Ten days of fishing bliss.
The wife and I arrived in Norfork at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 29. After unloading I went immediately to the River Ridge Handicapped access. Fished the pool immediately downstream. This place gets hammered but always seems to hold fish. Caught about a dozen before 6 oclock on soft hackles and a big elk hair caddis. They were nailing the caddis. I caught several decent fish. Went back Friday morning and fished farther down stream and only did so, so early. The guys fishin the runs were doing pretty good. As I moved back upstream started using the wooly bugger and did pretty good until some homey moved in on me with his client. Oh well. Didnt fish in the afternoon.
It being the Memorial Day week-end I decided to leave the Norfork alone Saturday and I took my boat and went up to Tucker Shoal on the White. I have a 14 ft aluminum jon boat and use it primarily for transportation but can fish out of it when needed. I am looking to buy a river boat cheap, Dont need any thing fancy. I ran across a couple of prospects but decided to wait until later. I had another great day. Woolies were the answer again. I did get a couple on the soft hackle. Probably caught about twenty fish mostly 14 or 15 inch rainbows. Had the place to myself except for a couple of boats passing through.
Went to church on Sunday. When we are in Norfork we attend the Twin Lakes Church of the Nazarene in Mountain Home. It is directly behind Dale Fultons fly shop. Enjoyed the service. Was sad to hear that Pastor Agee was retiring he had just suffered a mild (if there is such a thing) heart attack the week before but preached the morning sermon.
Monday the 30th I slept in as I decided to let those there for the week-end have their fun. The wife and I went to Wishes and Fishes in Lakeview and picked up the stuff Jimmy had tied for me. We got to meet Jimmys wife and saw him at Gastons. They changed the generation schedule on the Norfork and started generating earlier in the day. So I Took the wife out (in the boat) below the confluence of the White and Norfork in the afternoon. I had never fished below the Norfork before. This was the surprise of the trip. My wife doesnt fly fish (yet) so we were doing something else but I did have my fly rod handy. We did good drifting. They eased back on the generation at the Fork and we were able to anchor up. Here is where the fun began. I began throwing (you guessed it) the wooly bugger on the sinking line. I caught fish after fish. The stockers were some of the poorest looking fish I have seen. But, the fish that had been in the river for a while looked good. On about my third cast a big un nailed the bugger. He never came up so I figured it was a brown. I was right. After about a fifteen minute struggle I was able to land about a 20 inch brown. I would guess close to five pounds. The biggest trout I have caught on the fly rod to date. It was great. My wife had almost much fun as I did. I didnt have a camera but what can I say? I never took the fish out of the water and it seemed to recover nicely. Needless to say the stock in this part of the river has gone way up in my estimation. So I went back Tuesday morning and was able to wade. I caught a lot of fish again before the water came up. A 17 inch cutthroat was the biggest.
Wednesday I caught up with Griff1950 (Ron) and he delivered on showing me how to fish (better) with an indicator on the Norfork. We only got to fish about an hour before the water came up but we landed a couple of decent fish. My confidence is really up in fishing an indicator. I used what Ron showed to good advantage the rest of the week. In the meantime I got the boat and we headed to the confluence. Ron switched to the wooly bugger and we got hammered but he can tell that story if he wants too. I word of caution here. The White was falling out from two generators the evening before and were not generating in the morning. I thought that one generator from the Norfork wouldnt make that much difference. I was wading on a real shallow flat about a hundred yards downstream from the boat. By the time I realized the water was coming up it was hard to wade back up stream. Be careful. I normally motor up stream and wade upstream from the boat or my access point. Headed to Rim Shoals just before dark and picked up a couple indicator fishing an egg pattern.
Thursday Ron his friend John and I went to Wildcat Shoals. I caught a few fish (very few) on a soft hackle. Ron and John did better. There were a number of folks fishing both wading and in boats. Saw a guide and some of his clients bait fishing and they did very well. Saw Jimmy T too.
Friday I was back at Tucker early. Put the indicator to good use and tore em up probably had 30 or so before the morning was over. Headed to Rim in the afternoon and had one my best days there yet. A number of quality rainbows and one break off I didnt see but it felt big as always! The Norfork was off in the afternoon but I was worn out. Took a chance that they would be off today (Saturday) and they werent. (From the looks of his report I should have gone with Ron Friday afternoon.) So I mowed the yard we loaded up came back to Mississippi safe and sound.
Some miscellaneous thoughts. The weather was outstanding absolutely beautiful. I know the area needs some rain. Even with the outstanding fishing I am concerned for the health of the rivers. My wife heard on the news a discussion about the brown algae in the rivers. It is a mess. The stuff is taking over. Somebody (ASU or U of A?) is doing a study to determine what is causing the problem. The stuff just doesnt look bad if it gets bad enough it will deplete the oxygen in the river. I hope a cure can be found. I met some more great people. Ron, John and some more of our neighbors. Also got to see some old friends. We are having a family reunion the end of July at Genes on the Norfork but hope to be back for a week-end before then.
We are blessed.
