Here is what I found:
River level was pretty low but certainly fishable in every way. I have found on previous trips (one of only a few kernels of useful knowledge I have gleaned) that when the sun is bright and the air is hot the fish really look for deep and shade. I know this is not ground breaking, but for me ANY knowledge is helpful.
Air temp was HOT. HOT like low nineties through the heat. I get very frustrated when my regular glasses, which reside under the polarized, fog up. Luckily, I brought some of the Kansas rain with me and got some clouds to go with the heat. I would have waded wet, but the wading shoes don't fit right over just socks and to wade the slick bedrock in just tennies would have been asking for it (plus I had a plan to which I will come in a moment)
Water temperature was ok but I found the fish really hugging the riffles.
Hatches were as weird as they always are on the Northfork. On the other hand I had the chance to catch an insight that I usually miss because I don't usually camp. Ordinarily my father and I stay in one of Myron's FANTASTIC cabins. Please believe me when I say that Myron has been more than kind and generous when putting us up. Because I was camping, I was naturally sitting down by the river after dark utilizing my headlamp to do a little reading. Shortly after dark the days that I was there, a tremendous Blue Winged Olive hatch occurred. They would cover the book and get in my hair and, in short order, drive me back to camp. They were #20. I did not know what to do with this information because I didn't have the confidence to go and fish that small fly at night.
I'll be honest here. I do most of my fishing out west in mountain streams, or on warm water ponds for panfish and the Northfork has always been a challenge because it is so different. I do OK there but my five fish days outnumber my fifteen fish days about three to one. One of my primary goals on this trip was to really get in and study the river. Fish hard, but try to understand this strange and wonderful ecosystem. Any flyfisher knows
that unraveling a challenging river is at least as good as catching thirty on a stream you know well. Plus, I have found that the trout on the Northfork are, on average, bigger and heavier than in the more Spartan mountain environment.
My plan was this. I would gear up and walk from my camp below the Eagle's Nest cabin to The Falls, fish The Falls and then wade my way down slowly and carefully back and forth across the river fishing likely spots and just trying to see and learn as much as possible. When I got back to camp I would get a big drink of water, rest a bit and then do it again. I also waded slowly and carefully from the spring to Kelly, but only once.
I learned that, for me at least, the best way to catch fish was to fish the falls thoroughly with a two fly rig comprised of a big, heavy stonefly and a #14 bead head gold ribbed hare's ear or pheasant tail. Between them I would use from one to three split shot. Getting the fly down is one of the two most important things I can pass along. I know the moss can be a bit of a bother but it really wasn't all that bad. The second thing that I really had driven home was to fish the most oxygenated parts of the river. I know everyone says that, but I always took it to mean fish a few yards down from the riffles. I have done that in the past in the spring and fall and done well, but this time of year it was not working for me. I found that my best luck came from bouncing the flies off of the rocks that caused the riffle, mending quickly to get the fly down, and working the area thoroughly. I
think that I did not have too much trouble with moss because I was taking my fish in the fast water where moss tends to be shorter.
I also learned that by walking slowly and carefully you can get close to some pretty big fish. Some are suckers, but I say two brown trout that would have gone at least seven pounds. I saw them both up close and for long periods of time. So, this time a sucker did not fool me. Once you see the two species side by side the differences are obvious. Of course I cast to both of them but they were so close and the water so clear that by the time I was halfway through my first backcast they had slipped off and dissolved in that way trout have that make you wonder if you ever saw them at all.
I had some good luck fishing slow deep water behind rocks and close to riffles. (about halfway between the Eagle's nest and the falls). The trick here was to get the fly down. The water is deeper than it looks. I was standing in water over my waist fishing the two fly rig with a split and thought it was getting down. Before giving up I put on another split and prepared to pull moss off the flies. My first cast brought an 18" brown. After a nice fight I rested and pulled a nice 14" rainbow from a rock not ten feet from where the brown bit. These were my fourth and fifth trout to the net that day, but I had had three more on (two LDR's and one broke me off. I would like to assume that he was too big for the 4X, and he was a very healthy brown, but the truth is that my knot came untied from my point fly. I have never figured out exactly what to do or say at the moment that you lost a nice fish and it is obviously your fault.
My days on the Northfork were great as always. Myron and Anne run a first class shop and are wonderful people. For some reason this time, Toby the wonderdog did not come to my camp. Myron said he was getting old, but I figure that I was so ripe from sweating in my waders all day that I actually grossed out a dog. It's hard to feel good about that. Anyway, the camping was great and the fishing was good. My smallest fish was 13" and the biggest was 18", and they came more or less steadily all day if I stuck to fishing where they were; close to oxygen and/or deep. I also saw a beautiful bald eagle many times close to my camp. Wonderous.
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