Feed Them Foam

As the hot weather begins to roll into the Ozarks, only one thing is really on our mind as guides at 8am… what is the name of the dude in the front of my boat…

Anyways.

Let’s talk about people & their addictions.

Hopper Fishing is a cult movement inside the trout industry and people don’t even realize it.. even more egregious than streamer heads, these folks we call Terresties will stop at nothing to fees a brown trout Leggy Larry’s, Chubby Chernobyls, Fat Alberts, & Psycho Ants. Even the names of hoppers draw lines to some whack ass meat fly names. Terresties wake up with the river fog at 6am, rub $26.00 High Tech Floatant on their neon bright hobby lobby foam, grab the fastest rod they can, and proceed to lay wood to all living fish looking up in the months of July - October. They Come from near & far, you can tell by the car, and they definitely wait THREE God loving seconds before setting the hook. It’s not their fault they are addicts to this way of fly fishing. It’s kinda like the first time you had a Dilly Bar. So Crisp, so much joy, so amazingly sweet, also everything is melting because it’s 99 Degrees. If you meet a terresty, are one, know of one, or want to be one now.. Please let them & yourself know that their Journey to Hopper Nirvana starts & ends on the White River in Cotter, Arkansas on one of our boats. See You at 6am.

Oh & while your here fishing for Trout with Hoppers , let’s also talk about Poppers for Bass because thats the most fun you’ll have just short of silver dollar city.

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The Arrival of Bugs

For a Trout Guide, the small flutter of microscopic insect wings is equivalent to the most excited you’ve ever seen any kid while opening a present or eating a cake. We can’t help it. We just want to scream & dance & throw a fit at the fact that Bugs are back on the White River, Norf, Kings, & Little Red. I’m not saying we’re having hatches for crying out loud I’m talking about the presence of Bugs, and the fact that fish are eating. I’m a buggy dude by nature… I learned how to fish for Trout in New Mexico, I caught my first big trout with a size 10 Humpy…. I spent my time picking fish off swinging wets… hell…. I might have been wearing a vest too..

All that to say… Lock down the hatches, break out the Cigars, buy your gas now, and call to plan your trip to the White for an unbelievable time… bug season is our favorite time of the year & we can’t wait to take you fishing.

on December, Bugs, and Drifts

Hello and welcome to the Woodard Fly Fishing Blog Post December 2021. This is gonna be real great.

If you haven’t noticed, it’s weird outside. Climate Change has been pretty extreme this past year and this Ozark winter is no exception. Multiple record warm 70 degree days followed by various cold fronts, serious wind, tornadoes, carrying hopes of rain we desperately need… it feels like Spring outside.. and some of the Fishing so far this month has resembled Spring Fishing techniques in the low water a warm day provides.
However, This looks like it may be ending come this weekend when lows dip into the 20’s.
Some of you may hate cold weather but around here it’s more than welcome. Big water right now means big fish feeding aggressively as we move further into the winter months. This week they are grabbing streamers at the boat, last week we were having browns eat dries and emerger patterns, the week before size 18 & 20’s in dead low flows walking a drift boat down roundhouse, tomorrow who knows? It’s a constantly changing scene on the White River, keeping anglers on their toes and making guides sometimes pull hairs… we wouldn’t trade it for the world.. One thing is for sure, you don’t want to miss out on winter fly fishing on the White.

Here’s a few points from Jacob’s rower seat;

Hey this is Jacob Commer, Woodard Fly Fishing’s Head Guide. I want to start off by talking about drifting bugs - a subject near and quite dear to my heart.  The strike indicator or hopper/dropper dead drift technique is the workhorse of our fishing, especially in low water (more on that in the previous newsletter.)  While it’s not as flashy (or tiring) as retrieving a streamer all day, drifting bugs is a user-friendly technique with a lot of upside.  A minute to learn and a lifetime to master.  Here’s a few tips to up your game:

• Mend big and mend early.  Your bug is not dead drifting if your bobber moves every time you mend - it rises, then falls in the water column.  If there’s little flow there needs to be little movement. This is an effective technique, but not a dead drift.  Maintain a small “bubble” of slack line in your drift, so that you are able to mend without moving your indicator.

• Good is the enemy of great.  The “cast, mend, drift 10ft, mend again, repeat…” cadence can work against you, especially in the varying currents of shoals on low water.  Observe your fly line, and react in turn.  Don’t get caught sleeping!  Thats when they eat it!

• KEEP IT SIMPLE.  A good drift in “meh” water is better than a bad drift, 75 feet from the boat.

I could talk about this stuff all day, and I do… 

Flies Working. Fulling Mill Frenchie Jig Red, Umpqua CDC Sowbug, Danny Ward’s Double D’s.

On to current events.

• The generation pattern has shifted slightly as more significant cold fronts have traveled through in the past weeks.  We are experiencing increased flows on cold midweek days, usually for periods of 4 to 6 hours.  This presents a unique opportunity to fish multiple approaches in the same day - follow the high water, find the drop, throwing a streamer, evade high flows in favor of easy catching on bobbers, or even both which makes for a great day. These are the days to book. Mid Week, cold, high water, big eats for the streamer fisherman, aggressive bobber Fishing for the beginner, low water in the afternoon, puts fish in the boat all day.
  - Long casts catch big fish in the winter.. practice before you come, not just on my boat any guides boat. Quicker you can get to work at 50-60ft the quicker we’ll catch one of them there brown Trout.

