A bunch of floats with the one and only Tyler Farling
About two weeks ago, my buddy Tyler and I made plans for him to come stay in Arkansas from March 10th - March 19th. He wanted to drive down all the way from Indiana with one thing in mind... fishing. After establishing plans with Tyler, I immediately started brainstorming which floats would be best. It turned out that the places that I frequent the most nearby were in good condition. But ultimately, Tyler and I decided to keep it simple and fish the river I am most familiar with, the White.
We floated the Upper White River and its forks (east fork and middle fork) five times. Those five trips amounted to approximately 40 miles of the White River.
We managed to get into a wide array of species over the course of our floats. Three floats were on the Upper portion above Lake Sequoyah while the other was below Lake Sequoyah before the White turns into Beaver Lake. Here are the fishing breakdowns for each one of our floats, complete with pictures. These pictures look incredible compared to pictures dad and I have taken in the past thanks to Tyler's far superior iPhone.
When Tyler and I were first making plans for him to stay in Arkansas, he told me he wanted to target smallmouth. Little did he know that he would catch many more species than just smallies. During the course of our floats, we both caught largemouth bass, spotted bass, white bass, and most notably, walleye. Tyler had never caught a walleye, so his genuine reaction of excitement when he brought it in was infectious. He would go on to catch a couple other species, like rock bass and green sunfish.
The only trip that I didn't document is Tyler and I's float on the Middle Fork. We went from Harris Strain Comm. Cemetery to the access on Lake Sequoyah. This float was cold, windy, and unsuccessful. The trip could be considered a success for Tyler since he did manage to catch a small largemouth. But overall, we were unsuccessful at catching smallmouth or white bass, the two primary target species. I'll wait until I actually have moderately interesting fishing news to report on that stretch before I post any details on it.
The last float we did was a new stretch for dad and I. After floating from Mcloud Ford to Parker Ford, I have concluded that War Eagle Creek is EASILY the most underrated Ozark stream in Arkansas. I realize these are strong words but based on scenery alone, it was outstanding. The non-stop jaw-dropping rock formations coupled with the perfect the water, made for a consistently enjoyable float. Even while I was struggling to catch fish for the first 5 hours of the trip, I was still amazed by the beauty. We managed to go when there was considerably warm weather following a period of lowish temperatures. The shift to warmer temperatures was marked by some rain a couple days before our float. This rain would cause a little drama during the shuttling process. Drama came in the form of our two wheel drive truck getting temporarily stuck in mud at Mcloud Ford. So, if I can give any advice to other paddlers, a four wheel drive or all wheel drive vehicle is probably best to ensure there isn't drama.
Start time: 10:00 am
Finish time: 5:00 pm
Water fished: Upper White River from Wyman Bridge to Highway 45 Bridge
Water level/clarity: 1300 cfs/clear
Water temp (Start): degrees (Finish): degrees
Weather: Overcast
Air temp: (Start): 43 degrees (Finish): 47 degrees
Wind: 5-10 mph Direction:
Pre - Frontal Conditions
Barometric Pressure
Moonphase: Waning Gibbous
Aquatic Vegetation:
Bait Fish/Forage Base: Baitfish
Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Spawn
Fished with: Tyler Farling
Lures used: Underspin jig with a Rage Swimmer in baby bass colorsmall underspin with white twirly tale grub, and megabass jig head with a Missle Baits 3.5 Shockwave swimbait
.HEIC)
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March 12, 2023
Start time: 9:30 am
Finish time: 4:30 pm
Water fished: Upper White River from Crosses to Durham
Water level/clarity: 600 cfs/clear
Water temp (Start): 50 degrees (Finish):? degrees
Weather: Mostly cloudy/occasional sun
Air temp: (Start): 45 degrees (Finish): 50 degrees
Wind: 5-20 mph Direction: N to S
Pre - Frontal Conditions
Barometric Pressure
Moonphase: Waning Gibbous
Aquatic Vegetation:
Bait Fish/Forage Base: Small Crayfish/Baitfish
Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Pre?
Fished with: Tyler Farling
Lures used: small PB&J football jig w/ watermelon redflake BugZ, strike king blue chunk craw, and wmrf rage menace grub trailer
March 14, 2023
Start time: 3:30 pm
Finish time: 6:00 pm
Water fished: Upper White River from Patrick to Crosses
Water level/clarity: 400 cfs/clear
Water temp (Start): 49 degrees (Finish): 50 degrees
Weather: Clear/sunny
Air temp: (Start): 57 degrees (Finish): 54 degrees
Wind: 5 mph Direction:
Pre - Frontal Conditions
Barometric Pressure: 30.27 mb
Moonphase: Last Quarter
Aquatic Vegetation:
Bait Fish/Forage Base: Baitfish/Crawfish
Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Pre
Fished with: Tyler Farling
Lures used: small pb&j football jig paired with watermelon red rage menace grub, megabass jig head with a Missle Baits 3.5 Shockwave swimbait
.heic)
March 19, 2023
Start time: 12:00 pm
Finish time: 5:00 pm
Water fished: White River from Wyman Bridge to Highway 45 Bridge
Water level/clarity: 1300 cfs/clear
Water temp (Start): 46 degrees (Finish): 47 degrees
Weather: Clear/sunny
Air temp: (Start): 38 degrees (Finish): 44 degrees
Wind: 10 mph Direction: S to N
Post - Frontal Conditions
Barometric Pressure:
Moonphase: Waning Cresent
Aquatic Vegetation:
Bait Fish/Forage Base: Baitfish
Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Spawn
Fished with: Tyler Farling
Lures used: megabass jig head with a Missle Baits 3.5 Shockwave swimbait
.HEIC)
March 22, 2023
Start time: 1:30 pm
Finish time: 6:40 pm
Water fished: War Eagle Creek from Mcloud Ford (Rocky Ford) to Parker's Ford
Water level/clarity: 375 cfs/clear
Water temp (Start): 48 degrees (Finish): 49 degrees
Weather: Patchy clouds with sun
Air temp: (Start): 68 degrees (Finish): 74 degrees
Wind: 30 mph Direction:
Pre - Frontal Conditions
Barometric Pressure: 29.79 mb
Moonphase: Waxing Cresent
Aquatic Vegetation:
Bait Fish/Forage Base: Crayfish
Pre-Spawn/Post Spawn/Post-Spawn: Pre-Spawn
Fished with: Tyler Farling and Dad
Lures used: Shiny reddish purple Jewel finesse jig with a watermelon red rage menace grub trailer, small hard candy colored rage menace grub on a small bare jig head
SHOULD HAVE COMMITTED TO THIS JIG^.HEIC)
Those pictures were amazing. The old trick of holding the fish out is even better as portrait mode (I assume) defocused you and made the fish look sharp. I was holding out for some scenery pictures but you are probably waiting for your dad to get a drone. For the sake of posterity you and your Dad need to upgrade phones today.
ReplyDeleteDid you consider eating the Walleye? I've had it in North Dakota and it is tasty. You could easily use the red cooler as a cutting board, maybe after you would clean it.
Hey now, I stand by the "hold the fish out" trick. It's done wonders for me over the years!
DeleteI realize that the production value of our videos would drastically improve with some technological upgrades. Unless we go fishing with you again, I'm not sure we'll have access to any drones (because we certainly aren't going to buy one any time soon). But dad did let slip the other day that there is a chance he'll facilitate a phone upgrade!
Unfortunately, I wasn't prepared to keep the walleye for eating... without a stringer or cooler. But we are very aware of how tasty they are!
Thanks for commenting! Its always nice to hear from you.