tale waters the voice of the north arkansas fly fishers

Tale Waters

The Voice of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers

North Arkansas Fly Fishers meetings are held on the 3rd Tuesday of each month. Meetings are held at the Van Matre Senior Center located at 1101 Spring St Mountain Home, AR 72653. Membership meeting starts at 7:00 pm. All members and guests are welcome and encouraged to attend.

NAFF Board of Directors’ meetings are held on the first Tuesday of the month at 1:00 pm 1st Security Bank on 9th St. All members are welcome and encouraged to attend.

Visit North Arkansas Fly Fishers Online at

www.northarkansasflyfisher.org

Officers

President — Mike Tipton (870) 404 8845 Vice President — Susan Parsons (618) 791-3638 Secretary — Pat Smith (870) 404-0747 Treasurer — Cindy Louis (870) 425-3968

Directors

Conservation — Tommy Hagan (870) 430-2091 Property — Kevin Boddy (870) - 421-7804 Education — Ceil Gasiecki (219) 776-9620 Membership — Paul Ashton (870) 425-9230 Past President — Ken Sickels (870) 321-2661 Appd. by Pres. — Danny Barker (870) 424-4110

Tale Waters is published 2nd Tues-day of each month. Article deadline is 1st Tuesday of the month. Staff: Mike Tipton & Rita Billbe Contact: [email protected]

North Arkansas Fly Fishers December 10, 2019 Tale Waters

The day dawned clear and cold, with sunrise temperatures hover-ing in the mid-teens. This was not the conditions most of us envi-sioned for a trip to a large pond even with the promise of abun-dant bass and bluegills. Sure enough, only two NAFF members arrived at the pond that morning. After a short discussion, we decid-ed that the fish would likely move off shore and go deep in search of warmer water. I decided that the dam seemed a likely location to find fish. That said, there were additional deterrents fishing from that spot. First, a steady breeze was blowing into my face, and secondly, Cont. page 2

Sowbug Update

Dave Whitlock &

Warm Water Fly Fishing

Every year, just after Thanksgiving, Amy and I start to prepare for our annual winter trip to the Ozarks. Along with deciding what to bring for our four months stay, we go through the garage, storage areas and closets to determine what we no longer use. Not what we might need or might use, but what we can really part with. Believe it or not, that usually fills the back of a Subaru with the seats down. Some of these items find their way to Susan Parson’s basement where the Sowbug Super Sorting Squad catalog and place items on auc-tions and raffles. Like what? This year our “donations” include: fish shaped serving platters,

Cont. Pg.5

Outing Report

Country Oaks Pond

Christmas Party MC

Weather Cancellation Policy

NAFF Activities or Meet-ing will be cancelled or

postponed when the Mountain Home Public

Schools Cancel Classes.

Check KTLO radio web-site for school closing

info.

the sun was shining into my eyes. I decided to rig up with a Clouser minnow 8-10 feet beneath a ½” airlock strike indica-tor. Casting proved challenging also. There were plenty of small trees and brush behind me wait-ing to snatch my back-casts out of the air. I used a high trajectory steeple cast and, today at least, I avoided fishing for squirrels.

It wasn’t long before I started catching fish. Strikes were ex-tremely subtle. The indicator would slowly sink about an inch or maybe rock to the side. That was it! Time to set the hook. Af-ter several small bass, I started changing flies and tried to go deeper using split shot without the indicator. I continued catch-ing fish on woolly buggers and different colored Clousers, but they were all in the same size class as before. The bite came to a halt at noon. A dozen small bass, no bluegills, and no larger fish. Still, a dozen small fish is better than getting skunked, especially on a day when sipping hot coffee in front of the fireplace seems like a better alternative to facing that cold biting wind.

Dave Schisler

report

The annual NAFF Christmas party was last Thursday. Everyone had a great time. The food was top notch. No one wrapped their gifts in yards of duct tape, so the gift exchange moved right along with a lot of laughs. It says something about the membership of NAFF that 90% of the Dirty Santa pre-sents involved booze!

NAFF recognized Tom Emerick for his long time effort that result-ed in the new parking area at Round House Shoals and the re-cent renovation of the board walk at Dry Run Creek. For the past several years Tom has been the primary instructor for most NAFF’s fly tying classes. We also recognized his wife, Mariam, for her support of Tom’s activities.

