Last week I had a guide trip with John and his two sons, Jack and Walter. When I first booked this trip with John a couple of months ago, I learned that Walter was fourteen years old. I immediately began discussing the possibility of taking him to Dry Run Creek. John agreed and we decided to spend a half day on the Creek. The trip was to be a spring break trip with a visit to The University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, Jack’s college choice.
We were scheduled to fish for two days. Whenever I have a two day trip, I try to spend one day on the White River and one day on the Norfork River. That gives my clients a better look at the quality of the fishing that we have here. The first day on the White started a bit slow. We began at Wildcat Shoals and it just wasn’t happening. We loaded up and drove over to Rim Shoals. The fishing was much better there and we ended the day with several fish. All of the guys were competent casters and could set the hook. Walter had the hot hand, which was a good omen for his tour on Dry Run Creek the next day.
We were the first ones on Dry Run Creek the next day. Walter was on fire. He caught fish after fish. We decided to move upstream, to a big fish hole, that I try to hit every time I fish there. With the body count up, we decided to concentrate on landing a trophy. We hit a great rainbow and after a lengthy fight we managed to land the fat twenty five inch male. We landed a few smaller trout and then hit another big Rainbow. Walter fought it for several minutes before it wrapped a big rock and slipped the hook. The next trout was a huge brown that had its way with us for fifteen minutes before slipping the hook. Despite his earlier success, Walter was getting discouraged. Another big fat rainbow changed all of that.
The whole time that Walter was fishing John and Jack were sitting on the bank cheering him on. Around noon we reluctantly left the stream and ate lunch quickly. Jack and John were ready to fish. We drove over to Quarry Park and started fishing. John caught some nice trout but Jack and Walter were struggling. We were fishing near the confluence of Dry Run Creek and The Norfork. I looked up the Creek and realized that Jack could fish there. I moved him up the creek and he was immediately into fish including a couple of twenty five inch rainbows. I move Jack into a more productive spot and he began catching trout.
The action slowed and we drove over to the Ackerman Access and walked up into the Catch and release Section. John and Walter caught several but Jack was struggling. I took him to a better spot and showed him how to fish it. He was soon into a good trout and caught several including a substantial nineteen incher. He had a larger one on but it was uncooperative. Before we knew, it was time to go. It had been a long day.
Dry Run Creek stood out as a remarkable fishery. John assured me that he would tell all of his friends about it.
John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.
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