- Hi kids, I'm Trey, from the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission, and I have a very special guest with me today, my granddaughter, Miss Kennedy.

We are here at Dry Run Creek, and we're going to learn all about fly fishing.

So what is fly fishing?

Well, we're not trying to catch flies.

We're trying to catch fish, but we use a hook that's dressed up to look like fish food, that's called a fly.

These flies come in all shapes, sizes, and colors.

Sometimes they actually look like small flies or other insects, maybe spiders or grasshoppers, and sometimes they look like small fish.

When we make our own flies, we call it fly tying, because we use thread to tie animal fur, feathers from birds, all sorts of things like that to a fish hook.

We're just trying to make something that looks like something a fish would eat.

What do you think a fish might like to eat?

Can you think of something that might make a good fly?

(bell dings) (whimsical music) I don't know about a Crabby Patty.

(children laugh) (steady music) Fly fishing is so much fun.

And here in Arkansas, you can fish for all kinds of fish, bass and blue gills.

And today we're fishing for trout.

The trick to fly fishing is getting the fly to land in the water where the fish can eat it.

We use a device called a fly rod.

It's really a long fishing pole that we wave back and forth in the air to make the line fly out and gently land in the water so the fish can see our fly.

Fly fishing is fun because even when you catch a really small fish, it can feel like a whale.

We're real lucky here in Arkansas, because we have some of the best trout fishing anywhere in the whole world.

Trout live in rivers, especially rivers with really cold water.

Trout love cold running water with lots of rocks and gravel on the bottom.

Streams like these provide a trout everything it needs to survive; a place to live, and lots of tasty treats that flow down the stream all day long.

We call this their habitat.

A habitat is the natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.

Trout like the water cold, about 40 to 65 degrees to be exact.

To put that another way, when you go swimming, it's most comfortable when the water is about 80 degrees.

So 40 to 65 degrees would be like jumping into the pool on Christmas Eve.

- Ho ho ho!

(child wooing) - Brr.

That's cold.

(water splashes) One of the best trout habitats in all of Arkansas is Dry Run Creek.

Dry Run Creek is located in Northern Arkansas just below Norfork Dam.

Dry Run Creek is a very special place to go trout fishing.

It's full of giant trout.

And best of all, the only people who are allowed to fish there are kids, just like you.

Dry Run Creek has some of the biggest trout that you'll find anywhere in Arkansas.

It's built especially for kids.

There are platforms you can use to look down into the water or to cast a line.

Dry Run Creek isn't very big, but it's full of really big fish.

That's because Dry Run Creek is full of food, and the trout get to eat all day long and grow very large.

One of the reasons Dry Run Creek is such a great place to fish is because my friends at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission do a really good job of taking care of it.

One of the ways they do that is by using a special device to make the fish jump out of the water so we can catch them in nets.

Then we take the fish and find out how long they are and how much they weigh so we can make sure they're healthy.

We also count the fish to find out how many fish live in Dry Run Creek.

This is all our way of giving the fish a checkup.

Kind of like when you go to see your doctor.

Sometimes we even put a small tag inside the fish so we can come back, find it again, and study it later.

This is just one of the many ways my friends at the Arkansas Game & Fish Commission help take care of our rivers and streams and make sure our trout are healthy and happy.

Well, you can see fly fishing is a lot of fun.

We really enjoyed having you come along with us today.

And I hope to see you out on the water real soon.

So long for now!