Lost My Moxy

DATE: Friday, 10/21/2005

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, partly cloudy, cold front moving in and low barometric pressure

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud, #14 olive mini bugger, #20 zebra midge

OTHER: I fished with Rod and Mel. I lost my moxy today, as I caught only 4 fish, and I fished hard. Nothing I threw seemed to work. A guide by the name of Bryan had two clients upstream, and one caught 6 fish during the same time. The guide was a good one, did not crowd other fishers, and his clients caught fish. They were using an olive jig, dropped about 3 feet below a strike indicator.

Fishing Bamboo on the Norfork

DATE: Thursday, 10/20/2005

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, partly cloudy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: #20 cream midge, #16 crane fly

ROD USED: Leo Eck custom made 8’ 3-4-weight bamboo

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud

OTHER: I fished with Rod and Mel, two old fishing buddies from the Memphis area. A cold front was moving in, and fishing was a little on the slow side. However, we all caught fish. It took me a while to get "organized" with the bamboo rod as it is VERY SLOW. While I caught about a dozen and a half fish, I hooked and lost another 8, and missed hookups with another half dozen or so. I ended up cutting the Cortland foam strike indicator in half, and was able to hookup more frequently. No big trout were caught, and we only observed one other fish caught (self-proclaimed Mr. Sowbug, Fox Statler, brought two clients in above us, and Fox talked the entire time. Fortunately, he didn't stay too long. His poor customers spent their entire morning moving back and forth from place to place, and likely didn't fish but about an hour. One caught a fish, but that was it; surely, they didn't have to pay much for this trip—yeah, sure.

The Norfork River Scud

DATE: Thursday, 10/13/2005

TIME: 10:30 AM to 2:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, partly cloudy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: Small cream midge, about #22

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud, #14 olive/dun cocklebur

OTHER: I fished with Dick. Because of a washer/dryer repair, I was unable to get on the water early; consequently, it was about 10:30 AM and the river had been fished pretty hard already. We both fished at the top of Ace in the Hole. Both fishing and catching were pretty good. Dick took about 2 dozen fish on the gray scud, and I took about the same amount. While fishing was not slow, I did fish hard, and the bite was pretty light, barely moving the strike indicator. A perfect drag-free drift was essential. I moved to the flat water and began fishing to rises using the # 20 olive/dun cockleburr fly fished as a dry fly. The fish were extremely leader shy and would move at the slightest hint of rod or line in the air. I did manage to take two nice cutthroat in the less that one foot of water.

The river was packed, and has been all week. However, few people are catching fish on the Norfork River. I saw two other people catch one fish each while we fished. Having talked to several people, and looking at their set-up, I believe it's necessary to use a long leader and the Norfork River scud pattern. I use an ORVIS 9 foot 5X Super Strong leader, tipped with an extra 3 feet of 5X fluorocarbon, followed by about 4 feet of 6X fluorocarbon. I DO NOT use any weight on the leader/tippet. The strike indicator is about 4 feet above the hook (cover the knot between the 5X and 6X tippet). A near perfect drag-free dead drift is essential. The pattern for my Norfork River scud is as follows:

Dunn’s Norfork River Scud

Hook: TMC 2487 BL, #14

Thread: Gray

Tail: Mallard Flank Feather, about 5 fibers

Weight: About 10 turns of 0.020 lead Ribbing: Silver Wire

Body: Medium gray antron dubbing

Shellback: Sow/scud back, clear

After the fly is tied, I mash the lead vertically to give the silhouette one of a live scud.

Lots of Fish on Crooked Creek

DATE: Tuesday, 10/4/2005

TIME: 9:00 AM to 2:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, cloudy, light wind

WATER CONDITIONS: Slightly high

LOCATIONS FISHED: Crooked Creek, downstream of Snow Access

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 9’ 7-weight BL5 Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #10 grasshopper, #10 chartreuse hard body popper, #14 foam beetle, #14 mini bugger, #8 wooly bugger

OTHER: I fished with Slim. We had a great day, and threw everything at the fish except the kitchen sink. We caught lots of fish, though most were small. I managed to take only one small smallmouth and lots of bream on the various top water flies used, as did Slim. About one mile downstream, I discovered a fairly long pool with some depth, and noted a school of about 8 carp, most over 5 pounds, as well as 4 smallmouth over 20 inches. I could not get the smallmouth to even look at a fly. In the same pool were many smaller smallmouth bass. I'll definitely return to that pool, though the walk back upstream is a killer.

Helping Others Learn the Norfork

DATE: Monday, 10/3/2005

TIME: 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 80’s, partly cloudy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's near Ace in the Hole

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT Joan Wulff Favorite

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud

OTHER: I fished with Slim. Fishing and catching began slowly, with the water level still receding after generation. Slim got the hang real quickly on dead drifting a scud, and did real well, saying something like, "I must've died and gone to heaven". He must have caught 40 fish in 3-1/2 hours, including several on a damsel fly nymph. We befriended and became acquainted with two very nice men from Huntsville, Alabama, Larry and Chuck. Using the gray scud and a drag-free drift, Larry ended up catching 11 fish before lunch, and Chuck caught 4 or 5. Chuck will work on his dead drift, and will catch many trout on his next trip.

The river was packed this morning, with a lot of folks in for Southern Council Conclave. There was probably a fisherman every 30 yards or so from McClellan's Dock downstream to the island. We didn't see any of the fishers catch more than a couple of fish each, except as noted above.