John Berry

Good luck! There are still a bunch of trophy trout in that river.

I learned to fly fish on the Spring more years ago than I want to admit. I met my lovely wife, Lori, on the Spring. It has always been a special place for me and it is my ace in the hole. If they are running a lot of water everywhere and my client wants to wade this is where we go. Except during the aluminum hatch!

Now that they are at pool they should not run as much. Generation would be based on electrical need rather than flood control. Keep in mind that it is raining here (Cotter, AR) now and if we get a heavy rain the whole process starts over again. Also note that with the ecological crisis at Norfork Overlook Estates (huge amounts of silt washing into the river every time it rains)any rain turns the river into a mud hole.

I took a client over to the Spring on Friday. He wanted to learn how to wade fish. He had been out with guides before but they had floated and he did not enjoy it. We went to Dam three and worked our way down stream. The further we went down stream the bigger the fish got. He ended up with thirty six fish. The hot flies were Y2Ks, Red San Juan Worms, and Brown Woolly Buggers.

I appologize for not posting a fishing report of late. My wife Lori was featured on a new fishing show with John Wilson, Adventure Guides on Versus. As a result we spent several days pre fishing on the Norfork in high water and bitter cold temperatures. Of course, when it came time to film the director decided that he wanted to film Lori and her client Cheryl wade fishing. This required a change of venue to the Spring River. During the prefishing we caught a bunch of fish on red sanjuan worms drifted over weed beds. However yesterday we finally got to fish the Norfork on low water. It was wonderful. We waded far into the Catch and Release area and fished our way out. It was cold and overcast. We did not catch a lot of fish maybe fifteen between us. The smallest was fourteen but the average was seventeen. They were all very fat, well colored and fought like wild Comanches. Lori hooked a twenty seven monster but he broke off taking most of her leader with him. We caught fish on copper midges, olive scuds and Dan's turkey Quill emerger. All size twenty or twenty two. It was nice to be out of a boat for a change!

I would like to add to what Dano suggested and recommend that you buy your boots big enough to accomodate two pair of heavy polypropelene socks. I was on the Norfork this afternoon and it was pretty chilly.

I am glad to see that there are a lot of anglers like me that think that a forum is a place where anyone is comfortable to express themselves and pick up some useful information. Several people have sent me emails supporting my thoughts on this situation and I appreciate it.

Thank you for the input. I guess I was naive. I thought that you just posted what you thought and the moderator was there to facilitate the conversation not control it. I agree with your assessment of this forum and I wish that they were all like this one. I do not want a clique I want a free and open exchange of ideas and opinions. When you can view all sides of a situation you can then make a more intelligent decision.

Phil, I respect John and I only want to bring to light something that happened to a close friend of mine. I hope that I am not making any judgements! I just feel that editing the content of posts to any forum is detrimental to that forum. I know that I have enjoyed an incredible amount of freedom on this forum and I wish that all forums were operated with the same ethics as this one. I eagerly await John's return and look forward to his opinion on this situation.

I feel that this is the reason that this forum is superior to others. I look at them and I wonder. How can you learn about the sport unless you read the complete posting of the responder. I do not care about what they think about me . But what about others who may not be as thick skinned? I love the sport and only want to share the pitiful knowledge that I have learned to others. If some one is editing what I say, how can anyone else get the gist of what I am trying to communicate. I was surprised that this would happen on a forum controled by a guide of the reputation of John Wilson. I hope that he will take corrective action on his return to the United States.

I just returned from The White River Inn, A magnificent Lodge owned by my friend, Moose Watson. This was the site of a lot of the Television show that was recently filmed that featured my wife Lori among others (including John Wilson). When I arrived Moose related to me that he had posted an article on John,s Forum thanking John, Lori, and others. He was surprised when he revisited the site to learn that his posting had been edited. The section complimentary to Lori and myself had been eliminated. While John is fishing in Panama this week (we talked about the trip on Monday), I do not know who is in charge of moderating the forum. The question is, Is this or any other forum a free exchange of ideas? It seems to me that if we edit the comments of our participants we are filtering their ideas and we may not be getting the information we need. Oh sure, I believe there should be exceptions for vulgar language or adult content. Other than that, I believe the people that visit this forum and others want to know what people think and they do not want any one to edit it to comply with some one elses agenda. We live in a country based on free speech! Has this situation happened to anyone on this forum? If so, how did it make you feel? Has this happened to any one on any other forum? It has never happened to me. The only forum that I have ever posted to is this one. I think that a man of high moral integrity Like Phil Lilley would never let anything like this go unchallenged.

Count me in.

Pedre, I am very interested. My favorite thing is guiding on the Norfork. Take a look at my website. Most of the big trout were caught on the Norfork. Give me a call! The Volvo is loaded.

My favorite music on stream is the whine of an Orvis CFO reel!

Right now they are running a lot of water. I would wait until there is some safer conditions.

Dano, I fear that you are right. We miss it already. To add insult to injury they ran water for the last month and a half of the year effectively preventing me from saying my good by. I plan on accessing it by canoe. Launching from Quarry park, it is only a two mile float down stream. If the water comes up you have a safe means of egress. The only trick is the shuttle.

I tend to agree with Dano. I also have tried them all. It all comes down to carrying capacity. I too am a minimalist which comes from my background as a back packer. A vest can carry an incredible variety of stuff when needed and still allow you to cast and land fish. Now here is the secret. You do not have to carry that all that stuff every day. I keep most of my pockets empty. If it warms up and I need to put a fleece jacket or rain jacket in the vest there is room. If I am going to be fishing late, there is room for my regular glasses when the sun goes down. If I will be fishing all day there is room for a trail bar or two. And if I see trash on the stream I can pack out a good bit of it. It is a comfortable way to carry a load.

It is noon and starting to sleet in Cotter, Arkansas, Trout Capital USA.

To my knowledge Dano is right. I have not heard anything to the contrary. My favorite access to the Norfork is no more.

One of the first things I learned when I moved here several years ago is that many of the food sources are very small. When fishing these small nymphs it is important to realize that any takes will be very subtle. The indicator will not go down like a bobber pulled down by an agressive crappie. The indicator may just stop drifting or may move up stream. When in doubt, set the hook.

I participated in the process. The main concern that I addressed was not even considered. There is a nice population of brookies that are reproducing in the catch and release area near the dam that should be protected. I am disappointed by their inaction.

The only place where I encounter really spooky fish that would be bothered by the strike indicator is in the Catch and Release section below Bull Shoals Dam. The water is slow and skinny giving the trout plenty of time to examine the offerings. In this situation, I would recommend using using a dry fly with the hook cut off at the bend (doubles are illegal in catch and release water)as an indicator.

I am glad to chime in. The water is high with no sign of relief.I would add San Juan Worms to the list of high water flies. There is no good news on the soil erosion front. Trout Unlimited had been included in the law suit. ADEQ has requested a hearing. They are concerned because they feel that conditions are deteriating on site. Since the suit was filed, there has been no work done on site. As a result everytime we get a sprinkle the Norfork turns into a mud hole.

I favor the turn on indicators particularly in the larger sizes. The palsas do not float larger flies like Y2Ks and big San Juan worms.

Y2K.docI use a large turn on indicator. They are adjustable and can be added after you tie on the fly.