Norfork River, AR

TIME: 2:30 PM to 4:00 PM
WEATHER: Clear, Mid 60s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8’6" 5 wt Joan Wulff Favorite
FLIES USED: #14 Norfork River Scud, #14 and #20 olive cockleburr
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished with Sam, our pastor, and today was his first time to fly fish. A quick learner, he easily mastered the roll cast and upstream mend. The river was packed, with fishers everywhere. We found a spot in the pool near where I access, but the fish were not cooperative. We moved downstream to a riffle, but could only manage a bite here and there. I did pick up one we saw rise, using a #20 olive cockleburr . It was a classic midge take. Sam and I then moved over to the right side of the river where I had seen a bunch of brookies a few days before. He began casting the cocklebur, and in a short time, caught a half dozen or more fish—all brookies except for 2 rainbows. Considering it was his first time fly fishing, the short time we spent on the water, and the fact that the fish had been fished all day, we had a very successful trip.

Norfork River, AR

TIME: 9:45 AM TO 2:00 PM
WEATHER: Cloudy, Mid 60s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8’6" 5 wt Joan Wulff Favorite
FLIES USED: #14 Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: None
OTHER: Fished with Wayne. I grabbed the wrong rod this morning and began fishing the 2 wt, trying to make long casts that fell woefully short. I cut off the old leader, then realized that I didn’t have spare, nor did Wayne, necessitating a hike to pick up another rod. Meanwhile, Wayne was catching one fish after another. I fiddled and fished an hour before picking up my first fish below the island below McClellan’s. After a few fish we worked our way along side the island, and I found fish under one of the overhanging trees. I managed to catch 8 fish at this one tree. I moved to the head of the island and caught a half dozen fish while Wayne worked his way upstream near Otter Creek. We worked our way back downstream towards home. As usual he caught fish all day—I ended up with only 30 fish and Wayne caught 5 dozen or more. While it was a relatively slow day, it rates as a top ten since Wayne and I both need time on the water.

Merry Christmas, 2008

DATE: December 25, 2008
TIME: 3:00 PM TO 5:00 PM
WEATHER: Cloudy, High 40s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8’6" 5 wt Joan Wulff Favorite
FLIES USED: #14 Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: None
OTHER: Merry Christmas, all. Fished solo after returning home from a day trip to Bryant, AR, to have Christmas with Kay’s son and grandson. Fished the “Ray Charles Hole” and caught several small brookies. Switched to the other side of the island and fished my usual place immediately downstream of the riffle, but only managed a fish or two. Moved slightly upstream and began fishing the riffle and caught several fish. This is the first time the fish have been in the riffle since before the flood. Moved upstream to fish another preferred place downstream of another riffle, but again, not much luck—only one fish. Trying to emulate the success I had downstream, I began fishing the riffle and caught several more fish. By then, it was dark so called it a day.

Norfork River, AR

TIME: 8:30 AM TO 10:30 AM
WEATHER: Cloudy, High 40s, Very Windy
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8'6" 2 wt
FLIES USED: #14 Norfork River Scud, #14 White Flying Ant
HATCHES: None
OTHER: Fished with Kay. She had not been on the river since mid-July. We had a warm-up today with the weather, but a cold front was barreling down on us, so we opted to fight the wind and fish a couple of hours. After accessing at one of our neighbors, I strung up the 2-weight, put on a gray Norfork scud, and began catching fish immediately in a long, skinny riffle. Some days are great for a 2-weight and this started out as one. My first fish was a small brookie, followed by a rainbow. Kay moved down to what we call the "Ray Charles Hole" and got bite after bite. I joined her and caught several fish, mostly recently stocked brookies. They were fun on the little rod. I had a least a half dozen brook trout today, which is the most ever. Kay continued fishing and catching fish, while I moved to another location. The fish were somewhat bigger, maybe 12-13 inches, with big shoulders. The wind began blowing and increased in velocity. Because of the waves blowing upstream, the strike indicator bobbed up and down at least 12 inches and strikes were difficult to detect. Kay kept getting hits on her strike indicator, so I put on a white flying ant and she caught several fish on top--closest thing to trout chow I had! I moved again and caught a couple of fish upstream as we gave way to the wind and returned home.

