Tale Waters

The Voice of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers

North Arkansas Fly Fishers meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Meetings are held at the Van Matre Senior Center located at 1101 Spring St Mountain Home, AR 72653. Membership meeting starts at 7:00 pm. All members and guests are welcome and encouraged to attend.

NAFF Board of Directors’ meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at 1:00 pm 1st Security Bank on 9th St. All members are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Visit North Arkansas Fly Fishers Online at

www.northarkansasflyfisher.org

Officers

President — Ken Sickels ……(870) 321-2661 Vice President — Tom Emerick (870) 499-3382 Secretary — Pat Smith ..….. (870) 404-0747 Treasurer — David Hea …….(870) 421-7078

Directors

Conservation — Tommy Hagan ..(870) 430-2091 Property — Kevin Boddy……..(870) - 421-7804 Education — Fred Stumpf…...870-421-3746 Membership — Paul Ashton …(870) 425-9230 Past President — Mike Tipton ..(870) 404-8845 Appd. by President — Vern Berry (870) 421-0720

Tale Waters is published 2nd Tues-day of each month. Article deadline is 1st Tuesday of the month. Staff: Mike Tipton & Rita Billbe Contact: sowbug@northarkansasflyfisher.org

North Arkansas Fly Fishers September 12, 2017 Tale Waters

Fly Fishing Fair

October 6 & 7

Well, it's almost time again, time for another Southern Council Fly Fishing Fair! Time for another wonderful weekend of fly fishing, fly tying, fly casting, and many, other fly related activities. Two full days of spending time with other fly fishers, listening to their stories, their advice, tips, and tech-niques. And of course two full days of sharing your stories, ad-vice, tips, and techniques. There'll be all kinds of fun new stuff to play with - new rods, reels, materi-als, tying tools, lines and leaders, and gobs of other stuff!

I'll stop now because I know I'm getting you too worked up. Just relax a little, take a deep breath. Okay, that's better.

Now I know you have made your hotel reservations and scheduled the day off from work (for those of us working stiffs). But it would be a really good idea if you went ahead and sent in your pre-

Cont. next page

NAFF Picnic - Saturday

September 16

This year’s Fall Picnic will be held on Saturday, September 16th at the Bull Shoals lower White River State Park pavilion no. 1 (same place as usual). The event will be from 11am until 2pm. NAFF supplies the great burgers, brats, chips , soda, water and all the fix-ins for the burgers and brats. Members are asked to bring a side dish, salad or dessert of your choice.

Food will be served between 11:45 and noon. Come early and swap fish stories. Feel free to bring a new or favorite rod, reel or flies that you wish to show off or demo.

NOTE: The picnic will serve as our September general meeting. Bring cash as Joe will have lots of goodies for the monthly raffle. Hope to see you there. If you would be available to help, or if you have any questions, please call Vern Berry, activities director at 421-0720.

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August President’s

Message

Total Eclipse - Monday, August 21, 2017

Sorry you missed the AR Game Fish presentations.

A little disappointed with the lack of NAFF members at either presentation on August 3rd and August 24th . This is a great op-portunity for you to have input in changing regulations on our two rivers. AR Game and Fish is for-mulating their management plan for both rivers: potential changes in catch & release areas, size limits for rainbows, cuts etc.

Landon Mayer will be our guest speaker in October. Landon is a guide on the South Platte in Colo-rado, writer and author. He will be

Weather Cancellation Policy

NAFF Activities or Meet-ing will be cancelled or

postponed when the Mountain Home Public

Schools Cancel Classes.

Check KTLO radio web-site for school closing

info.

Fly Fishing Fair — from page 1

presenting on Saturday and Sun-day October 28th and 29th should be a great event with further de-tails to follow. I encourage you to visit his web site to learn more about Landon.

Kids Outdoor Adventure is Satur-day 9th at the Hatchery from 9:00 to 2:00. We need 10–12 volun-teers to work Dry Run Creek.

Be safe and great fishing !

Ken Sickels - President

registration. It will save you some time standing in line, and will even save you a little money. Plus, it will make our lives a little easier - everything we can get done before the Fair, is that much less we have to get done at the Fair. Go online to http://www.ifffsoc.org and click on the link for the 'Pre-registration Form for the 2017 FFi-SOC Fly Fishing Fair'. It's a pdf file. You can print it out and mail it in, or scan it and email it in with your credit card info. Due date is Sep-tember 15th.

We are anxiously awaiting your form!

Ron Knight

President, SOC

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Crosstrails Outfitters is a non-profit 501 – C3 national organiza-tion which our local chapter is a member of. Our main objectives as stated are to provide outdoor recreational opportunities in a mentoring environment. We serve both boys and girls ages 8-18.

