Norfork River, AR

TIME: 7:30 AM TO 10:30 AM
WEATHER: PC, Mid 30s warming to low 50s
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, upstream of Ackerman Walk-in Access
ROD USED: Winston LT 7'9" 2 wt
FLIES USED: #14 Norfork River Scud
HATCHES: Midges, Blue Winged Olives
OTHER: The day did not start out well as I forgot sunglasses, or for that matter, glasses of any king. It meant that the scud left from Saturday would have to stay on. It was much better fishing weather, though, when compared to the harsh conditions on Saturday. I fished solo, and was surprised to see no one else on the river for a hour or more. Then, only a couple folks showed up, but one was far downstream and the other far upstream. Once again, I fished my usual haunts, and again struggled at the first riffle near Cook's Island, catching only a couple of small fish. I moved to another riffle, and caught fish,though it was a slow bite, and I took only a dozen or so in over an hour. Moving upstream, I only caught a few fish on the scud, but noticed a nice midge hatch. About this time, Wayne began fishing, and as usual, caught fish on almost every cast. His new name is the Butcher from Baxter County! He's an incredible fisher. Hoping to see the eye sufficiently to tie on a new fly, I switched to a #20 ginger cockleburr, and caught a half dozen fish, mostly stripping the fly as an emerger. At about 9:50 AM a Blue Winged Olive hatch began so I switched to a BWO, again struggling to see the eye, and only managed a single small fish. I moved upstream to another surefire location, downstream from a riffle, but managed to take only another half dozen. All in all, it was a pretty slow day by Norfork River standards, and the fish were again small though I did take a rainbow that was about 16 inches.