Wednesday, July 10, 2013—The White River at Rim Shoals

DATE:  Wednesday, July 10, 2013
TIME: 8:00 AM to 12:00 PM
WEATHER:  Low to mid-90s, mostly sunny, wind
WATER CONDITIONS:  2 units and dropping to 0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED:  White River, Jenkins Creek to Lower Rim Shoals
FLIES USED:  Cerise San Juan Worm, #14 Super Fly, Brown Wayne’s Fly, #14 Furnace Cockleburr
ROD USED:  N/A
HATCHES:  Midges, sulphurs

OTHER:  I asked to be the "Boat Boy" for long-time fishing friends, Ed and John.  After launching at Rim Shoals Access, we motored upstream to Jenkins Creek, and then drifted down; both Ed and John caught fish.  We continued this drift for another hour and a half, with Ed and John catching fish on most drifts.  As the water dropped, however, the fish quit biting.  We motored downstream and drifted from Upper Rim Shoals to Lower Rim Shoals, and again Ed and John caught fish on each drift.  At about 11:00 AM, the fish quit biting and we toyed around with a furnace cocklebur.  John had 4 fish on his first drift fishing the cockleburr, catching a couple on top and a couple stripping the fly.  I left them at 12:00 noon to take care of some chores at home, but as always, we had a blast.

Tuesday, July 9, 2013—Dry Fly Fishing at Ol' Charlie's

 

DATE:  Tuesday, July 9, 2013

TIME:  8:25 AM TO 10:35 AM

WEATHER:  Low 80s, partly cloudy, windy

WATER CONDITIONS:  0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED:  Norfork River, Riffle Across from Ol' Charlie's and Riffle at top of Island

FLIES USED:  #20 Kay's Gray, #14 Furnace Cockleburr, #14 Pink Cockleburr

ROD USED:  7' 9" 2-wt Winston WT

HATCHES:  Midges, occasional sulphur, occasional caddis

OTHER:  I fished solo.  A single fisher was fishing near the stocking chute, and had a fish on as I waded across; the area was stocked last week.  Otherwise, no one else was in sight, even across from Ol' Charlie's and it has always been a good place to fish dries, midges, and emerges.  There was a heavy mist over the water, but fish were still sipping midge emergers.  I tied on a #20 Kay's Gray, and took an occasional fish until the mist burned off.  And then, fishing picked up.  A sulphur would hatch here and there, so out came the pink cocklebur.  Sure enough, the first cast produced a fish, and they continued taking the fly until I moved upstream at about 9:45 AM.  Fish in the upstream riffle also liked the pink cockleburr, and were a bit larger and heavier than those in the downstream riffle.  Some put a significant bend in the 2-weight Winston.  With generation forecast to begin at 11:00 AM, I left the water early, having caught about two and a half dozen fish, all on dry flies.  It's so fun to cast to a rising fish, and catch it, or even to get a brief hook-up.  It doesn't get much better!  

Monday, July 8, 2013—Wadable Water Again

DATE:  Monday, July 8, 2013

TIME:  8:25AM TO 12:15 PM

WEATHER:  Low 80s, partly cloudy

WATER CONDITIONS:  0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED:  Norfork River, Riffle Above the Island Below Otter Creek to Mill Dam Eddy

FLIES USED:  #14 Gray Norfork River Scud, #20 black/copper Zebra Midge, #14 Furnace Cockleburr, #14 Pink Cockleburr

ROD USED:  8’ 6” 5-wt Winston JWF

HATCHES:  Midges, occasional sulphur

OTHER:  I fished solo, beginning an upstream wade at Mill Dam Eddy, and walking upstream to the pool above the island (between the riffle and the island).  I fished the gray Norfork River Scud with the Zebra midge dropper, for several minutes without any action.  About halfway up the pool, I began catching fish (8:54 AM). 

The second fish proved to be a large, slender brown, the longest fish of the year —so far; it was the skinniest large fish I have caught on the Norfork.  The action was slow, but the fish hooked-up consistently.  I took a dozen fish out the pool, and all but the brown were small.  The riffle produced several fish on the furnace cockleburr, but they fish were sipping rather than slamming the fly.  Some takes were so innocuous that they were hard to detect, except for watching the fly very carefully and actually seeing the fish sip it in.  A couple of the fish would easily measure 15 inches, but most were smaller than what I had caught there previously.  The plunge pool below Ace in the Hole did not yield any fish, though there were lots of sippers; I only threw a half dozen casts.  Downstream, along the island, the fish were taking the furnace cockleburr on top, but mostly on the swing.  I caught 10-12 fish along the island, including a nice 15-incher.  It was a good day, but fishing was tougher than usual—the dog days of summer!

