PERFECT DAY ON THE NORFORK

BY JOHN BERRY

To say that it has been a high water year is at best an understatement. We began the year with a hundred year flood. High water down stream prevented drawing down all the impoundments on the White River for a long time. Months later, when we were just beginning to make headway, we got hit by two hurricanes. As a result, there has been precious little wading for the entire year. I have been fishing from a boat. We have been catching fish but it is just not the same as wading.

On first day of a two day guide trip, we started on the White River at Rim Shoals. We landed six fish on the first drift and I thought to myself that it was going to be an easy day. The next three drifts yielded three fish. After that, we couldn’t buy a trout. When we stopped for lunch, we decided to trailer the boat over to the Norfork and try our luck there. The fishing was much better and we caught a little over thirty fish before dark.

While we were drifting, a fellow guide stopped to tell me that the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission would be conducting test of an oxygenation system and there would be no generation for the next few days. I figured the fishing would be awesome and I decided to take advantage of the situation. When I got home, I went online and checked the South West Power Administration generation prediction schedule and it confirmed that the Norfork would be off. I also checked the fly fishing forum and verified that there was to be a test of the aeration system the next day. There were however conflicting reports as to whether the test had been postponed.

I answered the alarm at 4:00 AM. My fishing report was due and I needed to make a few changes and send it in before I started my day of guiding. I showered quickly, dressed and sat at my computer. As it was booting up, I called the dam and learned that they were running water on the Norfork. I was totally bummed out. I filed my fishing report, loaded my car and headed out. When I arrived at River Ridge Inn, my clients were waiting for me, excited by the prospect of wading. Just to make sure, I called the dam and was pleasantly surprised to find that the Norfork had been turned off at 5:00 AM. They had run about a quarter of a generator for one hour. Conditions were perfect.

It was just before dawn, as my clients and I carefully made our way up stream to the Catch and Release section of the Norfork River. The fog was so dense that we could only see a few feet in front of us. I looked down at the trail as we walked in. The only foot prints that I saw were the result of raccoons, great blue herons and a deer. It had been a long time since any anglers had walked here.

When we got to the Catch and release section, I quickly rigged the guys, one with a scud and the other with a zebra midge. Instead of the heavy flies, copious amounts of lead and long leaders of the previous day, we used size eighteen nymphs, 6X tippet and a tiny amount of lead. This made for easy casting. They both caught a nice fish on the first drift. This was an omen of things to come. We settled in and proceeded to catch one good fish after another. People started to arrive but it never really got crowded. One client was satisfied to stay in his original place all day but Tom wanted to move around and try different water. I took him to several places and he did well at each spot.

The fog didn’t burn off until around ten o’clock. The fishing was steady all day. Around noon, we waded back to the access and set up our lunch on a nice picnic table with a good view of the river. The sun had come out and it was warming up. There was no wind and the temperature was in the mid sixties. I shucked my wind shell and fleece jacket leaving a heavy flannel shirt that was just perfect. By this time, the guys had landed around a hundred trout between them.

After lunch, we waded back up stream and continued fishing. The fishing had slowed a bit but not by much. One of my clients caught a grand slam, (a brook, brown, cutthroat and rainbow trout all landed on the same day). We tried a variety of flies and were successful with all of them. We caught trout on black zebra midges, pink San Juan worms, orange micro eggs, and olive scuds to name a few. We did not try a single fly that didn’t catch a trout. We even landed a couple of large suckers. It was the most productive day I have ever had on the Norfork.

We fished until dusk. As we walked out, I drank in the beauty of the Norfork. Where else is there fishing like this? It had been a perfect day.