Thursday, May 31, 2012—More Good Sulphur Fishing

DATE: Thursday, May 31, 2012

TIME: 12:00 PM to 2:00 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-80s, mostly sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #16 Parachute Sulphur Dun

ROD USED: Sage 9’ 4 wt. SP+

HATCHES: Midges, sulphurs

OTHER: I fished solo today. This “stupid” cold is getting progressively worse, but so far, I’m not going to let it control my life!  (I may live to regret writing this!)  So, knowing the sulphurs were coming off, I suited up, gathered vest and fly rod, and headed off to the river. Sulphurs were already hatching, so I hurried to the riffle. The fish were hitting the fly almost every cast, and I managed to take a really nice fish, having missed two others which were bigger.  Along with caddis fishing in late March and early April, this is my favorite time of year to fish.

I really dislike fish the Sage rod, but don’t remember it fishing this poorly.  First, it’s too stiff, and second, it’s too heavy.  And it doesn’t load well; perhaps a different line will help.

Tuesday, May 29, 2012—Good Sulphur Fishing

DATE: Tuesday, May 29, 2012

TIME: 12:00 PM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-80s, mostly sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #16 Parachute Sulphur Dun

ROD USED: Sage 9’ 4 wt. SP+

HATCHES: Midges, sulphurs

OTHER: Despite my suffering from severe allergy problems (or a cold), the river looked too inviting to ignore. I suited up, gathered vest and fly rod, and headed off to the river. Sulphurs were already coming off, and after a few fish, I switched from the Wayne’s fly/zebra midge combination to a parachute sulphur dun. The fish were hitting the fly almost every cast, and then with a fish on I noticed the water steadily rising. While reeling in the fish, I gingerly waded to the bank for a quick hike downstream. The river has come up without warning more this year than all the previous years combined I’ve fished the Norfork. I made it safely out, drove back to the house for a shower and clean clothes.

The Sage does not fish well; it seems to be underlined.

Saturday, May 12, 2012—Fishing with Ron and Kaden

DATE: Saturday, May 12, 2012

TIME: 7:00 AM to 1:30 PM

WEATHER: Low 50s to mid-70s, mostly sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #16 Elk Hair Caddis, #16 Parachute Sulphur Dun

ROD USED: 8' 6" 5 wt Winston LT JWF

HATCHES: Midges, caddis, sulphurs, crane flies

OTHER: Fished with Ron and Kaden. It was only Kaden's second time on water other than Dry Run Creek. We began fishing early in order to avoid the crowds, but as it turned out, we saw no other fishers until we finished at 1:30 pm. Kaden hooked and missed several fish, but caught 4 or 5. He did an excellent job of managing his line, including both upstream and downstream mends. He had all the fishing he wanted by 10 am, so he and I waded out and drove to the house.

I returned and waded back upstream and began fishing, using the #14 cockleburr, catching 3/4 dozen fish in the film. I switched to an elk haired caddis and caught several more. After seeing a few sulphurs hatching, I switched to a #16 parachute sulphur dun. Casting to a spot that has produced fish all spring, I hooked and landed what ended up being a 17-inch rainbow, ending the day with a couple of dozen fish.

Ron caught a bunch of fish as well, including a couple of 15-16 inch rainbows, and several on an elk haired caddis. It was the first time he had fished in some time, and we both had a great time.

Thursday, May 10, 2012—Introducing Fishers to the Norfork River

DATE: Thursday, May 10, 2012

TIME: 9:00 AM to 1:30 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-70s, mostly sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #16 Elk Hair Caddis

ROD USED: n/a

HATCHES: Midges, caddis, sulphurs, crane flies

OTHER: Fished with John, Ted, and Glenda. Walked in at Mill Dam Eddy, and waded upstream to above the island. Ted caught a few fishing the left descending side below the riffle; his first two were nice browns. He then fished the left side of the left riffle using an elk hair caddis and caught several. We moved to a location between the riffles and he caught more in both the left and right riffles on the caddis. Wading out, Ted fished the right-hand side of the island, and had several takes, but no solid hook-ups. He ended the day with 14 or 15 fish, and missed others which refused to fully take the fly.

