Going Old School at Rim Shoals (Thanks, Rebecca!)



Unloading the gear at the Town and Country (Nice Yeti!!!)

The elusive sulfur hatch on the White and North Fork Rivers turned out to be just that...elusive.  I left the beautiful Mississippi Gulf Coast with visions of PMDs spinning in my head.  After ten hours I finally arrived in Mountain Home, AR, a place I hadn't been to in quite a while due to the inconsistent generation at Bull Shoals and Norfork Dams.  I unloaded the gear and checked into the Town and Country Inn, a fine establishment and a true hardcore fly-fisherman's hole in the wall.  A few hours earlier, I had stopped off in Marion, AR for gas and beer and was anxious to see how cold my beverages were in my new Yeti cooler, a father's day gift from my lovely wife, Laurie!  She couldn't make the trip but was living vicariously through me.  Not only did the Yeti do well in 90+ degrees during the trip, but still had ice in it eight days later.  Kudos to @Yeticoolers! 

New Patagonia Rock Grip Aluminum Bar Wading Boots (Good Job, Yvon!)

The next day, I stopped off at Blue Ribbon Flies to catch up on the latest fishing reports, bought a few flies and was off to the Norfork.  I ended up at Ackerman Access where I found the river low and clear.  After donning the waders and my new Patagonia Rock Grip Boots (awesome!) I was looking for any signs of mayfly life.  The hatch was sporadic, but I did see enough bugs to be successful with a couple nice fish on Sulfur dries, and a couple more bumping pheasant tails along the riffles.
After lunch, I ventured over to Cotter to check out the White River.  On my way, I stopped by at Steve Dally's Ozark Fly Fisher for some info and more flies.

Steve is a great guy with a great shop and a plethora of information.  I ended up buying some yellow soft hackles with a little bling.  I figured they would enhance the sulfur emerger section of my arsenal.  This turned out to be the case.  Steve suggested I venture to a new access (to me, anyway) called the Narrows.  For those of you familiar with access points on the White, it is just down the road from Wildcat Shoals.  The water on the White was low.  This was something I had not personally witnessed for two years, and I have to admit, when I took my first step into my sacred home waters in such a long period of time, it was therapeutic.  I did really well here and caught a dozen fat rainbows all swinging those new Steve Dally yellow softies through a long section of riffles.

(The "Rim" at Rim Shoals)

The next day I ventured to Rim Shoals, one of my favorite places on earth. A place I had first been introduced to a decade ago by a White River fly fishing guru.  Normally, the parking lot at Rim is full.  But today it was vacant.  I took a few minutes to enjoy a cold bottle of Fat Tire and view the first low water I had witnessed at Rim Shoals in many moons.

As I enjoyed the ice cold ale (compliments of Yeti Coolers and Bayman Beverage, Cotter, AR)  I realized I had the whole place to myself.  No bugs were coming off so I decided to go "old school" with a #16 beadhead sowbug fished under an even more "Old School" Palsa Pinch-On Indicator.  I waded into the first riffle, shot out a cast, mended my line and "bam" I had the first fish of the day pulsing at the end of my Scott G2 5 wt.  The next few hours were momentous.  I fished all of my old haunts and was greeted in each hole by a fat rainbow.  By this time I had forgotten my pipe-dream of a thick Sulfur hatch.  I was catching fish and realized it was good to get back to my "roots."  This was the way I had been taught to fish on the White River by my original mentor, Rebecca Rawls at Cane Island Fly Shop.  I even tied on a "Randy", which is a sowbug pattern with a tail, originally tied by Rebecca's late brother, Travis.  If you will check out my blog home pic you'll notice a large brown trout being held by yours truly. It was caught on slate-gray February morning at Bull Shoals access on a #16 Randy.  The photo was snapped by Rebecca Rawls.  What was good then was just as good now.  My solitary afternoon at Rim Shoals stirred warm memories when all was new and fresh and I was finally catching these mysterious, cold-water trout I had always dreamed of catching as a little kid reading the latest issue of Field and Stream on hot summer days in rural Mississippi where these fish don't exist.  Thanks, Rebecca, for introducing me to this world I will always treasure and fueling an addiction that I can't shake.  I've fished the salmonfly hatch on the Yellowstone, the green drake hatch at the Ranch on the Henry's Fork, the PMD hatch on the Gallatin and Frying Pan, the Cicada hatch on the Green and the White Miller rodeo on the Firehole, but it all started here.  It is always a great thing to return to your roots.  To me, the White River is the "comfort food" of fly fishing.  My Mississippi roots run pretty deep into Arkansas and no matter where I go to pursue these great gamefish.  It will always be my "home water."  The Tailwater Tribe will be introducing a new twist this year.  I will be taking my Tour (TWTFFT3) out east to fish the legendary waters of the Allegheny Mountains:  Namely, the Letort and Yellow Breeches Creek in Pennsylvania.  I'll try to get off my duff and make a new post from there.  Until then, tight lines...