Norfork River, AR

TIME: 1:30 PM TO 5:00 PM
WEATHER: Partly cloudy, Mid-50s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8'6" 5 wt
FLIES USED: #14 Tan Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished with Ron. We decided to walk upstream to McClellan’s, fishing our way there and back. We didn’t pick up many fish until we reached the foot of the island below McClellan’s. It was crowded, but Ron found a tiny riffle below a downed root wad and began catching fish immediately. He caught about 8 fish, and we decided to move upstream. Interestingly, one of the fishers near us was a “runner” and hurriedly reeled in and almost ran ahead of us to the next riffle. We took our time and when we began passing the place he was fishing, he quickly reeled in and almost ran to the next riffle. We finally passed him and made our way to the channel across from Otter Creek. Both Ron and I had a couple of bites, but no fish. We moved downstream to Ed’s hole, fishing it pretty hard, but no bites at all, whereas the week before, Joe and I caught several fish there. As we began walking downstream our “runner” reeled in again and began trotting downstream to an area we wanted to fish. He did that the entire afternoon. We finally made our way back to the foot of the island, and began catching lots of fish, where 3 hours earlier we couldn’t buy a bite. We fished our way home and had a great time. Neither of us caught any big fish, and neither of us caught a brownie, catching mostly rainbows with a few cutthroats thrown in.

PS: As an aside, Ron fished on Saturday, December 20, 2008, and caught lots of fish, virtually every cast. He fished near the “runner” again and had the same thing happen to him that happened to us the previous afternoon.

Norfork River, AR

TIME: 9:30 AM TO 1:00 PM
WEATHER: Partly cloudy, Mid-50s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8'6" 5 wt
FLIES USED: #14 Gray Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished with John and Joe. John fished below one of our favorite riffles, and Joe and I headed upstream. We began catching fish as we waded upstream, and really got into them at the foot of the island below McClellan’s. It was almost a fish every cast. We made our way upstream almost to the channel across from Otter Creek, what we call the Ed Richmond Hole. Joe caught one fish after the other and renamed it the Ray Charles Hole #2. I told Joe that Ed said it was a challenging place to fish and it took lots of skill to catch fish every cast. Anyway, Joe and I worked our way downstream, catching fish along the island below McClellan’s, and ending up at the foot of the island again. In the meantime, John had walked up to meet us, and we all decided it was time to leave as the forecast was for freezing rain later that evening and they had to return to Memphis. It was good fishing with Joe again after so long an absence.

As an aside, Joe caught a 7 lb 6 oz smallmouth this past summer on our annual trek to Quetico. What a fish. You can view it at http://www.justanotherdayinellijay.com/

Norfork River, AR

TIME: 9:30 AM TO 1:00 PM
WEATHER: Partly cloudy, Mid-50s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8'6" 5 wt
FLIES USED: #14 Gray Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished with Wayne and Bill. Bill and I began fishing our way upstream towards the island below McClellan’s, making long casts, and catching fish. Of course, we trailed Wayne by a long shot, but we were both catching lots of fish, so didn’t hurry. Consequently, we never reached our intended destination.
Bill is one heck of a fine gentleman, and an extraordinary fly fisher. Fishing with Bill and Wayne is pretty intimidating as Wayne is undoubtedly the most productive fisher to have ever fished the Norfork, and Bill is very close behind him. Along with Ed and Frank, these guys are in a class by themselves. I can add Rod, Mel, John, and Mike to the list, having been blessed to fish with the very best! Life is good.

Norfork River, AR

TIME: 1:30 PM TO 5:00 PM
WEATHER: Partly cloudy, Mid-50s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 8'6" 5 wt
FLIES USED: #14 Gray Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: Fished solo near the house, and caught quite a few fish, maybe a couple dozen, though none were large. This was my first time on the water in several weeks, and the river had changed again with a large tree anchored at the head of the island/riffle where I normally begin fishing, and gravel building up along the edge of the riffle, forcing the riffle to scour the bottom even more .