Got back from my trip to the white river in Arkansas.  I never would have thought of Arkansas being a good place for a trout fishery.  The white river is pretty amazing. 

Unfortunately,  the water was super high and really fast the entire time I was there.  I guess they are anticipating some significant rainfall in the next week or two so they kept things flowing pretty hard from the dam.  They have power generators at the dam at Bull Shoals, I am not sure how many in total they have, but they ran 8 of them the entire time I was there, which as I understand it, is a lot.

I learned quite a bit on this trip.  Heading out there, I had visions of catching many trout on the fly from the hobie.  I bought some streamers, and some mouse patterns for the night time.  What I didnt do, was buy a fly rod specifically for this trip.  I figured, although my 5wt was probably underpowered, I would just figure things out and it would be ok.  I got part of that equation right.  Everything felt wrong trying to toss the big streamers on the 5wt.  I could never get the rod to load up right, and it felt like it was always trying to catch up.  I struggled along trying to make that work for a while, meanwhile everyone that I was with was using conventional rods and reels and were already in the fish.

After a while, I gave up and switched to a conventional setup.  Then I started catching fish.

Due to the volume of water, we only drifted in Kayaks one day.  I had never been in a kayak in those kinds of conditions.  The river is wide and deep, so I never felt intimidated, but it could get you moving!  We had a group of guys.  Several were in a large drift raft, and a few of us were in kayaks.  The kayaks moved WAY faster than the drift raft.  Since I did not know where the take out was,  I needed to stay within view of the raft, or risk floating down the white for the next several days. 

One thing I did not expect was the the kayak wanted to turn circles as it drifted down the river.  The rudder would slow that a bit,  but I had to use the paddle or pedals more than I thought I would, just to keep the kayak pointed in the direction that I wanted.

Sadly, on the day that we drifted the yaks, I didnt even get so much as a bite.  At first I was super bummed, and thought it was something I was doing or not doing.  Then I checked in with others and no one was catching that day.  The weather had shifted from a high of 40 the previous day, to the 60s that day.  So, I dont know if that had something to do with it,  but I figure it was maybe a factor.

I also learned that I suck at using a gopro. I had one,  figured I would have a bunch of killer footage, but I dont.  I have lots of footage of the ground.  Some of my beer.  and some out of place footage of the river itself.  I think I only managed about one fish to get on there.

The rest of the trip we rented little skiffs, or Jon boats with motors.  This made it much easier to get around, and hold up at holes that were producing fish.

The white river really is a stunning landscape.  I saw many awesome critters,  otters, beavers, all sorts of birds.  I even saw a bald eagle swoop down and snag a fish.  That was freakin awesome.  Wish I had gotten that on the gopro!

For me, I felt like I caught a lot of fish.  The locals were all complaining that it was slow the whole time I was there.  They talked of 50 to 100 fish days.  I have never had that kind of day. 

The first day I got there, I caught 4 fish that afternoon/evening.  The next day, 4 again. The day after, 0, but I had the biggest brown trout I have ever seen on my line,  it broke off at my feet.  That hurt.  I would have loved to have gotten a picture of that one.  Day after that, I caught 11, and then the morning I left I caught 4 more. 

Plenty of good food, good drink and good company.  Was an epic trip.

Here are a few of the fish I caught. 

Hey all.  In a couple weeks I am going to visit some family for a fishing trip.  My cousin has a couple Kayaks (hobie pa) and we are going to go chase some brown trout on the white river.

I have messed around with a fly rod on a kayak before, briefly, I mean less than an hour briefly.  and most of that time I was standing up.

This will be an interesting trip for me.  100% of my fly experience is dry, colorado and western rivers and streams.  I have never even been on a drift trip.

My understanding of the fishing on the White is that it is all streamers and wet flies/nymphing.  Except for at night when I can toss some mouse patterns.  I have been reading up a bit on the difference in technique there, and think I can muddle my way through.

I also have been reading through the threads here trying to get some tips on how best to fish from a kayak.  I picked up the tip about a towel in the lap for line management.

Any other tips you might have for me?  Thanks!

A buddy and I went out on the water in Santa Cruz yesterday to look for some rockfish.  The wind was pretty gnarly in the morning but made for a quick trip out to the grounds.  The middle of the trip was pretty nice, wind died down considerably.  It started picking up a little as we were heading back in.

Glad I have the catch bag on the front of my outback.  My buddy who came with me did not.  He had a much wetter ride than I did.  My catch bag really protected me from 95% of that.  I was really thankful for that extra protection as it was a bit cold with that wind whipping around.  The chop seemed to be coming from all angles.  The outback handled pretty good.  There were a few times where I had the thought of maybe taking an involuntary swim while getting jostled from the side by a wave, but the yak really held its own well and for the most part I never even thought about it. 

The plan that I thought we had didnt actually work out.  I think maybe something is wrong with my GPS.  WAY overshot the general area we intended to fish.  I need to figure that out before the next time I fish.  But saw some good spots along the way so all worked out.

We were on the water for about 6 and a half hours.  I caught 4 fish.  Not a banner day, but it was fun.  Couple blacks, a vermilion and a ling.  My previous trip out was a skunk so I was glad I at least had something to show for the effort before close of the season.  And I got to feed the family some fish tacos!

I didnt see this article on this site anywhere.  I thought it was interesting, especially in light of the 2019 reg that reduces the take on lings.

https://www.latimes.com/local/california/la-me-rockfish-restrictions-lifted-20181211-story.html?fbclid=IwAR1wkdfBxCqgWNsInv0hC3OTWL7D7z7PH908fKo2Iw7plrRBddn8VTj3I_g

Do you guys like it when someone you dont know sees you on the water and approaches you to say hi, or do you prefer to be left alone?

Last couple times I went out, I didnt approach others because I wasnt sure if that was something that was appreciated or not.

Anyone have any good (easy) methods for cleaning salt water deposits, etc from the fish finder?  Googling result in tons of videos from guys spraying vinegar on paper towels and letting it soak on the screen, to guys using car products and scrubbing the screen.

Pretty cool.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/2018/10/deep-sea-octopus-nursery-discovered-animals-news/?fbclid=IwAR0eD5w02hm4WMUcjuzlqr4HuQCSnGXAVOtcq57A5edPWhDL0JXitzZPwJo