First let me apologize for taking so long to get to finish up this post about my early February trip to the White River. For some reason, I have been pretty swamped lately. But I digress…..
After a day of floating and wading the White River, we were confronted with another morning of low water on the White River. We pondered this conundrum over a killer breakfast, surely meant to cure our hangovers at Gaston’s White River Resort. Because of the wind, we couldn’t decide whether to put the boat in and fish down river further, or fight the crowds and fish the dam.
We were seeking some of that special alone time that only the White River can give, so after discussing this with Jimmy “T” Traylor our guide for the day (www.FlyFishArkansas.com) he thought that perhaps escaping from the crowds would be our best bet. Boy was he right.
I will save you from all the boring details, but fish were caught…..and lots of them. We were fishing eggs, worms, trout crack, and midges under yarn and palsa indicators to fish all day long. We would use the boat to motor to a spot and get out and wade fish for several hours, and hardly see a sole and definitely have the river to ourselves. It definitely made for a great day out on the river. Just because the White River is a tailwater doesn’t mean you can’t find solitude for the “quiet sport”, you just have to know where to look. It wouldn’t have been possible though, without JimmyT’s unbelievable ability to navigate a white river jon boat (with outboard prop motor) through channels in rock ledges, riffles and runs, and around logs that I don’t know if I would have attempted in my drift boat. The guy is simply a captain’s captain when it comes to piloting the river on low water.
We fished hard on Saturday and in the end, I couldn’t begin to tell you how many fish we caught. We even were able to bump into pals Jim Laing and Jeff Trigg while on the river, which was good to catch up with them. We pulled off the river around 5pm and headed back to our room ready ourselve’s for our annual dinner at 178 Club in Bull Shoals with Davy Wotton and crew. As always it was a good time, but it is one of those things you just have to particpate in to believe as the stories are definitely told. Needless to say it was a long night and I think my head hit the pillow dreaming of trout around midnight.
