On Sunday, the day after
the Sowbug Roundup ended; I had a guide trip with Al and Bob. I have guided
them for several years. They always show up at Sowbug and the Federation of Fly
Fishers Fly Fishing Fair in October. They are from Nebraska and at seventy
three and seventy eight years of age respectively are a bit past wade fishing.
We always fish from my White River Jon Boat.
On that day, the
generation was at minimum flow, for over twenty four hours. Both Rivers, the
White and Norfork, were lower than a snake’s belly in a wagon rut. Since I have
a propeller driven outboard and not a jet drive, I am limited to where I can
drift fish under these conditions. I chose to fish at Rim Shoals, which has
deep enough water to allow me to fish there, when there is little or no
generation. The weather was pretty nice. It was to be partly cloudy all day
with a high temperature of around seventy three degrees. There was a cool
start, a bit over forty degrees but it got warmer, as the day went. By mid
afternoon it was quite a bit warmer and I finally took off my down sweater.
I had begun the day
fishing a red fox squirrel and copper nymph (a new favorite) with a ruby midge
dropper on one rod and a cerise San Juan worm with a ruby midge dropper (it had
rained the night before and I always fish a San Juan worm after a rain). Early
on it was evident that the red fox squirrel and copper nymph was outperforming
the cerise San Juan worm. I took a few minutes to ensure that both of my
anglers were fishing the same thing and that it was what was working the best.
In the morning, the
going was a bit slow. They both caught trout but not as many as I am used to
catching. We broke for lunch at around noon. It was good to relax for a
few minutes. The rest recharged us and we were able to return to the river with
a bit of confidence.
The fishing picked up
and we were catching more trout than we had in the morning. Around three
o’clock, Bob hit a really good fish. I got a pretty good look at it and quickly
figured out that it was a good sized brown. I quickly pulled my drag chain into
the boat so that the brown would not tangle itself in it, which could cause us
to lose the fish. Though it tried to swim into a big blow down, we were finally
able to land and release a fine twenty inch brown trout.
The next drift generated
a nice fourteen inch rainbow for Bob. Then on the third drift our luck was
significantly better. He hooked an even larger brown than we had previously
landed. Once again, I pulled in the drag chain and we took our time landing our
fish. Surprisingly it actually came in quicker than the smaller brown. At
twenty two inches with a large girth, it was a spectacular catch. In
three drifts, Bob had landed two nice browns and a decent rainbow.
Life is good!
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