Trout Capital News, Cotter, Arkansas, June 2005

Number 57 Good things are happening in Cotter, Arkansas; it’s a great time to be here! June 2005

Little League Tournament
June 4: Big Spring Park

by Teresa Newman

Contractor's Truss is sponsoring a Little League Invitational Tournament on Saturday, June 4, at Big Spring Park in Cotter for boys twelve and under.

The tournament begins at 12 noon and there is no admission fee. All proceeds from the concession stand will go toward helping to pay for the new ball field lights. Four area teams will play in the round robin tournament.

The schedule:

Cotter Vs. Calico Rock          12:00
Flippin Vs. Viola                     1:30
Cotter Vs. Viola                      3:00
Flippin Vs. Calico Rock           4:30
Calico Rock Vs. Viola             6:00
Flippin Vs. Cotter                    7:30

We want to encourage everyone to come out and watch some great baseball games and enjoy a day at the park.

Submission Deadline

The deadline for contributions to the Trout Capital News is the 25^th of each month. Please send submissions to 914 Combs Avenue, Cotter, AR 72626 or to troutcapitalnews@hopkinswoode.com.

Farmer’s Market
Thursdays, 11 a.m. - 1 p.m.

by Jane Flowers

Every Thursday starting May 26, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m., Cotter’s Farmer’s Market will be open at Riverbend Trading on the corner of 62B and Combs Avenue. Vendors currently have early lettuce, spinach, green onions, radishes, herbs, and other fresh produce. Arkansas strawberries and canned goods were also available on the 26th. Every Thursday promises new items from area gardens.

Anyone with gardens and extra produce, or flowers, is welcome to come and sell. Call Jane Flowers at 435-6524 or e mail her at jflowers@gassville.net.

Come out and enjoy fresh produce as well as friendly conversation with neighbors.

Book Club Meeting

Join Cotter’s Book Club on Monday, June 27, at 10 a.m. The club meets at Rainbow Bridge Treasures on the corner of 2nd Street and McLean on the last Monday of each month.

This month, members are reading The Student Conductor by Arkansas author Robert Ford. Set in Germany as the Berlin Wall falls, it is a story of passion and intrigue steeped in the world of classical music.

Text Box: David McNair of Cotter
World Champion Shore Lunch Cook
photo by John Berry

Local fishing guide and reserve policeman, David McNair, won the World Championship Shore Lunch Contest on May 6 and brought the coveted World Championship Apron to Cotter. This is his second try for the title and he came to the competition with his game face on. Facing serious competition from professional cooks and large outfitters, he stuck to his game plan and cranked out the best shore lunch of his career. David’s previous effort, at last year’s contest, produced a tie for first place. He was edged out in a taste-off by Rusty and Suzie Linquist, sponsored by Gaston’s Resort. This year he was determined to bring the title home and worked hard all year perfecting his skills. Cotter is proud to be the home of the World Championship Shore Lunch cook. This serves to enhance our position as Trout Capital USA.

David is a long-time Cotter resident. In fact, he is a fifth-generation resident. A lifetime of guiding uniquely prepared him for this contest. I asked him how he cooked the fish for the contest. I already knew that he added bacon drippings to the oil he fried the fish in, but he also told me that he marinated the fish in buttermilk for fifteen minutes before cooking. He said that this gives the fish a very mild flavor. He said that there was another secret to his fish but he would not tell me what it is. Whatever techniques he uses, I can say they work because as a judge I was privileged to taste his fish and hushpuppies and they were spectacular.

I asked David if he would defend his title next year and he said that he would not compete, wanting to give someone else a chance to win. This opens the possibility of him cooking at next year’s fish fry, thereby giving everyone the opportunity of tasting his cooking. I can’t wait until then!

The World Championship Shore Lunch Contest is the only competition of its kind. It is sponsored by the Cotter Area Chamber of Commerce during the Great Cotter Trout Festival. It celebrates a time-honored tradition, the White River shore lunch. Guides stop at noon and cook their client’s morning catch over an open fire along with fried potatoes and hushpuppies. This contest is specifically designed to determine who cooks the best shore lunch on the White River and therefore in the world. The judging is blind. That is, the judges do not know who cooked what food. The competitors send their food to the judges in containers bearing only a number. First prize is one hundred dollars, a unique World Champion apron, and the bragging rights as the best cook on the river.

