July Wrap Up – July 31 2020

The Last Day of July Report

7-31-20

July proved to be one of the more predictable months thus far.  Some of the things one could count on was the hot and humid weather almost every day and the other was steady high-water flows.

What wasn’t so predictable was the bite, early on in the month.

Some days we got some action on hopper patterns, other days seemed like just another day of casting practice.

Shortly after the holiday the nymph bite started to pick back up on the White.

Egg patterns coupled with san juan worms produced several fish throughout the month.

It is Egg and Worm Season on the Arkansas and Missouri Tailwaters and the bins over here at Fly’s and Guides are getting hit pretty hard.

Best producing colors for the month of July were Golden Nugget and Oregon Cheese Miracle Flies and Red, Fl. Pink, and Dark Brown San Juan worms.

Entering into the middle of the month the most consistent bite for quality fish was fishing midges deep in the water column.

We started off fishing larger size 14 zebras in red/nickel and purple/nickel and then moved into smaller size 16 and 18 zebras in black/nickel, ruby, root beer, and rusty dun.

Jeremy had several first timers in the boat over the month of July including two with the never to be underestimated beginners and lady luck combination!

Both ladies landed their very first fish on the fly and those trout happened to be Bonneville Cutthroats!

The rainbows are continuing to thrive with the new Arkansas Game and Fish Regulations and are just plain fun on small midges and 6x tippet.

Throughout the month we often heard the cliché saying “It’s to Hot to Fish,” but when it’s your passion and your job that becomes just crazy talk.

We ran several shorter trips this month to try our best to beat the heat and keep everyone on a more consistent bite.

For those that wanted the full day Jeremy would often continue part 2 of the trip in the evenings.

As we roll into the month of August those fish will be looking up on a more consistent basis.

Staple hopper patterns that produced, mostly in the evenings were:

Fat Alberts, Western Ladies, Pookie Hoppers, and Chernobyl’s.

Colors that continue to keep the trout’s attention are: Pink, Tan, Black, Purple, and the combination of them.

Girdle bugs dropped off a hopper pattern that will support the weight of the nymph pattern is a nice idea when trying to weed out the rainbow population.

It has been a bit depressing looking back at the quality hopper action we had during the month of July last year.

The positive is with the later start to the hopper season on the White the later the bite will continue into hopefully late September and early October.

Dry Run Creek

Jeremy and I both spent a couple of days at the Dry Run Creek, during the month of July.

Jeremy had a young gentleman out and they fished predominantly the trusty rusty midge and worm brown micro worms.

The little guy was pretty excited about getting to fish our little man Sean Wayne’s Reddington Minnow so  much that his Dad went out after the trip and purchased one for him.

Later in the Month I was out with Kim Rowland-Dollins on a single day group trip with a family from Little Rock.

It was my first time down to Dry Run since March,  so it was nice to see some quality fish in the creek again.

I went thru a fair amount of flies.

Cerise and Red Micro San Juans, Zebra midges in black/nickel and Root Beer,  Mega Worms in peach and chartreause, and orange and yellow floss body Crackle Backs.