Wednesday, September 27, 2006

DATE: Wednesday, September 27, 2006

TIME: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 40’s rising to low 70s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's

HATCH: Several midges and a few crane flies

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

FLIES USED: #14 tan Norfork River scud, #14 gray Norfork River scud, #16 San Juan worm

OTHER: I fished with Ron and Kay. Fish struck well on the San Juan worm, but a drag-free drift was absolutely essential. Ron probably caught a couple dozen fish, and Kay out fished me the first couple of hours, catching fish pretty frequently. It was a great day.

Monday, September 25, 2006

DATE: Monday, September 25, 2006

TIME: 9:00 AM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 50’s rising to low 70s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's

HATCH: Several midges and a few crane flies

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

FLIES USED: #14 tan Norfork River scud, #14 gray Norfork River scud, #14 mini bugger, #20 Dunn’s Dun, #20 Kay’s Gray

OTHER: I fished with Ron (Kay’s son). Jeff and his friend, Jim, joined us later (both were first time fly fishers). Ron and I walked up from Wayne's and began seeing rising fish at the riffle above the island. Fish were rising to midge emergers and crane flies. We caught a couple and moved upstream to join Jeff and Jim. Ron caught several fish on the gray Norfork River scud, and Jeff and Jim also caught fish on a scud.

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

DATE: Tuesday, September 19, 2006

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 50’s rising to low 70s, windy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's

HATCH: Several midges and a few crane flies

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

FLIES USED: #14 tan Norfork River scud, #14 gray Norfork River scud, #14 mini bugger, #18 caddis

OTHER: I fished with Ed and Phillip, and their two friends from Austin, Texas. We fished downstream and got into a really good midge hatch at the riffle above the island. Fish were rising to midge emergers, and also an occasional caddis. Everyone caught fish. Jerry and I fished down at Mill Dam Eddy and got into a few rising fish, but the wind was high and it was difficult for the fish to see the flies. We did quite well at the riffle above the island.

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

DATE: Wednesday, September 13, 2006

TIME: 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 50’s rising to low 70s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan's Dock downstream through “Catch and Release” area at Otter Creek

HATCH: Several midges and a few crane flies

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

FLIES USED: #14 tan Norfork River scud, #14 mini bugger

OTHER: I fished with Rod and Mel. Fishing was great today, but catching was challenging. I did manage to catch a few dozen, but worked really hard fishing the mini bugger below a strike indicator and then the tan scud below a strike indicator. I did catch a 16-inch brown as the largest fish. Wayne and Frank were also fishing the Norfork River, and both did well.

Tuesday, September 12, 2006

DATE: Tuesday, September 12, 2006

TIME: 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 70s

WATER CONDITIONS: 1 unit

LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, Rim Shoals

HATCH: None

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

FLIES USED: Practically all my White River patterns; nothing worked consistently

OTHER: I fished with Rod and Mel. Fishing and catching were both really tough today. I managed to take a few fish, but had to change flies every couple of fish as there was no consistency with the bite. The White River was rising to 1 generator when we arrived and fishing never really took off. I caught 10 to 12 fish.

Monday, September 11, 2006

DATE: Monday, September 11, 2006

TIME: 8:30 AM to 12:00 PM

WEATHER: Mid 50’s rising to low 70s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, “Catch and Release” area

HATCH: Several midges and an occasional crane fly

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

FLIES USED: #14 tan Norfork River scud, #14 mini bugger

OTHER: I fished with Wayne and Frank, most likely the two best fly fishers to fish the Norfork River. I have been blessed to know and fish with both these guys. Frank is a classic fisher and an extraordinary fly tier and innovator. Fishing was great today, but catching was challenging and difficult. I worked really hard to catch, maybe, a dozen and a half fish.

Friday, September 8, 2006

DATE: Friday, September 8, 2006

TIME: 8:30 AM to 1:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 70s to mid-80s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan’s Dock to downstream near the “Catch and Release” sign

