Tuesday, June 19, 2012—It Began as a Really Tough Day

DATE: Tuesday, June 19, 2012

TIME: 9:00 AM to 12:30 PM

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

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, Riffle above the Island below McClellan’s to above the Gravel above Otter Creek

FLIES USED: Green Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #14 Gray Norfork River Scud

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

HATCHES: Midges, sulphurs

OTHER: Fished solo. I began today fishing the tail out below the riffle from the left descending bank. I used a gray Norfork River scud and a red/silver zebra midge.  The bite was very slow, and I didn’t seem to have IT all together, with several tangles and a break off, but the first 4 fish were browns; the 5th was also a brown, but took me into the only submerged tree in the pool, forcing a break off between the leader and tippet.  This was not going to be my day.  I took an occasional fish here and there, in the riffle above the island below McClellan’s, but missed many more than I caught.  Neither the left descending riffle in the plunge pool or Ace in the Hole produced anything.  I wasn’t able to get any bites along the gravel at the old Sycamore Tree Hole or the Walnut Tree Hole.  I didn’t catch any more fish until I waded up above the gravel as far as I could and fished the right descending bank channel. The wind was blowing upstream resulting in a poor drift, so I would throw a mend creating a downstream belly in the line and used what little current was available to pull the fly along; it worked (an old Indian trick taught me by Wayne). Though the drift was about as slow as watching paint drive, a fish resulted in almost every cast. Donnie and Susie from McGehee were fishing upstream, and I visited with Donnie briefly, then headed back downstream. The tail out below the riffle above the island below McClellan’s didn’t produce any fish compared to yesterday, but further downstream, I caught a couple of fish under the trees along the island, ending the day with maybe 2 1/2 dozen fish.

No big fish were caught, though the number and percentage of browns was even higher than yesterday.