The actual cost of the Christmas party was roughly double what each of us paid for our tickets. We, NAFF, can afford these sorts of activities because of the pro-ceeds from Sowbug Roundup. The

money we make at the Sowbug al-lows us to do good things for stu-dents, youth, the community at large and to have a lot of fun our-selves! Please donate and volunteer!

This is my last “President’s Report.” Wahoo!! David Boyer is taking over in January. He is already actively involved in Sowbug and National FFI activities! He will do a good job. He has a good team to work with him! I will continue to be in-volved in the Sowbug Roundup. See you around!

December President’s

Report

Tale Waters

conditions we have experienced this year. A very simple fly that catches a lot of fish.

Recipe

Hook: Firehole or Hogskin creek 60 degree Jig hook in-size #14, #16 & #18

Bead Head: Tungsten 2mm, 2.4mm or 3.2mm diameter

Thread: Glitter Thread dark brown

Body: Wapsi Prism SLF Hares ear dubbing

Rib: Same as thread or Copper Wire small

Tail: Bristles from brown paint brush or SLF Hanks in red or CDL fibers

Several different materials can be used for the tail

Hot Spot: Orange, Red or Pink, UTC thread or dubbing behind bead can be used

Tying the Glitter Nymph

The Glitter Nymph is a simple fly .... no legs, no wings, no hackle just a simple fly for a simple fish. Using dark brown glitter thread, lay a base layer of thread from be-hind the bead head, back to the bend of the hook.Tie in a few fi-bers from a brown paint brush or SLF Hanks for the tail. Wrap your glitter thread back up behind the bead head. Apply SLF Prism dub-bing (hares ear) to your glitter

Fly of the Month Glitter Nymph

There are a lot of great Nymph patterns in the world, but even the average Angler can improve their game if they try some new things.

History

A little over 3 years ago Danny Barker, a well-known and respect-ed guide on our tailwaters suggest-ed I read a book "What Trout Want" by Bob Wyatt. Between the covers I discovered two flies, one by Mr. Wyatt and the other by New Zealand guide Chris Dore. By combining the ingredients from both flies was born the Glitter Nymph. This fly has become my # 1 producer for over a year. It has been a number one producer for several of the guides on the river as well. This fly is responsible for many fish caught in high water

thread and start wrapping from the back of the bead head to the bend of the hook, continue to wrap back up towards the bead head with the glitter thread acting as a ribbing for your fly. At this point you can do a whip finish or tie in a hotspot using various mate-rials and colors listed above in the Recipe. A very simple tie.

Fishing the Glitter Nymph

This is a 2 minute tie, a most ver-satile fly that can be fished near the surface or deep by incorporat-ing tungsten beads from un-weighted to 2 tungsten beads. It can be fished with or without a indicator. When combined with a Y2K, Zebra midge or Pheasant Tail Frenchie the Glitter nymph becomes a deadly fly indeed.

Fish it in the moss, the weeds and rocks. Get it down where the fish feed and hang on. If you’re not yet a Fly Tyer or have any questions the Glitter Nymph is available at Natural State Fly Shop in Cotter, AR.

-Photos provided by Mike Tipton

- Fly tied by Henry Seay

Henry Seay

Sowbug Tyers’ Report

Recently while tying with a group at the local fly shop, one of the tiers used some super glue on a bodkin to finish the head of his fly, which I also do regularly. But once done, he let the glue sit on the bodkin and harden, which messes up a good bodkin.

Consider using some steel wool to clean off the bodkin. I place a small amount in one of my Ren-zetti tool holder holes (see photo). Then I stab the bodkin into the steel wool, both to clean off the bodkin and a convenient location to store more than one bodkin at a time.

If you do not have a tool holder, you can take an old 35mm film canister, or similar (pill container in photo), and fill with steel wool. Makes a great tool to keep your bodkins clean. You can acquire non-soaped steel wool through a hardware store in the paint depart-ment. I find the medium or course steel wool to be the best for “scraping” off adhesive or super glue residue.

Dave Boyer

Invitations have gone out! If you did not get one or know of some-one who would like to attend, please send me an email at [email protected] and I will get you/them on the list. As of Mon-day, December 2, we have 80 con-firmed tiers with some that will be providing tying classes. We again will have Larry Wegman teaching a streamer class and a class by Doug Miller on tying the Texas Red Water Wasp. A third class will be offered by Steve Maldona-do. With the warm water theme this year, there should be some great classes and tiers. Signups and further description of the classes will be in a subsequent email to invitees. This is shaping up to be a great Sowbug Roundup, don’t miss it March 26th-28th, 2020.