In this short time, we have held 3 summer camps. Two of them sole-ly on fly fishing. We take your youth on annual deer hunting camps. We do canoe trips and teach archery skills, woodsman-ship, survival skills training, and all aspects of the outdoor life. It is natural for the boys and girls to enjoy the outdoors. Just set them up with opportunities and let them explore them. Our mentors who have outdoor skills and lead-ership training have been amazed to see the lives that are fulfilled and changed as well as lifelong skills they’ve learned in the out-doors.

Because we rely solely on dona-tions and root sponsors, we need and appreciate your help. One of the highlights of last year was the Rocky Mountain Trout experi-ence. None of the boys had ever been west of Oklahoma so this was definitely an awesome experience. We now have a permanent con-nection and have been invited to make a yearly trip to Colorado. These boys will say this has been the best thing to happen to them in their lives.

Fly of the Month Fishing in Montana Back Next Month

We turn no one down because of finances. We do have manual la-bor work days for them to earn their ways. They actually love these days of service and learn the con-cept of working to earn. It gives them a great pride of ownership in the organization and events. The faces on our website and Face-book, CTO Arkansas Buffalo Riv-er Chapter tell the stories. We have many sponsors onboard for equipment as well as many private land owners who have partnered with something that is growing nationally. We have already start-ed 3 new chapters in bordering states.

The financial support from you is critical to schedule the many events over the course of a year. If you have youth, we welcome them to our monthly Family Sportsman night which is the second Sunday of each month at 4:00 pm at Twin Lakes Baptist Church Hope Cen-ter. Come join us.

Thanks for supporting a great cause.

Duane & Marlene Hada, Mike Clark, Ken Powell, Dave & Deb-bie Hussey, Kyle Copeland, Caleb Gilly, Craig & Irene Dobbs

NAFF Fall Picnic Saturday, Sept 16

Bull Shoals State Park Lower Pavilion (the usual spot)

Thankyou NAFF for Supporting

Crosstrails Outfitters

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September Raffle

For the picnic raffle we will give away 1 Rio Grande weight forward Four weight fly line, 3 Rio Power-Flex three pack tippets 3X 4X 5X, 6 Rio PowerFlex nylon tippets, a classic Woolrich fishing vest, a framed illustration of a royal wolf dry fly floating, package of WAPSI "fly tying stuff", a Trout cup, fly tying dubbing material, assorted hooks and Tungsten beads, 20 spools of fly tying thread, assorted strike indicators, a Yeti 30 ounce rambler Tumbler, two boxes of flies. A Courtland reel and a vise light.

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As many of you know, I have been fishing Tenkara for about eight years for trout, panfish, bass and whatever else gets in my way. I don’t fish with a Tenkara rod eve-ry time I head out, but it fills a niche in my fly fishing bag of tricks. You don’t have to fish Ten-kara; but if you do, you will catch more fish.

After moving to Colorado’s Front Range, I discovered that most of the trout streams were small and the fish were too. That isn’t to say that there are no larger streams with bigger fish, but most are not within an hour’s drive from my home. There is a plethora of small warm water ponds, sandpits and reservoirs that contain bass and panfish. It was the perfect set up for a light, short fly rod … or so I thought. Through trial and error (mostly error) I learned that a 10’ 2 or 3 wt. fly rod was better for nymphing and dry fly fishing on my home waters. When Tenkara came to the USA, I latched on to the concept of a 12’ delicate rod and ultra-light fixed line. The long rod cast a fly beautifully, kept the line off the water and there was very little drag.

When using traditional fly rods, the fly line was almost always on the water as was the leader. In the conflicting currents of rushing mountain streams, drag on the line and leader was inevitable. That movement transferred to the flies and the result was a lack of fish. Tenkara fishing allowed me to hold my 12’ rod high, keeping 90% of the line and tippet off the water. The fly danced in the bouncing currents without drag! The result was more strikes. Nine to 12” browns (the average fish here) proved easy prey on nymphs and dries. My catch rate went up.

Oh, there are a couple of things that may deter you from running out and buying a Tenkara outfit. There is no reel. Is that a prob-lem? For all of my small stream trout fishing and in warm water ponds a reel really is not necessary to land a fish. I won’t belabor you on how to land a trout with a Ten-kara rod in this article. You can look it up on line or wait until I tell you about it next month. Let me just say that once you figure it out, landing fish, even larger fish, doesn’t pose a great problem. In Alaska, I landed Arctic char and salmon on a Tenkara rod. Closer to home I’ve caught many trout in the 16–20” range, bass of over four pounds, catfish that towed my float tube around the lake, big nasty carp and countless members of the sunfish tribe.

The other “problem” is the effec-tive casting range for Tenkara, which is 30-40’. For small streams and still waters this is not a big

factor. There are plenty of places on our tailwaters where casts of that distance are adequate to catch fish, but with minimum flow there are also plenty of spots where it is too deep to wade to get the trout more than 40’ away. For those places a 5 wt. fly rod with a reel does a better job.

