Rainy Day Hatch by John Berry

[Kevin]

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I hurried and was quickly wading up stream toward the Catch and Release section. In the process, I forgot my gloves. Ellie eagerly led the way. She accompanies me often and knew instinctively where I was headed. The rain started as we made our way up stream. I pulled up my hood to keep my head dry.

Though there were several cars in the parking lot, the Catch and Release section was not crowded. Though there was someone in my favorite spot up stream, there was a good run that had no one in it. I chatted with the angler in a nearby run. He had not caught anything, even though he had tried several different flies.  I took my time and carefully rigged my nine foot four weight rod. I started with a sowbug. This had been the hot fly when I fished two clients near Norfork Dam a few days before.

I hooked a nice rainbow on the first cast. Ellie launched and I carefully fought him until he was inches away from me. As I was preparing to land him, he struggled manically and was able to free himself of the barbless hook.

I stayed in the run for quite a while and never got another bump much less another trout. I looked up stream and noticed that the angler in my favorite spot had moved out. I cranked my line in and walked up to the run. I waded into the run and began fishing. I took two rainbows in a matter of minutes and carefully pumped their stomachs. I found that they were feeding on scuds and midge larva. The scuds were more numerous, so I changed flies to a scud of the appropriate size. I began taking fish regularly, mostly rainbows. The big fish was a gorgeous sixteen inch cutthroat.

An angler down stream had observed my success and walked up to better see what I was doing. He was from Colorado and was passing through on his way to his son’s wedding in St. Louis. He was struggling and had not picked up a trout despite several hours of fishing. I gave him a couple of flies and put him in my run and demonstrated how I fished it. After a few casts he picked up a couple of nice fish. I moved to a nearby run and let him have the spot. He fished until his buddy came by to tell him it was time to go. He thanked me and moved out. I returned to my favorite run and picked up a few more fish.

The rain continued during the afternoon but the wind proved to not be much of a factor. Around four o’clock, I noticed that the rain had ceased. There was now a thick fog on the river. I glanced down stream and did not see any other anglers. I had found that most precious commodity in fly fishing, solitude. I decided to fish my way out.

As I walked down stream to the run where I had begun, I noticed some rising fish. I didn’t see any insects present so I figured that the trout were keying in on emergers. I thought it might be a midge hatch and decided to fish a Dan’s turkey tail emerger, my go to fly for the Norfork. I was into fish immediately. Though the action was virtually non stop, Ellie was remarkably well behaved. I caught several browns and rainbows. Most were small but there were a few nice trout mixed in with them.

Now that I had a rainbow, a cutt and a brown, I began to consider the possibility of a grand slam. I just needed a brook. I fished through the run and picked a bunch of trout but no brook. I decided to walk over to another run where I can usually land one. I fished the run from top to bottom but no brook. My vision of a grand slam was quickly fading. I glanced at my watch. It was time to head home. Lori and I had a social obligation and I needed to get home.

I reluctantly left the river. I had taken a chance on questionable weather and this time my gamble had paid off. My persistence had been rewarded with a couple of hours of solitude and a nice hatch. Life is good!