Fishing Report from March 4-5

[Bill Butts]

Greetings,

My fishing buddy for 35 years, John, and I hit the AR River this past weekend.

We were pleased to find excellent fishable low water all weekend.

Our success came primarily below the Zink Dam area on Saturday, when we immediately started hitting some nice fish when we started about 10 am. Very few people at the time. The largest Striper was caught by John (photo below if I can get it attached. Oddly, we both lost 2 really good fish well after the hook-up that we thought we had stuck solid. We spent a good part of the pm looking at some other spots downstream but only caught some small Whites.

Sunday, we drove 1.5 hours to reach Sooner Lake by daylight to fish the warmwater discharge for Hybrids. The reports had been positive so we decided it was time to make the effort. Sooner is the location of the very first Hybrid stockings in OK, back in 1977. We caught no Hybrids, but were impressed with the fishery and access. It appeared we might hit it right, as the gulls and fishermen were all assembled waiting for the fish. They did push the bait to the surface just at sun-up but it only lasted about 5 minutes.

We returned to the Zink Dam area about noon to finish the pm, fishing with Todd from McLellans Fly Shop in Fayetteville. Only caught dink Stripers, but did have some fun with a bunch of small whites (prox 25 fish each) bouncing a small olive or tan Clouser along the sandy bottom.

The run of spawning Stripers should commence by late March and last to about mid-April. Can't wait!!!

[vince]

Bill, Nice striper that John got, can't wait to stick one on a fly, thanks for taking the time to report on your trips. Hopefullyby the end of Mar I'll be able to chase after them. Vince