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.