Justin Spencer

If you are fishing on Sat. plan on big crowds. This will be the busiest day of the year on the river, have heard most outfitters have all their boats out. Putting in early at Kelly will avoid crowds until they catch up to you probably around noon. Putting in on the lower section the crowds will catch you quicker as they have less water to cover with many outfitters putting in at Blair, or ours putting in here at Sunburst. Putting in at Patrick would give you a little more time as floaters would have to cover a couple miles before reaching you. Catch fish early, watch drunks midday, catch fish late. Good luck!

The high water has sure helped reproduction of trout in NFOW. Quit worrying about how they are stocking and what kind of water they are running, and hit a wild, free flowing trout stream.

Technically if you are standing on the bottom you are on private land, I really don't even think water patrol really knows how or if to enforce it. Most landowners don't care, unless it is a Saturday and you have 100 drunks pull up on their gravelbar.

Got all my boats in early yesterday so I dusted off the flyrod and went down to try my hand at a little fishing. Water up just a little and stained from the rain of the past week. Thought it would be prime for some big browns. Fished for an hour, lost 4 flies, caught zero fish, not even sure if I had a bite. Still had a nice time, but don't take my advice on any summertime fishing, I don't know what I'm talking about!

Tecumseh is actually at the end of the river basically the start of the lake. Depending on what you want to fish for you can find everything on some point in the river. Best way to fish it will be to float and fish along the way. If you just want to hit the public accesses you can do that as well. Blair bridge and Patrick both are decent for trout, but get pressured quite a bit. The upper end is okay for smallmouth, but I would go to Bryant creek if bass were my targeted species. If you are looking to camp and float there are several outfitters to choose from. I personally would use sunburst ranch, but I may be biased. Hope this helps.

Late August bring some hoppers, I'd fish the lower end and you should find some browns that will cooperate. Had one gentleman catch a 19" brown yesterday right here at the campground on some crazy hopper looking imitation. You'll also pick up some smallmouth on that float.

The North Fork is a ways from you, but if you want to come catch some wild trout, you can stay here at Sunburst Ranch with a fellow SigEp as an owner.

Does that make me the Tiger Woods of the North Fork?

Fished last night from Sunburst to Patrick. Caught a smallmouth before I even got to the first riffle (brown rubberlegs). Fished slowly through the frog water waiting on some tubers and picked up a goggle eye on the same fly. That got me thinking I needed to add the two species of trout and I would have myself the 4 most sought after fish species on this river. Got to trout island and quickly picked up my brown trout on a yellow rubberlegs. Then moved to the swiftest water to try and finish out my "slam". Caught another brown, shifted sides of the island a picked up a nice 16" colorful rainbow on the yellow rubberlegs to finish up my first North Fork "super slam". Picked up one more 4 inch rainbow on my way to the bridge. Fishing was tough after trout island, but I couldn't have asked for a nicer evening. Last week was seeing lot's of golden stones so be sure to have something yellow in a size 8 or smaller.

Chris hit it right on the head. 800 cfs is just right for wading. It seems high compared to other streams so you do have to put your big boy pants on. Once you get comfortable with it you will find you catch many more fish than when it gets lower. As it gets lower it gets easier to wade, but harder to catch fish. Not fair but that is part of what makes this river so fun. This is a place for a challenge with the chance to catch some unbelievable fish. It is also the place for "good fishermen" to get skunked. Once you learn to consistently catch fish on this river you can catch fish anywhere! Keep trying and like me, after about 7 years you'll have it figured out, and then when you think you do, you'll get skunked again!

Seeing golden stones everywhere, on canoes, on the vans, on the windshield driving down the road. No time to fish myself but I would guess if you imitate them you might just catch a fish (i would say size 8). From the reports I'm getting fishing has been pretty steady, not great but not nearly as tough as it can be. Yesterday with the cloud cover the bite from Sunburst to James was really good for browns.

Down here on the NFoW the Chuck-wills-widow's keep me awake, occasionally hear a Whip-por-will but the bird noise in remote areas is something we take for granted, and even cuss when we have to shut the windows and doors at dawn just to be able to sleep. Guess that's better than listening to traffic go by.

Green Sunfish are a blast to catch on fly rod, but they do compete directly with largemouth for food due to the size of their mouth. If you notice that the bass are not growing well, big heads-little bodies then they may be stunting. Anytime I catch a greenie I either eat it or relocate it out of the pond. You won't ever get rid of them, but every one you take frees up a little food for more desirable species. If you have no bass in the pond then they are your main predator species and should get big and do well feeding on your bluegill, makes a fun ultra-light pond or a great pond for kids. If you catch only small bluegill and they have been there a few years, then they are stunting and you need to either keep a bunch or introduce bass to balance the population, or start feeding them as bluegill will train to pellets fairly easily.

Obviously I'm going to say use me here at Sunburst Ranch. Gravel bars are a little scarce on the NFoW and most of the trout water is below National Forest. If trout are your main goal I would put in at Kelly Shoals (not all outfitters will go there) and float to Sunburst (mostly rainbows), we have an island in front of our place if you want to camp there without realizing you are in a campground. Otherwise you can already have camp set up here and enjoy a hot shower without the hassle of taking all your stuff on the water. The next day you can float on down to Dawt Mill and enjoy fishing for browns down that way. If you come during the week should not have much traffic on river, Saturdays can be fairly busy especially in July. In years when the water gets low we get some algae growing which can be annoying for fly fishermen. The earlier in the year you can get here the better, both for crowds and fishing success. If you want a warm water experience on day one you could start at Hebron, camp above Hammond on a gravel bar and end at Sunburst.

