North American Fisherman Blog

I'm excited to have just begun a new blog for the North American Fisherman website. In fact my first blog post went up this week. It tells of a great morning on Arkansas' beautiful Norfork Lake with pro angler John Murray. I hope you'll check it out and will keep your eyes open for future posts. I'll be blogging weekly, chronicling cool stuff from fishing adventures. Nothing I write in that blog will parrot what you find here. Different stuff, so I do hope you'll check it out!

Speaking of John Murray and our morning together, he shared some great video tips about dropshot fishing in clear lakes while we were together:

Bronze by Day; Stripes by Night

Nathaniel and I had fun bass fishing on Norfork Lake with bass pro Chad Morgenthaler today. We somehow stayed ahead of the rain and got in a good day of fishing, catching quite a few bass, including a handful of nice largemouths and smallmouths.

We're back in our cabin right now, resting a bit and looking forward to some barbecue and another round of fishing, if the weather once again allows us to get out. The plan tonight is to throw Rogues for stripers! I hope the rain stays away because I'm definitely looking forward to casting into the darkness for hard-hitting stripers.

Tomorrow, walleyes are on the agenda.

The diversity of the Norfork Lake fishery is amazing. So far, Nathaniel and I have seen eight species of fish come into the boats we've been in, and we've not yet fished for stripers or walleyes! That also doesn't include the brown trout Nathaniel caught on Tuesday from just down the road from here, right before we checked in at Mockingbird Bay Resort.

Tubes, Tubes & Tubes

Jim Byler only fishes a tube the first 12 months of the year. In truth he throws a tube less during mid-summer, but that's because he gives bass fishing a bit of a break during that time, when most of the best action occurs at night in the Ozarks. If Byler is bass fishing, he probably has a tube tied on, and there's a very good chance it's the bait he is throwing.

Nathaniel and I spent this afternoon fishing Norfork Lake with Byler, who lives in Mountain Home and grew up in the Ozarks and spends a lot of time on Norfork and Bull Shoals with a fishing rod in his hand.  We mad a few casts with jerkbaits, but the 40 or so bass we caught all bit tubes, cast toward the bank and worked down rocky slopes with pulls or small hops.

Specifically, Byler likes a 4-inch green pumpkin/black fleck tube, and he rigs it with a 3/8-ounce jighead on the inside. He pours his own heads to get the specific 4/O hook, round head and weedguard he prefers. He spools spinning tackle with 20-pound braid and attaches 7 or 8 feet of 8-pound fluorocarbon leader to the end with a double uni knot. He typically works the bait with quick, slight hops that don't pull the bait more than a couple of inches off the bottom.

Byler doesn't stray from his tube plan or vary his presentations for clear or stained water, for different black bass species or based on weather conditions. He simply alters the kinds of banks he fishes. No matter where he starts a day, he always watches for common denominators in the places the fish are hitting and focuses his efforts accordingly. Today, main-lake points absolutely were the deal. We started the afternoon fishing many types of areas, but by day's end we were running from point to
point because that was where almost all our fish were coming from.

I learned a lot about tube fishing today, and had a big time catching a bunch of bass, including some nice smallmouths.

Arkansas Welcome

We left home might early this morning (about 3:30) so that we'd have a little play time before gathering for dinner at Mockingbird Bay Resort on the banks of Norfork Lake in Arkansas' Ozark Region. I'm happy we left when we did. Nathaniel got to fish a little while on Dry Run Creek and managed to land a beautiful brown trout. A mighty fine lead in for three days of fishing on the lake, which begin tomorrow morning.

I suspect we'll slip back down to try run at least one more time while we're in the area -- maybe Saturday morning. This trip is almost certainly Nathaniel's last chance to fish Dry Run because he turns 16 in a little more than a month.

Tomorrow morning we'll fish for bass with pro angler John Murray. Before the week is over, we may also fish for walleyes, crappie and stripers. I suppose I'd better rest a while. It doesn't really seem like it was even today when we left Clarkesville!

Ugly Bugs Improving a Bit

No one would accuse my Ugly Bugs of being pretty, and I know my tying techniques don't follow the book. I do think I'm gaining better form overall, and I know the jigs I'm tying now have better durability than those from even a few months ago.

The bulk of my jigs are natural sorts, either minnow patterns like those pictured above, crawfish imitations or black attractors that look a little bit like a lot of things that trout and other fish commonly eat. I also tie some extra ugly ones with a lot of flash and a good dose of pink, because the trout seem pretty fond of those.

I'm not sure how my Ugly Bugs will fit into this week's fishing plans on Norfork Lake -- or whether they will fit in at all. Still, it's a safe bet that my bug box will be in the truck when Nathaniel and I pull out tomorrow morning and within reach when I'm on the water. I might even toss in the vice and a few materials. Just in case!

Norfork Lake Beckons

Trey Anderson shows off a chunky Norfork
Lake largemouth.

I can't imagine how much time I'd spend fishing in the Arkansas Ozarks were it not for the 650 miles between here and there. As is, the region's beautiful lakes, trout-filled tailwaters and tumbling smallmouth streams lure me a few times every year, and somehow that 12-hour drive doesn't seem that long when I'm Arkansas bound.

Early Tuesday morning, when Nathaniel and I hop in the truck to head for Norfork Lake, it'll already be our second Ozarks excursion of 2014. Last month we enjoyed a wonderful visit at Gaston's White River Resort, and we actually spent one day in the shadows of Norfork Dam so Nathaniel could spent a little time fishing Dry Run Creek.

I'm looking forward to spending a few days at Mockingbird Bay Resort, getting better acquainted with Norfork Lake. It appears opportunities striped bass, largemouths, spots, smallmouths, walleyes and crappie could all be on tap. A classic Ozarks lake -- clear, rocky and spectacularly scenic -- Norfork also serves up outstanding fishing, especially during the spring, when the fish tend to be shallow and active. I've only been out on Norfork a couple of times, so I'm eager to spend more time out there.

Of course, if time allows before or after our Norfork adventure, Nathaniel and I might have to slide just a few miles down the road so he can make a few casts into Dry Run Creek. He turns 16 in a month and a half, so next week likely marks his final opportunity to fish this fabulous youth-only trout stream.

After we leave Norfork we'll slip down to Mountain View for a day, and Nathaniel will trade his fishing rod for an instrument and will compete in the Southern Regional Mountain Dulcimer Championship at the Ozark Folk Center. Then we'll cap off our Ozark Adventure with a bit of floating and wading in the Spring River for smallmouths, trout and more before beginning our journey toward home.

Should be quite a week of fishing. Watch for reports and photos here, on my facebook fishing page, on Twitter and now on Instagram.

Almost May?

It seems odd to me that when Nathaniel and I return from Arkansas in less than a week the calendar will have turned another page and it will be May. Seems like last week I was walking on ice. Of course, there are still fish to pursue before we bid farewell to April. Along with watching Nathaniel catch trout from Dry Run Creek on Sunday, I get to do join in striper/largemouth fishing on Norfork Lake and then spend a day on the Spring River, which is one of my favorite streams for multi-species float fishing. The 2012 species list is currently at 18. I wonder whether I'll add any before page turns to May.