Drove the 6.5 hours from St Louis to west-central Arkansas to fish with a buddy. He'd previously scoped out the location, and the plan was to get me my first Striped Bass on fly, and hopefully get both of us our first Blue Catfish on fly. Goals were achieved, despite the cool wet weather and the water being more muddied up than usual.
I tried a number of fly patterns...but ended up catching EVERYTHING on this trip on the fly below. Pearl estaz grande body, silver flash and white peacock tail, on a 1/8 oz jighead (Waspi Super Jig Head). That heavy jig wasn't easy to cast very far on the fly gear. I did do some fly casting, using a sink tip and also floating lines, but in the end vertically jigging this heavy deal to get down and stay down on the bottom got me the fish, plus I've been having elbow issues in my casting arm, so this technique was easier on me. I tell you what...when those Drum would thump the jig, and I'd set the hook, those dudes are STRONG and definitely sent pains up my arm! Fun!
I didn't catch big numbers of fish, but they were strong fighters. I caught 5 Freshwater Drum, 4 Striped Bass, (3 French Hens), 2 Blue Catfish, 1 White Bass, 1 Largemouth Bass.
Day 1:
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| Striped Bass on Fly |
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| Freshwater Drum on Fly |
Day 2:
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| Blue Cat on Fly |
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| White Bass on Fly |
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| 2nd Blue Cat on Fly |
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