Dave Boyer

2020 Sowbug Roundup

Fly Tying Chair Don’t Forget!

Fly Tying Every Friday

At Dally’s 1:00 to 5:00

Fly Tying Tip Bodkin Cleaner

an old bamboo fly rod, assorted fly tying hooks, tote bags, several fishing books, a two-piece 6 weight fly rod, and extra fly tying feathers. We now have more room and our kids don’t have to decide what to do with that stuff when the time comes.

If you get the urge to clean out this winter, remember the Sowbug Roundup before you head for the dumpster or the thrift store. One person’s junk is someone else’s treasure. Every year club member donations add up to several thou-sand dollars for Sowbug income. Who knows, your unused item may be my next treasure.

Another note about Sowbug 2020 concerns its special emphasis. This year it will be Warm Water Fly Fishing. This has a special meaning for me, because I grew up in Eastern Nebraska where trout were mostly found in the pages of Outdoor Life magazines. My fly fishing catches included: bluegill, crappie, largemouth bass, catfish, pike, drum, chub and carp. Oh, what fun I had! I never know what my next catch might be.

Later my horizons expanded and I found that all those stories I read about rainbows, browns, brooks and cutthroats were actually true. I never forgot my warm water roots. To this day, I can’t think of a better way to spend a warm Spring day than fly fishing a local pond. Even in the “Trout Capitol of the USA” I still love to bob around in a float tube, flinging bugs at structures along the shore line.

I learned much of my warm water techniques from authors like Ray Bergman, Joe Brooks, John Alden Knight, and of course Dave Whit-lock. Dave and his wife Emily have promoted warm water fishing and fly tying for many seasons. Dave developed specific flies, tack-le and methods for bass and all the other warm water fishes. The Whitlock’s have written dozens of articles on how to catch bass, pan-fish and just about any other gamefish with modern fly fishing tackle. Dave is truly the guru of today’s warm water fly fishing.

So, this year at the 2020 Sowbug Roundup, the North Arkansas Fly Fishers will honor Dave and Emily Whitlock for their enthusiastic support of the adventure of warm water fly fishing. This year’s show promises to be one of the best ev-er! See you there.

Dennis Galyardt

We still have space available in our annual beginners fly tying class. And what a great idea for a Christmas gift for someone just getting started in the sport.

The class is limited to 10 students, and meets for four weeks:

Mondays in January 2020: 6, 13, 20, and 27, 6-8 p.m. in the Ozark Regional Arts Council Conference Room on the second floor at The Sheid...AND the $25 fee includes a one-year membership to NAFF. No supplies or equipment need to be purchased...NAFF supplies eve-rything for your use; and you'll go home with several different flies that can be used on the White Riv-er.

Tom Emerick will again lead the classes, and mentors will be availa-ble to help each student ty two of each fly that is taught. You’ll learn about fly tying tools, materials, and patterns, practice tying your own flies, and receive written instructions for each fly you learn to tie. You’ll also receive lots of fly tying tips from the ex-perts!

To enroll, log on to the ASUMH website at https://asumh.edu/pages/main/461/community -education/. Any questions, con-tact Ceil Gasiecki

Beginning Fly Tying Class at ASU

Sowbug

Water levels are running at 385 cfs, 350 avg, and water clarity has been green tinted. Lots of rain lately has the river a little above average flow. Extra care should be used wading the river. Rainbows have been hitting well on white streamer patterns and a Y2k with small nymph dropper is the go-to for a sunny day with a bug hatch. The hot fly of the week has been the Orange Blossom Special, a brown woolly with orange tail. Might need a tungsten bead or little extra weight to get the fly down. And when swinging flies be sure and let the fly swing all the way out. The end of the swing is the thing on the Spring.

Tight lines and good luck,

Mark Crawford

springriverfliesandguides.com

Spring River Report

One day, a grandfather from Dal-las, Texas, phoned me and said, “I have two grandsons, ages ten and twelve, and I would like for you to teach them how to fly fish. On our way to Arkansas, I will be stopping by a Cabela’s store to buy each one a fly rod outfit. Do you have any suggestions as to what I should buy them?”

I suggested a nine-foot, five weight fly rod and reel combo.

He explained, “They have never fly fished before, and I think they are at a good age to start learning. Their grandma and I have fly fished in the past, and we want our two grandsons to learn how.”

They planned to stay at a local campground on the White River for five days, and asked me to teach the boys for three full days. They requested to come along to take pictures and assist with the boys.

