looking for a guide

[Terry Beeson]

Mark,

I'm sure you know you were fishing the Bull Shoals tailwaters at Calico which is somewhat dependable fishing. At the confluence, it depends on where you are fishing, but not far upstream from the confluence, the fishing in the Norfork tailwaters is not that easy all the time. It is often challenging and downright frustrating at times. Unless, of course, you're casting corn and powerbait. Even then there are no guarantees.

Yes, anyone can go to any river, lake, pond, or stream and fish without a guide and catch fish. (Even THIS "blind squirrel" stumbles onto an acorn at times... ) But, hiring a guide can make for a more productive and rewarding trip if you do not know the river. ESPECIALLY if you are not familiar with fishing tailwaters and ESPECIALLY the safety factors thereof.

You might go to the Norfork tailwaters and land a 25 inch Brown. But, I'm willing to bet the farm that if John Berry is standing beside you, your chances of that are much, much higher.

And I'm not a pro guide (or even an amateur one) and John doesn't even pay me to say this... (Unless you just WANT to slip me a twenty at Sowbug, JB... )

[Danoinark]

You know Terry brings up something that just now hit home. Corn and powerbait. I would say over the course of my fishing and then fly fishing career I have caught more trout on flies than either of those baits.

[Terry Beeson]

You know, Dano, you may have a good point. I never fished much for trout before fly fishing, but when I did it was with rooster tails and similar tackle. But I did a boo-koo of crappie fishing. When PowerBait came out, they had some for crappie and I decided to take "advantage" of that situation. Well, I still have that little jar in my fishing tackle as a reminder that I used it on 4 or 5 occasions and finally switched to jigs so I would catch crappie. I never caught a single crappie on that stuff.

[RiverRunner]

The area of the river that Mark is talking about (Norfork to Calico) is what I would consider my home waters. When I was in college, I fished that stretch almost every week, and it is easy fishing for the most part, especially if you are bait fishing. It's still my favorite stretch of river but since I started fly fishing, I have been fishing it less than I used to because it is harder to find the lower water flows that makes fly fishing easier. Its so high there now that bait fishing is about all you can do I would think. When it gets right though, that stretch will produce a lot of fish for fly, artificial, and bait fisherman. Its also got some smallmouth bass that can make for some fun fishing at times. Last year I caught more smallmouth in that stretch than I ever have (including a beautiful 3 pounder).

I have to say that the White above Cotter and the Norfork are more challenging to fish due to water fluctutations and such, thats when a guide can come in handy. As far as bait fishing vs. Fly Fishing catch ratios, its been my experience that corn & PB catch more freshly stocked fish than flies and jigs, which seem to catch more fish that have been in the river longer and have adapted to the environment and its food sources. When I was a bait fisherman (a long time ago) I wanted to catch bigger, holdover fish, so I mainly used natural baits such as nightcrawlers and crawfish tails, I'd catch fewer fish, but they'd be bigger. I've come to believe that jigs and most flies accomplish the same thing that using a natural bait does, it appears to be something that they are used to seeing in the river. Its my opinion that most stocked fish take some time to adapt to their new surroundings before they realize that no more hatchery food is going to come from above to sustain them. I'd think that period is the time that most fish are caught on corn or prepared baits. Of course, I could be wrong, I did catch a 5 lbs brown on corn and PB one time on extrememely high water. I also saw a 19 lbs brown caught on pink power eggs, so my theory may be hogwash, but I'm sticking to it! Also, after hooking, playing, and landing a fish caught on an artificial lure or fly, you don't have to rebait, so you can get more casts in (and more chances to catch a fish) than you would if you had to take the time to rebait.

[Pedre]

Thanks for the info guys. I really appreciate it. i've fished the norfork 7 or 8 times, but we always stay at mcclellans and fish there. I was just trying to prepare since it doesn't look like they would be open for access. I also don't know alot about high water fly fishing. I would like to talk to john berry if he is interested, just to see some rates and give me an idea of what he thinks.

Thanks,

Pedro

[John Berry]

Pedre,

I am very interested. My favorite thing is guiding on the Norfork. Take a look at my website. Most of the big trout were caught on the Norfork. Give me a call! The Volvo is loaded.