Monday, October 14—The End

DATE: Monday, October 14, 2013

TIME: 8:25AM TO 11:30 AM

WEATHER: Mid 70s, 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 cranefly

OTHER: I fished with Jerry Smith.  Jerry and his wife, Karen, are full time RVers, whom we met in Alaska.  He is a retired senior regulator/biologist with the US Army Corps of Engineers.  We waded in at Mill Dam Eddy, only to find the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff continuing their channelization of the Norfork River, having moved from the right descending bank to the island, the river itself, and the bar below the island.  It is my professional and personal opinion that the greatest segment of the Norfork River has now been destroyed and rendered sterile by this state agency.  They have removed practically all structure and changed flow patterns and regimes.  Areas where I caught thousands of fish have been robbed of substrate flora and fauna.  And, there is absolutely NO SCIENCE to support what is being done.  I have lost all confidence in Trout Unlimited, Friends of the River, and Friends of the Norfork Hatchery.  These groups have coalesced in "improving" the river to the point of ruining it for me.  I moved here specifically to fish this reach of the river, and we have invested a lot of money in our property; will they buy it as I now have not desire to fish this channelized river?  Will they buy all my fly fishing equipment?  Who will compensate us for our losses?  Jerry, too, was amazed at what he saw, and as a former regulator, was astounded as to how this work was permitted.  We now have a great catch and kill, channelized river.

Monday, October 7—The Beginning of the End

DATE:  Monday, October 7, 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 cranefly

OTHER: I fished with Michael LeBlanc.  We entered the river at Mill Dam Eddy, and a sick feeling came over me as we observed a track hoe working on the right descending bank of the river adjacent to the island.  Already disturbed by the significantly high water levels and velocities from minimum flow, this was further evidence of destroying a great river.  The area where gross bank protection was being effected was one of 3 primary spawning areas for browns, and I caught hundreds of fish along that bank under trees removed by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission staff in the heavy structural bank protection.  Significant amounts of gravel were being mined by them and used for backfilling behind the newly "paved" bank.  And to make matters worse, the track hoe and heavy truck were tracking through an area where Bonneville Cutthroat eggs were placed the last two years—is this stupid or what?  This was, in my opinion, one of the most egregious water-related projects I have ever witnessed (after 40+ years as a water resources engineer).   How they could conscientiously do this while vehemently protesting less damaging work by the US Army Corps of Engineers to protect lives and livelihoods is beyond me.  And how Trout Unlimited, Friends of the Rivers, Friends of the Norfork Hatchery, etc. would allow this to happen is beyond my wildest imagination.  What they did at Cook's Island above Ackerman Handicap Access was horrific enough, but this…  And, despite the river's near magical healing powers, it won't heal in my lifetime from this debacle.

Anyway, Michael caught lots of fish, but had to listen to my tirades all morning!  He did learn how to high stick, and use other techniques for nymph fishing, though he is an excellent fisher in his own right.

Monday, September 16—Fishing with Bill

DATE: Monday, September 16, 2013

TIME: 8:25AM TO 12:15 PM

WEATHER: High 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 cranefly

OTHER: I fished with Bill, and he ripped lips with the Zig-a-jig and spinning rod combination, while I managed a dozen or so on a combination scud with a zebra midge dropper.  Fishing behind him is like hunting squirrels with a .22 rifle behind someone hunting them with a 10 gauge shotgun. 

Monday, September 9—Ed Has a Still Another Great Day

DATE: Monday, September 9, 2013

TIME: 8:25AM TO 12:15 PM

WEATHER: High 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 Pink Cockleburr

ROD USED: 8’ 6” 5-wt Winston JWF

HATCHES: Midges, occasional cranefly

OTHER: I fished with Ed.  The river was still falling when we walked in at Mill Dam Eddy, but we waded across, walked up the island, and began fishing the riffle above the island.  Ed was into fish immediately.  He seemed to constantly be hooking up, playing, and releasing fish.  He ended the day with 35 fish, using some 9 different patterns.  I didn’t catch near as many, but did have lots of fun, particularly with the pink cockleburr.

Wednesday, September 4—The Fraser River

DATE:  Wednesday, September 4, 2013

TIME: 9:00 AM to 3:00 PM

WEATHER: Low to mid-70s, mostly sunny, wind, light rain

WATER CONDITIONS: N/A

LOCATIONS FISHED:  Fraser River Beat 2, Granby Ranch, Colorado

FLIES USED:  Ant, #18 Caddis, #10 Deer Hair Hopper

ROD USED: 8' 9" 5-wt Winston LT

HATCHES:  Caddis

OTHER:  John and I made reservations to fish the private waters of Granby Ranch today. Granby Ranch's private three-mile stretch of the Fraser River is a beautiful gold-medal tributary of the Colorado River, containing brown, rainbow, and cutthroat trout. Starting time was 9:00 AM, so we paid our trespass fee, signed a release, and drove to water's edge of Beat 2. A fly shop in Fraser has exclusive "guiding" rights to these private waters, and the shop owner told us that Beats 1 and 2 were his choice as to where he takes clients. At the river, we put our rods together, strung them up, and donned waders, boots, and vests. We both started with flies purchased at the Fraser fly shop. I had a couple of misses on the big ant, and changed to a #18 caddis, success as the little 6-inch brown was a fighter. Over the course of the next three hours, I constantly changed flies, even using several two-fly combinations, and caught an occasional fish here and there, with lots of misses; the fish would miss the fly, failing to hook up.

Shortly after noon, I switched to a deer hair hopper, and after several misses, a 9-inch brown inhaled the hopper. For the next 3 hours, I fished the hopper without hooking up, but got strikes at almost all undercut bank sections. Thunder, lightning, and a light rain finally drove us off the river. John had several fish for the day, mostly on nymphs, but of course, he's the nymph master. This was a fun river to fish, with riffles and pools at every bend. It might take a couple of days, but I believe the code could be broken.

Friday, August 23—Boat Fishing with John

DATE: Friday, August 23, 2013

TIME: 9:00 AM TO 4:00 pM

WEATHER: Low 90s, sunny

WATER CONDITIONS: Variable units

LOCATIONS FISHED: White River, immediately below Bull Shoals Dam

FLIES USED: #14 Superfly, #20 red/silver midge pupa

ROD USED: 9 ' 6-wt Winston BII

HATCHES: Midges, occasional caddis

OTHER: John Simank invited me for fishing the White River on Friday, which I eagerly accepted as I wanted to learn to fish high water. John is the best boat fisher with a fly rod I know, and today proved it again. With varying water discharges and levels, he caught fish when no one else was even getting a bite. I did not fare as well, catching only half a dozen fish. It was hot, and he had prepared a gourmet lunch (mainly for his out of town guests who were fishing with a guide).

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.