Mayor’s Minute
by Bill Jennings

Complaints about dogs and cats remains the number one reason for Cotterites to call City Hall. The number two reason is to complain about some neighboring property being trashy, overgrown with weeds or both. Please keep those calls coming; we need to know. Our Police Department is actively working on both problems. They have started on each side of town and are working each street giving warning citations. If the warnings don't produce results, then citations will be given and fines will be levied unless the property owner complies with the ordinance. You have brought our town so far in the past ten years and our property values reflect your interest and hard work. Lets keep going.

I have spent a lot of time with civil engineers recently in an effort to formulate a plan to handle our storm water. The City Council will decide which engineering firm they feel will do the best job, and ask them to start producing the various maps and charts to provide a master plan that can be adopted and carried out in sections if grants or low-interest loans are not available to do the whole town. The Council took a big step when Alderman Keith Simmons suggested putting the money generated by the sale of three lots toward the cost of the storm water program. You will hear more in the near future.

The Big Spring swimming hole has been improved and made much safer by Ronnie Smith and his two-man crew: Richard Weaver and Justin Morrow. They broke up the concrete that we felt was unsafe and used some large rocks to repair the bank around the swing. The swimmers seem to like the change and it also looks more natural. I hope that we will continue to be blessed with enough water to keep it safe.

We are rapidly approaching the fireworks season. Please remember that fireworks are illegal until June 25, and then must not be fired after 10 p.m. On July 3 and 4, they can be fired only until midnight. Please be careful and help the little ones celebrate safely.

Our number one corporate citizen, Contractors Truss Systems, is sponsoring a softball tournament on June 4. We will hear details soon. We have been approved by the Coca-Cola folks for a new scoreboard to replace the one they furnished several years ago. The old one has been repaired in case the new one does not arrive in time for the tournament.

Don't forget the new day and location for the Farmer’s Market: Thursdays, 11-1, at Riverbend Trading.

Community Calendar

                           June 2         Farmer’s Market, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverbend Trading
                           June 4         Contractor's Truss Little League Invitational Tournament, Big Spring Park
                           June 9         Farmer’s Market, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverbend Trading
                           June 9         Council Workshop, 6 p.m., City Hall
                           June 16        Farmer’s Market, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverbend Trading
                           June 21        Chamber of Commerce Meeting, 8 a.m., White Sands
                           June 23        Farmer’s Market, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverbend Trading
                           June 27        Book Club, 10 a.m., Rainbow Bridge Treasures
                           June 25        City Council Meeting, 6 p.m., City Hall
                           June 30        Farmer’s Market, 11 a.m. – 1 p.m., Riverbend Trading

Add your community event to the calendar in City Hall and it will be included here.

Trophy Trout Management
By John Berry

Cotter, Arkansas, Trout Capital USA, is located on the White River, one of the premier trout streams in the United States. We are blessed with three and one half miles of river frontage, which is our greatest asset. Our principal business is fishing. More people in Cotter are directly employed in fishing (guides, outfitters, etc) than any other business. There are also many people employed in related businesses (fly shops, lodging, restaurants, etc). We rely on people coming here to fish for our livelihood. What single change can we make to bring more people to visit us? We could institute Trophy Trout Management. The Cotter Area Chamber of Commerce and the 2025 Committee have identified Trophy Trout Management as the key to economic development for Cotter.

What is Trophy Trout Management? It is the process of making changes to fisheries and the regulations governing them to produce trophy trout. When I say trophy trout I mean large fish. Ask any angler, what would you rather catch small fish or large fish? The answer is obvious.

Currently most of the White River trout waters are managed as a put and take fishery. The river is regularly stocked with trout approximately twelve inches long. The daily limit is five trout. Ninety-seven percent of the fish are caught and removed within ninety days. As a result, most of the trout caught in these waters are twelve inches long. If the fish were larger, the anglers would come from far and wide to catch them.The only way for the fish to become larger is to leave them in the river for a longer period of time. If left in the river the trout would grow about seven inches per year. If that twelve-inch stocker were left in the river for one year, he would grow to nineteen inches, which is a good fish anywhere.

There are a few areas on the river that are designated catch and release. All trout caught in these sections are required to be released immediately. Since the trout are not removed, they tend to be larger and more plentiful than in other sections of the river. These sections receive more pressure than other areas because local and out-of-state anglers like the constant action and challenge of catching trophy trout. If an angler lands a trophy he can carefully measure it, photograph it and then have a replica made for the approximate cost of having a fish mounted. The areas surrounding these sections have experienced increased economic growth. There are new businesses and nice homes where there was previously vacant land.

An alternative to catch and release is slot limits. Slot limits are fishing regulations that allow anglers to keep two fish (or some other number) under twelve inches (or any designated size) and one fish over twenty inches long. After a while you would catch a number of fish in the thirteen- to nineteen-inch category, which would make for good fishing. You could still keep a couple for supper, and if you caught the fish of a lifetime, you could have it mounted.

