FISHING MUDDY CONDITIONS BY JOHN BERRY

Last Sunday I reviewed the generation prediction for Monday and realized that there was to be a morning free from generation on the Norfork and I thought that it would be a good time to get in a nice fishing trip on my own. I also checked the weather and noted a prediction for rain on Sunday night and Monday morning. I figured that would cut down my competition on the river. Nothing thins the herd like a little rain.

I rose early and was on the road at 6:15 AM and was at the Ackerman Access at 6:45 AM with a brief stop at McDonald’s for coffee. On the drive over, I crossed Big Creek and noted that it was running high and muddy. It was a harbinger of what was to come. As I was driving up River Ridge Road, I realized the Norfork was also high and heavily stained. It was the color of chocolate milk and was the height of two full generators but there was no current. I later learned that the White was running very high because the Buffalo and Crooked were flooded and flowing into it. This caused the Norfork which was running at minimum flow to back up. It was obvious that I would not be able to fish there.

Conventional wisdom, when there is off color water, states that the muddy conditions are due to run off, from the heavy rain, and the way to avoid it is to head upstream, until you have passed all of the side creeks dumping off color water, into the river. It was obvious that I could not fish there, so I headed up to Norfork Dam.

When I arrived at the dam, I noted that Dry Run Creek and the small creek across the river were running high and muddy from the runoff. The river below them was muddy and a bit higher than normal for minimum flow. However, the water above the creeks coming through the dam and the siphon were clear. There was a thin thread of clear water where the dirty water from the creeks met the clean water from the dam.

I decided to fish the thread of clear water where the clean water met the off color water first. Whenever you fish after a good rain, you should give San Juan worms a try. They are always washed into the river during and after a rain. I rigged up a cerise San Juan worm with a sowbug dropper below a strike indicator. I always like to fish a sowbug below the confluence of Dry Run Creek because it is loaded with them. I waded out to where I could cast into the clear water and concentrated on drifting down the mud line. Trout will hold on the mud line staying in the clear water but looking for food in the off color water. I was able to scam up a few trout including a nice cutthroat.

I decided to wade up above the creeks and try my luck. The wading was tough but I managed to find a spot with a little current and managed to land a small brook trout. The going was slow and I decided to head home.

When I got to the parking lot, I talked to some of the other anglers there and they had done about the same as I did. We discussed the heavy rain on the night before and the flooding on the Buffalo and Crooked Creek. It was apparent that the high water here would mean that there would be little or no generation on the White or Norfork Rivers to help prevent flooding downstream for the next few days. Plans were immediately made to fish the next day.

On the drive home, I was glad that I had fished despite the tough conditions. There is always some place to fish!

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