Northwest Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
New river rig rocks!
Larson’s custom jet rig ideal for walleyes and stripers
MOUNT IDA — Chris Larson of Roland has elevated his game several notches for spring fishing on the upper Ouachita River.
Larson, one of the deans of floodwater fishing in the upper headwaters of Lake Ouachita, learned the art and craft of these mercurial and treacherous cataracts from the late Scott Hunter. Like Hunter, Larson navigated the upper Ouachita during late winter and early spring with a War Eagle 1542 powered by a 25-horsepower jet drive outboard. It was a serviceable rig, but Larson’s new rig puts that one to shame.
It’s an Alweld Marsh. Made in Lonsdale, it is 54-inches wide, which makes for a very stable fishing platform. Even so, it is very nimble in tight, rocky quarters. Its tunnel hull gives it qualities similar to a hydrofoil. The transom is designed for a jet drive, which should be about flush with the hull. This allows it to push the hull in much shallower water than a propeller outboard can. You will clench your jaws the first time you zip over what is scarcely more than wet gravel, but the feeling is exhilarating, especially with a 60-horsepower Mercury. A jet boat is an expensive investment, but it is necessary to reach the shoals and holes where walleyes and striped bass congregate this time of year.
Hunter taught me how to fish here many years ago, and Larson and others chastised him for it.
“How dare you bring a newspaper reporter up here! He’ll ruin everything!”
Hunter laughed and reminded his disciples how difficult it is to reach the best fishing water in February and March, not to mention how difficult it is to fish when you get there.
“If they think they can get up here, then power to them,” Hunter said with his signature raspy chuckle.
Others have tried to make this trip with prop- driven boats. The brother of a friend got stranded in the rocks about a mile downstream from High Shoals. Another friend destroyed a custom boat at a spot that is officially known among river rats — in honor of the luckless captain — as “Connie’s Climax.”
“I know exactly what happened,” said Larson, who rescued the two anglers that were involved. “They got in that rapid and hit a rock. That stopped their motor. The current caught them and pushed their boat into a tree, and it was all over before you could snap you fingers.”
Rusty Pruitt, Bill Eldridge and Ed Kubler suffered milder misfortunes on Monday trying to reach Larson and me. Pruitt tore one blade off his prop and ground down the other two blades to nubs.
“Ed was sitting up front facing backwards,” Eldridge said. “When we were plowing through those rapids, Ed said, ‘Rocks were flying high in the air, just going all over the place.’ ”
Gloria Larson, who spent the day lounging at the cabin that she and Chris rented at High Shoals, said she saw them pushing their boat through the last rapid below the Powerline Hole.
“They didn’t look very happy,” Gloria said.
That was on Monday. My last attempt with Larson was an ill-fated affair two years ago in which we failed to advance through thick ice past the Arkansas 27 bridge. That fiasco broke things on the boat and trailer. It convinced Larson that it is more cost effective to rent a High Shoals cabin and launch directly into the Powerline Hole than to make the long run from Arkansas 27.
The creaks and aches of age convinced him that a more comfortable rig was far preferable to the slow, cramped ride in the 25-horse War Eagle rig.
We launched at about 8:30 a. m. and went straight to the tail of a long, deep hole known as Striper Corner. Larson fished the day before and hooked eight stripers. He boated six, the largest of which weighed 14 pounds. He also hooked a giant freshwater drum that broke his net. He put it back together with electrical tape.
Stripers wouldn’t play on Monday. They rode the bench while walleyes and smallmouth bass took the court.
According to Hunter, there was only one way to fish the upper Ouachita River. You had to use 4-pound test orange Sufix line and light-action spinning rigs. Only one lure would work, a Long A Bomber in rainbow trout pattern.
We have since learned that walleyes and stripers bite a lot of other things. The hot lure lately is a 31/ inch Bomber Long A in a pattern that appears to be no longer in production. Larson had only two. He generously loaned me one, but he made sure he got it back at the end of the day.
Larson didn’t take long to get a bite, but it wasn’t the bite he wanted. It was another big drum that strained his net again nearly to the breaking point. His next bite was a female walleye that weighed 4.27 pounds. I guessed 4.25, which would have made me a prize winner on The Price Is Right game show. The next and last walleye was a keeper male.
Smallmouth bass were eager participants, as well. We caught and released eight.
Once in the good water, Kubler caught three walleyes with a brown trout pattern Rapala stickbait. He also caught a very nice smallmouth.
Eager to show off his new rig, Larson jetted us all the way past Saltpeter Rock, past the Joe Lee Hole and all the way to the top of the long pool at River Bluff. Our only fish above Saltpeter Rock was a smallmouth.
The fishing was decent enough to make the trip worthwhile, but the best part, as always, was the good company.