Ill Trout Bum

Fantastic! Thanks for sharing your adventure.

If you are wanting to tie your own flies for your trip, I would suggest the following; Egg paterns, San Juan worms and Crackle backs all work well at Montauk and are an easy tie. Depending on the water depth, I would also consider some wooly buggers in olive or black. Cracklebacks are great because you can fish them wet or dry. I prefer a size 14 in pumpkin orange. Good luck on your trip,hope you catch a lot of fish!

Southern Illinois is full of them.

Thank you very much for the information. It will be extremely helpful

I would like to plan a trip to fish the Norfork tailwaters between mid-October to early November. Having never been there, I have quite a few questions that I am hoping you experienced anglers will be kind enough to answer for me. I am seeking advice on the following: 1) What can I generally expect as far as flows for that time of year? What is wading like during this time, any issues? 2) Where can I find detailed maps to show access points? Any recommendations for a good starting point? 3) What flies are most productive during this time of year? 4) Where is the nearest available lodging? Any personal recommendations for a nice place to stay and eat would be greatly appreciated. 5) Is there a local fly shop in the area? I am looking forward to trying what will be a totally new area for me. Thank you in advance for any information that may be helpful in this quest. Scott

Congratulations On your move. I love that area and can't wait to get back there soon.

I'veal ways had great luck with Rio Gold line. Casts great and is long lasting,especially when cleaned regularly.

I also would recommend the Simms Freestone boot. Right now there are some great deals on discontinued items. Great fitting comfortable and durable boots for the money.

As long as the dropper is at least 6 inches away from the primary fly it is considered to be two separate flies. This is what I was told by the CO at another park.

Great fishing and a smaller than expected crowd for a Sunday opener. Caught several quality fish in the 16-17 inch range. All in all a great way to kick off the new season.

Thank you for providing a quality experience for these brave women. God Bless!

I second the comment about the spring runoff. The first time I went to Colorado, I set up a trip for the end of June. The week before I arrived, the temps were in the 90's and there was higher than normal runoff. That being said June is a very unpredictable month for fly fishing in most of Colorado. There are generally huge crowds of tourists everywhere and it gets very crowded even on a weekday. I prefer to take my trip after Labor Day. The crowds are gone and it is the start of the brown trout run. I would recommend areas such as the upper Arkansas near Hayden Meadows down to Granite Wildlife Area. I recently fished this area on the first week of September. Fishing was great and we only saw a couple of other anglers in this stretch. I would recommend staying away form Spinney Mountain aka " the Dream Stream" as it tends to draw large crowds and the ongoing stream rehabilitation project makes the lower end unfishable. I would recommend fishing the South Platte near Tomahawk SWA. Here is a link to the various Colorado state wildlife areas. It shows all the public access areas and I have found it to be very useful over the years. Good luck. http://ndismaps.nrel.colostate.edu/propertyfinder/index.aspx?keyword=public&value=Knight-Imler SWA

Also sent. Good luck on your class.

Not an uncommon happening there. A couple of years ago I observed a gentleman drive off from the parking lot with his fly rod on top of the car. It fell off as he drove up the hill and I picked it up. Fortunately for him, I caught up with him at the lodge as he was going to the dining room and was able to return it to him.

Just came back from Montauk. Be sure to have plenty of cracklebacks on hand. I probably caught as many fish stripping this fly as I did using it as a dry.