Fishing Report - 3/11/2016

[Clay Goforth]

The Mid-South Regional Trout Unlimited Meeting was this past weekend in Fayetteville, hosted by the Northwest Arkansas 514 Chapter.  We had a great meeting that was kicked off on Friday by a fishing retreat and shore lunch fish fry on the Beaver Tailwater. The water was relatively high with 2 units of flow and a bit stained from the recent rain.  

I had the distinct pleasure of meeting and then getting to fish with forum member, Daddy-O, from Oklahoma.  First off, class act and great guy. Second off, the guy knows his way around a fly rod.  We fished from the restricted area below the dam down to Bertrand access and had a heck of time.

Fishing wasn't outstanding but and we were only able to fish a couple of hours but boated 7 fish in that time. Mostly pretty rainbows but the last fish of the day was a fat and beautiful 20" brown trout.  The bait of choice, for me, was a white jig (surprise!) and Daddy-O fished an egg pattern, a PMS, and a couple other flies I believe.  I think had we had more time and a little better water clarity, we could have boated a lot more fish.  The Beaver tailwater has surprised me with the quantity and quality of fish the last few times I have been out on it. It is good to see that some of the work my home TU Chapter of 514 is paying off in fishing. 

 

[DaddyO]

Clay,

You got away before I got to thank you for the great job that you and your chapter did in hosting this meeting.  As the project coordinator of this meeting, you did a fantastic job and Michael and Brian were quick to give you the credit for pulling the outing off as well as it went.  I had a great time watching you catch all of the fish!!  If we had made another trip up the river, I was going to switch to a Jig rod. I waded below the dam, after lunch, and was able to pick up a couple of fish after I switched to my sink tip.

I told Michael and Brian, that we need to get our two groups together and collaborate on an outing.  Maybe I can get you in contact with our Events Coordinator and we'll do a joint outing.

Your new boat is a sweet ride.  I can't thank you enough for treating me to a day of fishing.  I want to learn more about the Beaver Tail water and fish it a few more times during the year.

[BilletHead]

  Nice report fellows and it is neat to see OA members fishing together,

BilletHead

[Clay Goforth]

4 hours ago, DaddyO said:

Clay,

You got away before I got to thank you for the great job that you and your chapter did in hosting this meeting.  As the project coordinator of this meeting, you did a fantastic job and Michael and Brian were quick to give you the credit for pulling the outing off as well as it went.  I had a great time watching you catch all of the fish!!  If we had made another trip up the river, I was going to switch to a Jig rod. I waded below the dam, after lunch, and was able to pick up a couple of fish after I switched to my sink tip.

I told Michael and Brian, that we need to get our two groups together and collaborate on an outing.  Maybe I can get you in contact with our Events Coordinator and we'll do a joint outing.

Your new boat is a sweet ride.  I can't thank you enough for treating me to a day of fishing.  I want to learn more about the Beaver Tail water and fish it a few more times during the year.

Thank you, Phil!  The event went as well as we could have hoped I think. It would be awesome to get together with your TU chapter for a joint event. You guys should come over when we do the egg planting this summer!  I had to slip out early from the meeting. My wife handling all three kids under 6 on her "day off" necessitated me getting home. 

I'm glad you caught some fish after lunch on Friday too.  Beaver usually fishes better than it did so you should come over a few more times. 

And i I think you must be joking about the boat ride after the rough start  

The "joys" of working the kinks out of a new boat...

I loved when Mark turned around and asked if we needed flotation devices. 

[Quillback]

Beautiful brown, thanks for the pic!

[DaddyO]

15 hours ago, Clay Goforth said:

Thank you, Phil!  The event went as well as we could have hoped I think. It would be awesome to get together with your TU chapter for a joint event. You guys should come over when we do the egg planting this summer!  I had to slip out early from the meeting. My wife handling all three kids under 6 on her "day off" necessitated me getting home. 

I'm glad you caught some fish after lunch on Friday too.  Beaver usually fishes better than it did so you should come over a few more times. 

And i I think you must be joking about the boat ride after the rough start  

The "joys" of working the kinks out of a new boat...

I loved when Mark turned around and asked if we needed flotation devices. 

That would be Way Cool, doing the egg planting!!  I'll check with my team and see if we can make that happen.  

The rough start didn't change the fact that it was still a sweet ride.

Mark was cracking me up.  He was getting so caught up in his cast, I lost track of the number of times I had to duck his rod and line.

Thinking back about the trip, I should've removed the indicator, added some split shot and just straight lined the drift, bouncing stuff off of the bottom.  Oh well, hindsight is 20/20.

[sfiser]

Clay can I ask what ramp you used to put your boat in?  Did you run on pad or idle your way up the river?  I have a 207xp as well and have been thinking about dropping it in beaver when they are generating but just haven't done it yet.  I rarely see people fish it in high water and am rather curious and want to give it a try.