Water flows in Arkansas kicked back up shortly after Memorial Day weekend and continue to be very high, but the good news is there is light at the end of the tunnel. The lake that feeds the Little Red River is dropping at .4 feet a day and at that rate the remaining 12 feet above pool level should drop pretty quickly. Reduced flows are probably 2 weeks away and that means good fishing.

So since things have been high on the Little Red I have been putting in more time on the Caney Fork. I have had some great trips over there recently. Highlights include:

 Video highlights:

 I have a few more trips on the Caney coming up and I am looking forward to them, but I miss my "home water" and I can't wait to get back out on it.  Sooner rather than later that light at the end of the tunnel will be here and that gets me excited.

  Finally after being out East on the Caney Fork for several weeks I was able to get back to Arkansas for a week.  Water releases on the Little Red had lightened up enough to provide a good low water window... good enough to get in full 8 hour guide days and the fishing was great.

  It seemed like the Memorial Weekend crowd was smaller this year out on the water.  In the water the crowd a big one.  AGFC stocked 30,000 trout the week before so catching a lot of fish was not very hard.  The bigger Brown Trout were moody some days and others they were very active.  We hooked a lot of nice ones on streamers and lost probably half of them for one reason or another.

Some highlights-

   Who knows how long the water will remain fishable.  The lake is still over 22 feet high and at some point the corps of engineers will probably crank it up and let it run 24-7 to drop the level.  Then again... maybe they will give us a low water window to use for a while this summer.  I hate the guessing game with the water.

The past three weekends I have been heading East to the Caney Fork River in Tenn. Water flows over there have been much better than the flows in Arkansas. It's alot of fun to fish and guide on water that is relativley new to me. While I would rather be on the Little Red, I have to admit that the Caney Fork is a good river and one that is a lot of fun to fish.

One of the things I have liked the most about the Caney is the lack of houses jammed up against the water and NO DOCKS!!! The scenery is great except for the 4 or 5 bridges of I-40 that the river goes under... but beggers can't be choosers right?

The average fish isn't as big as the fish on the Little Red, but they make up for a lack of size with plenty of fight.

The main draw back to the Caney is the 4 hour drive on I-40. With gas prices being what they have been I have been driving clients from Memphis and splitting gas with them. Its been a different situation, basically guiding a day and 2/3 worth of fishing sandwiched between 4 hour drives. While there, this has been home for the last three weekends... it helps keep the costs down too!

So while its not what I could have been doing these past three weeks... it's alot better than nothing. I have also been building a few rods for some people and that has been going well also. I'm just glad I have fishy things to do while most of my buddies and normal co-workers are pacing back and forth waiting for the water to come down.

We actually got a break in the high water, but it was because of downstream flooding due to the monsoon that has been the month of March. I got in a day of fishing for my own sanity and three guide trips for my bank account. Sunday we got another inch and a half of rain, plus more last night so maybe this coming weekend will be the same way, but who knows at this point.

I saw some nice fish over these four days and had a good time with folks in the boat. Saturday was the best day by far. I had a gentleman who has been aboard my boat a few times and he brought his daughter in law with him who had never flyfished. Beginners luck doesn't begin to describe it. She caught around 70 trout and one was a 21" brown. It was just one of those days and it's almost a tease because of all the impending high water.

The lower pic was one that I caught on Thursday on a heavy sink tip and streamer rig.

Hopefully the water realeases will give us another great opportunity like this one sometime soon. There is a chance that relaeases will have to be cut back for many different reasons and it's possible that the lake wont get down to pool level until sometime near the end of Summer if this happens. Currently the lake is around 15 feet high and stil rising... we might have to build an ark soon and load it up with all the animals if the weather in April is as wet as May has been. Does anyone know an anti-rain dance?

     Looks like we will have a high water Spring this year which is going to hurt the old pocketbook.   I have already had to cancel a lot of trips in the next few weeks.  The lake levels are up a few feet and with all the rain we have been getting it's going to take a while to get them down.  The corps of engineers is running two units around the clock, but the lake level isn't moving due to all the run-off from the rains entering the lake.

     Fishing can be pretty good on one unit on the Little Red, but two full geneartors is futile and its not really that safe to be on the water when it is that high.  The story is pretty much the same for the time being on all the tailwaters in the area right now.  Hopefully some good fishable water will develop on one of them soon.

     Until then what to do?  I guess I'll go poking around in North Mississippi on some of the sand bottomed rivers and play with bass soon.  I may build another flyrod soon also.  I just finished a Sage VT2 9' 4wt last week.

     Of course there are always flies to twist up... but it's not healthy for me to do that all the time.  I may just need to brew some more beer and drown the sorrows of the high water blues.