The unusually warm mid February weather teased us into thinking that the spring season may have come early.
A group of FATC buddies took the bait and made an excursion to the Spring River Feb 23rd thru Feb 27th (Monday thru Thursday). Water conditions were a bit lower than normal due to extended drought conditions in Missouri. A visit to the Mammoth Spring visitor center showed the spring output was at less than 6 million gal/hour, while normal average was 9.78 million gal/hour.
Attendees were FATC members Denny Garner, Ken Welter, Bob Born, Scott Dougherty, Bob Hassett, the author (Dan Staggenborg) who made the 4 hour trip from the ST. Louis area while Mike Enger joined from his home in Cotter, Arkansas.
By getting an early start Monday morning, we are able get in a solid half day of fishing close to the cabin. Scott caught a few right way which he felt took the pressure off him and ended up with 4-5 fish. Everyone caught fish before a stiff wind started blowing, which makes nymphing under an indicator difficult.
However, Denny was able to do well Euro nymphing since the thin tippet used cuts so well through the water. Having hearty soup in a crockpot plus heated garlic bread, allowed us to have a warm dinner, with pie for dessert. An evening of pleasant conversation and story telling inevitably followed, before (with full bellies) we all conked out.
Tuesday, Ken and Bob Born had made arrangements to fish with local guide, Mark Crawford. The guys arrived promptly at 8 am, but Mark admitted he wished the guys had been an hour late. You see, temperatures were quite brisk (in the 20’s) but the wind had died down and the sun was out promising for a quick warm up. The guys want to get in all the fishing possible. Both Bob B and Ken reported having a terrific time with Mark, who is quite an entertaining character, while catching a number of fish.
The other guys stayed at the cabin and enjoyed a prolonged breakfast (provided by Bob H) & extra coffee, getting out around 10 am, when it wasn’t quite so cold. Although the wind eventually kicked back up, Tuesday was a good, productive fishing day for the other 5 guys, mostly within walking distance to the cabin. Denny Garner had a particularly good day landing a dozen, either on his purple perdigon or his blowtorch, that was on the point. Dan Stag and Mike Enger made the trip up the nearby dam area. Dan caught 4 under an indicator, while Mike stripped a streamer and picked up a chain pickerel. While exiting the water, we noticed that Mike had a real live leech attached to his wading staff. We made sure to get a picture against a blue coffee can we found as background, The leech was between one and a half to 2 inches long, with the fat end at the rear. I had never actually seen a live one before, even though I often fish the pattern as a streamer.
Ken and Bob B returned from their guided trip with productive reports of many fish (like over 30 each), but few big ones. Another great dinner provided by Ken, more yarn spinning, then off to get ready for the next day.
Wednesday morning we had an early breakfast (provided by Bob Born), and we saw off Mike Enger and Bob Hassett off to fish with Mark Crawford. The weather wasn’t quite so cold, so the rest of us started early.
Dan and Scott went to dam 3 and tried the hatchery outlet. Dan hooked 7 landed 4 including a large Carp/sucker hooked in the dorsal fin (oops, uh, sorry). Scott didn’t fare as well getting a few snags and caught in trees. We headed back to the cabin picked up the other guys and took the back dusty gravel road a few miles to the Bayou access. Ken bemoaned the fact he had his wife’s car and that she wouldn’t be happy about the rough treatment it was getting, even though he was taking it quite easy.
We spent several hours at Bayou catching a few fish each on candy corn egg patterns, zebra midges (red or purple) and the JQ streamer or egg sucking leech, before taking a lunch break back at the cabin. That afternoon Ken took to fishing a dry dropper and was having good luck on top with a parachute Adams or a headlight caddis (thanks, Al Blair). Denny did well and caught a very nice sized brown trout, maybe the only brown trout caught all trip. Scott and Bob Born did well too. Again everyone caught fish with a few decent sized rainbows and even the occasional smallmouth.
Bob H and Mike returned from their trip with Mark having had a satisfying day, but maybe not the numbers that they were hoping.
We took a trip to the nearby State Line restaurant, which, interestingly, is ON the MO-Arkansas state line. We were told by the waitress that the building is in Missouri, but as soon as you exit the door into the parking lot, you are in Arkansas. She was kind enough to get a picture of all us old guys (plus Scott, haha), below an American flag.
We returned to the cabin for dessert and more charming conversation. Both Denny Garner and Ken Welter had to roll their eyes when the inevitable question of “Where did you go to high school ?” was tossed out among the topics of discussion. We retired pretty worn out from 2 and a half days of extensive fishing and prepared for heading home the next morning.
The patterns that caught fish were: Dry Flies – Headlight caddis, Parachute Adams. Nymphs – Blowtorch, powerbait, baitfish pattern, Perdigon (purple or green), Zebra midge (red or purple), candy corn egg, white egg with a red dot, Y2K, corn, and the JQ streamer.
I think I speak for all the guys when I say it was an excellent trip. We all caught some fish, enjoyed the beauty of the north Arkansas area, good food, and fellowship that was over the top. It was a memorable trip in all respects.
DanStag 3 March 2026
