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Tagged: Arkansas fly fishing, beads, copper/black midge, egg patterns, Little Red River, spawning fish
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October 31, 2017 at 4:19 pm #2989
Kenny Klimes
KeymasterWhen we think about beads we are usually referring to the beads we add to our flies when we tie them, beadhead flies, glass beads for the thorax of the fly, etc.. But we can also fish with beads to represent an egg pattern. I’m not a big fan of fishing with an egg pattern but there is a time and place for it. When fish are spawning, for example Browns in the late Fall, the big rainbows like to hang close to the Brown spawning beds and gorge themselves on eggs that escape from the beds. This could be a time to use egg patterns to fish to the “non-spawning” rainbows. Yarn type flies are good but using plastic beads can be deadly. Many of the beads come in awesome colors that mimic the spawning fish’s eggs. This technique is done in Alaska during the spawning of the salmon.
Has anyone out there tried this technique with success? How do you fish your beads?
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November 15, 2017 at 11:55 am #3348
RockTreads
ParticipantJust slayed it on the Big Horn River in Montana with bright orange tungsten beads, a classic egg pattern. The bead was buried in an orange puff, the tungsten allowed it to sink super quick. I recommend tungsten beads over any bead anytime, for nymphs and such
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December 1, 2017 at 5:53 pm #3564
Gold Glove Ripper
ParticipantOver Thanksgiving weekend I had a opportunity to fish the little red river down in AR. (Heber Springs, AR) I have been going down there for years and never had a better fishing experience than what I had this year. Fishing was outstanding! I got lucky; they were not generating at the Greers Ferry Dam all weekend because of repair work. I was able to be in the water at sunrise for 3 straight days. At the end of day 1 a friendly fellow fly guy gave me a copper/black bead head nymph (size 22) to try. He said be prepared and be ready they will hammer it! I had been using a black zebra midge size 20 tied on with a sow bug. Was having some luck but they weren’t killing it. So I thought I start day 2 with the copper/black midge given to me; I used it as dropper off of a elk hair caddis. Holy smokes did they lite it up! Caught 4 or 5 immediately with it in the first 20 minutes. Two were 14 inches. Then the monster came with a strike that I hadn’t felt before – taking my line clear across the river. Using 6x tippet I was doing my best not to pull in too hard. I kept the monster on for at least 3-4 minutes. Reeling him in and letting him back out carefully when needed. Then like the rookie I am as I got him close I walked back to shallower water just a little and went to grab my net and he rolled snapping line. All I saw was his large wake swimming away from me. Brutal but exciting all the same! Only having one copper/black midge ; I went with the same setup using a black zebra. It just wasn’t the same. I can’t believe what a difference it made between having a copper vs. silver bead head and wire. Also going down one size from a 20 to 22. Overall, had a great time and I learned something. Been thinking about it all week. Also grateful for the nice gentleman that shared his secret!
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December 1, 2017 at 6:15 pm #3567Keymaster
The cool thing about tying midge patterns is that you can “experiment” with all kinds of colors to entice the trout to bite. Silver bead, copper bead, multi colored bead – silver wire, copper wire, red wire or blue wire – the choice is yours to experiment. Our P&P midge doesn’t look like any real midge but the trout love them. I will now tie some copper/black midges and give them a try.
The big question is let us know where you fished and stayed so we can see if we can put together a FATC trip to the same location!!
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December 5, 2017 at 4:12 pm #3618Participant
Kenny-
My in-laws are from this town; so I normally stay with them when we visit. However, this would make for a good FATC trip. (Maybe a alternative to a Taneycomo trip) Not too far to travel with a 5-1/2 to 6hr drive from st. louis. Take hwy 63 at Rolla and head south. Drive right past Montauk ; then thru Mammoth Springs into AR. Once in AR you’ll have another 2 hrs from there. There are plenty of places to stay. You could research places if a group got serious about going. The Little Red is tail water off the Greers Ferry Dam – so fishing can be tricky around generating schedule; unless you want to fish from boat. As a little incentive though – the world record Brown Trout was caught there in 1992 at 40lbs 4oz! It held the record until 2009. The monster is on display at the dam site. Fishing is good below the dam in trophy area. You’ll have good access to it thru the public JFK camp site. They have a big hatchery site as well. Other good access points is Cow Shoals and Winkley Bridge area. Area below below dam is an all day spot; then if you wanted to try further down the river cow shoals or Winkley bridge would be another day.I found a great fly shop in town – Ozark Angler that has great info. They also provide guide services. Last summer I went to Feathercraft here in st. louis to load up on some supplies using my FATC discount of course. After talking with the guys in shop and telling them that I was fishing the Little Red; they gave me a phone number to a former employee that just moved down to Heber Spring, AR that works at Ozark Angler now. (Mike) Long story short ; I called Mike and talk to him before I arrive in town. Having the connection from feathercraft he said lets get together to fish. So I met up with him and we fish all morning together. He didn’t charge me anything. He gave me all kinds of tips and told me what some good setups would be. It was great. Good guy – he just happen to be off from work and said I could tag along with him.
Heber Springs, AR is the town.
DI
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February 1, 2018 at 3:18 pm #4282
bkbying89
ParticipantBig Y Fly Company is having a bead sale. The prices looked good to me.
Bill
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