Saturday, July 6, 2013—Family Fishing, V. 3

DATE:  Saturday, July 6, 2013
TIME:  8:30 AM TO 11:15 PM
WEATHER:  Low 80s, sunny
WATER CONDITIONS:  0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED:  Norfork River, Riffle Above the Island Below Otter Creek
FLIES USED:  #14 Gray Norfork River Scud, #20 black/copper Zebra Midge, #14 Pink Cockleburr
ROD USED:  9’ 3-wt custom built G Loomis
HATCHES:  Midges, a few Sulphurs
OTHER:  I "guided" Karyn and Matt.  Hoping for a repeat of late yesterday afternoon, we waded upstream expecting the fish to be rising like crazy, but instead found several dead fish in the pool below the riffle. (I suspect poachers had been in the area during the evening.)  I tied on a scud and zebra midge dropper combination on both Karyn and Matt’s lines, but hook-ups proved to be evasive, with only a few fish caught.  Switching to a pink cockleburr proved to be no better, and in fact resulted in less hook-ups.  Matt fished the plunge pool above the riffle but didn’t have any success.  It was a slow fishing day.  

Friday, July 5, 2013—Family Fishing, V. 2

DATE:  Friday, July 5, 2013
TIME:  4:15 PM TO 6:30 PM

WEATHER:  Low 80s, sunny
WATER CONDITIONS:  0 units
LOCATIONS FISHED:  Norfork River, Riffle Above the Island Below Otter Creek and Plunge Pool below Ace in the Hole
FLIES USED:  #14 Pink Cockleburr
ROD USED:  9’ 3-wt custom built G Loomis
HATCHES:  Sulphurs
OTHER:  I "guided" Ron and Matt.  On our return from the White River a couple of hours earlier, we noted that the Norfork River was unexpectedly down.  After gulping down a late lunch of tacos, Ron and Matt suited up in their waders, and we drove to a neighbors for private access.  Another neighbor was fishing Mill Dam Eddy, so we walked upstream and noted fish taking bugs on top like crazy.  Armed with Pink Cockleburrs, the guys took one fish after another, and most were 14 to 15 inches and "hot" as firecrackers, not having had a lot of fishing pressure for two weeks.  I waded upstream to the plunge pool and had some ferocious hook-ups; I called for Ron to come up and he, too, had some ferocious hits.  Regrettably, his leader was too short and dragging his fly under.  After rebuilding his leader, he began to see the hook-ups and took several fish.  Both guys had a great late afternoon, and I was glad to that Ron was able to fly fish this trip.  

Friday, July 5, 2013--Family Fishing, V. 1

DATE: Friday, July 5, 2013
TIME: 11:00 AM to 2:30 PM
WEATHER: Mid 80s, sunny
WATER CONDITIONS: 2 Units falling
LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, Rim Shoals
FLIES USED: #14 BHFB Pheasant tail
ROD USED: N/A
HATCH: A few midges
OTHER: Guided Karyn, Matt, and Kaden. The trail that I normally take to access downstream was overgrown, and I could not find it. Consequently, we bushwacked through the overgrown riparian habitat, until I found some semblance of trail. After a short hike, we waded into the still high water. Each of the fishers started with different combinations of flies. Karyn started off like gangbusters, catching two fish on a zebra midge. Kayden followed with a fish on a sowbug. And then Matt began what would prove to be a very successful day, catching fish on a BHFB PT. He is a fearless wader, and fished the entire area of the river. And he did it with only one fly, and no accessories or other flies. Karyn was outfitted with Kay's vest and wading staff, but found the deep water in combination with the multitude of rocks strewn along the bottom to be treacherous, getting wet a couple of times, but seemingly covering the whole river. Nevertheless, she's a good sport and still caught fish. Kayden remained near our access, and caught 4 fish. He continues to improve as a fly fisher.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad