John Berry
[email protected]www.berrybrothersguides.comAN INTERESTING DAY ON THE NORFORK
BY JOHN BERRY
The day began like so many others. I awoke early, checked the South West Power Administration generation prediction schedule website and noted that there was to be no generation on the Norfork River for that day. My brother in law, Larry, was visiting for a few days while my wife, Lori, was visiting her parents. We decided to fish at the Ackerman Access for a few hours. We checked with the Corps of Engineers just before we left the house and noted that there was no generation.
When we arrived at the access, the conditions were perfect. Though the temperature was twenty eight degrees, the forecast was for a high of sixty seven with light winds. The water had been off for several days and it was gin clear. I had injured my knee getting out of my boat while fishing Rim Shoals with Larry a couple of days earlier, so we took our time wading far up into the catch and release area. We were the only anglers there and we went straight to our favorite spots. I was fishing a double fly rig. I had a hot pink San Juan worm with a small camel zebra midge as a dropper that Henry Seay had given me a few weeks ago. It has a bit of CDC above the bead that gives it more of an emerger look. I had been doing well with it on the White and wanted to check it out on the Norfork.
I hooked a nice rainbow on the first cast and another on the second cast. Two casts later I took another rainbow. I thought that I had it going on. As I was releasing the trout, I glanced over to the bank and noticed that the river was coming up. I yelled to Larry to warn him and moved to the bank, as I cranked my line in. The water was coming up fast and dirty. Since there had been no generation for several days, there was a lot of trash being swept downstream. The water now looked like a muddy mess with loads of dislodged algae. I pulled out my wading staff and we headed downstream to the access. The water was so dirty that I could not see the bottom and I stepped into a hole and reinjured my knee. I was moving slowly and the water was rising fast.
I was concerned with the situation and knew that I would have to wade carefully. I came to the decision that I would not make it to the access before the water got too high to wade and I would end up swimming. I decided to scramble the bank and walk to the road. I do not like to trespass but on riparian rights water you can walk above the high water mark for egress. I also knew the property owner and am sure that he would be concerned for my safety. Larry is very fit and strong. He continued wading downstream. We both arrived at the car about the same time. Larry convinced me that I had made the right decision, as he had some difficulty making it without a bum knee.
We sat on the bank for a while to catch our breath. I noticed that the water was coming down a bit. I knew that, with the river as high as it was, it would take a couple of hours for it to drop out enough for us to return to the stream. We decided to drive up to Quarry Park and see if the river was fishable below the dam. When we arrived, we were relieved to see low clear water and only one other angler. Larry had never fished there before so I took a couple of minutes to point out the hot spots.
My knee was killing me, so I chose a spot with easy wading. I changed the bottom fly from Henry’s midge to a sowbug. Dry Run Creek which flows into the Norfork near the access is loaded with sowbugs and that fly is a big producer in the section of the river. I chose a hot melt glue sowbug tied by Joe Nicklo (Joe will be tying this fly at sowbug; you need to check it out). I originally came across it in a fly swap and have had kids use it on Dry Run Creek with stunning results. I was eager to try it there.
It didn’t take long before I had a hook up, a nice rainbow, on the sowbug. Over the next couple of hours I landed several including a decent brook trout and a thick brightly colored eighteen inch rainbow. Most of the trout were including the brook and large rainbow were caught on Joe’s sowbug. Larry was also doing well picking up several nice fish. Over the morning, more anglers showed up; each basking in the now warm and windless day. It was spring at last for all of us.
After a while, I figured that I had caught enough trout. I found a comfortable place to sit and rest my knee and shed a couple of layers to cool down. I just sat there and watched the other anglers. The day had started on a disconcerting note but was turning out to be a glorious day. About one o’clock, we decided that we were hungry and reluctantly decided to pack it in. We removed our waders, packed up our gear and headed back to Cotter.
It had been interesting. While I had been challenged at the beginning, I ended the trip with a decent amount of trout caught and was able experiment with some new flies. Sometimes we have to work through our problems to take advantage of a great day.
John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over twenty five years.
ASK JOHN
Cora G. asks: What kind of waders does your wife, Lori, wear?
Cora, for the last eight years, Lori has worn Simms waders and loves them for the fit and comfort.
