Two to Three Fish per Riffle.

July 30-August 4, 2000

After many conversations with my brother Bill, who lives in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, he finally convinced me to take him fly fishing on the North Fork. He pulled his tent trailer nearly 700 miles so we could camp in Myron's campground.

After arriving and setting up camp, we made our way up to the riffle behind the Wren cabin. We each tied on a #6 black stonefly nymph; and after just a few casts, I was into a nice rainbow that measures approximately 14 inches. Bill, on the other hand, being a rookie and having never fished with a fly rod before, had trouble getting the drag down, but finally proceeded to catch a 10 inch rainbow.

We left this riffle and fished our way downstream toward Rainbow Alley. The fishing seemed to fall off a bit, but picked up when we arrived at Rainbow Alley. Here I caught 3 more rainbows still using the black stonefly nymph, but I added a San Juan worm as a dropper which accounted for 2 of the 3 fish.

After fishing the area the second day, we decided to float the river on our third day. This turned out to be a very rewarding experience not only for myself (I have floated the river many times) but especially for Bill. Again we worked the riffles with black stonefly nymphs but we also tied on a #14 Prince nymph dropper. We caught 2 to 3 fish out of every riffle and numerous fish on the flats below them. As we drifted from the riffle through the flats, Bill would cast out in front of and to the side of the canoe, using a San Juan worm with an orange egg pattern as a dropper. This combination always seems to work well.

During this trip I caught at least 15 fish. In the second riffle above Blair Bridge and the run below it, I caught a 20 inch brown and a 16 inch rainbow. Bill, the rookie, caught maybe 4 to 5 fish. However, I have been fishing this river for 22 years which accounts for the difference in fish caught. However, Bill still enjoyed himself tremendously.

I plan to be back in two weeks and am looking forward to fishing and enjoying my conversations with Tommy McKee, my 5-year old companion.

Jack Hammock