DISAPPOINTING DAY ON THE NORFORK
BY JOHN BERRY
berrybrothers@infodash.comwww.berrybrothersguides.comIt began like any other day on the river. The night before I had accessed the South West Power Administration generation prediction website and noted that generation on the Norfork River was scheduled to cease at noon and restart at four PM. This was a potential four hour window of wadable water on my beloved Norfork River. Ten minutes later I received an email from my brother in law, Larry, He told me that he had just checked the forecast from his home in Germantown, Tennessee. He went on to say what a lucky guy I was to finally get a shot at some wadable water, after the constant generation of the past few months. That night I checked the weather forecast and noted no predicted precipitation and a promise of slightly warmer temperatures. Our recent heavy snowfall was still on the ground and Lori and I were suffering the ill effects of cabin fever. To say that I was ready for a fishing trip would be a major under statement.
The next morning I woke up early and checked the current generation on the Corps of Engineers website. I was relieved when I saw that the Norfork had been turned off for a few hours during the night just as the South West Power prediction site had forecast. It was a reassuring sign. When Lori got up, I suggested that we fish the Norfork that afternoon. She looked at the gray sky and snow covered ground and was reluctant to join me. Finally, she agreed to go, if the sun came out. As luck would have it, the sun appeared an hour later.
We ate an early lunch and gathered our fishing gear. Our yellow lab, Ellie, quickly figured out what was going on and got excited. She followed me like a shadow to ensure that she got to go with us. We loaded our wader bags, rod case and eager canine into the car and headed out. We made a quick stop at the fly shop to pick up a couple of fresh leaders. While we were at the shop, we called the Bull Shoals powerhouse to see if the Norfork had been turned off. According to the recording, it was still generating. This presented us with a quandary. Was the South West Power Administration’s generation prediction site correct or was the Corps of Engineer’s dam powerhouse generation recording correct? We decided to drive over to Norfork Dam and see for ourselves.
When we arrived at Norfork Dam, we noticed that they were generating two full generators. We were bummed out! It was one PM. We decided to hang around for a while to see if they stopped generating. We took the opportunity to drive over to Dry Run Creek. There had been quite a bit of construction going on the creek and I wanted to check it out. I have been guiding on Dry Run for over twenty years and it is a special place to me. When I first heard about the new construction I was a bit concerned.
We walked on the pathway leading from the parking lot. We had a great view of the new boardwalk and we were impressed with the new construction. When we had guided the Wounded Warriors (disabled Iraq and Afghanistan veterans), they had difficulty casting from the existing casting platforms because of the waist high railings. The new platforms do not have high railings and will be much more convenient for anglers confined to wheelchairs.
There was still a lot of snow on the ground as we carefully made our way down the stairs to the creek. Ellie eagerly followed us. We walked the creek. We were particularly interested in the bank stabilization work that had been done. Hundreds of large rocks had been brought in and placed along the bank. The work had been carefully done to create dozens of new spots for kids to comfortably fish. As we walked, a couple of guys called out to us. It was Mike Tipton, president of the North Arkansas Fly Fishers, our local fly fishing club, and Bob Jensen, conservation director for the club. They had the same idea that we had. They were hoping to fish but had been disappointed. While they were in the area they had decided to survey the work at Dry run Creek. We chatted for some time mostly about our disappointment over the misleading prediction on the South West power Administration website and the great work on Dry Run Creek.
I suggested to Lori that we drive over to the boat ramp and check out the generation and see if the river had dropped. When we arrived, the river was roaring. It was around two o’clock. There was a group of anglers in the parking lot. We went over to chat with them. We knew all of them. There was Patrick Brennan, a friend who had moved here from St Louis. Chuck Kelly is a retired television news director that had driven up from Little Rock to get in a little fishing. Mark Lavelle was in town from Shreveport to fish our local streams. Bill Barksdale is an old friend and has retired here to fish the White and Norfork. We all had several things in common. We are all serious fly fishers, we all like to wade the Norfork and we were all disappointed that the South West Power Administration generation prediction website was inaccurate. This was not the first time this had happened to us nor would it be the last. We talked for about an hour always holding the hope that generation would cease. About three PM, Lori and I decided to go home.
It had been a disappointing day because we had been unable to wade the Norfork. We had been impressed with the improvements that were being made on Dry Run Creek and it was great to see our friends. Maybe we will get to wade the Norfork in the near future. I hope so!