HATCH: Several midges and a few crane flies

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

FLIES USED: #14 olive mini bugger

OTHER: I fished with Wayne. Fishing and catching were both great today. This was likely the second most fun day of fishing in recent memory (Wayne's catching the 7 straight browns over 20 inches would be number one). We both caught lots of fish. I actually tried keeping up with Wayne and soon found that it was physically impossible—no kidding. Wayne could hook-up, bring the fish in, release it, and begin casting again at a much more efficient rate than I. He managed to catch over a 100 fish today. I did hook a large (guessing over 22 inches) cutthroat, and got the fish in shallow, flat water. I was sure I would land the fish as I had on 5X tippet, a 5-weight rod, and was in a great location. To my surprise, the fish hit the warmer water and immediately broke off at the knot. It sure seems like I'm losing a lot of large fish these days so I will keep taking lessons from Wayne. I did catch a grand slam today. As a note, I was extremely sore from fishing on Wednesday, September 6. Both arms ached from tendonitis and the fall I took on Crooked Creek a couple of weeks ago (I still have a large knot below the right elbow). Anyway, I took a couple of Tylenol and went to bed. It must have been a virus or something. Getting old with all the aches and pains is no fun.

Wednesday, September 6, 2006

DATE: Wednesday, September 6, 2006

TIME: 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 70s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan’s—downstream of Otter Creek

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 7’ 9”2-weight LT

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud, #22 Dunn’s Dun

OTHER: I fished with Dick. Fishing was great today, but catching was challenging and difficult. I worked really hard to catch 8 to 10 fish on the scud, fishing for at least a couple of hours. This is the lowest output in numbers in a long while. I finally went back to basics and tied on a Dunn's Dun and fished the flat water to rising or midging fish. I missed a lot of fish while managing to catch only a half dozen or so; however, it was fun hunting and making the chase, and also sharpens the senses which is probably why I missed so many fish. Meanwhile, Dick managed to catch a good number of fish on both a gray and a tan scud; I’m not sure but it is entirely possible that "student" out fished the teacher today.

Monday, September 4, 2006

DATE: Monday, September 4, 2006

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM

WEATHER: High 60's rising to low 80's

WATER CONDITIONS: I Unit

LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, Red’s Landing to Steamboat

HATCH: Lots of midges, caddis

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #14 bead head pheasant tail, #16 tan White River sow bug

OTHER: I fished with good friend, John. We boated upstream from Red's Landing to Steamboat. It was the first time I had fished Steamboat and the heavy water was quite intimidating. We began dead drifting a pair of flies and both of us caught fish. I ended up catching about 90 percent of my fish on the sowbug, and John caught most of his on the bead head pheasant tail. I took a 17 inch rainbow, then John hooked up with a 22+ inch trout that took him into his backing twice. He fought a mighty battle but lost the fish on its second long run. John is a great fisher and caught lots of fish. In fact he had bites on almost every cast. I'll return there for some caddis fishing this fall.

Saturday, September 2, 2006

DATE: Saturday, September 2, 2006

TIME: 8:30 AM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Low 70s rising to low 80s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan’s—downstream of Otter Creek

HATCH: A few midges and crane flies

ROD USED: Winston 7’ 9” 2-weight LT

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud, #14 mini bugger

OTHER: I fished with David, Brian, and Colby. Brian is our daughter's (Jenny) fiancé, David is his father, and Colby is his brother. It was their first time fly fishing for trout. We took about 5 minutes for an instructional casting lesson, and immediately began fishing. Brian ended up in a tough spot, but both Colby and David were positioned to catch fish. David was a good caster and began catching fish on the scud dead drifted in Ed's Hole. Then Colby began catching fish and Brian began getting bites as well. After about two hours, the fish just quit biting, all of a sudden. Then about twenty minutes later, they started again. David moved slightly downstream and took fish in the rather deep chute adjacent to Ace in the Hole. Brian switched to a mini bugger tied with ice dubbing and began getting more consistent bites. Colby moved downstream near his dad and also began getting consistent bites. Several times through the course of the morning, the "Painter" boys had doubles. All of them were somewhat "natural" fishers and did well for their first time out. It was a blast watching them catch lots of trout on a fly rod as first time fly fishers. As a note, the river was packed upstream of the catch and release sign with Labor Day fishers—more than I'd ever seen. I suspect the river got cleaned out.

Friday, September 1, 2006

DATE: Friday, September 1, 2006

TIME: 4:00 PM to 4:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 80s

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units to substantial generation

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, top of 2^nd island above Ackerman/Handicap Access downstream to Cook’s Island

HATCH: None

ROD USED: Winston 7’ 9” 2-weight LT

FLIES USED: #18 elk hair caddis

OTHER: I fished solo. I attempted to replicate the previous evening with caddis, and began fishing down to "Cook's Island" in front of Cook’s Island when the water began rising. Consequently, there was very little fishing and no catching.