Friday, May 4—Too Many People and a Rude “Neighbor”

DATE:  Friday, May 4, 2012

TIME: 8:15 AM to 11:00 AM

WEATHER: Low to mid-80s, mostly sunny, some wind

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge,  #16 Elk Hair Caddis

ROD USED:  G. Loomis 9’ 0” 3-weight custom-built IMX

HATCHES: Midges, caddis, sulphurs, crane flies

OTHER: Fished solo.  I walked in relatively early as I was only going to fish a couple of hours, and wanted to fish dries while the weather and river conditions permitted.  A couple of guys from Dyersburg, TN, were on the island walking upstream as I walked upstream, and they asked about the fishing.  I provided information on fishing conditions the last few days, and by coincidence we knew some of the same people—folks who had worked with the Corps that lived in Dyersburg.  They continued wading upstream, while I stopped off at the tail out of the riffle above the island, and using Wayne’s Fly and a zebra midge, began fishing.  It proved to be a slow start, with only a few fish caught.  The first caddis came off about 9:45 AM, and fish immediately began keying on them, and then some small nearly white sulphurs began coming off and fish keyed on them as well. I fished a caddis and caught a few fish, but missed a half dozen on a small parachute sulphur.  I switched to a larger fly and finally caught a couple of fish.  Switching back to the caddis, I caught several more until an obnoxious neighbor from our subdivision walked in right on top of me, saying he needed more shallow water to fish; he was only about 20 feet away, and he would cast over on my side of the riffle.  Fortunately, his guest stayed a decent distance downstream.  I must say this was not unusual for this “neighbor” as he’s always been selfish and arrogant, at least the 15 or so years I’ve known him.  This is the same guy that brought a guide, John, in through another neighbor’s place on the river that had been gracious enough to allow us to trespass.  What an idiot and AH.  Fortunately, he’s a rather poor fly fisher.  I continued to catch fish, but it wasn’t much fun, so I finally gave in and let him have the riffle, which is exactly what he wanted, and he immediately called his friend to come up.  I moved downstream on river left, and asked myself what Wayne would do.  I tied on Wayne’s Fly and a zebra midge and caught 7 fish where the guest had been fishing before moving up to where I had been, and they were in full view of the hook-up, fight, and release of all 7 fish.  Satisfied, I waded downstream and called it a day.  A couple of other fishers were making their way upstream, so it was time to get off the water as people were wading up and pontoons and kayaks were coming down—too crowded for this solitary soul. 

Thursday, May 3—Fly Fishing A Caddis Hatch

DATE: Thursday, May 3, 2012

TIME: 8:30 AM to 2:00 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-80s, mostly sunny, some wind

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Plunge Pool above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #20 furnace Cockleburr, #14 furnace Cockleburr, #20 Kay’s Grey, #20 Dunn’s Dunn, #16 Elk Hair Caddis

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT JWF

HATCHES: Midges, caddis, crane flies

OTHER: Fished with Bruce.  Bruce is a retired structural engineer who I knew in the Mid-South Fly Fishers in Memphis, and with whom I reconnected in church in Mountain Home.  We waded upstream to the tail out of the riffle above the island below McClellan’s (and Otter Creek), and began fishing using Wayne’s Fly in combination with a red/silver Zebra midge and both of us caught fish.  About 9:30 AM, I saw fish begin to take flies on the surface in the river left riffle, so moved in between the riffles to “experiment” with different patterns.  Very shortly thereafter, caddis began emerging, and the fish were keying on them.  Bruce reluctantly came over and began catching fish on caddis.  I noted a fisher upstream in a float boat catching fish seemingly every cast.  I’ve seen only one other person do that in that particular area (Wayne) so I knew this guy had to be a really good fisher.  I moved up to the plunge pool and caught several fish on various midge emergers fished dry.  Bruce waded upstream as well and began fishing the plunge pool, so I waded downstream to fish the riffle he had vacated.  My, oh my, but what a day we had.   The guy in the float boat finally floated downstream, and very politely (which seems to be a rare commodity on the river these days).  I was eager to strike up a conversation and asked how he was doing, and immediately recognized him as a friend, asked, “Do you know me?”  He responded that I looked familiar and I called his name, Donny, and told him mine, then it all clicked, and we conversed for the next 30 minutes.  Donny took several of my fly tying seminars at Ozark Anglers and has become an awesome fly tier as well as fly fisher.  Bruce and I fished a bit longer, then began wading downstream to our walkout point.  He switched to a Wayne’s Fly and Zebra midge and fished the tail out above the island with success, then took a couple of fish along the island.  We noted natural streambank protection along the otherwise caving bank.  All told, Bruce had over 50 fish on dry flies alone, and at least a dozen more on the Wayne’s fly and Zebra midge combination.   