Where do Amy and I fish Tenkara when we live in Arkansas for the winter? You will find us on the Norfork working on a grand slam or swinging buggers or soft hackles on the Spring River or nymphing the North Fork in Missouri or tempting fate during the caddis hatch on the White. We also fish local ponds and small tributary streams.

Realistically I don’t always use a 2 wt. rod when fly fishing. Nor do I always use the 9 wt. which was tak-en to the Bahamas to bonefish. Tenkara isn’t always my first choice, but when I am on smaller waters with tricky currents and lots of fish that seldom exceed 15”, then my go-to outfit is Tenkara. It’s effective, efficient, easy to use and it’s fun! So why not Tenkara?

Dennis Galyardt

Why Tenkara

Spring River Fishing Report

Dodd Creek Correction

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I always enjoy getting feed-back that indicates that peo-ple read the NAFF newsletter. Even if the feedback is to re-port an error. Two readers have pointed out that the fish in the Dodd Creek story were a long eared sunfish and a large mouth bass. Not a blue-gill and smallmouth.

Keep those cards, letters, and emails coming!

Ron Mikrut

Water levels are running at 300 cfs (350 avg) and water clarity has been clear. With the river low and clear, we have had some excellent conditions for catching trout and smallmouth bass. A variety of woolly buggers and big nymphs have been working great. High stick nymphing and stripping woollies have been the hot tech-niques. Big white woollies floated below an indicator have been suc-cessful for smallmouth.

Tight lines and good luck,

Mark Crawford

springriverfliesandguides.com

Ronald T. Mikrut—April 22, 1939 - S e p t e m b e r 1 , 2 0 1 7 A lifelong avid fisherman and sportsman, Ron Mikrut grew up in the city of Chicago and began his fishing adventures on northern lakes where he gained a love of angling for Lake Perch, Crappie, Muskie and Walleye. He was inter-ested not only in catching fish but the scientific study of different aspects of fish species, particularly related to conservation and educa-tion. At a young age, he and his buddies would hop a train from their own neighborhood to Navy Pier on Lake Michigan to fish for blue gill to bring home. He would then put a few fish in an old bath-tub in his backyard to observe their behavior and try out differ-ent lures or bait. His keen interest in fish led him to want to pursue education in the field of Ichthyolo-gy. However, upon entering the University of Illinois, he switched his focus to business and market-ing—and had a long career in the precision tool industry. He never lost his interest in all aspects of fishing, whether fly fishing, fly ty-

ing, or spin casting. The first club he joined upon moving to the Twin Lakes area was NAFF. He was impressed by the knowledge and helpfulness of the members—and their significant outreach to young people, including awarding scholarships to take up the studies that had interested him so many years ago. Ron and his wife Diane have resided happily on the White River for the past 10 years. Memorials may be made to: NAFF Scholarship Fund, P.O. Box 1213, Mountain Home, AR 72653

Out West, August 2017

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This is the time of year when the Sowbug Team starts moving into high gear. The activities for the next few months include contact-ing vendors, contacting fly tyers, arranging for a volunteer organiza-tion to be the food vendor, and making a presentation to the Mountain Home Advertising and Promotions Commission for fi-nancial support of the Sowbug Roundup. We plan to make the presentation this month.

Volunteers are what makes the Sowbug Roundup successful. We are especially in need of someone willing to become the Vendor Chair and someone to Kids’ Pro-grams Chair. In both cases the cur-rent chairperson will be available to help smooth the takeover. If you have an interest in increasing your participation in the Sowbug Roundup, please contact Mike Tipton (870-404-8845 or michaeltipton@centurytel.net).

The Sowbug Team meets every 2nd Tuesday at 1:00 pm at the Baxter County Library. All NAFF members are encouraged to attend and see what is happening.

Sowbug Update

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PO Box 1213 Mountain Home, AR 72653

North Arkansas Fly Fishers

September Monday 11th Trout Unlimited 6:00-8:00 El Chico Tuesday 12th Sowbug Committee Meeting 1:00-3:00 Baxter County Library Saturday 16th NAFF Picnic 11:00-1:00 Lower Pavilion # 1 White River State Park October Monday 2 nd Trout Unlimited 6:00-8:00 El Chico Tuesday 3th NAFF Board Meeting 1:00-3:00 First Security Bank Friday and Saturday 6 th & 7 th IFFF Fly Fishing Fair 8:30-4:00 ASU Veda Shedd Tuesday 10th Sowbug Committee Meeting 1:00-3:00 Baxter County Library Tuesday 17th NAFF Club Meeting 7:00-9:00 Van Matre Senior Center 28th and 29th 9:00am - 4:00pm Gastons Visitor Center Bull Shoals State Park. NAFF Guest Speaker Landon Mayer.