A Fishing Report

[Zach Bearden]

I went down yesterday and got to fish for the first time down here in two weeks.

Got down there around 8 and started with some dry flies. Got nothing so switched over to a Zebra Midge, got one hit from that. Went downstream and fish tons of different things. Couldn't buy a bite! Switched over to a Crackleback, drifted it down and across with very fast 2-3" strips. Picked up 6 on the chartruse and grizzly CB (3 bows and 3 browns). Biggest was a brown about 12", and the rest were very small. TONS of fun though! Got bored after a while of not catching anything so went to some other holes and couldn't get nothing. Went downstream of there and picked up one more brown on a little dry fly. We had a small Callibaetis hatch the other night. Fish were going NUTS on them! Was a great time too, I never got one to hand but had a brown on that was about 15" and some beautiful coloring.

The main thing thats been working for me is soft hackles just under the surface film and dry flies skated and dead drifted. Don't forget the small stuff if you have it. I fished a size 24 PMD emerger and had a real nce sized one on. When you're fishing mid day the biggest tippet you probably want to go is a 5 or 6X... Come down and give it a try! Fishings great right now and there are alot of browns in the river. Watch for the redds too. I know there snt documented reproduction but I have seen some redds.

[The Caddis]

Zach - thanks for the report. I am planning on fishing the Illinois either Friday or Saturday. I know from a buddy who fished the LMF that small grey mayflies were hatching the past week, he said a size 24 to 26, and tons of them, fish were going crazy.

[Rainstein]

I had about the same luck myself last Saturday (10/27). Only hooked four in as many hours, and only managed to net two of them, both stocker-size browns but very nice coloring. I switched flies a lot too. Started off with a green nymph, but didn't get anything, and couldn't catch anything on my old standby, a orange headed micro jig with an olive marabou tail, either. Wierd, cause I have never failed to catch something on that fly. The lack of quick bites surprised me because the water was moving pretty quickly and was sort of cloudy, which I thought would produce more reaction strikes than it did.

Hooked my first brown of the day on an pinkish-white egg pattern after I overheard some bait fishermen talking about catching some on power bait style eggs, but promptly managed to let it slip off the hook. The redds you saw may explain the bites guys were getting on egg patterns. But, I managed to lose that fly too, when my next catch was a tree limb. I switched to another egg pattern, and didn't get anything else.

I didn't get any action for quite a while, but started noticing risers on some small, cream colored flies that seemed to be attracted to sunny spots on the water (is this the Callibaetis of which you speak?). I had moved down the river from the majority of my stuff, so the closes thing I could find was a BWO wet fly, which I managed to drop right on top of a fish in sunny spot. He took it before it could even sink, since I didn't put any weight on it, and that was the first brown I netted. He managed to yank the swept wing off of that fly, so I switched to an olive WD-40 and started nymphing again, and pulled in one more stocker-size brown I saw laying down-current of a flat rock. Drifted a very small olive nymph (I used so many flies that day I've forgotten which) over his head and got to watch him rise right up to meet it. That was it for me, and couldn't get another bite.

How was the water when you were there? It was murky and fast, but not to high, on Saturday.

[Don]

Zach,

What kind of net did you break in?

Don

[Zach Bearden]

The Net: Its the net that you saw when we were in Branson. Does'nt have a name on it. Handmade wood net, I LOVE that thing. Its pretty as all get out and with the long handle I can reach out to get them fish when I've got a 12ft long leader and 7X tippet.

The Flies: What you saw were probably just a bunch of midges. Callibaetis are actually pretty big compared to the things you saw.

The Water: It was just a tiny bit high but the fish didn't seem to care. Its been dingy colored for a long time. I like to fish whats called an Arkansas drifter in bright colors (basically a san juan tail then a dub'd body of antron is what I use) when the waters off color.

[Okieflyfisher53]

I fished the Moonshine Road area on Sunday, Nov 4th. I caught a lot of bows, mostly in the 12-14" range, my biggest being 16". Zebra midges and tan scuds with a copper tungsten bead head worked well. The rainbows are trying to spawn! One of the males that I caught was very dark and squirted milt all over the place when I released it. The ODWC says that there is no documented evidence of spawning trout in the LI, but I have seen redds and other signs of spawning activity.

Steve

[Mikey]

Zach,

i'm interested in the Arkansas Drifter fly you mentioned earlier in this article. If you know of a link or have a more detailed recipe for it I would love to give it a shot. Since we sometimes visit the Tenkiller area it might be beneficial for me to add another productive fly to my arsenal.

Keep me posted on this fishing conditions up there.

Mikey