Norfork Trip (1-21)

Well, I traveled to the Norfork on Saturday. Stopped at Blue Ribbon Flies in Mountain Home (as I'd forgotten my pliers and hadn't mashed my barbs down yet) where I got a warm welcome by two beautiful and well-behaved golden retrievers. Got to the River Ridge access at 1205 and the water was high and could not be waded. I called the powerhouse and they had ceased generation at 1159. So I had another cup of coffee and some frito pie and within forty-five minutes I had low water. Not a particularly good day in terms of numbers caught. I only landed one fish, a 17" rainbow. Had several other fish on for a few seconds and another almost to net. Had to go down to size 21s and 22s before the fish would acknowledge my fly and so this may have accounted for a few missed fish. Saw an older gentleman fishing just upriver from me with his hired help and he landed about eight in the three hours they fished--not a huge number but I guess the guides still know a few things that I don't. The fish were sipping flies very subtly which made detecting strikes a little tricky. I'm sure I saw a few very tiny mayflies coming off the water around 2:00, blue winged olives I suppose. Tried tiny BWO nymphs as well as WD-40s and finally caught my one fish on a size 21 WD-40. Pretty scenery and lots of wildlife made for a great day despite the low numbers of fish caught.