DATE: Wednesday, January 4, 2012
TIME: 2:15 PM TO 4:30 PM
WEATHER: Low to mid-50s, mostly sunny, slight breeze
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to 1st riffle above island below McClellan’s
FLIES USED: #16 olive Norfork River scud, #16 red/black zebra midge, #20 red/silver zebra midge
ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT
HATCHES: Midges
OTHER: I fished with Kay; she exclaimed several times during the day that she wanted to go fishing, and even thought I was not too keen on the idea (recovering from a cold), we went! We walked in at Mill Dam Eddy and had the place to ourselves. I picked up a couple of fish, but missed a couple as well. The river continues to change and choosing a good run proved difficult. After fishing two more riffles, both newly formed, we waded upstream along the island, deciding to fish this run on our return. At the 1st riffle above the island, I took a couple more fish, but missed several others. Kay was having trouble casting in the breezy conditions and she and I spent considerable time unraveling leaders/tippets. As the sun began to descend below the trees on the right descending bank, we began wading downstream, and Kay fished the right side run of the island. She has some success, with her most notable catch being a 15-inch female rainbow loaded with eggs. As Kay was unhooking the fly, the female expelled lots of eggs, all slightly larger than a BB. Kay quickly released the fish, we carefully avoided the eggs, and continued fishing downstream with no success. I fished Mill Dam Eddy again, missing a couple more fish, ending the day with 4 fish (Kay says a half dozen). It was a good couple of hours on the water, but we were both exhausted from the brief wading.
NOTE 1: We saw thousands of scuds, #14 and smaller, at the immediate top of the island. This is the furthest downstream I’ve seem them since the flood—and they were larger. A number of our fish preferred the scud rather than the zebra midge.
NOTE 2: The river continues to “heal” and is returning, somewhat, back to what it was pre-flood. The riffle at the bottom of the island, i.e. Mill Dam Eddy, continues to enlarge, and two smaller riffles have formed on the left side of the riffle. I anticipate these will all join in a few weeks. The gravel bottoms of the riffles is very loose, and will quickly erode and move downstream, particularly with heavy generation which we have NOT had as of late. Seemingly, there is more flow coming down the right side of the island, and conversely, less coming down the left side—again returning to pre-flood conditions.