Doug
The wife and I arrived in Norfork at about 1 p.m. on Thursday, May 29. After unloading I went immediately to the River Ridge Handicapped access. Fished the pool immediately downstream. This place gets hammered but always seems to hold fish. Caught about a dozen before 6 oclock on soft hackles and a big elk hair caddis. They were nailing the caddis. I caught several decent fish. Went back Friday morning and fished farther down stream and only did so, so early. The guys fishin the runs were doing pretty good. As I moved back upstream started using the wooly bugger and did pretty good until some homey moved in on me with his client. Oh well. Didnt fish in the afternoon.
It being the Memorial Day week-end I decided to leave the Norfork alone Saturday and I took my boat and went up to Tucker Shoal on the White. I have a 14 ft aluminum jon boat and use it primarily for transportation but can fish out of it when needed. I am looking to buy a river boat cheap, Dont need any thing fancy. I ran across a couple of prospects but decided to wait until later. I had another great day. Woolies were the answer again. I did get a couple on the soft hackle. Probably caught about twenty fish mostly 14 or 15 inch rainbows. Had the place to myself except for a couple of boats passing through.
Went to church on Sunday. When we are in Norfork we attend the Twin Lakes Church of the Nazarene in Mountain Home. It is directly behind Dale Fultons fly shop. Enjoyed the service. Was sad to hear that Pastor Agee was retiring he had just suffered a mild (if there is such a thing) heart attack the week before but preached the morning sermon.
Monday the 30th I slept in as I decided to let those there for the week-end have their fun. The wife and I went to Wishes and Fishes in Lakeview and picked up the stuff Jimmy had tied for me. We got to meet Jimmys wife and saw him at Gastons. They changed the generation schedule on the Norfork and started generating earlier in the day. So I Took the wife out (in the boat) below the confluence of the White and Norfork in the afternoon. I had never fished below the Norfork before. This was the surprise of the trip. My wife doesnt fly fish (yet) so we were doing something else but I did have my fly rod handy. We did good drifting. They eased back on the generation at the Fork and we were able to anchor up. Here is where the fun began. I began throwing (you guessed it) the wooly bugger on the sinking line. I caught fish after fish. The stockers were some of the poorest looking fish I have seen. But, the fish that had been in the river for a while looked good. On about my third cast a big un nailed the bugger. He never came up so I figured it was a brown. I was right. After about a fifteen minute struggle I was able to land about a 20 inch brown. I would guess close to five pounds. The biggest trout I have caught on the fly rod to date. It was great. My wife had almost much fun as I did. I didnt have a camera but what can I say? I never took the fish out of the water and it seemed to recover nicely. Needless to say the stock in this part of the river has gone way up in my estimation. So I went back Tuesday morning and was able to wade. I caught a lot of fish again before the water came up. A 17 inch cutthroat was the biggest.
Wednesday I caught up with Griff1950 (Ron) and he delivered on showing me how to fish (better) with an indicator on the Norfork. We only got to fish about an hour before the water came up but we landed a couple of decent fish. My confidence is really up in fishing an indicator. I used what Ron showed to good advantage the rest of the week. In the meantime I got the boat and we headed to the confluence. Ron switched to the wooly bugger and we got hammered but he can tell that story if he wants too. I word of caution here. The White was falling out from two generators the evening before and were not generating in the morning. I thought that one generator from the Norfork wouldnt make that much difference. I was wading on a real shallow flat about a hundred yards downstream from the boat. By the time I realized the water was coming up it was hard to wade back up stream. Be careful. I normally motor up stream and wade upstream from the boat or my access point. Headed to Rim Shoals just before dark and picked up a couple indicator fishing an egg pattern.
Thursday Ron his friend John and I went to Wildcat Shoals. I caught a few fish (very few) on a soft hackle. Ron and John did better. There were a number of folks fishing both wading and in boats. Saw a guide and some of his clients bait fishing and they did very well. Saw Jimmy T too.
Friday I was back at Tucker early. Put the indicator to good use and tore em up probably had 30 or so before the morning was over. Headed to Rim in the afternoon and had one my best days there yet. A number of quality rainbows and one break off I didnt see but it felt big as always! The Norfork was off in the afternoon but I was worn out. Took a chance that they would be off today (Saturday) and they werent. (From the looks of his report I should have gone with Ron Friday afternoon.) So I mowed the yard we loaded up came back to Mississippi safe and sound.
Some miscellaneous thoughts. The weather was outstanding absolutely beautiful. I know the area needs some rain. Even with the outstanding fishing I am concerned for the health of the rivers. My wife heard on the news a discussion about the brown algae in the rivers. It is a mess. The stuff is taking over. Somebody (ASU or U of A?) is doing a study to determine what is causing the problem. The stuff just doesnt look bad if it gets bad enough it will deplete the oxygen in the river. I hope a cure can be found. I met some more great people. Ron, John and some more of our neighbors. Also got to see some old friends. We are having a family reunion the end of July at Genes on the Norfork but hope to be back for a week-end before then.
We are blessed.
Doug
