When I moved here
sixteen years ago, it was because of the fishing. I chose to live in Cotter for
the same reason. We have about three and a half miles of fly fishable water
within the city limits and most of it is wadable. It was a small railroad town
at the turn of the last century. It still has some charming cottages built for
the railroad workers. I bought a small fieldstone bungalow built in 1921 (it is
now 95 years old) that I have lovingly restored over the past few years.
With all of this
water, I have my favorite spot, Roundhouse Shoals. It is a large limestone
shoal with a sizable island and some nice gravel runs. It is on the south side
of town across the street from the rail yards. It got its name, from the
railroad roundhouse (a locomotive repair facility) that was once located there.
It is easily accessed as there is a road (Arkansas 345) that runs along it. The
North Arkansas Fly Fishers (our local fly fishing club) built a set of stairs,
to make it easier to scramble the bank. It is four blocks from my house.
This past weekend my
wife, Lori’s, sister, Terri, and her husband, Larry, came in for a visit and to
do a little fishing. They stayed in our guest house. My in-laws had fished, on
Sunday at the Ackerman Access, on the Norfork, and had done well. I had Monday off
and Lori and I decided to fish with them at Roundhouse Shoals (we call it
behind the house).
We began the day with a hearty breakfast at the White Sands Restaurant in Cotter. I needed a ham and cheese omelet to keep my feet in the gravel. We drove back to our house to put on our waders and gather up our fishing gear. We then went to Roundhouse. It was seventy two degrees, with no wind and a few clouds. The river was at minimum flow. We waded over to our favorite spot and began fishing.
I opted to nymph a
fast run but after several fly changes and trying another run I was fishless. I
took a moment to look around and noted that Lori, Terri and Larry were all
catching fish (a bunch of fish), on the olive woolly bugger. I may not be the
sharpest knife in the drawer but I knew it was time to switch to the olive
woolly bugger (don’t leave home without it). It took me a couple of minutes to
switch over but I was soon in fish. I covered a lot of water and caught quite a
few nice trout.
Despite my success I
wanted to try something else. I waded back to the run, where I had begun. I
wanted to figure out what would work there. Even though there were no fish
rising, I thought about the green butt, my signature fly. It is a buggy looking
soft hackle and it always produces for me. I stripped off the woolly Bugger and
lead and tied on some fresh 5X tippet and a green butt.
On the second cast, I
felt a gentle take but I missed it. Two casts later I landed a decent
cutthroat. I caught several more cuts but they were smaller than the first. I
waded downstream and caught a few nice rainbows. Larry joined me a picked up a
few nice trout on a partridge and orange soft hackle.
We fished till around 2:00
PM and ended the day eating hamburgers and fries at Warrior Station,
Cotter’s other restaurant. The hearty breakfast was a faint memory and it was
time to replenish. I must say that the hamburger and fries hit the spot. We
returned to our house for a well deserved nap.
It had been another
great day, fishing close to home!
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