July Fishing Recap: First Catches to Big Casts

July was a month of change, for sure.

We started the month out with remarkably high water and some pretty tough fishing. We were still catching fish, but had to work hard for them. The month has wrapped with some low water in the mornings, followed up by a great 1 unit flow. Speaking of great, I got the share the boat some some pretty great folks over the course of the month and show off the beautiful Beaver Tailwater.

Rick - Fayetteville, AR

Rick has been fly fishing his whole life, and we had a ball catching low-water fish in the morning and drifting a high-water rig in the afternoon.

The weather was brutally hot, but the fishing was, too. I had a great time getting to know Rick and sharing the boat with him. Rick had his work cut out for him in the afternoon casting a long leader with a lot of weight to get down to the fish, but he made it look easy. Looking forward to our next trip in October.

David - Bentonville, AR

I also had the opportunity to fish twice with David. He's been fly fishing for a couple years and has the bug pretty bad. Apparently his oldest daughter has the fly fishing bug too! David got to see both ends of the water level spectrum over the month. It gave us a laugh as we were looking up in the trees at where we ate lunch earlier in the month. His second trip was a very different river experience than his first, with about 10 feet less water in the river. We had a good time in the morning low water talking about how much had changed and putting a few fish in the net.

Ramon - Bentonville, AR

Ramon was also a blast to fish with, especially since it was his first time fly fishing. After just a few minutes of getting the hang of casting and setting the hook his first fly-rod fish slid into the net. That first fish wasn't the last, though. When the dam opened up and the water rose, we got to experience one of those light switch moments where the fish were on fire. It was great to get to share that and show how dynamic the river can be and how big of a difference it can make when conditions change a little.

July reminded me why the Beaver Tailwater is such a special place. It's always changing, challenging, and rewarding. Can’t wait to see what August brings.