Over the last few weeks, I have been fortunate to have some truly epic
days on the river. The fishing has been great in both quality and
quantity, but more importantly, it’s the company shared that has been
most memorable. To start the month off, we travelled on our quarterly
pilgrimage to famed tailwaters like many before us. For this trip we
chose, the San Juan. Not unlike a Viking raiding party, we embarked on
our journey, uncertain of what the future holds, but excited
nonetheless, eager to achieve greatness and great plunder. The gods
shined on us, and we came back with our heads held high and arms hanging
low(stay tuned for a total account of the story, from the man, Ernesto,
himself.) The “Zen” Juan was all it was cracked up to be and much more,
but what even made me more satisfied was that our patterns produced.
They coaxed the nicest fish of the day and more importantly it proved to
me that our little tailwater here, can definitely hold her own. Though
we cannot compete with the sheer number of fish in the Juan, but few
can, the quality and brute strength of our trout down here can rival
even the greatest tailwaters and that my friends, you can take to the
bank.
Through the years, I have been fortunate enough to have fish along side
some truly great anglers and have soaked up as much information as
possible. During that time have also had the privilege to watch some
people transform from young padawans to full fledged Jedi Knights. Most
recently, I have witnessed this with my P.I.C., Remo. During our trip, I
really believe he found his Zen, and for the first time he truly
understood the concept. He has always been a good angler, but now he
has transcended to another level. He has developed an almost uncanny
ability to sight fish and his hook up’s are a sight to see. As Ernie
and I, sat back on the bank and watched him, we could see that he looks
at the river in a whole different light. We could see that everything
has slowed down for him and he is more aware of everything going on
around him than ever before. I believe one of the best things you can
do on the water to become a better angler is to fish with someone better
than you and it’s great when you can even take a few lessons from
someone that was once your apprentice. Leave your pride at the truck
and let the hook ups begin.
Fast forward to this weekend, eager to get back into our home waters,
Remo and I finally got a chance to jump back into the Ark. Weather was
killer, so we headed out at 7:30 and found an almost empty parking lot.
Gearing up, we met a nice guy named Rich from out of town. He hadn’t
been down here lately and asked for a few tips. We set him up with a
few killer patterns and techniques and went on our way. After a slow
start, we moved up the river and joined back up with him at Albert’s
hole. Remo jumped in as I helped Rich fine tune his rig. Before I was
even done, Remo already had two hook ups; it was going to be a good day.
I spotted a few nice hogs for Rich, set him and let him go at it.
Before long, he had a smile on his face and a nice hook up, which was in
turn followed by a disappointing look when the fish surfaced as a
sucker. I assured him this was a victory in the fact that he was
getting a good drift and definitely in the right zone at the time, just
rinse and repeat. After landing his first nice trout of the day, he got
in the zone and BAM! I saw a nice hook up, this one had shoulders and
immediately tried to take him into the abyss. After a great fight, he
landed a brutus ‘bow with amazing color and some truly gnarley battle
scars. After Rem and I, landed a few more nice fish, we decided to do
some exploring. We hit one of our favorite spots, zoned in, and landed
several nice beauties one after another. Strikes were subtle, so focus
is the key, distinguishing between your weight ticking the bottom and a
soft strike can be tedious at time, but once you zone in and stop
thinking “was that a hit?” and just allow your body to react even when
you don’t even know why you set the hook, the hook ups will come.
Besides by the time you ask yourself that question, it’s already too
late and when in doubt, set the hook. After a few more fish I decided to
give my back a break and before I could even sit down, Rem had a hog
on, a definite monster. After an epic battle, a 24” brute lay in the
net. Egg patterns in size 18, size 22 sweetwater midges and Black
beauties were the patterns of the day, with eggies taking majority of
the fish. Ernie and I got out two days after that, and although I lost
more fish than I did the previous days, the day was almost the same,
expect for the Gale Force winds. We absolutely laid waste with our
nuclear eggs in one of our favorite parts of the river, we like to call
the “Zen Run”, between the big bend in the river before the first weir.
It has always been a productive stretch for us but many times over
looked and now with multiple runs and a nice four pod its producing
better than ever. So, if you haven’t had a chance to hit the Arkansas
lately, you are missing out.
Tight Lines,
Clint
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