February 2022 White River, Arkansas Fly Fishing Adventure - Day 2

 

22 Inch Brown on The White River, Arkansas

 

Maybe it‘s the fact that I’ve been coming down to fish The White River in February, but it seems like it always snows while I’m here.  My friends at Gaston’s Resort where I stayed said they remembered my red jeep last year, because I was the only guest that drove down to fish after they got a foot of snow.  On our second day, the weather had changed.  A cold front had moved in, and the temperature would be dropping all day long.  Temperatures were in the low 30s and rain was the morning forecast, and as many of you know, that’s a cold day.  It would slowly get down to the mid teens by late afternoon.  We headed up near the dam to begin our fishing day, to the catch and release area.

 

Professional Arkansas Fishing Guide, Steve Lopez

 

My friend Steve Lopez was dressed for the cold, I‘m not sure how he was able to move with the number of layers he had on, but he got it done.  

We quickly got into some rainbows fishing nymphs under an indicator.  The nice thing about bad weather is fishing pressure goes down.  There were about 10% of the boats on the water as there was the day before.  

 

Nice rainbow on The White River, Arkansas

 

We noticed another boat that was hooked up with a good fish on  a section of river we had not fished yet, and we decided to commit to a few drifts.  We instantly hooked up with a good fish on our first drift.  This fish felt different than the 14-16 inch  rainbows we enjoyed catching all morning.  We knew we had a solid brown on after it’s first run into the backing.  

 

Solid Brown from The White River, Arkansas

 

This brown came to the net after a solid fight on our six weight El Jefe set up.  I was absolutely amazed by the colors of this fish.

 

Jeff Ditsworth with a solid 22 Inch Brown Trout from The White River, Arkansas

 

We snapped a couple of quick photos and got this beautiful trout back in the water.  Again, the colors of this fish were amazing.  The belly of this 22 inches was almost orange in color, you got to love the natural beauty of these fish.

 

Brown Trout, White River, Arkansas

 

This is the reason anglers from all over visit The White River, in Arkansas.  I highly recommend you add The White River to your list, and as always let me know if I can help you plan your trip.  I see another trip in my future this spring.  Maybe in the spring, I can find a little warmer weather!  

 

Until next time my friend…

 

Until next time, tight lines my friend!

Jeff

 

Colorful Rainbow from The White River, Arkansas