“You can go along,” I said, “but based on my past fishing experi-ence with kids, they are better off fishing half-days. When you fish them longer than that, they be-come bored and restless. They nor-mally lose interest after a few hours of fishing. I want your grandsons to enjoy their fly fishing experience.”

The grandfather assured me that his grandsons were not typical chil-

dren: they could handle an all-day trip. I assumed that he must be a doting grandfather, one that be-lieved his grandsons could do any-thing. I suggested a compromise: "Let’s make our first day a half-day trip, and if the boys do well, then we will go to full days.”

He agreed with some reservations, commenting, “You'll be surprised what my grandsons are capable of doing.”

Although I wasn't taking them out fishing until Tuesday, I met the family at their campground on Monday afternoon. We intro-duced ourselves, and I asked the boys if they were ready to learn how to fly fish.

“Yes sir,” they said. “We are ready!”

I could tell they were eager to get started. I wanted to get in some fly casting work with the boys before our first fishing trip; however, in the process of teaching the boys how to fly cast, I noticed the fly line on their new reels was of very poor quality. After we finished practicing, I suggested to grandpa that he needed to go to Dally’s Fly

Shop nearby and have the fly line on their reels replaced with better line. I explained, “You can hardly cast this line. It needs to be re-placed, or the boys will struggle casting tomorrow morning.” He agreed to replace the line and let me know that the four of them would be ready to meet me at the landing in Buffalo City at 7:30am the following morning.

Sure enough, they arrived promptly the following morning. The boys climbed out of the car, picked up their fly rods and walked over to the boat. Standing there, they said, “We are ready to go catch some trout!”

I stored their fly rods away. Every-one got seated in the boat, and off we went up through Buffalo Shoals. There’s a special place I like to go up in the shoals when I’m teaching people to fly fish. Af-ter arriving at our destination, I got the boys' fly rods out and set them up with two tungsten bead head jig nymphs and a suspension device (indicator). The youngest boy was in the back of the boat with me, while the oldest boy was in the front with grandpa. Grand-ma sat in the middle with a cam-era in her hands. I had the young-est boy cast first, trying to get him used to moving the fly line and leader through the air. Then I had the oldest boy in the front start casting as well. Both boys were do-ing very well; I was surprised at how quickly they were catching on. I showed the boys how to mend their fly line and explained to them why it was necessary. I

Musings of a Fly Fishing Guide

“Two Brothers Learning To Fly Fish”

said, “Be sure and watch your indi-cator for a take!” I moved the boat over to where I thought they could catch a trout, and it wasn’t long before the youngest boy hooked his first trout on a fly rod.

“Fish on!” he cried. Grandma took his picture. By the time we released his fish, his older brother had also hooked his first trout. I netted the fish, and Grandma took his picture. These boys con-tinued to catch trout throughout the morning while their grandma took pictures. The boys finished their morning trip with a total count of sixty-one trout caught and released.

As we were heading back to the landing, Grandpa remarked, “The boys could have fished all day.” I agreed that we could fish all day tomorrow.

On the second day, we motored back up through Buffalo Shoals. The boys could hardly wait for me to get the fly rods out. They picked right back up where they left off the previous day, and continued catching trout. They keep me busy netting and releasing fish all morn-ing long. I suggested that we break for lunch, and the boys replied that they didn’t want to stop fish-ing. Grandma said, “No, you need to eat a sandwich and have some-thing to drink.”

With youthful insight, the young-est boy said, “Grandma, you fish with my fly rod while I eat my sandwich!”

His older brother said, “Grandpa you do the same thing while I eat

mine.” Both boys quickly ate their sandwiches and went right back to fishing. I could not believe what I was seeing. These boys fished all day long, and neither wanted to stop fishing when I said it was time to go in. The boys finished their second day with a total catch of eighty-nine trout. When grand-pa had told me earlier in the week that his grandsons were not your normal kids, he was certainly right. I have never encountered young kids like this before. They did remind me of myself and my brothers when we were their age! I was definitely looking forward to my third day fishing these two young boys.

On the third day, I had Grandpa meet me at the boat landing in Norfork. There was minimum flow on the White River, and some water was being generated from the Norfork Dam. I thought we would be better off fishing in the area where the two rivers meet. That gave us some water so we could fly fish out of a river boat. We got started fishing early, with both boys making their first cast around 7:30am.

Almost immediately, the youngest boy cried, “Fish on!”

