Saturday, February 25, 2006

DATE: Saturday, February 25, 2006

TIME: 10:00 AM to 1:00 PM

WEATHER: Mid-40s, cloudy, windy

WATER CONDITIONS: 0 units

LOCATIONS FISHED: Norfork River, McClellan’s downstream of Otter Creek

HATCH: Two midges (one black in color and tiny, the other about a #22 gray)

ROD USED: Winston 10’ 4-weight WT

FLIES USED: #14 gray Norfork River scud, #26 Dunn’s Dun

OTHER: I fished with Ron. I started Ron with a gray scud, and he got a few bites but no hook ups. Fishing was difficult at best, and I didn't see another of the 14 fishers get a bite; that's right, 14 fishers downstream, and later, 3 more came from downstream that had been out of our line of sight. I tied a #26 Dunn's Dun on Ron’s tippet, he fished the fiat water at Ace in the Hole, but casting in the strong north wind was difficult. I fished the same water and got lucky with 2 or 3 fish caught, and a bunch of misses. On one cast and drift, I got 3 bites. It looks like the code for this past week has been a #26 Dunn's Dun, though a black midge fly pattern would work equally as well.

OVERLOOK ESTATES: Overlooking the Norfork Dam and the Norfork River, Overlook Estates is a development by a relocated, arrogant Texan. Regrettably, he denuded the hillsides and failed to install erosion control measures.

The result was the introduction of thousands of tons of sediment into the Norfork River, covering the stream bottom and suffocating much of the insect life. Only time will tell how much damage has actually been done, and what, if anything, he will be made to do to mitigate those damages.