uses jigs 60 percent of the time. “I fish them all year around,” Linger explained. “The water is the same temperature all year because of the hydroelectric dams.” The water Veteran tailwater anglers know that it's the amount of water being generated from the dam that determines how they must fish. “Anytime except for dead low, jigs work,” said Rice, who lives just over a mile from Rim Shoals and fishes the river at least weekly. “I fish them in any water up to five units, and after that I have to go to a jerkbait.” The number of “units” refers to the number of generators running, up to eight in the case of Bull Shoals. River rats like Rice and Linger keep tabs on the generating activity through the phone. A computer message reports the number of generators running at the respective dams. Each veteran angler knows how long rising or falling water is from the stretches of river they fish. “Anytime when there is just a little bit of tailwater coming in or water from the night before, I think they work a little bit better,” Rice said. As anglers will, the two have a little different take on fishing their rivers. Linger likes the lower water. “As you go to shallower water you can use lighter jigs. You can catch the heck out of fish in two feet of water, you just need to go to a 1/16- or 1/32-ounce jig.” He just doesn’t like fishing jigs in extremely high water. “The jigs are harder to use in high water because it takes longer to get them on the bottom, and that’s the key thing.” White River jiggers typically keep an assortment of 1/16-, 1/8- and 1/4-ounce jigs in a variety of colors. “In the lower water I use a 1/16-ounce and go to an 1/8-ounce when it is a little higher,” Rice said. The presentation The variety of jigs available is staggering, with dozens of combinations from the old standard olives and blacks, to more exotic, three-colored jigs. John Richesin, at Cranfield Junction tackle store near Norfork Lake, had a new shipment of jigs in the store. We had exhausted our supply before lunch, so we headed that way. Richesin laid hundreds of jigs out on the table in dozens of color combinations. He picked up an olive-ginger-yellow jig, handed it to me and smiled. You will find olive, black, brown and white in almost every jig box; then it starts to become a matter of an angler’s personal favorites. “It seems like brown, olive-orange and ginger are my favorites colors,” Rice said. “That olive-orange is hard to beat. On darker days I like to go to a solid black or brown.” The Brentlinger take on jig selection makes it quite easy for the newcomer to the sport. “On the Norfork, white seems to work a little better along with olive,” he explained. “On the White River, the mustard-head jig with ginger marabou works excellent in most water conditions. Day in and day out, that ginger is the ticket.” Lilley likes purple for night fishing on Taneycomo. The jigs are fished by casting across the current as you drift; the bait is allowed to reach the bottom before popping it back toward the surface. “When I first tie a jig on, I flip it in the water next to the boat to see how long it takes for it to hit the bottom, whether it's three or five seconds,” Rice explained. “I like to pop it on intervals, like every three or five seconds. You want to fish that jig toward the bottom, and almost always the fish hit them on the fall.” There is an art to getting the bait near the bottom without the jig collecting the slimy vegetation from the bottom. “Those fish, unless they are up cruising, they are down by the bottom,” Linger said. “When you pop it, it gets their attention. When it is dropping down dead they go get it. Ninety-nine percent of the time they hit it when it’s sinking.” The catch Fishing had been excellent in the morning, with a couple of nicer browns mixed into the dozens of rainbows, but with a new arsenal of jigs in our boxes, we put back on the river with eagerness. We had fished the Wildcat Shoals area in the morning and there were quite a few folks out enjoying their Saturday, so we decided to hit the Rim Shoals in the afternoon. We ended up having it all to ourselves. This trophy management area is a single-barbless-hook, catch-and-release section of river known for its nicer size fish. With two units running, we were throwing 1/16- and 1/4-ounce jigs. My companions were sticking with the olive-orange that produced so well in the morning, but I was throwing the olive-ginger-yellow that Rishes in had suggested. They all caught fish. A few minutes into our first drift, Rice hooked into a nice brown, a beautifully colored three-pounder. By the time heavy clouds began to roll in, we had at least a dozen fish apiece. There was a sense of urgency about the casting as the thunder grumbled in the distance. Rice hurried down into his box and retrieved a brown jig. The lightning flashed in his face as he cast. Hooking a fish while drifting in the current always feels like being hung up; the boat keeps going but your bait just stops. And hanging up a jig is always a distinct possibility. In that moment where Rice held his rod up in indecision, the bounce in the tip told of something alive, just not moving. On the four-pound test needed to cast small jigs, the fish was allowed to take line generously from the reel. Finally, a golden flash in the water told us it was a big brown. Thunder snarled overhead has Rice lifted the fish with his Boga Grips — 4 1/2 pounds. The dark clouds came down on us like a curtain on perfect day. Giving up early wasn’t overly difficult after having caught so many fish on jigs. After all, as Rice says: “They are pretty much a year around deal.”