Either one of these techniques would result in increased interest in our area. If we had a Trophy Trout Management program in Cotter, more anglers would be interested in fishing our waters and our guides and outfitters would have more business. Anglers would be interested in settling here. Restaurants and other businesses that cater to them would open. The vacant houses and lots would be more desirable to these folks and our land values would increase. We would end up with a better place to live.

Trophy Trout Management, give it a try.

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The Big Ugly
by John Berry

A few years ago Lori and I went to West Yellowstone, Montana on vacation. It was her first fishing trip out west and our first trip together. It was a magical time. We fished some of the great western streams, the Madison, Yellowstone, and Gallatin Rivers. We even shared Slough Creek with a grizzly. We would fish like demons all day. We had our lunch streamside and reveled in the wildlife. At night, after a late supper, we would walk through West Yellowstone stopping in every fly shop to read the bulletin boards and talk to anglers, guides, and shopkeepers, trying to figure out where and what to fish the next day.

One night in one of the many shops we visited, Lori saw it, the big ugly. It was a huge stone fly pattern with a spun deer hair and foam body. It was garishly colored and had twelve rubber legs. It looked more like a bass bug than a trout fly. The guy in the fly shop assured her that this was the hot pattern on the Yellowstone and her life would never amount to anything unless she bought one.

I on the other hand was not impressed. This was not my first time out west. Over the previous twenty years I had accumulated hundreds of patterns on various trips and I had all of them with me. I was sure that there would be no hatches we would encounter that I was not prepared for. As a fly tier it corroded my soul to pay $2.75 for a fly I could tie myself (if I had brought my vise and invested $25 in materials). I told Lori that the fly would be difficult for her to cast and I would be impressed if that ugly thing could catch anything. She immediately bought one and spent the remainder of the evening romancing it.

The next day we got an early start and drove to Buffalo Ford on the Yellowstone River. After lunch, which included an unexpected visit to our picnic table from an inquisitive buffalo, we were fishing near a blow down and observed a large trout feeding on the surface. There were probably five hatches occurring at the same time. We saw stoneflies, gray drakes, two different caddis flies and pale morning duns coming off. I tied on a gray drake and was fishing to some nearby risers. I smirked as Lori tied on the Big Ugly and cast toward the blow down. Her fly hit with a loud kerplunk and drifted downstream about two feet. Suddenly a monstrous trout broke the surface and rolled over the Big Ugly like a ton of bricks. It took
off like a bullet and Lori’s four weight was bent nearly double. The fight went on for several minutes but the huge fly was impossible for the fish to shake. The fight finally ended when the twenty-five-inch native Yellowstone Cutthroat slid into my net, filling it to capacity. It was a fat, gorgeous, brightly-colored male. It was without a doubt the largest, best-looking Yellowstone Cutt I had ever seen and was the biggest trout Lori had ever caught. As we were taking the photos she asked me if I was impressed.

That night I bought a Big Ugly.

At their regular monthly meeting May 26th, the Cotter City Council heard the last of three preliminary proposals to address Cotter's storm drainage needs.

Ken Cotter of Consolidated Land Services presented plans to map the city through aerial photography prior to engineering work. The City had previously heard proposals from Strider Engineering Company, also of Mountain Home, and Nelson Engineering in Harrison. The Council plans to select a firm at its June workshop.

The Council approved Resolution 05-04 that requests action from government agencies to protect the multi-million-dollar tourist and trout fishing industry in the Cotter area. Action is required to ensure the necessary dissolved oxygen levels of six parts per million required in waters flowing through Bull Shoals and other upper White River dams during power generation. Deficient oxygen levels result in fish kills of trout in the White River during summer months. The resolution will be forwarded to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Southwest Power Administration, Arkansas Department of Environmental Quality, and the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission.

Major Jennings announced that repairs to the swimming area have been made by city employees. Further work will be completed in the near future.

The sale of two lots at Second and Powell Streets has been completed. As previously agreed by the Mayor and Council, proceeds will be earmarked for the storm water drainage project.

Quin Berry will chair the newly formed “Cotter Tree Committee.” Its goal is for Cotter to be named a “Tree City USA.”

Immediate repairs will begin at the North Arkansas Youth Center. More extensive work is planned at a later date and a grant from the Arkansas Historic Preservation Program will be requested.

Wanda Fielding thanked city crews for their work to prepare the Oak Hill Cemetery for Memorial Day. The VFW will be placing flags on all veterans graves and will raise the flags over the “Avenue of the Flags.”