Easter Eve on the Ark

I felt like I have neglected the blog since the last time I told you I was going to update it. I'm sorry, I am still stuck out here in Gallup NM working on a project that seems to have no end. But that doesn't stop me from getting out on the water. It may throw a huge wrench in the process, but it doesn't stop me.

Easter weekend was upon us and Richie and I decided that it was time again for the Easter trip to the Arkansas. Early season fishing up there, you never know what you are going to get in terms of the water, the weather, or the fishing. First thing I will say is this, the weather was 100% better than the last time we did an Easter trip up there. This time around it was 60 and Sunny, mixed in with some clouds here and there. Last time up, 25 snowing and blowing. Not very sunny, as you can see. BTW, that's Richie and his son RT. RT is much bigger these days.

 



We took a chance and started WAY down low near Texas Creek, this place has some good holding water for a ton of fish and sizable fish. One of the biggest fish of my life was hooked here and lost here. Back to the story, we drove until we found the first sign that said we were in public land, that was where we would get things kicked off. While rigging up a wager was thrown on the table. First fish caught and netted was worth $5. Why not? It's only money, and besides I was going to have the first fish in the net.

So we get down on the river and I wade all the way across to hit the far bank water, Richie stays on the road side of the river. We both had a lot of great holes to work with, and that was the strange part. Or at least for the first ten minutes it was, we had zero hits. No bumps, no misses, no rises, nothing. for a solid ten minutes. Then I thought to myself "You're not snagging any rocks" LIGHTBULB! Moved the indicator up the leader about a foot and a half, and BAM, hooked the first fish. Now here comes the fun part, it's a good sized fish and he takes a run downstream. While he's doing this I see Richie hook up, and now it's a matter of seconds before one of us is in the hole five bucks. I get my fish into some slow water and grab the net, he flops and gets back in the current. Get him back out in the slow stuff and reach down to net him......"Netted!!!" My heart sinks, my fish is in the net. But I wasn't the one that called out first. I think Richie spent my $5 on some flies, that's what I would have done with his money.

All and all it was a good trip, we started down in the canyon, got some lunch in town and finished up behind the hatchery in the middle of town. I'll figure out how to write a good blog post and things will get better around here. Best flies for the day were as follows  Two Bit Hookers (Red 16-18), Poison Tung (Chartreuse 12-18), Brassie (Copper 16-20). Had a few bites on a Lead Eye Crystal Bugger (Green 8), just couldn't hook up. Thanks for reading.