As we enter the coldest part of the year, it’s important to be prepared.  It’s hard to have a good time if you’re focused on not freezing.  To combat finding yourself in this situation on a crisp, perhaps breezy, January day, consider these thoughts…

• Nobody in the boat can control the fish or weather in winter.  We put ourselves in the best position we can to catch trout, with the conditions we are given in this season. We carry hand warmers and De-Ice our boats in the morning. Bring what clothes you need to be comfortable, and be ready to have a good time fishing.  

• I carry a dry washcloth in a jacket pocket, to dry my hands during breaks from fishing.  Wet hands get cold, and stay cold.  Nobody’s being punished!  It’s just fishing.  Take breaks and get yourself right.

Closing thoughts

Holy cow am I fired up to see the amount of generation increasing.  If you’re not gearing up for winter high water already, go ahead and start!!  We are booking for January- March 2022, It’s sure to be a great season. Now - I, personally, am excited for those midweek, empty river pushes of high water, fooling brown trout on hook & feather as we go.  In the meantime periods of low flow, I’ll be zigzagging the river in the drift boat, picking apart shoals.  You ought to come try it.  Every day on the water is an opportunity to see something new, and to learn.  Tight lines, y’all.

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2021 - “The Year of Whacking Fish”

It’s June Now, about 7 months since the last update. So let’s catch up.

December - March was hit and miss in Arkansas. Great streamer Fishing throughout followed by a polar vortex in Mid February that shut our fishery down until Mid March. Water temps at the Dam hit 39 degrees and the fish about Froze, At least our rods did. This is why it’s important as guides to fish all 100 miles of our tailwater system. After about a week of staring at Bobbers with some good fish in between on some perdigion nymphs and some other secret sauces we toured down South, way South. That’s Better, 30-50 days like usual from Ships to Calico Rock. If you’ve never fished that stretch it’s a must if you call the White River “your fishery.”

oh and the Shad Kill, it was there, just spotty at best. The River Gods owe it to us this/next year.

April - May. You probably know via the drowning of emails, social media posts, and buddy references how epic it was. I lost count of how many fish were caught, missed, broke off, etc. My favorite part was taking people who could sling a dry fly on a rope. If you can throw dries, these are the months to come. Big Fish 1” from the bank sipping caddis like it was going out of style Made up for those slow days this winter. Some of the most exciting fly fishing in the country happens on the White River believe it or not, and dates for 2022 are gonna be hard to come by.
During this time, I run the ONLY full time guide service on the Kings River. I used to live there. It’s home. I’ve been putting bronze boi’s in the boat for three years now on the most exciting fishery in the State. In 13 days (we had another 7 cancel for weather) we put over 124 Smallies in the bag. It can be a super technical fishery in the spring where every degree counts, but when it’s hot it’s HOTTTTTT. I even got to take some very special people there….. clients of course… but also Yellow Dog Fly Fishing

Thats right, we are now apart of Yellow Dog Fly Fishing, the largest fly fishing travel service in the Country. We will be offering multi day and multi boat trips on the White, Kings, Norfork, and Little Red River (that’s right, the Arkansas Grand Slam) with the goal of bringing anglers from around the world to experience the Ozarks on a whole new level. We are partnering with Riley’s Outfitters for big groups, corporations, and folks that like a in house chef with fine dining (The King of Beef, the Barron of Pizza, the Gourmet Gorilla, Nathan Buck). We are also offering Lodging at the Cotter Trout Lodge for those of you that don’t care about fancy feasts, run on redbulll, and your only desire is big fish and bent rods every waking moment… AKA my kind of people.
Anyways… we took them to the Little Red (25 Fish), the White (7 Browns over 20” on dries), and the Kings (two 20 Inch Smallmouth plus a bazillion others)…. it’s always a good time Fishing in the Ozarks… and if you’ve been on the river lately you know it’s getting popular.. which brings us to our next talking point.. Availability

These are the Dates we have open for bookings in the next 60 days on my boat (my Brand New Xtream With the Merc and the fancy seats), but we have plenty available dates with other guides we’ll be more than happy to take care of.. and if you want to fish Smallmouth book a Trout trip too.. Hoppers & Poppers.. just a thought. Oh and the hopper Fishing this year with high water…….. pack your bags and practice your cast.

July 7-9. July 11th. July 17-18. July 20-25th. July 29th-31st

August 3- 7th. August 10&11th. August 13-15th. August 21-22.

Just click on “Contact Us” or text me at 870-260-1976.

For June.. me and Jenny are sitting on the deck at one of the best lodges in Montana watching water temps, eating salmonflies, Drinking Twisted Tea and taking a break from the past week of clients and getting ready to host some more. Maybe you’ll join us next year on the Big Hole & Beaverhead.

Sincerely,

Benjamin Woodard