A PRINCE OF A DAY

BY JOHN BERRY

I had two anglers, Don and Rick from Albuquerque, New Mexico last week. They had decided to take their March fishing trip here this year. They regularly fish the San Juan but wanted a different experience from the western rivers that they fish. They considered several options but decided on the White because of the promise of some warmer weather and our legendary Brown trout. 

I picked them up early at River Ridge Inn and drove them over to Rim Shoals. We pretty much had the place to ourselves and that suited them just fine. It was sunny and reasonably warm with some moderate wind. They water was running at about 3,000 CFS (cubic feet per second or a little less than one full generator). There was a promise of a large push of water that would hit us around 1:00 PM. I rigged them up with double fly rigs, a prince nymph below a pink San Juan worm suspended under a strike indicator and a bit of lead. Ron was fishing a five weight Sage graphite rod and Ron was fishing a really nice five weight custom bamboo.  

The going was brutally slow in the morning. At lunch we had boated four fish and I was getting a little concerned. These guys had come a long way to fish with me and I did not want to disappoint them. As we sat there eating our sandwiches, I saw the water begin to rise. It was time to try a different section that I had done well in a few days before. We launched our boat and headed down stream. 

The surge of water invigorated the trout and we picked up five trout on our first drift. At first, the trout were keying in on the pink San Juan worms. They had never fished pink worms, so it was an epiphany for them. After a while though, the trout began keying in on the prince nymphs. We finished the day with well over fifty trout. Most were rainbows with a few small browns thrown in to keep it interesting. Around three thirty a storm cell began moving in. We saw a bolt of lightning and headed for the ramp. About the time I got the boat on the trailer, a heavy rain began,with lots of lightning. Our timing had been perfect. 

The next day we wanted to wade the Norfork but they were running water so we opted to return to Rim Shoals. We were surprised to see the parking lot at capacity. We found out later that there was a corporate group fishing there. Just like the day before the going was slow in the morning. This was compounded by the large volume of boat traffic. When we stopped for lunch almost all of the boats left as they were only fishing a half day. Once they left, we had the place to ourselves and I must say we enjoyed a bit of solitude. 

 A major push of water hit us a little after noon and once again turned on the trout. It was all prince nymphs for the rest of the day. There was a good caddis hatch coming off but there was no top water action to speak of. The trout were concentrating on the emerging pupa and the prince nymph was red hot. We landed a lot of trout but no big fish to speak of until Ron hooked a big brown. This was a really fat healthy fish and we all wanted to land it. It was on the prince nymph. 

I pulled up the chain and the motor to keep it from having anything to wrap around. Ron kept even pressure on it. After an epic ten minute struggle he got it close enough to me so that I could get it in the net. It just about filled my big Brodin boat net. We pulled out our cameras. Rick got a couple of nice shots of it in the net. As Ron picked it up for a shot of him holding it, he dropped it over the side of the boat. It was still hooked but it broke the line like a twig. Ron was a bit disappointed but still glad that he had landed it. 

I was glad that I was not the one that had lost the fish. That would have been a major guide error. We didn’t get a chance to put a tape measure on him but Don thought that it was the best brown that he had caught in a while. I made a guide estimate that it exceeded twenty five inches in length and with its heavy girth it went several pounds. We finished the day with several more fish but nothing like that. 

The important thing was that he had the satisfaction of landing a trophy brown and got to see what our fishery is all about. They will be back. 

John Berry is a fly fishing guide in Cotter, Arkansas and has fished our local streams for over thirty years.