Monday, July 22, 2012—A Big Fish Day

DATE:  Monday, July 22, 2012
TIME:  6:15 AM to 1:00 PM
WEATHER: High 70s to high 90s, sunny, windy
WATER CONDITIONS: 0 Units
LOCATIONS FISHED:  Norfork River, Riffle below Resort Hole to Otter Creek
FLIES USED:  Olive Wayne’s Fly, #20 red/silver Zebra Midge, #20 black/red zebra midge, #14 olive Norfork River scud, various other midges
ROD USED:  Winston 9’ 6-weight BIIX
HATCHES:  Midges, crane flies
OTHER:  Fished with Donnie, Susie, and Tony; used “loaner” frameless pontoon.  Today marked to earliest I have ever been on the river, not counting night fishing.  Mist hung in the air for almost 3 hours, but produced a beautiful sunrise.

The long riffle at the bottom of the Resort Hole yielded 4 bites, but only one fish to hand.  I did not fish the Long Hole.  The riffle at the bottom of the Long Hole (above McClellan’s) did not produce any fish, though I fished it hard—it may have been too early in the day.  The Stairs at McClellan’s did not produce any fish.  Below McClellan’s, I hooked and caught 3 fish, and then fishing shut down for me for almost two hours.  I could not find a good drift, and with an upstream wind the fly would just suspend in the current.  Meanwhile, Donnie and Susie were catching fish fairly regularly.  When their action slowed, Donnie tied on two different midge patterns—one dropped below the other—and had consistent action.  I finally gave up fishing the pool below McClellan’s and fished along side the gravel in a leaf line where I found a decent drift.  With a #20 red/silver zebra midge dropped below an olive scud, I finally began scoring, and almost every fish was 16+ inches.  I caught a dozen fish within a short distance, including several 16-inchers, two 17-inchers, one 18-inch fish, and one shown below that measured 19+ inches (I couldn’t stretch it to 20, try as I might.)

Donnie and Susie had to leave at 12 noon, so we all began rowing downstream for the hour-long trip to the access.  I contacted Kay on the walkie talkie and she picked me up—what service!  The first 4+ hours were very tough for me, but the big fish the last 45 minutes made up for this long period of inactivity.