Nice.... uh... Brown Trout there, Jim... Uh... you let it slip... you caught it in the mouth... And you mentioned corn... Your secret is out!!!

10 men in one tent... a true methane factory... What I don't get is how they can call it a 4 man tent when there is not enough room for ONE man and his gear...

Purty pheesh!!

One, two, three, four... One, two, three, four, five, six... One two three... OK... I counted four scuds, six egg patterns, three midges, five snells with power bait, and a couple of wooly buggers hanging off that squid.... Yep... that one came out of Outlet 1 alright... or Outlet 2 maybe...

Yeah, Bob Robbins was also a KAAY DJ and I suppose he's still on the country station... can't remember the call letters. He was at BJ's Star Studded Honky Tonk a lot when I frequented that fine establishment... My Marvin Vines story? OK... If you insist... I was working at the State Fair one year in the Cutting Horse barn (my "2nd dad" a dentist, was the head of the Cutting Horse Association in Arkansas. Anyway, Marvin was doing his midday report from the show barn next to the cutting horse arena. I was there one day and he asked me to get him a cup of water, so I did. He had started his report when I got back and handed him the cup of water. He went to commercial, thanked me, took a drink of water, and we started talking. Then, the bug in his ear must have gone off, because almost in mid-sentence, he stopped and started that portion of the report... Wow... that was a pro at work... By the way... that same year I helped unload, stall, and feed Tanya Tucker's cutting horses (she had three if I remember right...) Didn't get to meet her, but was in love (both of us 15) anyway... She DID perform at the rodeo that year and I did get her attention sitting behind the chutes with a couple of buddies while the rest of the audience was out front... My hoopin' and hollerin' and cuttin' up finally got her attention and she turned around, grinned real big, and winked at me.... (I know she wanted my body... )

A buck is about 6 1/8" long meaning that fish was 18 1/2 or better... nice pheesh!!

Do you know how to tell the difference between a regular giant squid poop and the GMETKS poop? The GMETKS poop will have a Simms or Orvis label on it...

OK, GF... you can build me one of those... You'll appreciate this one.... I was in Boyd Music Store in Little Rock one day and got to talking to Mr. Boyd about bluegrass. He told me that he was backstage one time when Bill Monroe was doing a concert (in Barton I think) and Bill broke a string on his mandolin. He asked for someone to replace the string, and Mr. Boyd walked out and took it backstage to put the string on. He said he layed it up on a table, and started to take the bridge out. When he pressed his thumbs down to get the strings to relax, he realized just how super paper thin the face of that mandolin was. Now you have to realize that Bob Boyd played mandolin and probably had a couple of thousand or more in his hands at one time or another. He said this was the absolute thinnest he had ever come across. Well, he proceeded to loosen the other strings, THEN take the bridge out, replace the string, tune it, and took it back out to Bill. He said he asked him about that later, and Bill told him he had his own specs for the thickness of the face... and yes... it was "paper thin..." however thick that was... Said it was "key" to the Bill Monroe sound... Bob indicated he estimated that event took at least five years off his life... but was thankful he didn't break it and get his life ended immediately...

Eric was sleepin', huh? That's it... he's fired!! Swing and no strip again, huh? No stripping it back? Just cast, drift, swing, hold for a few seconds, repeat? Stupid fish... Don't they know they're gonna ruin our reputations?

Yah, de Peak vise is for a manly man... de Dan vise is for a gurly-mon! Yah... dat Dan vise is not a manly man's vise... I'm Hans... and he's Franz... and we're here to.... PUMP YOU UP!!!

I built one one time and my wife wouldn't even put ME in it! Now THAT'S bad...

First... welcome to the forum and the madhouse... I've been seeing quite a few sulphers and other mayflies around here lately, so it doesn't surprise me there is some dry fly action going on. If you get here in time, you could "come out and play" with the Taney Night Slow Strippers around midnight at the upper section on Friday - well, Saturday morning... midnight to daylight depending on generation. My "go to" fly on Taney lately has been an olive pine squirrel sculpin in a size 10-6 or a big crackleback. Mohair leeches at night in a variety of dark colors. But the PSS works 24/7 for me.

