My friend Jim and I arrived at ROLF around 2:00 on Thursday
afternoon and we decided to start our fishing at The Falls and work our way downstream. Seeing the cloudiness of the water, we
decided to go with larger patterns. Myron had told us the water was well above normal and the strong current certainly bore this
out. We both used a considerable amount of weight to get our stoneflies down in the swift current. I managed to hook into a nice
rainbow near our campsite, and later took a second, smaller fish in the slow section before Cave Riffle. The fish got the better of Jim
that day, but we had high hopes that the river would continue to clear and the fishing would improve.
After some debate as to where to begin fishing on Friday, Myron
convinced us to put in at Hammond Camp and paddle our way
down to North Fork Spring. It was an excellent decision! We
paddled while admiring the beautiful bluffs and grottoes between
the put-in and the spring. A great blue heron continually took flight
and set down again 100 yards ahead of us as we made our way downstream. North Fork Spring emerges from a gravel bar on the
west bank of the river; the contrast between the cold spring water and the warmer river water is striking. The water had cleared
considerably overnight, which was good news. We began our first serious fishing at the riffle downstream from the spring and I
quickly caught and released two rainbows. Jim didn't catch any trout here but did manage two smallmouths and an ugly sucker at
the tail end of the riffle.
From that point on, our fishing luck completely reversed. We
fished every riffle between there and the McKee Bridge. Jim caught at least one trout from each riffle using leech patterns and
stoneflies, and he lost a truly monstrous fish just downstream of
Kelly Ford. I failed to land any fish at all until we fished the riffle
above the McKee bridge around 5:00 PM. A big burly rainbow of
18-20 inches took my bead head woolly bugger and made a run
downstream. I knew from wading that section a few minutes
earlier that the water was too deep to follow the fish, so I had to
struggle with that fish while he used the current and his large size
to great advantage. Luckily I had used 3X tippet and a Duncan
loop (thank you Chuck Tryon!) and eventually I brought the fish in. Jim continued to pull in fish throughout the afternoon and early
evening, finally landing an equally impressive brown out of Casey Riffle.
Saturday morning we began fishing at Casey Riffle and worked out way down to The Falls. Jim continued his success in Rainbow
Alley, landing several nice fish. I was thoroughly skunked and
pined for hatches and rising trout. Once we reached The Falls, the
canoe traffic picked up and the fishing shut down for Jim, too. Jim's success on Friday and Saturday certainly demonstrated the
necessity for a lot of weight in the swift and deep North Fork. I
think I will be returning in the fall when the water is lower!
Thanks, Myron for a great trip!
Howard Granok
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