My, oh my, but it was an awesome day with great dry fly fishing, with a grand slam, and meeting an old friend on the river.

Wednesday, May 2—Dry Fly Fishing, Mostly Caddis

DATE: Wednesday, May 2, 2012

TIME: 9:30 AM to 12:00 Noon

WEATHER: Low to mid-80s, mostly sunny, some wind

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Mill Dam Eddy to Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s

FLIES USED: Brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #20 furnace Cockleburr, #14 furnace Cockleburr, #20 Kay’s Grey, #20 Dunn’s Dunn, #16 Elk Hair Caddis

ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6” 5-weight WT JWF

HATCHES: Midges, caddis, crane fly

OTHER: Fished alone. I waded upstream to the tail out of the riffle above the island below McClellan’s (and Otter Creek), shown in distance in the photograph, and began fishing using Wayne’s Fly in combination with a red/silver Zebra midge.  After several fish, I noted a decent midge hatch in the river left riffle, and tied on Kay’s Grey with little to no success, and then switched to a Dunn’s Dun and had a bit more success, but still not gang busters.  I followed with the #20 furnace cockleburr and had more success, then saw caddis coming off and the show was on as I caught over a dozen and a half on the caddis.  Noting a crane fly hatch and fish taking the crane flies, I switched to a #14 furnace Cockleburr, but had no luck, so switched back to the caddis as the hatch petered out.  Switching back to the combination of Wayne’s Fly and a Zebra midge, I fished along the island, managing to fool a half dozen fish.  As can be seen in the photograph, significant build-up of the bar has occurred, but nature will heal this in time, and as the flow regime changes and more water moves down the right channel, it should become deeper and provide even better fishing.

Though no big fish were caught, it was a pretty awesome day. 

Tuesday, May 1—A Long Wade

DATE: Tuesday, May 1, 2012
TIME: 10:45 AM to 3:30 PM
WEATHER: Mid to upper 80s, sunny, slight to strong wind
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units
LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Elisabeth Creek upstream to above Otter Creek near McClellan’s Dock site
FLIES USED: #20 furnace Cockleburr, #14 furnace Cockleburr, brown Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #16 red/black Zebra Midge
ROD USED: Winston 8’ 6" 5-weight WT JWF
HATCHES: Midges, Caddis
OTHER: Fished with Wayne. Today fishing with Wayne was like old times, starting off in the Pool and wading upstream, except for the absence of big fish.  We both caught enough fish to make the day interesting, and laughed a lot along the way.  Though he has not fished much the last several months, he still outfished and outwaded me!
We both began catching fish just upstream of Elisabeth Creek; I was able to fool a few with the #20 furnace Cockleburr fished dry among the rocks while he was catching fish on his yellow fly.  I switched to a brown Wayne’s fly as we wade upstream but the pool fished very slow as neither of us caught many fish. At Mill Dam Eddy, I switched back to the Cockleburr, first the #20, then the #14, and caught several fish.  Meanwhile, Wayne fished a tiny hole/riffle made by a downed tree root wad and caught 8 fish out of the sofa sized hole—he’s still the man!  Above the island, we both caught several fish in the riffle on river right; I had switched back to a brown Wayne’s fly with a zebra midge dropper. I waded upstream above Otter Creek as far as water depth would allow—I have had good success there in the past—but the combination of wind and low water prevented a drift and I only took 3 fish.  I waded and fished back downstream, but kept getting tangled as the dropper was too long.  After meeting up with Wayne at Ace-in-the-Hole, we began the long wade towards home, fishing sporadically along the way.  At the island, I had one fish and 5 misses under the upper most leaning tree.  Mill Dam Eddy did not produce anything this time around for me, though Wayne did catch a couple of fish. 
I ended up with about 3 dozen fish, including rainbows, cutthroats, and browns, and the largest may have been 14 inches.