Hey Ronnie... when you get your built, can you build this one for me? I'll have to get the plans for you...

Yeah... the armadillos ate 'em all...

Fishing and hunting both have an abundance, however certainly not the majority, of participants who have the sole goal in mind of filling a freezer and/or decorating their wall. While I find nothing wrong with trophies and certainly abhor wasting game/meat, it should not be the main concern. I find fishing and hunting to be therapy for me and, as Randall said, it is all about the chase. When I have a deer pass my stand, a turkey come close enough to see or hear them gobble, ducks pass over my spread/blind, or a fish nab at my fly, I feel a sense of accomplishment no matter if the result is a fish in the net or a bird or deer on the ground. Certainly that 26 inch trout, 9 inch turkey beard, 12 point rack, or beautiful green head is a great bonus. And there is nothing better than a dinner of venison with biscuits and gravy, duck breast and dressing, smoked turkey, or crappie fillets with fries, green tomato relish, and hush puppies (gawd... now I'm HON-GRY!) But to side track regulations in order to attain game and/or fish is not only unethical, but in many cases criminal. The mind-set is that they are getting their "taxes and license/permit fees" worth. But they never stop to think they are taking away from other hunters and fishermen and their heirs, not to mention adding fuel to the PETA flame. More enforcement may be the answer, but the costs of said enforcement might just be a shock to the budget. We talk about it, but do we want to pay more for permits and taxes to get this? You might say the fines and penalties will pay for it, but I venture a guess that it would not cover all the costs. It would mean more wages, bennies, vehicles, fuel, court costs, etc. Not that I am against more enforcement, just looking at the practicality. Just my opinion, for what it's worth... and that ain't much. Soap box clear.... next?

Nice pheesh! Hope to catch him next time I'm up there...

MORE great pics.... thanks Phil... Hey... is that a grizzly water skiing behind that boat or was it John (aka Kansas Flyfisher)?

I just got off the phone with a former boss who was contacted as a reference for the job. His take on it was that they are very interested and after talking to them, he says he will be very surprised if they do not offer me a position. Thanks for the prayers and thoughts and keep 'em comin'... I'll let you know if and when I get "the call..."

B-man... you got THAT right... that's not the way I want my fish. If I have to do something like that to catch fish, I'll just stay home. I landed a fish the other night that I was ready to photo and post until I saw the fly in his gill plate... He was released and not eve mentioned in the report... It happens... But you will NOT find me snagging, using power bait, or slipping crawlers on the end of my fly...

Great read, JD! John was your roomie? No problem... He's an Arkie like me... We whup bears with a switch...

Hmmmm... it's probably easier to tell you how nuclear fission works... TRD has a flood pool of 931 ft above sea level. Top power pool is 915 and bottom power pool is 881. So, with that in mind, here's what you might expect. If there has been a lot of rain, they will try to keep TRL around 915-916 ft. If it is above that, or if there is a demand for power, they will generate. If it is below the 915, they probably will not unless there is that demand for power. So it really is hard to predict sometimes. It depends on a lot of factors. Since the water from the dam is coming off the "bottom" of TRL, it takes little or no time for the water to "clear" once they shut off the units. You will see a bit of color due to the high water especially if they have been running 3-4 units heavy and then drop to zero. But that clears pretty doggone quickly. As for the schedule, my "experience" is that TRD is the second most "predictable" to the schedule. Beaver seems to go pretty much by the schedule. BSD is the hardest to go by followed by Norfork and Greer's Ferry. The best advice is to look at the schedule, then look at the current generation chart/data, then call the number for the most current readings. You could do like some of us and just sit in the parking lot and call the info number every 15 minutes...

I didn't know there WAS a speed limit on 76 between 65 and Olive Garden... No need... Nobody CAN go over 20... Except for the idiots out fishing for stupid stinkin' trout 'til 4 am... sheesh...

What were you casting to them? You might have to pitch a dry and let it drift right up their nose several times before getting a take. If there is no hatch or they are not "midging" you may have to go down with a streamer and do the same thing... right under their noses... Big browns are known to be lazy and like a "no effort" meal at times. Kind of like... well... ME!