Before he could get his fish in, his older brother hooked into a fish. Both boys caught fish throughout the morning. For lunch they said, “Grandpa and Grandma, you fish while we eat our sandwiches along with our drinks.” They quickly ate their lunches and back to fishing they went. I was so amazed by the attitude towards fly fishing these

two young boys showed. They kept catching fish after fish throughout the afternoon.

There were about eight other boats fishing in the same area we were fishing, but we were the only boat fly fishing. I did not see any of the other boats catch any fish; when we motored up for another run, I could tell by looking at the faces of fisherman in the other boats that they were not happy people. It’s no fun watching other people catch fish when you are struggling to catch one, after all. The youngest boy waved at these people as we were going back up for another run, but they wouldn’t wave back at him. He noticed that too! When I stopped for the boys to start fishing again, the youngest boy said, “Mr. Danny, I waved at those people as we passed by them and they wouldn’t wave back at me.”

I explained, “Well, I think that they are mad!”

“Mad at what?” he questioned.

I said, “They are mad at you and your brother because you all are catching fish after fish, and they aren’t catching anything. If they had been catching some fish they probably would have waved back to you!”

These two young boys ended the day catching one hundred and twenty-one trout. It was a banner day for both boys. That gave them a two day and one-half day total of two hundred and seventy-one trout caught and released: an un-believable number for two broth-

ers ages ten and twelve who have never fly fished! These boys were mature beyond their ages. Every-thing I taught them about fly fish-ing they mastered. Their minds were like sponges, absorbing every-thing I said. They only talked when they needed to say some-thing constructive. They were no-nonsense kids! Their concentra-tion and stamina to fish as long as they did at their age was unbelieva-ble. When grandpa said, “You don’t know my grandsons; they’re not your typical kids,” he was right. If someone had told me that I would guide some kids like that one day, I would have said that there aren’t any kids like that—it’s just impossible. Now you know why I enjoy being a fly fishing guide, with moments like these. And they were special! I only wish every fly fishing guide had an op-portunity to fish these two kids. They definitely would have made as big of an impression on them as they have on me. I will never for-get these two brothers from Dallas, Texas.

Danny Barker

Fly Fishing Guide

Cont. Pg. 5

The C&H hog factory locat-ed in the Buffalo River Wa-tershed is in the process of being closed. The last hogs should be removed in Decem-ber and we are hopeful com-plete closure and cleanup will be completed by mid-2020.

In addition to the closure and cleanup of the hog facto-ry, Governor Asa Hutchinson has requested the Arkansas Pollution Control and Ecolo-gy Commission (APC&EC) to approve a “permanent” ban on medium and large hog factories in the Buffalo River Watershed. To accom-plish this, amendments to the current Regulations 5&6 are being proposed. The public is invited to comment on the proposed changes with the deadline for comments being January 22, 2020.

We will forward suggestions for commenting on the pro-posed Reg 5 & 6 changes to NAFF members.

Written comments should be delivered or mailed to: Jacob Harper, Department of Ener-gy and Environment, 5301 Northshore Drive, North Lit-

tle Rock, AR 72118. Electron-ic comments should be sub-m i t t e d a t h t t p : / /w a -ter.adeq.commentinput.com/?id=6pAef

Thank you to all who have contributed to keeping our waters clean and healthy.

Steve Blumreich

President

Friends of the North Fork and White Rivers

[email protected]

C&H HOG FACTORY CLOSURE UPDATE

Forwarding Favors

In early November I rejoiced over a warm Sunday and some wadable water at Wildcat Shoals. When I arrived, I noticed my friend Ron McQuay’s truck parked near the boat ramp, with its distinguishable logo Ron’s Fly Fishing 101 Les-sons for Beginners on the camper shell. However I saw no sign of Ron and walked upriver to my fa-vorite spot. As I passed by the first good water near the boat ramp, I noticed a fly fisher; and his grace-ful roll cast caught my attention. I didn’t bother him; and began fish-ing, enjoying the soft winter sun-shine on my face and a few small trout that found my fly appealing.

Later, I overheard a conversation between him and a guide who asked for help jump starting his truck after failing to turn off his lights earlier that foggy morning. The fisherman willingly stopped fishing and they soon had the guide’s truck started. The after-noon passed too soon and the sun’s crawl over the horizon told me it was time to go.

As I passed the same fisher near the boat ramp, he was bent over, appeared to be searching for some-thing, and seemed agitated. “Did you do any good?” I asked.

“I’ve caught a 23” brown and I can’t find my phone,” he said. “Gotta get him back in the water. Phone might be in the truck.” He pointed to Ron’s pickup.

