BEFORE YOU GO BY JOHN BERRY

What you do before you go fishing is often as important as what you do when you actually fish. When I was in the Army, we had a saying, proper planning prevents poor performance. In order, to plan your fishing rip you need to gather as much information about the conditions you can expect to encounter, as you can.

I always begin with the weather. I turn on the Weather Channel as soon as I wake up. I want to know if it is going to rain so I can bring along an extra rain jacket or two for my clients (I always have a rain suit in my car and a back up rain suit in my boat for my own use). I want to know the high and low temperature for the day, so I will know how to dress. Will I need sun gloves or wool gloves? I want to know how much wind to expect and the direction it will come from. That will affect my drift, when fishing from the boat. Will I encounter fog? When is sunrise and sunset, so that I know how much light I will have?  Finally was there a full moon last night that allowed the trout to feed all night? 

 Next I check the Southwest Power Administrations projected loading schedule. The information is given by day, by the hour, by dam and expressed in megawatts. I convert the megawatts to cubic feet per second (CFS) using the total plant capacity in megawatts divided into full power discharge to arrive at the CFS per megawatt. Then I figure where the best water levels will be and whether I will be wading or in the boat. 

After I determine what is supposed to happen, I go on the Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock website for water releases given in CFS by the hour by the dam and check to see what is actually happening. There is a two hour delay. This way, I can see changes to generation, almost when they occur. Below the columnar data there are graphs on rainfall and generation where you can identify trends. I then determine where the conditions at a specific part of the river are the best, for the type of fishing I am interested in. 

The one thing that I do not do is, check the recorded message on the Dam control room phone. I have found this information to be very unreliable. The recording must be changed when conditions change. The problem is that the system relies on a human being to change the recording. If they forget to change it, the data is inaccurate. 

The last thing that I check is every fishing report that I can lay my hands on. I write a weekly fishing report so I am always looking at other reports and talking to any guide or angler that I run into on stream or who stops by Blue Ribbon Fly Shop, where I work. I am interested in the overall quality of the fishing and any sections that could be considered hot spots. I am especially interested in any specific techniques or flies that have been productive. 

Armed with all of this information I am now able to determine where to go, when to arrive and what to use. It is not always perfect but it is a good way to start. I hope to see you out there.