You should be very proud of your daughter, I have a suspicion that her parents may have something to do with how she is turning out. Well done! After the upcoming busy season for us I am hoping to ramp up my campstore with fly fishing gear for our offseason. When I do so I will be getting in touch with you as I would love to carry your leaders. Great product for great causes, sounds like a win win for everyone.

Great pictures, had a great time as well. For those of you who have fished from a drift boat it is a great way to go. Unfortunately most of us don't have one, but there are plenty of guides who would love to take you. While I have caught many fish from a drift boat I have been on a nice run of big browns wading lately so don't feel you must have a boat to have success. Even when we fish from a boat we still stop and wade every good looking spot. The boats really come in handy when it is too high to wade safely. I am convinced almost every riffle on the NFOW hold trophy sized fish and in addition to the 23" brown I caught the other day here at the campground, the next time out caught a 19+" brown on my first cast (figured out they weren't as far out as I thought). Used this bit of lucky knowledge to fish a little different seam than usual and caught another small brown and a 17+" brown all within an hour (this in the depth I would normally be standing). I've always caught lots of good 15-16" fish in this riffle, but lately have been nailing some nice ones. It's always tempting to try and cast across the fast water to the other side, but you need to remind yourself that if you were on the other side you would probably be casting to where you are standing. I caught my last 3 fish with my back to the brush only out 10 feet from where I was standing, I learn something new everytime I fish!

That's a frustrating thing with most big indicators. When the fish are taking my lead fly on a regular basis I quit using a dropper and catch as many if not more fish. With big flies I seem to catch more fish without a dropper for some reason. I think I get a better drift that way. When I do use a dropper I tie it fairly close to my lead fly 8-10" and that can help with tangles. The simple fact is that fishing big water with big flies big lead and big indicators equals big tangles, at least for me. It also equals big fish and more fish in the fast water. I think when it takes fewer casts to catch each fish that leaves me more time to re-tie, untangle, and climb trees to retrieve my flies. The main reason I put my indicator so high is it helps me cast heavy rigs, and lets the fly get down as quickly as possible, I fish with people that put their's much lower than I do and they catch fish also, so who knows. If you use the current to help you flip cast back upstream that can really help, but it also can limit your ability to get across the stream where the fish always seem to be.

Don't they call muskie the fish of a thousand casts? I'd say if someone really knew how to catch them they would have shared their information. All I know to do is troll spoons, that's what I did as a kid in Michigan and caught one once, then I was scared of his teeth so went back to fishing for heterosexual bass. (those were less tolerant times!)

Thingamabobbers are great for fast big water because they float well, are light and very visable. They will slide, but I keep mine close to the fly line to get my fly deep quick in fast moving stuff. Fishing in slower water I probably would use something else, but for the fast stuff they are my favorite option, even though I cuss them quite a bit.

Do I recognize that spot? Great fish, great story, usually what happens when I really want a picture of a fish! How's it fishing from the farm to us?

Lots of lead is best (I carry AAA and BB, and sometimes use more than 1 AAA), you have the perfect rod. A 7 1/2 foot tapered 2X or 3X leader, then I tie on a few feet of 3X tippet (I like flourocarbon) maybe 4X if mono. Big fly, maybe a smaller dropper (tie with 4-5X tipper), big indicator up close to your fly line and you are ready for anything from 6 inches to 60. See you when you get here.

Yesterday had a few minutes to kill before Eli got off the bus and went in front of the house to try my luck. Caught 12" brown on my third drift, a few minutes later hooked a monster that ended up being a 23" female. Completely left the water 3 times, and took a nearly 10 minutes to land (no net of course). My biggest trout to this point was a 21" (not counting a 29" seatrout on fly), amazing the difference a few inches makes (that's what she said). Fun that I caught it less than 100 yards from my house. Fishing has been unreal lately with water perfect for wading. If you want to see the whole story of this fish check out my blog My link.

What area are you fishing?

I've been making and using furled leaders for a while and have never had one break on me. I typically use 6 lb. mono, which when twisted should make it something like 12 lb. test with I'm sure some loss of strength. To that I usually attach 3X tippet and then maybe 4X if the water is real clear. I have been hung on bottom, in trees, in more trees, and can only think of once when it broke at the furled section, and that was right near the knot after using the leader for several months. They do ball up a little more than tapered but I have never had a huge problem and I lose LOTS of flies. They aren't perfect, but it is nice to be able to put a long butt section in them if you fish big flies and lots of lead. Plus if you do them yourself they cost pennies to make.

We picked up paddles and cushions from the group that stays at Pettit's, and Riversides group still has a canoe wrapped around the Bridge below Dawt. I guess I don't feel too bad that we miss out on a frat weekend! I did release the stonefly but got to thinking I should have put it on a hook and "tested" the real thing versus my imitation. In a red ribbon area that would be legal right? Next time I shall pack a few bare hooks for that purpose. Campground shouldn't be very busy until Memorial Day, the nicer the weekend the more people but still not too many. Headed back down to Tecumseh to try the white bass again, report up later. My life is rough this time of year, but you all get the last laugh here in a couple months, I'll have some fishing gear for rent if anyone needs it for the summer.