“Want me to bring it to you?” I

asked. His positive answer made me rush to the open window of the pickup, where I spied the phone and brought it back.

“Darn it, not sure if I even remem-ber how to work the thing,” he said.

“Well how about I take a picture on my phone and send it to Ron? We need to get the fish back in the water.”

“Oh I sure would appreciate it,” he said. Within a few seconds I’d taken 2 shots and he waded out, revived the fish and let the behe-moth go. We both breathed a sigh of relief.

“Man I’m so jealous,” I said. “What a great fish!” As we talked, I learned he was Ron’s son, Jerry.

Over the course of the next several weeks, I would often see him at-tempting to catch another giant brown. I would speak and head upriver to try my own luck. Dur-ing the rest of November, I caught mostly small fish, a few dinks, a stocker or two, but nothing of any size. I was happy to be out, howev-er, after a long summer hiatus. Then the Sunday before Thanks-giving, everything changed. I again noticed Ron’s trunk but no Ron. I saw a lone fisher near the boat ramp but didn’t recognize him.

Relatively low water kept the near-by home’s yard grass from trap-ping my boot cleats and gave me hope of a better catch. Bright sun-shine turned the water to glisten-ing highlights as I threw out a size 16 olive woolly. Within a few sec-onds, I caught a decent stocker, followed by a tiny rainbow no more than about 6 inches.

I moved further downstream, found a small bit of moving water diagonal to the grass beds and thunder struck in the form of a stout fish. For the first time in months I had a worthy adversary on my line. He made several surg-es and caused my drag to issue a most satisfying hum. When I dipped him into the net, I was proud of his spirit and character. My choice of water was apparently a wise one, because I soon had another feisty fellow giving me a tussle. My drag sang for the second time and he actually swam toward the shoreline almost getting be-hind me. I gently guided him back out front and after several more dives, he finally surfaced just in time for me to swoop him into the net. A righteous 16 inches with a sizable girth and enough heft to bring a grin to my face, he was the best rainbow I’d caught in at least a year. I fished another 20 minutes or so but couldn’t duplicate my success. The day started to wane, but I decided to try a girdle bug and a midge dropper. Getting the rig gathered up and attached to my tippet has always been a bit daunt-ing to me but I managed it. Some-how my multi-tasking wasn’t up to par, however, because in holding

on to all the pieces, I dropped my bag of strike indicators and before I could react, it sailed downriver.

I yelled down to the nearest fisher, “My strike indicator bag is coming right toward you. Help me please!”

He nodded, turned, gave me a thumbs up and waded just enough toward shore to intercept it. I exit-ed the water and met him near his part of the shoreline. Then I thought I recognized him. (Different hat same guy). “Jerry, is that you?”

“Sure is,” he said and handed me the bag.

“Thanks so much. That’s about $20 worth, right there. One good turn … right?” We both laughed.

I went back upriver but didn’t get a single take on my dropper rig and decided to call it a day. As I passed, I yelled, “Well I’ll leave the rest of them to you, Jerry.

After I walked up the hill and re-turned to my car, I thought about the joy of this day. Outsiders who don’t understand fly fishers say we’re arrogant, pride ourselves on expensive gear, are unfriendly, un-willing to share, etc. But I say, we’re a compassionate helpful group who take time to give ad-vice, share flies, and assist wherev-er needed. I’ve found this to be true whether on the Norfork or the White. I’ve lost count of the people who’ve shared kindnesses too numerous to count.

As we enter this season of Advent, it’s an appropriate time to cele-brate the ideas of sharing, giving and compassion. For the stars still shine silently over Bethlehem. The manger’s message yet prevails: peace and good will still abound on the earth.

Rita Billbe

January 2019 Fly Tying Class

Events of Interest to NAFF Members

January 2020

01/06/2020 6:00 PM—8:00 PM First sessions of Beginners’ Fly Tying Class at ASU Mountain Home

01/07/2020 1:00 PM—2:00 PM NAFF Board Meeting, First Security Bank

01/14/2020 1:00 PM—3:00 PM Sowbug Roundup Meeting, Baxter County Library

01/21/2019 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM NAFF Membership Meeting, Van Matre Senior Center

February 2020


02/08/2020 6:00 PM– 9:00 PM TU fund Raising Banquet, Elks Lodge, Mountain Home



March 2020




03/26/2020—03/28/2020 Sowbug Roundup Baxter County Fairgrounds

tale waters the voice of the north arkansas fly fishers

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