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

Some obvious things. Some new things. Some things to pay attention to. If you just want to read my thoughts on the election skip to the bottom.

It’s been a strange year, not to state the obvious. For those unaware, Covid has had a positive impact on the outdoor industry. In fact, this is the biggest surge in enthusiasm for Fly Fishing, eclipsing the Brad Pitt movement in the 90’s. I look forward to the annual industry index report coming next year, and if I had to guess we added over 1 million to the sport….. I mean, Orvis is sold out…… This has all resulted in our River becoming busier, which is a welcome site for businesses but is also begrudging reality for Fly fishing guides that are used to winter being relatively quiet. There’s growing unrest by some guides with the traffic and I’ll say this, because everyone needs to hear it… your not the only one fishing, and your boat doesn’t belong 50 feet downriver from another. If you keep a fish, it better be a stocked one of the rainbow variety. If you take a big brown from the River you are being selfish.. you are not the only person that fishes here.. your tax money didn’t pay for that fish, ours did. If you take something from the River, you’ve robbed it, and you’ve robbed the generations below you… the River only gives when you don’t take. Got it? Were done.

This is the time of the year that the big bats come to town and swing. We catch big fish all the time out here, but if you were wanting that office PICTURE hanger, winter is the time to book. Even better, we’re looking at a dry winter. Lake levels are down to managed levels and well have favorable generations. Low in the AM and high in the PM is my predictions as SWPA generates for power demand. Makes for a fun day on the River with more than one type of Tactic - Nymphing In the morning and streamer fishing in the afternoon on a water push. Just holler and we can put you on the books!

We had a lot go on this year at the Woodard Household. Married my best friend Jenny, in fact I married her twice. (An elopement then a ceremony for family). We had our second season on the Kings River with an amazing turnout and great flows with some super dandy small jaws. Couple 20’s and plenty of 18 inch fish caught. Oh! We also started our journey in Montana and we can’t WAIT to go back and take you! Check out our Montana Page for more pictures or shoot me a message! We lost count on the sheer number of fish we caught on hoppers. It got silly. The Big Hole and Beaverhead Rivers are QUALITY fisheries. They produce fish equivalent to the White River for sure! Just check ours or our friend Sunrise Fly Shop’s Instagram feed.

KINGS RIVER SEASON 3:

We are going to change the platform for the Kings River in 2021. We want to preserve this river for years to come and part of that is reducing our footprint to a manageable level. What I saw this year on the kings was horrendous. High pressure, trash everywhere, harvesting of smallmouth, and bank destabilization. I don’t contribute to any of that, but In the spirit of conservation I’m going to reduce the months we guide on the river and reduce the amount of trips we take. This isn’t a white flag it’s a freaking American flag with an eagle and a bottle of whiskey on the side. I want to grow big smallmouth that don’t know what a Fly is and doesn’t see 1000000000 boats a year like the white. This is the #1 resource for smallmouth we have since we screwed up crooked creek. Don’t F@#& it up. If you’ve never been on it, I encourage you to book! It’s an amazing trip through remote water and historic bluffs with so,e of the Ozark biggest fish.

Just like a Netflix Show. Kings River Season 3 will have 40 episodes. There will be 10 episodes per month. So spots are limited folks. If you know you want to smallmouth fish this next year you need to get ahold of me soon and we can talk details. The month of May only has 4 days left. (Rescheduling and group trips have exceptions of course)

Also - we are in negotiations with the largest Fly fishing travel service in the world. More on that soon.

The Election AND my Birthday are today. Obviously my birthday is more important. .

Listen folk, politics is incredibly divisive and exhausting and can ruin a lot of things. Know what doesn’t do any of that? Fly fishing with your favorite guides. Either way this goes, the guide industry will take a small hit, and possibly more. Supporting local guides may be more important than ever before. Me and my household will always trust the lord when it comes to the future and our decisions, and we pray for the nation, but we also pray for trout, regardless of the president. Come fish with us!

Get in contact Here

Open Dates left in 2020:

Nov. 22nd, 29th, 30th

Dec. 6th, 13, 14, 20th.